The Tupuri are an

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

. They speak a language called

Tupuri Tupuri (or Toupouri) is a language mostly spoken in the Mayo-Kebbi Est Region of southern Chad and in small parts of northern Cameroon. It is an Mbum language spoken by the Tupuri people with approximately 300,000 speakers. Tupuri was erroneou ...

, which had 125,000 speakers in Cameroon at an unspecified date and 90,785 speakers in Chad in 1993. There were 215,466 of them in Chad in 2009. In Cameroon, the Tupuri live east of

Kaélé Kaélé is a town in Cameroon's Far North Province, on the Diamaré Plain at . It lies near the Chadian border and 104 km south of Maroua. The town has a population of roughly 30,600 and is the capital of the Mayo Kani division. The cottons ...

in the Kaele division and in the Kar-Hay subdivision of the

Mayo-Danay division Mayo-Danay is a department of Far North Province, Cameroon. The department covers an area of 5,303 km and at the 2005 Census had a total population of 529,061. The capital of the department is at Yagoua. Subdivisions The department is divid ...

of the

Far North Province The Far North Region, also known as the Extreme North Region (from french: Région de l'Extrême-Nord), is the northernmost constituent province of the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the North Region to the south, Chad to the east, and Nig ...

. In Chad, Tupuri live near

Fianga Fianga ( ar, فيانكا) is a town in Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Su ...

Fianga Subprefecture Fianga ( ar, فيانكا) is a town in Chad and capital of the Mont Illi Mont Illi or Mont d'Illi is one of four departments in Mayo-Kebbi Est, a region of Chad. Its capital is Fianga Fianga ( ar, فيانكا) is a town in Chad Chad ...

, Mayo-Kebbi Prefecture in the southwest of the country. The Tupuri are known for a dance called the ''gourna'', "the dance of the cock", which involves the dancers forming a circle and holding long sticks. The Tupuri political and religious life is headed by the

Wang Doré The Wang Doré or Wang Kulu is the chief religious and political figure of the Tupuri people. Based in the village of Doré near the Chadian town of Fianga, the Wang Doré have traditionally acted as the kings of the Tupuri, with the areas under ...

, the traditional Kings of Doré, who are based in the village of Doré near Fianga, Chad.

Notes

References

* Chrispin, Pettang, directeur, ''Cameroun: Guide touristique.'' Paris: Les Éditions Wala. * Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005):
Tupuri
. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', 15th ed. Dallas: SIL International. Accessed 7 June 2006. * West, Ben (2004). ''Cameroon: The Bradt Travel Guide''. Guilford, Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. {{Authority control