Little is known of the early history of the Juula who called themselves Dafin and who lived within the northern bend of the Black Volta, among Bobo and other autochthonous peoples. An old trade route linking Jenne and the Akan goldfields passed through the area, and on it lay the major Juula centre of Safane (12° 08’ N.—3° 13’ W). In the later eighteenth century Saganugu shaykhs moved into the area, among them Yaʿqūb b. Maḥmūd Taslīm b. ʿUthmān Saganugu, who settled near Safane. The creation, in…