The Tupuri are an

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

. 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 erroneous ...

, 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 cottonsee ...

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

Far North Province The Far North Region, also known as the Extreme North Region (from ), is the northernmost and most populous constituent province of Cameroon, the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the North Region (Cameroon), North Region to the south, Chad to ...

. In Chad, Tupuri live near

Fianga Fianga () is a town in Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan borde ...

, Fianga Subprefecture, 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 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