from which streams of water drain into the Benue river system, as well as into the inland basin of Lake Chad. Great altitudes of between 5,000 and 7,000 ft or between 1,525 and 2,150 meters above sea level are found, towards the western border region of the emirate with other regions of Nigeria and Cameroon, these are sections of the Cameroon-Bamenda-Adamawa-Mandara highland range which have record heights of about above sea level near the coast and steadily decreases northwards, to just around near Yola, the emirate's capital city. North of Yola, these range of highlands is continued by the Mandara Mountains at over , before finally tapering out around Balma, into the lake chad basin. The southern regions of the emirate is characterized by thin forest of broad leaved savannah woodland or orchard vegetation type. The country becomes more and more of open grasslands towards the north. The vegetation was a strong inducement to Fulani settlement in Adamawa, and during the jihad, it offered no serious obstacle to the extension of military power based on cavalry. The earliest Fulbe migrations into Adamawa was from Bornu country, but attempts by Kurt Strümpell, the German colonial administrator at Garoua (1906-1910), to reconstruct routes of migration from oral tradition, reveals that many Fulani entered Adamawa, through Hausaland, as well as the Benue valley. These migrations moved in groups belonging to the same clans or sub-ethnic groups, and the numbers varied considerably, depending on the motives for migration. Some moved for only short distances, while others did so, over very long distances within a few generations. The principal Fulani clans, that entered Adamawa, were the Mbewe or Beweji, Ngara'en or FeroBe, WollarBe, Yillaga, Ba'en, and Kiri'en. Each subgroup claims to have their own peculiar characteristics, but common to all Fulani, are their distinct physical features: fair skin color, aquiline noses, thin lips, straight hair, and their language Fulfulde, which marks them off from the mass of the Sudanic people around them. Rulers Rulers of the Adamawa Emirate, who took the title "Baban-Lamido": References Passarge, Adamaua, (Berlin, 1895) Adamawa. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. August 28, 2005. Former countries in Africa Sokoto Caliphate Countries in precolonial Africa Nigerian traditional states History of Cameroon Emirates 1809 establishments in Africa