The Tukrīr primarily inhabit the western edge of the Ethiopian Highlands. They are overwhelmingly Muslim. They are mainly Fulani and Hausa in origin from the region of the former Kanem-Bornu Empire. There were two major periods of immigration from West Africa to Ethiopia. The first coincided with the Fula jihads that lasted from 1804 until 1842; the second with the Scramble for Africa, when West Africa was colonized by Europeans between 1885 and 1914.