Bolgo

Bolgo

The Bolgos are one of the Sudanic peoples living today in Chad and the Central African Republic.

Bolgo People

The Bolgo population today exceeds 65,000 people.

They make their living raising livestock and working small farms. They were once a mighty commercial empire in what is today southern Chad and the northern Central African Republic. The Bolgos began to decline at the end of the eighteenth century because of wars of extermination with rival groups. Today, they are concentrated in the Ndélé prefecture of the Central African Republic and in Guéra, Salamat, and Moyen-Chari prefectures in Chad.

 

Language

Their language is part of the Congo-Kordofanian group.

The Bolgo language is a member of the Bua languages spoken in south-central Chad, in the villages of Koya, Boli, Gagne, and Bedi southeast of Melfi, by about 1,800 people (SIL 1993). Speakers also make up the majority of the population of Sorki canton in Chinguil sub-prefecture.

Dialects: According to de Rendinger, it has two principal dialects, Bolgo Werel around Daguela and Bolgo Mengo around Aloa-Niagara, as well as a dialect called Bolgo Bormo; according to the Ethnologue, its principal dialects are called Bolgo Dugag and Bolgo Kubar ("small" and "great" Bolgo.) Great Bolgo is spoken to the north, bordering Mogum and Saba; Little Bolgo is spoken to the south, bordering the closely related language Koke as well as Chadian Arabic.

Bolgo People

 

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