Traditional emirate centered in what is now Adamawa state, eastern Nigeria.
It was founded by Modibbo Adama in the early 19th century. He moved the capital several times before finally settling it in 1841 in Yola. The British Royal Niger Company established trading posts there; when the emir tried to force them out in 1901, they captured the town. Adamawa was partitioned in 1901 between British Northern Nigeria and German Kamerun (Cameroon). In 1919 the Cameroon portion was divided between the French and the British. The emirate's territories eventually came to form almost all of northern Cameroon and part of eastern Nigeria.