Kanem–Bornu Empire

Kanem was located at the southern end of the trans-Saharan trade route between Tripoli and the region of Lake Chad. Besides its urban elite, it also included a confederation of nomadic peoples who spoke languages of the Teda–Daza (Toubou) group.

In the 8th century, Wahb ibn Munabbih used Zaghawa to describe the Teda-Tubu group, in the earliest use of the ethnic name. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi also mentions the Zaghawa in the 9th century, as did Ibn al-Nadim in his Kitāb al-Fihrist[5] in the 10th century. Kanem comes from anem, meaning south in the Teda and Kanuri languages, and hence a geographic term. During the first millennium, as the Sahara underwent desiccation, people speaking the Kanembu language migrated to Kanem in the south. This group contributed to the formation of the Kanuri people. Kanuri traditions state the Zaghawa dynasty led a group of nomads called the Magumi.[6]

This desiccation of the Sahara resulted in two settlements, those speaking Teda-Daza northeast of Lake Chad, and those speaking Chadic west of the lake in Bornu and Hausa-land.[7]^: 164

Climate change ensured the rise of the early Kanem-Bornu Empire, as desertification that increased the spread of the Sahara Desert made some areas around Lake Chad unlivable, causing nomadic peoples from that area to navigate to the places where the empire would eventually be centralized.[12]

Kanem was connected via a trans-Saharan trade route with Tripoli via Bilma in the Kawar. Slaves were imported from the south along this route.[7]^: 171[13]

Kanuri Islamic tradition states Sayf Dhi Yazan established dynastic rule over the nomads around the 9th century, through divine kingship.[12] For the next millennium, the Mais ruled the Kanuri, which included the Ngalaga, Kangu, Kayi, Kuburi, Kaguwa, Tomagra, and Tubu.[7]^{: 165–168}

Kanem is mentioned as one of three great empires in Bilad el-Sudan, by Al Yaqubi in 872. He describes the kingdom of "the Zaghāwa who live in a place called Kānim", which included several vassal kingdoms, and "Their dwellings are huts made of reeds and they have no towns." Living as nomads, their cavalry gave them military superiority. In the 10th century, al-Muhallabi mentions two towns in the kingdom, one of which was Mānān. Their king was considered divine, believing he could "bring life and death, sickness and health". Wealth was measured in livestock, sheep, cattle, camels and horses. From Al-Bakri in the 11th century onwards, the kingdom is referred to as Kanem. In the 12th century Muhammad al-Idrisi described Mānān as "a small town without industry of any sort and little commerce". Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi describes Mānān as the capital of the Kanem kings in the 13th century and Kanem as a powerful Muslim kingdom.[14][6][7]

The Kanuri-speaking Muslim Saifawas gained control of Kanem from the Zaghawa nomads in the 9th century[13]^{: 26, 109} during a period of ethnic conflict.[12] Kanuri legend states that Sayf Dhi Yazan founded the Sayfawa dynasty.[12] The new dynasty controlled the Zaghawa trade links in the central Sahara with Bilma and other salt mines. Yet, the principal trade commodity was slaves. Tribes to the south of Lake Chad were raided as kafirun, and then transported to Zawila in the Fezzan, where the slaves were traded for horses and weapons. The annual number of slaves traded increased from 1,000 in the 7th century to 5,000 in the 15th.

According to Richmond Palmer, it was customary to have "the Mai sitting in a curtained cage called fanadir, dagil, or tatatuna...a large cage for a wild animal, with vertical wooden bars."[15]

Mai Hummay began his reign in 1075, and formed alliances with the Kay, Tubu, Dabir and Magumi. He became the first Muslim king of Kanem, having been converted by his Muslim tutor Muhammad b. Mānī. They remained nomadic until the 11th century, when they fixed their capital at Nijmi.[16][17][18][6][7]^{: 170–172}

Humai's successor, Dunama (1098–1151), performed the Hajj three times, before drowning at Aidab. At this time, the army included 100,000 horsemen and 120,000 soldiers.[7]^: 172[15]^{: 91, 163}[13]^: 35

Shift of the Sayfuwa court from Kanem to Bornu

Bornu Empire
1380s–1893
Flag of Bornu, also known as Organa, from Vallseca atlas of 1439
Bornu Empire extent c.1750
Capital	Ngazargamu
Common languages	Kanuri
Religion	Islam
Government	Monarchy
King (Mai)
• 1381–1382	Said of Bornu
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	1380s
• Disestablished	1893
Area
1800[19]	50,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi)
1892[20]	129,499 km2 (50,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1892[21]	5,000,000
Preceded by Succeeded by Kanem Empire French Chad Rabih az-Zubayr Borno Emirate Dikwa Emirate
Today part of	Nigeria Chad Niger Cameroon

By the end of the 14th century, internal struggles and external attacks had torn Kanem apart. War with the Sao brought the death of four Mai: Selemma, Kure Ghana es-Saghir, Kure Kura al-Kabir, and Muhammad I, all sons of 'Abdullāh b. Kadai. Then, war with the Bulala resulted in the death of four Mai in succession between 1377 and 1387: Daud Nigalemi, Uthmān b. Dawūd, Uthmān b. Idris, and Abu Bakr Liyatu. Finally, around 1387 the Bulala forced Mai Umar b. Idris to abandon Njimi and move the Kanembu people to Bornu on the western edge of Lake Chad.[7]^: 179[15]^{: 92–93, 195–217}[22][17]^{: 190–191}

But even in Bornu, the Sayfawa dynasty's troubles persisted. During the first three-quarters of the 15th century, for example, fifteen Mais occupied the throne. Then, around 1460 Ali Gazi (1473–1507) defeated his rivals and began the consolidation of Bornu. He built a fortified capital at Ngazargamu, to the west of Lake Chad (in present-day Nigeria), the first permanent home a Sayfawa mai had enjoyed in a century. So successful was the Sayfawa rejuvenation that by the early 16th century Mai Idris Katakarmabe (1507–1529) was able to defeat the Bulala and retake Njimi, the former capital. The empire's leaders, however, remained at Ngazargamu because its lands were more productive agriculturally and better suited to the raising of cattle. Ali Gaji was the first ruler of the empire to assume the title of Caliph.[23][16]^: 159[13]^: 73[7]^{: 180–182, 205}[15]^{: 94, 222–228}

Successors

Most of the successors of Idris Alooma are only known from the meagre information provided by the Diwan. Some of them are noted for having undertaken the pilgrimage to Mecca, others for their piety. In the eighteenth century, Bornu was affected by several long-lasting famines.[28][7]^{: 500–508}[15]^{: 94–95, 244–258} The Sultanate of Agadez was independently operating the Bilma salt mines by 1750, having been a tributary since 1532.[6]^: 292[17]^{: 190–191}

Bornu territory by 1500

Borno in 1810

The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid-17th century when its power began to fade. By the late 18th century, Bornu rule extended only westward, into the land of the Hausa of modern Nigeria. The empire was still ruled by the Mai who was advised by his councilors (kokenawa) in the state council or nokena.[29] The members of his Nokena council included his sons and daughters and other royalty (the Maina) and non-royalty (the Kokenawa, "new men"). The Kokenawa included free men and slave eunuchs known as kachela. The latter "had come to play a very important part in Bornu politics, as eunuchs did in many Muslim courts".[30]

During the 17th century and 18th century, Bornu became a centre for Islamic learning. Borno sultans developed a political legitimacy based on their religious charisma, in the context of the rise of Sufism in Sahel.[31] Islam and the Kanuri language was widely adopted, while slave raiding propelled the economy.[17]^{: 190–191}

Muhammad al-Kanemi

Young woman from Bornu, mid-19th century

Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, who was of mixed Kanuri and Shuwa Arab heritage from Fezzan contested the Fulani incursions into Bornu. Al-Kanemi was a Muslim scholar who had put together an alliance of mostly Shuwa Arabs, and Kanembu within the region. He eventually built in 1814 a capital at Kukawa (in present-day Nigeria). After the creation of his capital at Kukawa, Al-Kanemi quickly amassed a large following within Bornu and adopted the title of Shehu within Bornuan society and quickly supplanted the rule of the Mais who became figurehead monarchs. In the year of 1846, the last mai, in league with the Ouaddai Empire, precipitated a civil war, resulting in the death of Mai Ibrahim, the last mai. It was at that point that Kanemi's son, Umar, became Shehu, thus ending one of the longest dynastic reigns in international history. By then, Hausaland in the west, was lost to the Sokoto Caliphate, while the east and north were lost to the Wadai Empire.[33][17]^: 233[16]^{: 194–195}[15]^: 268

Kanembu warriors and their mounted chief in an illustration from Heinrich Barth's Travels and Discoveries, Vol. III, 1857

Although the dynasty ended, the kingdom of Kanem–Bornu survived. Umar eschewed the title mai for the simpler designation shehu (from the Arabic shaykh), could not match his father's vitality, and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers (wazirs). Bornu began a further decline as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Waddai Empire to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons. In 1893, Rabih az-Zubayr led an invading army from eastern Sudan and conquered Bornu. Rabih's invasion led to the deaths of Shehu Ashimi, Shehu Kyari, and Shehu Sanda Wuduroma between 1893 and 1894. The British recognized Rabih as the 'Sultan of Borno', until the French killed Rabih on 22 April 1900 during the Battle of Kousséri.

The French then occupied Dikwa, Rabih's capital, in April 1902, after the British had occupied Borno in March. Yet, based on their 1893 treaty, most of Borno remained under British control, while the Germans occupied eastern Borno, including Dikwa, as 'Deutsch-Bornu'. The French did name Abubakar, the Shehu of Dikwa Emirate, until the British convinced him to be the Shehu of the Borno Emirate. The French then named his brother, Sanda, Shehu of Dikwa. Shehu Garbai formed a new capital, Yerwa, on 9 January 1907. After World War I, Deutsch-Bornu became the British Northern Cameroons.

Shehu Sanda Kura after the killing of Rabih az-Zubayr (1900)

Upon Shehu Abubakar's death in 1922, Sanda Kura became Shehu of Borno. Upon his death in 1937, his cousin, Shehu of Dikwa Sanda Kyarimi, became Shehu of Borno. As Vincent Hiribarren points out, "By becoming Shehu of the whole of Borno, Sanda Kyarimi reunited under his rule a territory which had been divided since 1902. For 35 years two Shehus had co-existed." In 1961, the Northern Cameroons voted to join Nigeria, effectively rejoining the territories of the kingdom of Bornu.[32]^{: 51, 63, 71, 87, 106, 133, 137, 144–145, 157, 164}[15]^{: 268–269} The lands of the Bornu state were thus absorbed into the new Northern Nigeria Protectorate, in the sphere of the British Empire, and eventually became part of the independent state of Nigeria. A remnant of the old kingdom was (and still is) allowed to continue to exist, in subjection to the various Governments of the country as the Borno Emirate.[34][17]^{: 307, 318–319}[32]^: 51

• Chronology of the Sayfawa (Kanem-Bornu)
• Kingdom of Baguirmi
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

• Alkali, Nur; Usman, Bala, eds. (1983). Studies in the History of Pre-Colonial Borno. Zaria: Northern Nigerian Publishing.
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• Cohen, Ronald (1967). The Kanuri of Bornu. New York.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Hallam, W. (1977). The life and Times of Rabih Fadl Allah. Devon.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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• Trimingham, Spencer (1962). A History of Islam in West Africa. Oxford.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Van de Mieroop, Marc (2007). A History of the Ancient Near East (2nd ed.). Oxford.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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• Zeltner, Jean-Claude (1980). Pages d'histoire du Kanem, pays tchadien. Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• Barkindo, Bawuro (1985). "The early states of the Central Sudan: Kanem, Borno and some of their neighbours to c. 1500 A.D.". In Ajayi, J.; Crowder, M. (eds.). History of West Africa. Vol. I (3rd ed.). Harlow. pp. 225–254. ISBN 0-582-64683-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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• Dewière, Rémi (2019). "Peace Be upon Those Who Follow the Right Way": Diplomatic Practices between Mamluk Cairo and the Borno Sultanate at the End of the Eighth/Fourteenth Century". Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies: Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics. Brill. pp. 658–684.
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Bornu".

• The Story of Africa: Kanem-Borno — BBC World Service
• Timeline of rulers