Difference between revisions of "Bornu Empire" - New World Encyclopedia
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| − | + | [[Image:Group of Kanem-Bu warriors.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Kanembu warriors and their mounted chief in an illustration from H. Barth's ''Travels and Discoveries'' Vol III, 1857.]] | |
| − | [[Image:Group of Kanem-Bu warriors.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Kanembu warriors and their mounted chief in an illustration from H. Barth's ''Travels and Discoveries'' Vol III, 1857.]] | + | |
| − | The '''Bornu Empire''' (1396-1893) was a medieval African state of [[Niger]] from 1389 to 1893. It was a continuation of the great [[Kanem | + | The '''Bornu Empire''' (1396-1893) was a medieval African state of [[Niger]] from 1389 to 1893. It was a continuation of the great [[Kanem-Bornu Kingdom]] founded centuries earlier by the [[Sayfawa Dynasty]]. In time it would become even larger than Kanem incorporating areas that are today parts of [[Chad]], [[Nigeria]] and [[Cameroon]]. This is a very long continuous history, and the story of this Empire is in the main one of stability, prosperity based mainly on trade and on commerce although there were periods of military expansion. |
==Exile from Kanem== | ==Exile from Kanem== | ||
| − | After decades of internal conflict, rebellions and outright invasion from the [[Bulala]], the once strong [[Sayfawa Dynasty]] was forced out of Kanem and back into the nomadic lifestyle they had abandoned nearly 600 years ago. | + | After decades of internal conflict, rebellions and outright invasion from the [[Bulala]], the once strong [[Sayfawa Dynasty]] was forced out of Kanem and back into the nomadic lifestyle they had abandoned nearly 600 years ago. Around 1396, the [[Kanembu]] finally overcame attacks from their neighbors ([[Arabs]], [[Berbers]] and [[Hausa]]) to found a new state in Bornu. Over time, the intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the [[Kanuri]]. |
==Early Rule== | ==Early Rule== | ||
| − | + | 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 1472 Mai [[Ali Dunamami]] 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 Niger), 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 [[Ali Gaji]] (1497–1515) 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. | |
==Kanem-Bornu Period== | ==Kanem-Bornu Period== | ||
| − | With control over both capitals, the Sayfawa dynasty became more powerful than ever. | + | With control over both capitals, the Sayfawa dynasty became more powerful than ever. The two states were merged, but political authority still rested in Bornu. Kanem-Bornu peaked during the reign of the outstanding statesman Mai [[Idris Aluma]] (c. 1571–1603). |
===[[Idris Aluma]]=== | ===[[Idris Aluma]]=== | ||
| − | Aluma is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms, and Islamic piety. His main adversaries were the Hausa to the west, the [[Tuareg]] and [[Toubou]] to the north, and the Bulala to the east. One epic poem extols his victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles. His innovations included the employment of fixed military camps (with walls); permanent sieges and "scorched earth" tactics, where soldiers burned everything in their path; armored horses and riders; and the use of [[Berber]] camelry, [[Kotoko]] boatmen, and iron-helmeted musketeers trained by [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] military advisers. His active diplomacy featured relations with [[Tripoli]], [[Egypt]], and the | + | Aluma is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms, and Islamic piety. His main adversaries were the Hausa to the west, the [[Tuareg]] and [[Toubou]] to the north, and the Bulala to the east. One epic poem extols his victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles. His innovations included the employment of fixed military camps (with walls); permanent sieges and "scorched earth" tactics, where soldiers burned everything in their path; armored horses and riders; and the use of [[Berber]] camelry, [[Kotoko]] boatmen, and iron-helmeted musketeers trained by [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] military advisers. His active diplomacy featured relations with [[Tripoli]], [[Egypt]], and the Ottoman Empire, which sent a 200-member ambassadorial party across the desert to Aluma's court at Ngazargamu. Aluma also signed what was probably the first written treaty or cease-fire in Chadian history (like many cease-fires negotiated in the 1970s and 1980s, it was promptly broken). |
Aluma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Islamic law ([[sharia]]). He sponsored the construction of numerous [[mosques]] and made a pilgrimage to [[Mecca]] (see [[hajj]]), where he arranged for the establishment of a [[hostel]] to be used by [[pilgrims]] from his empire. As with other dynamic politicians, Aluma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers and allies, and he frequently relied on slaves who had been educated in noble homes. Aluma regularly sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans. He required major political figures to live at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through appropriate marriages (Aluma himself was the son of a Kanuri father and a Bulala mother). | Aluma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Islamic law ([[sharia]]). He sponsored the construction of numerous [[mosques]] and made a pilgrimage to [[Mecca]] (see [[hajj]]), where he arranged for the establishment of a [[hostel]] to be used by [[pilgrims]] from his empire. As with other dynamic politicians, Aluma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers and allies, and he frequently relied on slaves who had been educated in noble homes. Aluma regularly sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans. He required major political figures to live at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through appropriate marriages (Aluma himself was the son of a Kanuri father and a Bulala mother). | ||
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==Decline and Fall== | ==Decline and Fall== | ||
| − | The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid- | + | The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid-1600s, when its power began to fade. By the late 1700s, Bornu rule extended only westward, into the land of the Hausa of modern [[Nigeria]]. |
===[[Fulani Jihad]]=== | ===[[Fulani Jihad]]=== | ||
| − | Around that time, [[Fula people|Fulani people]], invading from the west, were able to make major inroads into Bornu. By the early 19th century, Kanem-Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in | + | Around that time, [[Fula people|Fulani people]], invading from the west, were able to make major inroads into Bornu. By the early 19th century, Kanem-Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in 1808 Fulani warriors conquered [[Ngazargamu]]. [[Usman dan Fodio]] led the [[Fulani Sultanate|Fulani]] thrust and proclaimed a [[jihad|holy war]] (also called the Fulani War] on the allegedly irreligious Muslims of the area. His campaign eventually affected Kanem-Bornu and inspired a trend toward Islamic orthodoxy. However, [[Muhammad al-Kanem]], an advisor to the royal family and a religious scholar contested the Fulani advance. |
| − | ===Muhammad al-Kanem=== | + | ===Muhammad al-Kanem (or al-Kanami)=== |
| − | + | Putting together an alliance of [[Baggara|Shuwa Arabs]], [[Kanembu]], and other semi[[nomad]]ic peoples, he moved about 80 miles to the North east and built a newcapital at [[Kukawa]] (in present-day Nigeria) in 1814, continuing the Bornu polity. Sayfawa ''mais'' remained titular monarchs until 1846. In that year, the last ''mai'', in league with the [[Ouaddai Empire]], precipitated a civil war. It was at that point that Kanem's son, [[Umar of Borno|Umar]], became the 1st Sultan, or Shehu, of Bornu, thus ending one of the longest dynastic reigns in regional history. | |
===Post Sayfawa=== | ===Post Sayfawa=== | ||
| − | Although the dynasty ended, the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu survived. Umar | + | Although the dynasty ended, the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu survived. Umar (d. 1881) could not match his father's vitality and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers ''([[vizier|wazirs]])''. Bornu began a further decline as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant [[Ouaddai Empire]] to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons. In 1893, [[Rabih az-Zubayr]] leading an invading army from eastern [[Sudan]], conquered Bornu. Rabih had been an officer in the army of a Sudanese prince who unsuccessfully revolted against [[Egypt||Egyptian]] rule. When the revolt failed, Rabih led his platoon towards the West, gathering additional recruits and weaponry as he crossed the continent. He increases his militia from about 400 to about 5,000 men. After capturing Bornu, he established a city-state based at Dikwa, to the south of Lake Chad from where he engaged with the army of the [[Fulani Sultanate]]. It was at this time that the [[France|French]] entered the region, having decided that this would be within their sphere of influence as the [[Europe||European]] powers were dividing the Continent up between themselves. Shifting his attention from the [[Fullani]] to the French, Rabih confronted them further to the South. He was defeated, and killed, at a battle in 1900. His son, Fad-el-Allah managed to rally enough troops to harass the French and also contacted the British to see if an alliance against the French might prove mutually attractive. He was defeated and killed by the French the following year, while actually on British territory. <ref>Lugard, Flora Louisa Shaw and Shaw, Flora Louisa, page 432. Dame Flora Lugard’s husband, Sir Frederick Lugard, was the first Governor-General of the Niger Protectorate who was responsible for defeating the Sultan of Sokoto (and adding 500,000 square miles to the British Empire) and the Emir of Kano in 1903. In The Times on January 8, 1897, Dame Lugard first suggested the name "Nigeria." </ref> He had also managed to take the Shehu of Bornu hostage. After Fad-el-Allah’s defeat, the French re-established the Sultan at Dikwa but imposed a hefty fine on him to compensate for their trouble, or possibly in tribute. <ref>”In return for delivering the lawful Sultan of Bornu from Fad-el-Allah, the French imposed upon the Sultan a war indemnity of $71,000, in addition to $9000 already paid by his elder brother.” Lugard and Shaw, page 435. </ref> The area, however, was soon split between three [[colonialism|colonial]] powers, France, [[Germany]] and [[Great Britain]], complicating the survival of the Sultanate. <ref> “Bornu.” 2008. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001431 Bornu] Retrieved May 17, 2008. </ref> |
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==Legacy== | ||
| + | The Shehu chose to re-locate to the British Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, possibly because the British said that they would establish him in their territory and by moving he avoided compensating the French. He entered British territory in 1902, eventually settling in Yerwa in 1907. The Sultan of Bornu, like other Nigerian Emirs and Paramount Chiefdoms continues to exist, although their role is almost entirely ceremonial. Nonetheless, the Sultan of Bornu, who still lives at Yerwa (also known as Maiduguri | ||
| + | , is the second in seniority in the House of Chiefs after the Sultan of Sokoto, whose ancestor, Dan Fodio, had conquered the Bornu capital in 1808. Bornu state, which comprises much of ancient Bornu, is the largest state in modern day Nigeria although some parts of the old kingdom are in the state of Yobe. The sultans palace in Yerwa dominates the city. <ref> "Maiduguri."2008. Encyclopædia Britannica.Encyclopædia Britannica Online. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/358466/Maiduguri Maiduguri] Retrieved May 17, 2008.</ref> The Sultan is recognized as the leader of some 4.3 percent of the people of Nigeria, who are of Kanuri descent. Others live in [[Chad]] and in [[Cameroon]].. <ref>Yakan, Mohamad Z. 1999. ''Almanac of African People and Nations''. Edison, NJ: Transaction Publishers ISBN ISBN 0878554963</ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
| − | * [http:// | + | * Hallam, W. K. R. 1977. ''The life and times of Rabih Fadh Allah''. Ilfracombe: Stockwell ISBN 9780722309599 |
| + | * Holl, Augustin. 2000. T''he Diwan revisited: literacy, state formation and the rise of Kanuri domination (AD 1200-1600)''. London: Kegan Paul International ISBN ISBN 9780710305817 | ||
| + | *Lugard, Flora Louisa Shaw and Shaw, Flora Luisa. 1905. ''A Tropical Dependency: an Outline of the Ancient History of the Western Sudan''. London: J. Nisbet & Co; 1965. NY: Barnes & Noble . [http://books.google.com/books?id=DKwSAAAAYAAJ ] Retrieved May 17, 2008. | ||
| + | * Palmer, Herbert Richmond. 1970. ''The Bornu Sahara and Sudan''. New York: Negro Universities Press ISBN 9780837129341 | ||
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| − | + | ==External Link== | |
| − | + | * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter2.shtml The Story of Africa: Kanem-Borno] — BBC World Service | |
| − | + | * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001431 Bornu at Britannica] | |
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| + | [[Category: History]] | ||
{{Credit|203771116}} | {{Credit|203771116}} | ||
Revision as of 10:18, 17 May 2008
The Bornu Empire (1396-1893) was a medieval African state of Niger from 1389 to 1893. It was a continuation of the great Kanem-Bornu Kingdom founded centuries earlier by the Sayfawa Dynasty. In time it would become even larger than Kanem incorporating areas that are today parts of Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon. This is a very long continuous history, and the story of this Empire is in the main one of stability, prosperity based mainly on trade and on commerce although there were periods of military expansion.
Exile from Kanem
After decades of internal conflict, rebellions and outright invasion from the Bulala, the once strong Sayfawa Dynasty was forced out of Kanem and back into the nomadic lifestyle they had abandoned nearly 600 years ago. Around 1396, the Kanembu finally overcame attacks from their neighbors (Arabs, Berbers and Hausa) to found a new state in Bornu. Over time, the intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the Kanuri.
Early Rule
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 1472 Mai Ali Dunamami 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 Niger), 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 Ali Gaji (1497–1515) 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.
Kanem-Bornu Period
With control over both capitals, the Sayfawa dynasty became more powerful than ever. The two states were merged, but political authority still rested in Bornu. Kanem-Bornu peaked during the reign of the outstanding statesman Mai Idris Aluma (c. 1571–1603).
Idris Aluma
Aluma is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms, and Islamic piety. His main adversaries were the Hausa to the west, the Tuareg and Toubou to the north, and the Bulala to the east. One epic poem extols his victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles. His innovations included the employment of fixed military camps (with walls); permanent sieges and "scorched earth" tactics, where soldiers burned everything in their path; armored horses and riders; and the use of Berber camelry, Kotoko boatmen, and iron-helmeted musketeers trained by Turkish military advisers. His active diplomacy featured relations with Tripoli, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire, which sent a 200-member ambassadorial party across the desert to Aluma's court at Ngazargamu. Aluma also signed what was probably the first written treaty or cease-fire in Chadian history (like many cease-fires negotiated in the 1970s and 1980s, it was promptly broken).
Aluma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Islamic law (sharia). He sponsored the construction of numerous mosques and made a pilgrimage to Mecca (see hajj), where he arranged for the establishment of a hostel to be used by pilgrims from his empire. As with other dynamic politicians, Aluma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers and allies, and he frequently relied on slaves who had been educated in noble homes. Aluma regularly sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans. He required major political figures to live at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through appropriate marriages (Aluma himself was the son of a Kanuri father and a Bulala mother).
Kanem-Bornu under Aluma was strong and wealthy. Government revenue came from tribute (or booty, if the recalcitrant people had to be conquered), sales of slaves, and duties on and participation in trans-Saharan trade. Unlike West Africa, the Chadian region did not have gold. Still, it was central to one of the most convenient trans-Saharan routes. Between Lake Chad and Fezzan lay a sequence of well-spaced wells and oases, and from Fezzan there were easy connections to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. Many products were sent north, including natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, kola nuts, ivory, ostrich feathers, perfume, wax, and hides, but the most important of all were slaves. Imports included salt, horses, silks, glass, muskets, and copper.
Aluma took a keen interest in trade and other economic matters. He is credited with having the roads cleared, designing better boats for Lake Chad, introducing standard units of measure for grain, and moving farmers into new lands. In addition, he improved the ease and security of transit through the empire with the goal of making it so safe that "a lone woman clad in gold might walk with none to fear but God."
Decline and Fall
The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid-1600s, when its power began to fade. By the late 1700s, Bornu rule extended only westward, into the land of the Hausa of modern Nigeria.
Fulani Jihad
Around that time, Fulani people, invading from the west, were able to make major inroads into Bornu. By the early 19th century, Kanem-Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in 1808 Fulani warriors conquered Ngazargamu. Usman dan Fodio led the Fulani thrust and proclaimed a holy war (also called the Fulani War] on the allegedly irreligious Muslims of the area. His campaign eventually affected Kanem-Bornu and inspired a trend toward Islamic orthodoxy. However, Muhammad al-Kanem, an advisor to the royal family and a religious scholar contested the Fulani advance.
Muhammad al-Kanem (or al-Kanami)
Putting together an alliance of Shuwa Arabs, Kanembu, and other seminomadic peoples, he moved about 80 miles to the North east and built a newcapital at Kukawa (in present-day Nigeria) in 1814, continuing the Bornu polity. Sayfawa mais remained titular monarchs until 1846. In that year, the last mai, in league with the Ouaddai Empire, precipitated a civil war. It was at that point that Kanem's son, Umar, became the 1st Sultan, or Shehu, of Bornu, thus ending one of the longest dynastic reigns in regional history.
Post Sayfawa
Although the dynasty ended, the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu survived. Umar (d. 1881) 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 Ouaddai Empire to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons. In 1893, Rabih az-Zubayr leading an invading army from eastern Sudan, conquered Bornu. Rabih had been an officer in the army of a Sudanese prince who unsuccessfully revolted against |Egyptian rule. When the revolt failed, Rabih led his platoon towards the West, gathering additional recruits and weaponry as he crossed the continent. He increases his militia from about 400 to about 5,000 men. After capturing Bornu, he established a city-state based at Dikwa, to the south of Lake Chad from where he engaged with the army of the Fulani Sultanate. It was at this time that the French entered the region, having decided that this would be within their sphere of influence as the |European powers were dividing the Continent up between themselves. Shifting his attention from the Fullani to the French, Rabih confronted them further to the South. He was defeated, and killed, at a battle in 1900. His son, Fad-el-Allah managed to rally enough troops to harass the French and also contacted the British to see if an alliance against the French might prove mutually attractive. He was defeated and killed by the French the following year, while actually on British territory. [1] He had also managed to take the Shehu of Bornu hostage. After Fad-el-Allah’s defeat, the French re-established the Sultan at Dikwa but imposed a hefty fine on him to compensate for their trouble, or possibly in tribute. [2] The area, however, was soon split between three colonial powers, France, Germany and Great Britain, complicating the survival of the Sultanate. [3]
Legacy
The Shehu chose to re-locate to the British Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, possibly because the British said that they would establish him in their territory and by moving he avoided compensating the French. He entered British territory in 1902, eventually settling in Yerwa in 1907. The Sultan of Bornu, like other Nigerian Emirs and Paramount Chiefdoms continues to exist, although their role is almost entirely ceremonial. Nonetheless, the Sultan of Bornu, who still lives at Yerwa (also known as Maiduguri , is the second in seniority in the House of Chiefs after the Sultan of Sokoto, whose ancestor, Dan Fodio, had conquered the Bornu capital in 1808. Bornu state, which comprises much of ancient Bornu, is the largest state in modern day Nigeria although some parts of the old kingdom are in the state of Yobe. The sultans palace in Yerwa dominates the city. [4] The Sultan is recognized as the leader of some 4.3 percent of the people of Nigeria, who are of Kanuri descent. Others live in Chad and in Cameroon.. [5]
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Hallam, W. K. R. 1977. The life and times of Rabih Fadh Allah. Ilfracombe: Stockwell ISBN 9780722309599
- Holl, Augustin. 2000. The Diwan revisited: literacy, state formation and the rise of Kanuri domination (AD 1200-1600). London: Kegan Paul International ISBN ISBN 9780710305817
- Lugard, Flora Louisa Shaw and Shaw, Flora Luisa. 1905. A Tropical Dependency: an Outline of the Ancient History of the Western Sudan. London: J. Nisbet & Co; 1965. NY: Barnes & Noble . [1] Retrieved May 17, 2008.
- Palmer, Herbert Richmond. 1970. The Bornu Sahara and Sudan. New York: Negro Universities Press ISBN 9780837129341
External Link
- The Story of Africa: Kanem-Borno — BBC World Service
- Bornu at Britannica
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- ↑ Lugard, Flora Louisa Shaw and Shaw, Flora Louisa, page 432. Dame Flora Lugard’s husband, Sir Frederick Lugard, was the first Governor-General of the Niger Protectorate who was responsible for defeating the Sultan of Sokoto (and adding 500,000 square miles to the British Empire) and the Emir of Kano in 1903. In The Times on January 8, 1897, Dame Lugard first suggested the name "Nigeria."
- ↑ ”In return for delivering the lawful Sultan of Bornu from Fad-el-Allah, the French imposed upon the Sultan a war indemnity of $71,000, in addition to $9000 already paid by his elder brother.” Lugard and Shaw, page 435.
- ↑ “Bornu.” 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Bornu Retrieved May 17, 2008.
- ↑ "Maiduguri."2008. Encyclopædia Britannica.Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Maiduguri Retrieved May 17, 2008.
- ↑ Yakan, Mohamad Z. 1999. Almanac of African People and Nations. Edison, NJ: Transaction Publishers ISBN ISBN 0878554963
