Our History and Origin

We were not expecting too much from Abba Jiddum Gana's Our History and Origin. It's a dated bilingual pamphlet covering the history of the Kanuri of Borno. The advantage of reading such a book is the local perspective and the fact that it presents Gana's own reading of Borno traditions. As one would expect, the familiar tale of Yemeni origins is repeated here, with some references to the written materials collected by Palmer. Much of it is clearly based on oral traditions that have evolved over time. For instance, Tubba'ul Auwal of the Haimairu tribe supposedly lived 1000 years before Muhammad but he or his people were the first to place a garment around the Kaba in Mecca. References to Hind, the Quran, and obviously Islamic texts or traditions undeniably shaped how the Kanuri conceive their origins. What was interesting to us are the occasional snippets of historical information which sadly lack references. For example, the claim that Shehu al-Kanemi, son of Shehu Nengka, the founder of the al-Kanemi dynasty of Borno, was a relative of the Sayfawa. Palmer expressed a similar idea but we are still looking for confirmation of this from other sources. Gana also believed there was some evidence of Bornu and Nupe acknowleding Borno's suzerainty, a claim we do not recall ever encountering in any other text. Moreover, he asserted that the Sugurti, a Kanembu group who were originally allies of the al-Kanemi rulers, actually allied themselves with the last Sayfawa mai in 1846. We would love to hear more about this particular episode, the last attempt by the Sayfawa, with the aid of Wadai, to retake power.