Birni Gazargamo: A Borno Metropolis

An aerial view of Birni Gazargamo in Graham's Connah's "The Daima Sequence and the Prehistoric Chronology of the Lake Chad Region of Nigeria"

What was Birni Gazargamo? We have previously explored some of the traditions on the origin of this major city in the precolonial Central Sudan. What was the city actually like, however, from its origins in c.1472 to its fall in c.1808? The city was described as vast, surrounded by fertile lands, featured impressive walls and a palace complex with fired brick walls, and attracted traders and Islamic scholars. How did the Sayfawa dynasty, beginning with Ali b. Dunama, transform Gazargamo into this African metropolis of economic activity and dynamism? The combination of skilled leadership, effective security and control of trade routes, textile production, livestock rearing, Islamic scholarship, and state-influenced migration favored the rapid development of a metropolitan region that may have reached a population of 200,000. We will explore this process by first tracking the sources on Gazargamo chronologically. Then, a brief discussion of aspects of the city and its surrounding districts will be attempted.

The early period of Birni Gazargamo's existence as a city is ambiguous. Traditions previously examined indicate "Sao" presence in the area. Through a ruse  and violence, or gradual coexistence shaped by economic exchange, the followers of the Banu Sayf were able to establish a foothold in the region. Since the Sao Gafata were still living near Gazargamo by the reign of Idris b. Ali (r. 1564-1596), one can presume that Gazargamo was built in a part of he Komadugu-Yobe area inhabited by earlier Chadic peoples. As for early Gazargamo itself, the origins of its walls or fortifications are unclear. Heinrich Barth attributed its walls or fortifications to mai Dunama b. Muhammad (Barth, Vol 2, 649). Another source, a list in verse of the Sayfawa rulers in H.R. Palmer's Sudanese Memoirs (Vol. 2), attributes the wall of Gazargamo to Ali b. Dunama. Since Gazargamo was near non-Muslim groups who occasionally rebelled, one would assume Gazargamo was likely fortified or at least walled at its inception. However, it is possible that Dunama b. Muhammad strengthened the walls of the capital or enlarged them during his reign. As for other developments in Gazargamo at this early stage, the reign of Ali b. Dunama presents some clues. Since he brought peace to the internal warring of the Sayfawa rulers and was able to make the hajj in c.1484, one may presume the conditions within Borno were stable. Or at least secure enough for the ruler to leave his domains for an extended period of time. The location was also well-chosen. If the traditions of the Imikitan Tuareg are any indication, the region around Gazargamo was favorable for herding. The city's location near two rivers, access to river transport, salines, and fertile soil meant Ali b. Dunama chose an excellent spot for the capital. With the consolidation of a Sayfawa capital, the Ali b. Dunama and his successors could also support a larger court, invite Islamic scholars, and attract trans-Saharan and regional traders.

Ruins from one of the fired-brick walls at the palace of Birni Gazargamo. Photo in Connah's Three Thousand Years in Africa : Man and His Environment in the Lake Chad region of Nigeria.

Sadly, the only detailed source on the early period of Gazargamo is Leo Africanus. Since it is unclear if Africanus actually visited Borno, one must carefully interpret his writing on the powerful kingdom. To Africanus, the king of Borno lived in a large village. Unlike his description of other cities in Sudanic Africa, one gets the sense here that Gazargamo was still a small town. But, since Africanus's description of Borno is ambiguous and problematic, it is possible that his information is outdated or highly inaccurate. For instance, it repeats outdated information derived from classical antiquity about the Garamantes and applies it to Borno. For these reasons, it is difficult to use as a source for early Gazargamo. Regardless, by the late 1500s, Anania described it as "C'est une immense ville avec beaucoup de trafic..." (Anania 347). Ahmad b. Furtu, the chronicler of Idris b. Ali's campaigns in Borno and Kanem, frequently described Gazargamo as the "great city" (Furtu (in Sudanese Memoirs Vol. 1, 65). Likewise, the construction of brick or clay mosques in Gazargamo allegedly began under the reign of this mai (A Sudanic Chronicle 72). If the old mosques built of stalks were no longer acceptable, one can assume the capital was attaining a more metropolitan and impressive infrastructure. It is tantalizing to ponder if the appearance of the impressive brick walls of the palace complex in the center of Birni Gazargamo date to the period of Idris b. Ali or his immediate predecessors. In addition, Anania describes a city that was clearly a major market center with many Turks and North Africans moving to the kingdom (Anania 349). Borno provided captives for trans-Saharan trade, but the leather industry was also important as a commodity traded to the Fezzan (Anania (349-351). if the sources from the 16th century are any indication, it is clear that the city of Gazargamo grew into a major urban area by the second half of the 16th century. In fact, Muhammad Nur Alkali speculated that the city and the connected chain of settlements near it covered around 100 square kilometers by the second half of the 1500s (Nur Alkali 62).

By the 17th century, Birni Gazargamo's status as an impressive metropolis was clearly established. According to the enslaved French surgeon who wrote about Borno based on his access to sources from the sultanate and interviews with people who traveled there or knew the kingdom, the royal capital was described as a vast city with beautiful houses (Girard, in Dewiere 608). From this description, the city was probably already encompassing a huge area with houses, likely rectangular and made of clay or earth, which North Africans would have been familiar with in the Wasiliram quarter near the palace. Indeed, according to Ali Eisami, the wasiliram quarter for "whites" from North Africa was near the residence of the king (Koelle 425). This means the North Africans who stayed in the capital likely saw the palace complex with its impressive fired brick walls and probably stayed in homes in a rectangular shape with courtyards. Besides the city's reputation as an enormous city, Gazargamo was threatened by foreign attack in the 17th century. For instance, in c.1667, the capital was threatened by the Tuareg of Air, invited by rebels opposed to Ali b. Umar (r. 1639-1677), who was able to defeat them (Girard, in Dewiere 603-604). Jukun tradition similarly recalls an attack by Kwararafa on Gazargamo that was only defeated when the Borno forces convinced the Tuareg to help them defeat the southern pagans (Fremantle 35). These accounts undeniably illustrate Gazargamo was a walled city. It's imposing defenses made besieging it difficult.

Part of the palace wall in Birni Gazargamo. Photo from Connah's in Graham's Connah's "The Daima Sequence and the Prehistoric Chronology of the Lake Chad Region of Nigeria."

Moreover, additional sources from the time of Ali b. Umar provides details on the capital. Entitled, "An Account of Ngazargamu" in H.R. Palmer's "Two Sudanese Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century," authorship is attributed to a Muhammad, also called Salih. The son of a Mallam named Isharku, the account is supposedly based on written histories of Birni Gazargamo (Palmer 544). Although much of the account describes a Fulani scholar named Umr ibn Othman, it is interesting for highlighting the influence of cosmopolitan Muslim scholars in precolonial Borno. First, by calling attention to the hosting of this illustrious scholar by the zarma Muhammad Margimi, the account suggests that a "ward" of Gazargamo was associated with this dignitary of the royal court. Also significant, the renowned Fulani Muslim scholar was made an imam of the mosque by Ali b. Umar. Intriguingly, only 76 people prayed at this mosque associated with Ali b. Umar (546). Was this the small mosque associated with the palace? Later on, the narrator of this source wrote that Gazargamo possessed 4 Friday mosques, each with 12,000 worshipers. As this figure is likely an extreme exaggeration, it is intriguing that a mosque of Ali b. Umar was only used by 76 people. Is this the mosque Barth to have only had 5 aisles (Barth, Vol. 4, 23)? Offering further evidence of the huge concentration of people in the area are the courtiers of the gumsu of the mai. She allegedly had 60 nobles, 40 slaves, and 20 men who commanded 1000 slaves each to fight for her. Even more extraordinary is the source's assertion that Gazargamo possessed 660 roads, cleared and widened (547). This latter point is contradicted by descriptions of the city from the 18th century. According to these sources, Gazargamo lacked a regular layout, and streets besides a dendal were undermined by the houses placed in a seemingly "haphazard" manner. It is difficult to imagine Gazargamo could have had these many roads, particularly wide ones, given the lack of a grid-like pattern for streets. 

In spite of its obvious problems, the aforementioned account is suggestive and useful for understanding the city of Gazargamo. For instance, at least one dignitary had a quarter of the town associated with him, the zarma. The kaigama may have also had a large quarter assigned to him, including possible bired brick walls at his own palatial estate (Gronenborn 115). In addition, Petis de la Croix's description of trans-Saharan trade from Tripoli to Borno in the late 17th century mentioned the caravan traders staying in Borno for 6 months (Lange, "Un document de la fin 681). If accurate, then a large number of people in Gazargamo were North African traders who resided in the capital's wasiliram for half the year. Bobboyi has also identified Garibaya, one of the Friday mosques of Gazargamo, as the probable mosque of Shaykah Hajrami, a prominent scholar of the capital (Bobboyi 20). Finally, a Kanuri praise song translated by J.R. Patterson in the 1920s may allude to a zerma, Ibrahim b. Margi, who was related to the zarma Muhammad Margimi. According to the praise song, he was of the Tura, a son of Margi. Well, Nachtigal's understanding of this title in the Sayfawa court associates it with an administrative district on the Komadugu Yobe near Gazargamo. He was also in charge of the royal stables and personal security of the mai (Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2 251). Last, but certainly not least, the inflated population figures for users of the 4 Friday mosques could be an allusion to the use of an outdoor space to accommodate huge numbers of people. In the "Gazir" dialect of Kanuri spoken by Ali Eisami, dendal also meant place of prayer, or mosques (Koelle 278). Is it possible that large, outdoor streets or courtyards were used for prayer outside the principal mosques of the capital, likely constructed with brick or clay?

Kanuri house types, according to page 299 of  Ronald Cohen's The Structure of Kanuri Society.

Heading into the 18th and 19th centuries, one finds more detailed descriptions of the royal capital. First, sometime in the late 17th or early 18th century, a Koyam shaykh named Umar lived in the city. According to traditions collected for the Tilho Mission, this Umar was the son of the founder of the second Kalumbardo settlement. After the death of his father by Tuareg bandits in 1677 or 1678, Umar led his followers as far as Noufe. He returned to Borno sometime during the reign of a "Hadji," he received support from the mai for a community as Gaskeru (Tilho Mission 398). Interestingly, a later Koyam Shaykah, Ahmad, fled to Gazargamo after the Imakiten Tuareg sacked Gaskeru. He stayed in the area of Sandaram, a place where shaykh Umar was said to have prayed for water earlier (probably in the beginning of the 1700s. Popular tradition attributed the necessary rain for the creation of a pond or reservoir at Sandaram to this Umar (400). More detailed accounts of the city itself, besides miraculous stories of a Koyam shaykh praying for rain in the capital, descriptions of the city reached more Europeans in this century. For example, the enslaved abu Bekr es Siddik of Jamaica, briefly mentioned Birni Gazargamo as the birthplace of his mother. His mother, who appears to have been of Hausa origin, was born in the city of Borno to a father of Katsina and Borno (es Siddik 104). His maternal ancestry points to deep ties between Katsina and Birni Gazargamo in the 18th century. Even Brown, who heard of Borno from Darfur, knew that the capital was walled, had 4 gates in each cardinal direction, and was near a small river. Johann von Einsidel heard of Borno's capital from North Africa. There, he was informed the capital was called Mokouwi, and had almost 10,000 houses (Einsiedel 437). This figure of 10,000 should not be taken literally, but exemplifies how North Africans believed the city was a bustling city with a huge population.  And even in the 18th century, Gazargamo may have been attacked by the Tuareg in 1765, when the Agadez sultan invaded (Lovejoy 229). 

By far, the best account of the city in the late 18th century can be found in the report of Lucas and Ledyard. Basing it on the experiences of North Africans or Fezzanis who had seen the capital of Borno, one assumes these informants resided in the wasiliram section of the city. This could explain why the houses of Gazargamo are described as rectangular with a court (Lucas & Ledyard 134). A large Gazargamo house could reach the following dimensions: 20 feet long, 11 feet high, 11 feet in width. Outside the house, a yard with a wall was used to keep cattle. Clay or mud with stones as mortar were used in the construction of houses (140). This sounds like a version of the earthen house Nachtigal lodged in during his time at Kukawa. Like the future Borno capital, Gazargamo's streets had an irregular layout with houses placed without rule. Nonetheless, the city was of a greater extent than Tripoli with mosques of brick and earth. The weekly market was held outside the walls of the city while the daily provisions market was held inside the walled town (143). This source even specifies children of a deceased mai stayed in the palace until they reached maturity (150). Since some kings allegedly had hundreds of children, like mai Ali's 350, one can imagine the palace complex was full of people. Unsurprisingly, some of the features described here are similar to those of Kukawa in the late 19th century. There Nachtigal stayed in an earthen house, or soro (Nachtigal Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2 150). Like Kukawa, Gazargamo certainly presented signs of a division of labor in crafts and production for sectors like weaving (159). The dendal undoubtedly served as a center for public life, too (153). In the case of Gazargamo with its oval-like shape, the dendal was said to run from the western gate to the palace.

A sketch by Heinrich Barth of the ruins of Gazargamo. Note the palace complex still visible in the center.

Among the less reliable descriptions of Gazargamo can be found Abdallah of Affade. An informant to Ulrich Seetzen in Cairo, young Abdallah was definitely exaggerating to the skeptical Seetzen. If one trusts Abdallah, Gazargamo used water from wells, which is plausible (Seetzen 168). But one must interpret carefully for any meaningful glimpse of Gazargamo when Abdallah tells us the principal mosque had 7 towers (minarets?) and the rich lived in elevated stone homes (176). Likewise, it certainly did not take more than 1 day to cross the city (175). Similarly, the sources do not suggest that a formal school at the principal mosque was funded by the mai. Study circles at mosques in the capital existed, but one gathers that Abdallah wanted Seetzen to believe Gazargamo had an equivalent of al-Azhar in Cairo. Abdallah's description of the mai distributing alms and feeding the poor through a cook he hired to prepare meals could be true (177). After all, the Diwan described Ahmad (r. 1792-1808) as caring about the plight of the poor (Diwan 82). Whether or not one believes the mai held in captivity French slaves who produced cannons for him is another story (Seetzen 180). Abdallah's exaggerated account of Borno's capital nonetheless features some accuracy, and even if not as sizable as Cairo, was clearly a cosmopolitan city with a towering central palace and many earthen and brick buildings.

Additional accounts of Birni Gazargamo of the 18th century or early 19th are usually less detailed than the previously mentioned. Borno-natives sold into slavery and transported to Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean referred to the ruler of Borno as rarely leaving his palace (Descourtilz 146). They also alluded to the royal practice of placing goods in public places and using courtiers to arrest thieves and sell them into slavery (146). Hamsatu Zanna Laminu, in her Scholars and Scholarship in the History of Borno, includes Goni Musa Ngalbiyama of Gazargamo. His sangaya in the 1700s allegedly had 500 students (Laminu 12). Ali Eisami, a native of a village in the Gazir, or capital, province, told Koelle about the many districts i the area. Some of the names refer to the meiram (princess) and magira, hinting at possible towns or villages assigned in fiefs to members of the royal court (Koelle, Grammar of Bornu or Kanuri Language vii). Elsewhere, Eisami informed Koelle that Gazargamo had 7 gates with gatekeepers (Koelle, African Native Literature 420). A court near the king's residence was called the kandegei (321). Eisami similarly told Koelle in Sierra Leone about words related to salt production, wrestling, street, tailors, and schools (here the yard where a religious teacher took in students). It is probable that the words Eisami used are the same as those in Gazargamo. Eisami conspicuously did not include a word for chess, a game which the earlier account of Lucas and Ledyard describe as a pastime of elites (Lucas & Ledyard 154). 

Heinrich Barth's sketch of the dendal area of Kukawa.

Next, the city's fall. According to Barth, who interviewed an elder who witnessed the fall of Gazargamo, the mai fled the city through its eastern gate while the Fulbe entered via the west. The city was later retaken with the aid of al-Kanemi, but abandoned as much of the western provinces of Borno were overrun by groups affiliated with the Sokoto Caliphate. In addition to the pillaging and abandonment of the city, bricks from its palace complex were reused or recycled for other construction outside the city, thereby depriving posterity of a clearer idea of what the palace looked like. When visited in the 1820s by the Borno expedition of Denham, Clapperton and Oudney, Old Birni was said to have covered 5-6 square miles and hold a population of 200,000. It's site extended nearly to Lake Muggaby (Denham 154). Barth, who visited the site a few decades later, noted its oval shape, its circumference of nearly 6 miles and the palace, which was large but included a seemingly small mosque. He also noticed evidence of artificial basins at Gazargamo and Gambaru (Barth, Vol. 4, 23). Even long after its fall, the site was still impressive. 

Archaeologists and academics who have visited the site in the 20th and 21st centuries affirm much of the written sources on Gazargamo. Bivar and Shinnie, whose great plan for Gazargamo was first included "Old Kanuri Capitals," described its earthen rampart of 7 meters in height. The distance across the area enclosed was around 2 kilometers (Bivar & Shinnie 3). Gronenborn collected oral traditions near the site of Gazargamo which attributed its brick palace to Tripoli craftsmen (Gronenborn 115). In light of the deeper antiquity of brick architecture in Kanem at sites associated with the Sayfawa dynasty, this seems rather unlikely. Graham Connah, for his part, wrote of Gazargamo's site being flat, and around 2 kilometers across. The majority of the residents probably lived in structures of wood, stalk and grass (Conah 229). Magnavita, who focused on the palace structure, found that the palace and its immediate environs covered 100,000 square meters. A base of burned brick 20 m by 20 m was probably a minaret (Magnavita 61). The palace walls were of 6-10 feet in height (59). Finally, Lange, whose visited the site, notied the high earthen rampart, the rising brick walls of the palace, 7 gates, and that the Komadugu Yobe was visible from the top of the palace walls (Lange, A Sudanic Chronicle 115). The palace complex was likely a number of buildings with brick walls or enclosures (116). 

A sketch by Gustav Nachtigal of the courtyard of the earthen house he lodged in at Kukawa.

Despite modern findings suggesting a smaller population size and perhaps more typical "Sudanic" city, Gazargamo was clearly an impressive site. As brick buildings were usually only built for the mai or prominent dignitaries, like the galadima of Nguru, the palace complex would have been visible from afar and a clear assertion of power. Likewise, the nobility and courtiers were almost entirely based at Gazargamo. Brenner, for instance, found that nearly everyone of courtly rank lived at the capital (Brenner 19). These elites, or at least those of non-servile origin, would have been part of households with many dependents (wives, children, slaves). Many of them were even awarded chima near the capital with administrative oversight. For example, the fugoma, of slave origin, was the governor of Gazargamo (Nachtigal 253). Another official, the jerma, received an administrative district on the Komadugu Yobe near the capital (251). The digma, who handled the king's correspondence, had an administrative district around the royal residence (252). Besides these court officials, many others were based in Gazargamo and received fiefs or administrative districts in the capital province, Gazir. The magira, meiram, and other officials would have mainly lived in the capital and employed their subordinates to collect taxes. This could mean large households that boosted the population density of the capital. 

But how did the capital function? What mechanisms were in place to regulate the markets, establish law and order, and maintain the city as a vital economic network? Muhammad Nur Alkali's work highlights officials called jongoma. While the Zanna Arjinoma acted as the go-between for the mai when dealing with North Africans, the jongoma collected taxes from traders. Each trade also had a head of the trade or profession who was responsible to the mala kasuube in charge of the market. Thus, petty traders, butchers, smiths, and others were organized and represented in the market system. The talba functioned as the head of police, providing a measure of law and order in this bustling city (Koelle 404). As was the case in Kukawa in the 19th century, the dendal was probably the place for socializing and for the rare public appearances of the mai. For more private, domestic gatherings, a fage, or enclosed area around a shed functioned as a place for adult men to gather (287). Wrestling, chess, a variant of mancala, Islamic scholarship and Quranic education, and labor in various arts and crafts must have occupied much of the time of the populace. Moreover, during the dry season, a large influx of people may have occurred. Nicholas Said, who left Kukawa whe still young, described the city's population as more than doubling in the dry season (Said 13). If fewer people were preoccupied with agriculture at that time, there may have been larger numbers moving into the capital to sell their wares, shop, or perhaps visit mosques. When one considers the vast hinterland of the Gazir province and its over 30 districts, the capital's metropolitan region may have hit 200,000 (Koelle, Grammar vii).

Carlos Magnavita's map of the palace complex of Gazargamo from Birni Gazargamo- the early capital of Kanem-Borno.

Through this exploration of the history of Birni Gazargamo, it should be clear that Borno's capital was an exceptional Sudanic belt city. Even if the figure of 200,000 is exaggerated and some of the traditional and written sources embellish or contradict each other, the city was undoubtedly the product of Sayfawa exploitation of all available resources. Through geography, trade, textile production, salt trade, trans-Saharan trade, agriculture, herding, fishing, the sponsorship of Islamic centers of learning, and the exploitation of teeming numbers of peasants and slaves, the city grew to be an immense economic powerhouse. In decline even before the rise of the Sokoto Caliphate, Gazargamo fell to the jihadists. Borno never again regained a capital of such economic significance for regional and trans-Saharan trade. Nonetheless, the city was a product of the Sayfawa dynasty's dynamic leadership and shaped the subsequent capital, Kukawa. Many of its features experienced by Barth and Nachtigal were likely, in part, built on the model of Gazargamo. 

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