Part of Gustav Nachtigal's map of Kanem featuring Mao, Gujer, Mondo and other settlements.
Archaeologists researching in Kanem in the last few years have become increasingly certain that Tié, in central Kanem, was the probable site of the Sayfawa royal capital. Carlos Magnavita, Tchago Bouimon, and other researchers studying sites with fired-brick ruins and debris have been able to confirm, through radiocarbon dating, the development of brick construction by the 11th century. The Tié site, which features the most imposing brick enclosure, appears to have been the center of a cluster of multiple smaller sites featuring smaller fired-brick structures. The 11th century and 12th century dates strongly correlate with the known chronology for Kanem's Sayfawa dynasty's Islamization. Nonetheless, the rather small size of Tié and other nearby sites suggest Njimi, the Islamic capital of the Sayfawa, was not a bustling birni-styled capital. Instead of something akin to Birni Gazargamo in Borno, Njimi may have been a rather small royal settlement with imposing fired-brick structures. In order to explore the nature of urbanism in Kanem under the Sayfawa, focusing on the 11th-14th centuries, we shall first examine written sources and traditions on the first towns in Kanem. Then, we shall revisit the works of Magnavita and other specialists to see where the accounts agree and possible conclusions about cities and towns in Kanem.
The earliest unambiguous sources on Kanem date to the 9th century. A precious external Arabic source, written by al-Ya'qubi in the late 9th century, includes a brief description of Kanem. In his brief account, Kanem was said to lack towns and its people resided in reed huts (Levtzion & Hopkins 21). By the late 10th century, al-Muhallabi, whose account on Kanem was later quoted by Yaqut, wrote that Kanem had 2 towns: Manan and Tarazki. Kanem's people still lived in houses of reed huts (including the king's palace) and the population relied on livestock, sorghum, camels, and the "worship" of their king (21). This brief description of Kanem suggests that by about 1 century after the writing of al-Ya'qubi, its people were increasingly sedentary but still unfamiliar with fired-brick architecture. After al-Muhallabi, the next detailed description of Kanem was written by al-Idrisi. One would like to consider al-Bakri, who wrote in the second half of the 11th century, but his description of Kanem repeated the story of Banu Ummaya fleeing to Kanem and preserving Arab customs. Consequently, one must move on to al-Idrisi. Like al-Bakri, al-Idrisi did not see Kanem. However, his is the earliest written account to name the capital of the Islamic Sayfawa, Njimi.
Bivar and Shinnie's plan of the Tié site in "Old Kanuri Capitals."
According to al-Idrisi, Kanem included the towns of Anjimi, Manan, and a "town" of Zaghawa. Manan was still seen as a small town whose residents bred camels and goats. Anjimi, or Njimi, was said to be 8 days' travel away from Manan, likely to the southeast. Njimi, the capital, was described by al-Idrisi as a very small town, with few inhabitants of very humble origins. It is possible al-Idrisi is unreliable here, since the archaeological evidence of fired-brick sites suggests that Njimi was a center inhabited by the Sayfawa maiwa and court-affiliated elites (not to mention their subordinates, families, and slaves). Intriguingly, the only "town" with any noticeable degree of commerce and manufacturing was Zaghawa, believed by al-Idrisi to have been a well-populated center 6 days from Anjimi and 8 stages from Manan. Since "Zaghawa" may have been a region rather than a real town or city, it is possible that an area likely east of Njimi may have attracted people from different communities for trade. Ultimately, al-Idrisi's account is problematic and may have garbled sources from different time periods. For instance, he believed that Manan was the town where the ruler and governor lived, relying on soldiers who were naked archers (114). Since Njimi was the capital of the Sayfawa by the 12th century, one wonders if al-Idrisi relied on information from outdated sources from the period when Kanem's capital was indeed located at Manan. This may also explain why al-Idrisi emphasized that Manan and Njimi were very small towns, since past sources like al-Ya'qubi thought Kanem lacked any towns and al-Muhallabi only wrote of 2.
After al-Idrisi, the most detailed description of Kanem was penned by Ibn Sa'id. Relying heavily on the works of Ibn Fatima, who traveled to Kanem in the 13th century during the reign of Dunama Dibalemi, Ibn Sa'id provides one of the best sources for the apogee of medieval Kanem. Like past generations of geographers, he wrote of Manan and Njimi. Some details in his account demonstrate a knowledge of Lake Chad (called Lake Kuri) and a town of Jaja, a center named Badi, and even a pleasure ground of the mai on the west bank of the Bahr el-Ghazal. According to Ibn Sa'id, Manan was located at longitude 51 degrees and latitude 13 degrees, which is further south than al-Muhallabi's coordinates. Njimi, to its southeast, was at longitude 53 degrees and latitude 9 degrees. Manan was the town of the pagan ancestors of the Muslim rulers of Kanem (188). The town of Ni, on a level with Njimi, was where the Sayfawa king had a garden and pleasure-ground and boats, about 40 miles from Njimi (188). If one converts the Arabic mile to km, this suggests a distance of about 70 km between Ni on the Bahr el-Ghazal and Njimi, in Zeltner's estimation (Zeltner 60). Like al-Idrisi, Ibn Sa'id also reported a Zaghawa "town" but specifying its location at longitude 54 degrees and latitude 11 degrees 30 minutes. This Zaghawa "town" was presumably in the Zaghawa region east of Manan. Altogether, Ibn Sa'id's account tells us that Njimi was southeast of Manan, which was south of Kawar, with the Zaghawa "town" somewhere to the east of Kanem. A probably false tradition repeated from Ibn Fatima was the movement of Kanem's capital away from the "Nile" due to the harmful effects of mosquitoes on horses and humans (Levtzion & Hopkins 188). If, however, the story is true, then the rulers of Kanem may have once maintained a court closer to the Bahr el-Ghazal before moving to Njimi. Evidence against this notion can be found in earlier accounts describing Kanem's capital as Manan, which, if northwest of Njimi, would have been located much farther away from the Bahr el-Ghazal.
Magnavita's map of fired-brick sites in Kanem
Next in the medieval Arabic sources on Njimi is al-Umari. Besides repeating that Kanem's capital was Njimi, he also wrote about Kanem's use of rice, wheat, sorghum, figs, lemons, grapes, aubergines and dates. He also wrote about the ruler of Kanem's ritual seclusion, only appearing before the public at 2 festivals. The main form of currency in Kanem was the dandi, measurements of cloth produced in Kanem and used to set the price for goods (260). This brief account tells us that local weaving in Kanem must have been of a sufficient scale to produce extra cloth for currency or a unit of exchange. It also implies that Kanem's agricultural potential may not have been as negatively impacted by increasing aridity yet. Furthermore, the idea of a notable level of cloth production in Borno in the 14th century is attested to by Ibn Battuta, who wrote of Borno's exports as slaves and a cloth dyed with saffron (302). Although he was describing Borno, this was at a time before the Sayfawa dynasty permanently relocated to Borno as the home province. One can presume that agricultural products, cloth, captives, and probably fish, salts, and livestock were items exchanged at markets in Kanem and Borno during the 1300s, with Njimi possibly being one center.
The last Arabic sources on Njimi from the medieval era are less useful, but occasionally provide glimpses of the city. For al-Qalqashandi, Borno's capital was at Kaka and another town was Kutniski, one day east of Kaka. Supposedly, Kaka was only 40 miles from Njimi, presumably somewhere to the west if it was the center of the Sayfawa rulers of Borno. Again, if 40 Arabic miles was equivalent to around 70 km, then the Sayfawa maiwa must have been relatively close to Njimi despite losing control of the area to the Bulala. Of course, it is also possible al-Qalqashandi confused Kaka with Ni, said to have been 40 miles from Njimi in the 13th century. Last but certainly not least, al-Maqrizi also wrote about Kanem. For al-Maqrizi, Kanem's capital was still Njimi, which he rendered as Aljama. Indeed, it was from Aljama that Kanem launched a raid against the Mabna in 1252/3 (354). Although by the 15th century, Kanem was under the suzerainty of the Bulala sultans, al-Maqrizi intriguingly reported information from earlier centuries when the Sayfawa were still based there. Besides al-Maqrizi and the aforementioned sources, other medieval Arabic sources contain only passing references to Kanem or Njimi. For instance, al-Tijani wrote of Kanem's intervention in the land of Waddan, crushing the revolt of a son of Qaraqush. This rebel's head was later brought to Kanem and paraded around in 1258, presumably in Njimi (215).
Comparison of sketch plans of Tié by Bivar & Shinnie and Gonzemai in Magnavita's "Early Kanem-Borno fired brick élite locations in Kanem, Chad: archaeological and historical implications."
After the external Arabic sources from the medieval period, one must consider internal sources from Kanem-Borno and oral traditions. One of the earliest, the "Mahram of the N'Galma Duku" published in H.R. Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan, included mention of a plastered mosque with a clay roof built sometime in the late 1100s or early 1200s (Palmer 19). The imam, Ahmad b. Furtu, writing about Idris Alooma's campaigns against the Bulala in the 1570s, also mentioned Njimi. In Palmer's translation, Ahmad b. Furtu described the mai praying at the tombs of the great Sayfawa sultans (Palmer SM, Vol. 1, 25). Naturally, the Diwan includes allusions to Njimi, too. However, only 5 kings were said to have died at Njimi: Bir, Abdallah b. Kaday, Idris b. Ibrahim (who may have died at Dammasak), Uthman b. Dawud, and Uthman b. Idris. Since other kings may have died elsewhere but were later buried in Njimi, we cannot limit the analysis to only these 5 rulers. Bir, who died at Njimi in c. 1296, was a son of Dunama Dibalemi (Diwan 73). Two of the rulers who died at Njimi were said to have been killed by the Bulala: Uthman b. Dawud in c.1379 and Uthman b. Idris in c. 1381 (76). This suggests that by c.1379, the Bulala were enough of a threat to attack Njimi or its environs. Intriguingly, the area of Gujer, to the northeast of Mao, was still observed to contain Kuka inhabitants who came to Kanem with the Bulala (Nachtigal 74). Were the Bulala attacking Njimi from the north?
Unfortunately, oral traditions shed little additional light on Njimi. As reported through the Diwan, Njimi was said to have been established by the Sayfawa when they left Yemen, beginning with Saif. Thus, in Palmer's translation of the Diwan, Saif died at Njimi, or Sima (Bornu Sahara and Sudan 90). Other traditions included in Palmer's collections of traditions point to different figures for the origins of Njimi. For example, Birni Njimi was said to have been built by Dunama Dibalemi in one tradition (Palmer SM, Vol. 2, 79). In another tradition, the founder of Njimi was Mai Brema Melemi (100). This figure, perhaps meant to be the father of Dugu, Ibrahim, suggests that the oral traditions in Gazargamo became garbled on the subject of early Kanem capitals. Indeed, traditions collected by Landeroin for the Tilho Mission are similarly vague. "Birni Njime" was the Sayfawa capital, and supposedly about 40 km east of Mao (Landeroin 354). But, the very use of the word birni may be anachronistic if the word is not of Kanuri or Kanembu origin. As for Nachtigal, who traveled in Borno and Kanem during the late 1800s, Njimi was located somewhere between Mao and Gujer, but closer to the latter. Nachtigal's reasoning here is not clear, and may reflect observations on demographic shifts in Kanem in the centuries after the 14th century. For instance, Nachtigal believed that Mao and Gala were the centers of the most thickly populated parts of Kanem when it was the main province of the Sayfawa (Nachtigal 74). However, this might have be a reflection of the period when Mao was the capital of the alifas of Kanem, tributaries to the Sayfawa in Borno. Nonetheless, Dierk Lange seemingly concurred with Nachtigal, preferring to locate Njimi to the northwest of Tié (A Sudanic Chronicle 159).
Satellite and aerial images of Tié site in Magnavita.
Traditions recorded more recently raise further questions. Bivar and Shinnie, researching old Kanuri capitals, noted an axis of brick ruins at sites from Siguei in the northeast to Mussoro in the southeast. They also knew of Tié, about 30 miles away from Mao (Shinnie & Bivar 7). They found at Tié scattered brick debris at the crest of a large dune and about 2 miles from sources of water. The site was only 243 meters by 218 meters (8). They failed to identify any traces of a wall, either. But, according to Mao tradition, Tié ruins were said to have been the work of the Bulala (9). Since the Bulala may have occupied the site of Njimi after defeating the Sayfawa, it is not too surprising that Mao oral traditions remember the site as a Bulala one. Zeltner, on the other hand, wrote about Njimi, or Cimi, as occupying the area to the northwest of Ciye Isiri. There brick debris and vestiges of a royal palace were observable (Zeltner 147). Bivar and Shinnie, unlike Zeltner, thought the larger brick structure was a mosque, not a palace. By the time Gonzemai examined the site for an MA thesis in the early 2000s, more vestiges of the fired-brick ruins were visible and he identified the structure as a palace. Moreover, local informants indicated that the area of Tié was locally called Cimi-Ye or Njimi-ye in the past (Magnavita, Dangbet & Bouimon). This local name and the discovery of a site with fired-brick ruins support the identification of the area as Njimi, right?
Archaeologists, as of 2022, have now uncovered 90 fired-brick sites, most in the area east of Mao in the provinces of Kanem and Bahr el-Ghazal (Magnavita, Lindauer, Adjibane 40). 13 of these sites cluster around Tié and were built before the Sayfawa abandoned the region (12). According to their dating, the earliest fired-brick buildings in Kanem appeared by the 1000s (21). At the Tié site, a fired-brick enclosure and 2 secondary enclosures cover 3.2 hectares. Walls and passageways demonstrate that Tié included secluded spaces and courtyards (Magnavita & Bouimon). Furthermore, analysis of glass beads from Tié point to long-distance exchange. Most beads were of a high alumina soda glass perhaps made in the greater Indian Ocean area (Magnavita et al 113). Chemical analysis strongly suggests that the sources for glass beads at medieval Kanem's capital was supplied by an unknown trans-Sudanic route that led to the Middle Nile, ultimately coming to Africa from the Red Sea or Indian Ocean coasts (114). These studies suggest Njimi was indeed participating in long-distance exchange networks, and not solely through trans-Saharan trade with North Africa. Perhaps the "town" of Zaghawa and Tajuwa were the areas through which beads from the Indian Ocean reached Kanem. Njimi itself, due to its small size, if the Tié site was indeed Njimi, may have been supplied by a market center further away from Njimi, perhaps located at a site to the east or north. One wonders if Njimi may have functioned as a secluded royal center akin to Gambaru in Borno, but a major market and some type of city existed further away in a site that remains unknown.
A view of the preserved outer wall, plinth and foundation of the building under Mound 1 at Tié, photo by Magnavita.
Otherwise, one must agree with Magnavita and MacEachern that Kanem lacked urbanism. Despite more than 50 fired-brick settlements in a radius of 25 km from Tié's largest central enclosure, none were more larger than 3 hectares (Magnavita & MacEachern 228-229). If correct, this means Njimi really was a tiny settlement surrounded by several other small settlements that also contained fired-brick constructions. These must have been settlements with members of the Sayfawa family or high-status individuals living in these areas who were allowed to also use fired-brick walls or enclosures. Undoubtedly, the more arid environment of Kanem inhibited the growth of large population centers like Birni Gazargamo in Borno, but one cannot help but contrast descriptions from medieval Arabic sources describing Njimi and Manan as cities. If Tié was more akin to Gambaru, a royal Sayfawa center not too far away from the capital, one cannot help but wonder if there was not at least one major trading center for market exchange elsewhere in Kanem. Otherwise, the more complex economy using cotton cloth as a unit of currency and the probable exchange of captives, textiles, salt, trona, leather, livestock, dried fish, and agricultural products would have remained on a smaller scale. In fact, references to Kanem and Kawar in the trans-Saharan trade often emphasize the slave trade. Yet even slave raiding and slave trading would have required some degree of an organized military with access to weapons, horses, and canoes. Feeding captives before their transit across the Sahara must have also required adequate food production, just as the production of cloth and fabrics probably required full-time artisans and some degree of specialization. Similarly, the trona sites at Foli necessarily required labor to work them, and the rulers of Kanem may have also sponsored the creation of new settlements from captives forcibly relocated to different parts of Kanem. Such a notion is supported by a praise song to Hummay, a late 11th century ruler who allegedly separated slaves taken in battle and settled them in different parts of Kanem. Last but certainly not least, the creation and consolidation of a court-affiliated nobility and land grants to religious specialists (Islamic clerics) required adequate populations of slaves, farmers, and free the elites from full-time farming.
Since a southward orientation is suggested by the possible relocation of Manan between the late 10th century and the 13th century, the rulers of Kanem may have sought to center their settlements near sources of water and land to the south, especially the fertile land of Borno. If Jaja, which was east of Badi and southwest of Njimi was located in Borno, this fertile area already had towns and must have attracted people from Kanem. This southward migration likely varied in pace and severity with the fluctuations in the levels of Lake Chad, perhaps making parts of Kanem and the Bahr el-Ghazal capable of supporting larger populations than today. Indeed, Kanem by the days of Nachtigal's travels was estimated to only have about 70,000 inhabitants (Nachtigal 91). By that period, much of Kanem's territory was only occupied by nomadic pastoralists, so it is possible that in wetter periods during the medieval era, Kanem's population was significantly higher. If so, larger urban centers characterized by the reed, mud, and thatch structures may have developed, particularly along major routes for trade and exchange. Archaeologists undertaking research in Kanem should also search the area of Gala, Mao, and Gujer for possible sites of larger settlements that attracted trade. Perhaps closer to Manan to Njimi's northwest, and a site further east for trade connecting to eastward routes of exchange with what is now Waday and Darfur should be considered. Whilst this process happened, migration to the southwest for the more fertile lands of Borno may have begun to drain part of Kanem's population by the 1200s.
In conclusion, reviewing the various sources on the Sayfawa dynasty's medieval capital has raised a number of questions. If Tié truly was the site of Njimi, does this mean Kanem lacked an urban tradition until the Sayfawa relocated to Borno? And how does that match the medieval Arabic sources describing cities or towns in Kanem? If Tié as a royal center was more akin to the later Gambaru of Borno, does that mean there could be sites in Kanem that feature urban traits? And did they feature a dendal and similar domestic architecture to later Kanuri architecture? When did large, walled political capitals emerge in Kanem? We have argued that Kanem likely had centers like that for the exchange of goods, provisioning traders, travelers, slaves, and pilgrims, and for a small segment of the population engaged in non-subsistence activities during the dry-season or on a more permanent basis due to their official titles, artisanal labor, or trading activities. Since a large number of sites with fired-brick ruins have been located around Tié and in the area east of Mao, one can agree with Magnavita et al on Tié being a royal center, but was it the economic capital and demographic center with urban features identified in contemporaneous Arabic sources?
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