The Tuareg and Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama

Map from Studies in the History of Pre-Colonial Borno

One key factor of Borno’s 18th century decline during the “Late Sayfawa Period” was the loss of Kawar, a major salt production center and part of the trans-Saharan trade routes. During the long reign of Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama (r. 1747-1792), Borno not only suffered defeat at the hands of the Tuareg at Bilma in c. 1759, but some of Borno’s vassal states and regions suffered Tuareg depredations, particularly areas like Gaskeru under the shaykhs of the Koyam. Lovejoy, who has written extensively about the salt trade in West Africa, has relied heavily on Palmer (and, via Palmer, Jean) for the basic narrative of the Tuareg seizure of the Kawar salt trade to Hausaland. However, this momentous development in the 18th century Central Sudan is poorly documented. Besides passing references to Kawar and a conflict or war in Bilma in c. 1759-1760 in the Chronicles of Agadez, Palmer (and Jean) presumably drew on Tuareg oral traditions to show resistance from Borno to Kel Owey and other Tuareg acts of aggression. Intriguingly, however, oral traditions from Borno do not seem to refer to wars with the Kel Owey or Agadez Sultanate over Bilma. Instead, traditions collected from the Koyam refer to a disastrous battle in which forces from Gaskeru and additional warriors sent from Birni Gazargamo were massacred by the Imakiten Tuareg at Kaiguem, an area north of Kelle in Koutous. We propose a return to the sources and oral traditions to better understand relations between Borno during Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama’s reign and the Tuareg associated with Aïr. It shall be argued that Borno’s conflict with the Tuareg during the reign of Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama cannot be understood as a single, decisive war for Kawar, but rather as a series of fragmented commercial and military struggles involving multiple Tuareg groups, local intermediaries, and uneven Borno intervention. Beginning with the written sources from the time period in question, we will then attempt an analysis of the various traditions on this period recorded since the 19th century. It is hoped that the connection between the Koyam conflict with the southeastern Tuareg was indeed tied with the Kel Owey commercial rise in Aïr and Kawar.

Review of Precolonial Sources

Beginning with the main written sources, a number of 18th century or early 19th century texts refer to the Tuareg and the salt caravan to Hausaland. In addition, the Chronicles of Agades alludes to conflict with Borno or in Kawar in the second half of the 18th century. According to the French translation of Urvoy, the “combat” of Bilma took place in 1760.[1] Another conflict erupted in Bilma or Kawar during the affair of Dirfass in 1777-1778. The same collection of Agadez chronicles also contain earlier references to conflict with Borno in the 17th century, such as a possible war in 1685 and the Kel-Owey Tuareg attacking Borno in 1679.[2] These references to conflict in Kawar or with Borno are, unfortunately, very thin on the details. It is possible that the sultans of Agadez were not directly involved in instigating the conflict with Borno or the Tubu for Kawar, meaning that their royal chronicles shed less light on the conflict than Kel Owey oral traditions. But, according to Hamani, the Agadez sultans Muhammad Humad and Muhammad al-Udala (r. 1768-1792) were allies of the Kel Owey.[3] 

Besides the Agadez sources, written sources from Borno do, if indirectly, refer to conflict during the second half of the 18th century. A mahram dated by Palmer to 1752 referred to a failed attempt by the mai to enlist the Tura for war. When the Tura threatened to leave Borno and return to Dirku in Kawar, the Sayfawa ruler relented and reaffirmed their privileges.[4] While this predates the c. 1759 aggression in Bilma, there must have been some threat or campaign important enough to tempt the mai to enforce military service from a privileged group. A later mahram dated to 1785 also affirms the town of Laluri as belonging to the Beni Mukhtar Tura.[5] More written sources, such as poems and texts on Islamic rulership, the meaning of the Mune, and other texts exist, but not in translation. The sense appears to have been one of insecurity and conflict with various neighbors or vassal states. Indeed, a 19th century Mandara kirgam may be obliquely referring to this troubled political climate when elucidating how the motive of Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama’s aggression was Mandara’s resources.[6] This is certainly plausible as the Mandara campaign of 1781 took place after Borno’s loss of Bilma. Perhaps eager to reassert Borno’s status in the Central Sudan, the Sayfawa mai also wanted to acquire extra resources to make up for the losses to the Tuareg.

Salines of Bilma (Abadie).

In addition to these aforementioned sources, a number of European 18th century descriptions also establish that the Tuareg had achieved a monopoly of the trade in Kawar’s salt to the markets of Hausaland in the second half of the 1700s. For example, the journal of Hornemann referred to the Kel Owey Tuareg’s dominance of Asben. The same source referred to the Koyams (“Kojams”) living to the north of the principal town of Borno (Gazargamo) so his account was presumably written before the final abandonment of Gaskeru. More importantly, Beaufoy is cited for the salt caravan from Agadez to Domboo.[7] Thus, Hornemann’s journal, written in the 1790s, clearly establishes a Tuareg (and specifically Kel Owey) ascendancy, as well as the ties to Agadez for the trade in Kawar salt. Carsten Niebuhr, writing in German and basing his information on the Sudan from talks with Tripolitanian envoy and his African slaves from the Central Sudan, reported that Afnu (Hausaland) gets its salt from Asben. Niebuhr also referred to the Tuareg by the Kanuri term for them, indicating one of his informants was Kanuriphone or came from the Borno region.[8] While some of the salt from Asben’s own salines likely contributed to the supply of desert salts to Hausaland, Niebuhr’s information was collected in the 1770s. Consequently, it is possible that Kawar’s salt production was also being exploited by Tuareg traders in Katsina, Kano, and other Hausa cities. The use of the Kanuri term for the Tuareg also shows the degree to which the Tuareg were a known and identifiable group in 18th century Borno, possibly through their raids and pillaging of Kutus, Muniyo, Koyam centers, and other parts of Greater Borno. Last, but certainly not least, North African and Fezzani informants in the late 18th century reported that Borno still exported salt (perhaps natron is meant), but the people of Agadez controlled the salt caravans from Domboo to Cashna (Katsina). Supposedly, the Tuareg only paid brass and copper to peasants or oasis dwellers of Kawar for their salt. The overall picture suggests the Agadez merchants controlled the trade in salt from Borno (Kawar) to Katsina.[9]

This sense of Tuareg control of the Kawar salt trade to Hausaland is confirmed in a number of 19th century writings by European travelers to the region. Richardson, for example, noted that the Aïr Tuareg were in possession of the Bilma salt caravan. Moreover, a “short time ago,” Borno destroyed or stole the supplies used by this caravan, causing the loss of hundreds of camels.[10] Since Richardson did not give a year for this act of Borno’s sabotage, we can only assume that well into the 19th century, Borno tried to impede the Tuareg traders. Heinrich Barth also observed the history of Tuareg conflict with Borno and the salt caravan. According to Barth, the Kel Owey had an alliance with the people of Azanéres that was linked to the Bilma salt exchange. Furthermore, Barth believed this trade of the Asben-affiliated Tuareg trading Bilma’s salt to Hausaland only began about 100 years ago.[11] This agrees with the Agadez chronicle of the Tuareg of Aïr engaging in a war or battle at Bilma in c. 1759. Elsewhere in his account of his travels, Barth also referred to Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama’s violent struggles with the Tuareg in the middle of the 18th century: “He made great exertions in every direction, but his efforts seem to have resembled the convulsions of death…”[12] Although he confusingly referred to the mai as Ali Omari, recalling Ali b. Umar of the 17th century, it’s quite clear that Barth was referring to Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama. He even named his successor correctly as Ahmad. That this period was a turbulent one in Borno’s history can also be found in Barth’s allusion to Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama’s campaigns against the Bade (Bedde).[13] Nachtigal, for his part, wrote of the responsibilities of the yerima including oversight of the southeastern Tuareg groups while the galadima was responsible for the Bade and western Borno. Thus, during the conflicts with the Tuareg in the 18th century, the yerima was presumably the first official meant to respond to the crisis. This is perhaps contradicted by oral traditions of the Koyam, however, who remembered a kaigama named Ali, allegedly a son of Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama, who came to their aid when their community was attacked by the Imakiten Tuareg at Gaskeru.[14] Clearly, a major dimension of conflict with the Tuareg during this period involved Koyam and other groups living outside of Kawar.

Map of Hausaland, Asben and Borno by a Hausa mallam (in Hornemann's Journal).

Revisiting Colonial-Era Scholarship

Moving into the colonial period, more precise traditions of conflict between the Tuareg and Borno were recorded. Jean, whose Les Touareg du sud-est. L'Aïr. Leur rôle dans la politique saharienne was published in 1909, was the first to explore what actually happened in c. 1759. Unfortunately, his account is garbled and may mix events associated with Borno’s failed siege of the Tuareg forces at Bagzam with events in the 18th century. In Jean’s retelling, the Bornoan forces abandoned their siege of the Tuareg at Bagzam and, when fleeing to the east, were pursued by the Kel Owey to the wells of Ashegur. There the Kel Owey defeated the forces of Borno, took hundreds of prisoners, and established them at Bilma.[15] It is difficult to say to what extent this tradition is accurate, but it does correctly identify the Kel Owey as protagonists in this conflict. Later, the sultan of Agadez and the Kel Gress went to Fachi and Tuareg suzerainty of the region was established. But, in c.1765, Kel Owey traders were massacred in Borno. This prompted a counterattack in which the sultan of Agadez, Mohammad Almoubari invaded Borno and seized cattle. Supposedly, the Tuareg marched almost to Kuka (Gazargamo) and ensured free access to the area for Tuareg traders.[16] A number of problems exist with this narrative, despite Palmer, Lovejoy and later authors repeating it. If the named sultan is correct, then this was probably Muhammad al-Mubarek, a powerful sultan of 17th century Agadez. Various sources refer to specific wars or battles with Borno during his reign. On one of those occasions, forces from Agadez did reach the capital of Borno. But, that attack occurred in the 1660s, not the 1760s. Besides, the sultan of Agadez in c. 1765 was Muhammad Humad. While Rodd identified him as the son of Mubarak, Hamani’s genealogy of the kings of Agadez names his father as Usman.[17] That some type of conflict likely emerged may be seen in the allusion to the Kel Owey as the Tuareg group targeted by Borno’s violent massacre. In this context, their presence in Borno was due to people of Bilma demanding supplies from Borno. Once there near Lake Chad, they were poorly received and most were killed. The specific reference to the Kel Owey, the sultan of Agadez (at the time, an ally of this group) and the bravery of the Kel Férouan in the expedition against Borno are details that could very well refer to the 1760s.  Furthermore, that the sultan of Agadez at the time was an ally of the Kel Owey reinforces the idea that the sultan may have sent forces to aid the Kel Owey against Borno. 

Despite his garbled reconstruction of Tuareg oral tradition, the narrative of a 1765 invasion from Aïr that reached just before Gazargamo has been repeated by subsequent scholars. The unavoidable Palmer, in Bornu Sahara and Sudan, essentially repeated Jean. Thus, the War of Bilma began in 1759 and in that conflict, Kel Owey achieved victory against Bornoan soldiers. Again, the 1765 reference to the massacre of Kel Owey in Borno and the response from the Agadez sultan are presented uncritically.[18] As Palmer did, other colonial-era scholars largely repeat this narrative or merely stress different aspects of Tuareg tribute demands or the workings of the salt trade. Abadie, as one colonial-era example, merely referred to the Tuareg domination of Kawar probably beginning before the Tubu presence but had to admit the Kanuri traditions remembering a Tubu presence first.[19] In his "Tarikh El Khawar," Le Sourd reported that the Kanuris of Guezebi-Guassar sent tribute to the Kel Owey. Yet prior to that relationship, they paid tribute to the “Temaghra” Tubu. Further, the Koyam were said to have once lived in villages between Agram and Fachi in the distant past.[20] This reference to the Koyam in Kawar and their ties to its trade before the Tuareg may be implied by the mountain east of Bilma’s main mountain, called Diotko, after the Diotko of Borno. Abadie was told the Diotko, or Jetko, were said to have been traders of salt and dates in the region.[21] The Jetko, like the Koyam, were a pastoralist group related to the Koyam. Urvoy, on the other hand, provided some key information on the Tuareg groups involved in Kawar and to the lands south of Aïr. For instance, his Histoire de l’Empire du Bornou mentions the Amakitan Tuareg in Koutous, demanding tribute from sedentary farmers, yet the Ikaskazane of the Kel Owey were installed to the west of the Amakitanes, with a center at Garazou in Alakoss.[22] It would be worthwhile to further explore the extent to which the Kel Owey and Amakitan groups coordinated their actions or engaged in joint raids, especially if directed against Koyam and Jetko traders in Kawar with links to Borno’s trans-Saharan and desert salt trade.

The area of southeastern Niger to Lake Chad (Maikorema Zakari).

Unquestionably, this memory of Koyam or Jetko traders active in Kawar was surely another aspect of the Koyam conflict with the Tuareg during the 18th century. Unsurprisingly, this is precisely where the Koyam traditions described by Landeroin are the most detailed on Tuareg conflicts. In fact, conflict with the Imakiten (and likely other Tuareg) began as early as the 17th century, when Kalumbardo was destroyed by Tuareg raiders. The 18th century settlement at Gaskeru, under the effective leadership of shaykhs descended from the founder of the earlier Kalumbardo, was probably connected to traders in Kawar. Hence, it is likely not insignificant that the only conflict with the Tuareg reported by Landeroin was with the Imakiten Tuareg of Koutous who attacked Gaskeru with the aid of other Kel Aïr:

Sous le commandement d’Abdoullaÿ, frère cadet de Beker, les Touaregs Imakiten du Koutous, aidés des Touaregs de Azbin, vinrent attaquer Gaskérou. Abdoullaÿ demanda du secours au Maï Ali, qui lui envoya son  fils, le kaïgama Ali. Ensemble, ils repoussèrent les Touaregs jusque dans leur pays. Mais, ayant voulu pénétrer dans l’intérieur de celui-ci pour reprendre les captifs et les troupeaux razzés, les pillards firent front avec toutes leurs forces et au combat de Kaïguem, au Nord de Kellé, les Koyams furent massacrés en grand nombre.[23]

Perhaps even more significantly, the mai sent his kaigama, the top military official, to aid the Koyam against the Tuareg. When they pursued their enemy to Kaiguem, north of Kelle, the Borno forces were massacred and the shaykh, Abdoullay, was killed. This detailed account of utter defeat is, of course, referring to the Imakiten Tuareg who regularly raided parts of Borno. Nevertheless, it is possible this event took place before 1781 since a kaigama named Ali died in that campaign.[24] If the kaigama remembered in tradition was the same man, Abdoullay may have died in conflict with the Tuareg before 1781. To verify this, of course, would require a gargam or more precise genealogies or successions for the kaigamas of 18th century Borno. Overall, this tradition of conflict with the Tuareg supports the notion of how complex and multivalent the relationship with the Kel Aïr Tuareg was at this time.

Thoughts on Postcolonial Scholarship

With the postcolonial era, more precise studies of Kawar, Borno, and the Tuareg of Aïr appeared. Lovejoy, whose detailed study of the desert salt trade drew heavily on Jean and Palmer for Borno’s conflict with the Tuareg, also provides some dates for a Tuareg attack at Gaskeru (c. 1787-1792) before it was finally abandoned.[25] Maikorema, on the other hand, reported the Jetko of Yari Jetko were attacked by the Tuareg, so they moved to Tal Bul, north of N’Gigmi.[26] This is in concordance with attacks on the Jetko and Koyam during the 18th and 19th century by Tuareg bandits. Scholars such as Muhammad Nur Alkali likewise noted the importance of the loss of Kawar for Borno’s economy. Furthermore, the growing independence of the vassal rulers of Muniyo and the Daagirawa, based on an alliance against Tuareg raiders, may have been another sign of Borno’s failure to provide the necessary security for its client states in the 18th and 19th centuries.[27] 

Vikor's map of the Tuareg Salt trade in The Oasis of Salt.

Vikor, in The Oasis of Salt, provides the best synthesis for the Kawar or Fachi-centered aspect of the conflict with the Tuareg. Thus, the familiar tale of the Tuareg defeating Borno forces at the well of Ashegur north of Fachi is maintained. This victory was achieved with the aid of the sultan of Agadez. Additionally, the Itesan held Fachi while the Kel Owey chased the Bornoan forces to Kawar. But, and here is a key difference, Vikor stressed the role of Teda raiders in attacking the Tuareg. One such attack took place in 1768-9, when Isandalan Tuaregs were attacked at Jado. Another Teda attack on the salt caravan led to a major battle in 1777, where the Tuareg leader was named Dirfass.[28] This notion of the Tubu playing a disproportionate role in these conflicts with the Kel Aïr was also believed by Djibo Hamani. For his part, Hamani viewed this period as one in which Borno’s rulers were less involved in the affairs of their vassal states on their western border, areas often raided by the Tuareg: Muniyo, Kutus, Damargu. In Kawar, the Tuareg were seen by Hamani as clashing with the Tubu in 1759, 1768/9, and 1778.[29] Though Vikor recognized the role of Borno in the conflict of 1759, Hamani seems to prefer contextualizing it as one of Tubu raids on Tuareg traders or pilgrims, thereby causing counterraids or battles. Such a perspective, however, ignores the role of Borno in the earlier conflict and the tradition of a Kel Owey group massacred in Borno in c. 1765. Even if that tradition has been problematically reported by Jean, there seems to have been some clear Borno involvement in the fight with the Tuareg. Such a view can find quick support in Borno’s support for the Koyam shaykh, Abdoullay, during this period.

In the study of Aïr’s political economy during this era, Kathleen O’Mara’s dissertation presents a compelling case for the commercial and political ascent of the Kel Owey. In her study, the Kel Aïr alliance won a battle at Bilma in 1759/60. The rights to tribute and monopoly over Kawar’s salt trade went to the Kel Owey and Kel Geres. The Sarkin Turawa of Agadez also received taxes or tribute from a bulama of Kawar. Lastly, she argued against Grandin’s theory of the Kel Geres controlling Bilma in the 1500s, finding no evidence for such an assertion.[30] More importantly, her materialist analysis of the Kel Aïr in the late 1700s and early 1800s emphasizes how the seizure of Kawar’s salt trade was an impetus for agro-pastoral expansion. With the growth of a Kel Owey commercial class investing in salt, agricultural production, livestock, and trade in textiles, slaves, leather products, and items acquired through trans-Saharan trade via the Fezzan or Ghat, the Aïr Tuareg system became a fully tributary one that maintained the dominance of the "nobles."  In fact, the continuation of the sultanate structure in Agadez as an intermediary of Tuareg groups in Aïr, plus their own source of legitimacy via Islam, provided a balance with Kel Owey elites who rose to dominance during the 18th century. Finally, the growing economic integration with the Hausa states to the south and, eventually, the Sokoto Caliphate, contributed to a southward migration as more Tuareg elites began to rely on the labor or tribute from servile or free dependents laboring in agriculture. This process must have fueled further Tuareg settlement in lands to the south, in addition to the ecological pressure during periods of extended droughts in the Sahel. As one can likely imagine, this process among the Kel Aïr of the second half of the 18th century would have included the Amakitan and Kel Owey groups. 

Conclusions and Evidence 

As the evidence suggests, Borno’s conflict with the Tuareg during the lengthy reign of Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama was complex. The battle for Kawar was merely one (and an important one) aspect of this era, the Late Sayfawa Period. The fissures in the imperial system of the Sayfawa state were widening as vassal states rebelled, Borno failed to provide security for others, and internal contradictions and conflicts fueled dissension. Borno’s response to the disastrous 1759/60 war over Bilma revealed how significant it was to the state’s trans-Saharan and Sudanic economy. By also responding to attacks on the Koyam at Gaskeru, the Sayfawa were likewise acting to defend their frontier inhabited by groups who were also tied to Kawar and the trade in desert salts. This means that Borno’s response was based on the goals of protecting its own economic, political, and military interests. That the Bilma salt trade was of such importance can be seen in the dynamic rise of the Kel Owey Tuareg during this time, whose burgeoning power also encouraged further Tuareg depredations and settlements in lands south of Asben. That conflict extended to Borno’s peripheral tributaries such as Muniyo and Koutous is linked to the growth of Tuareg settlement to the south, itself facilitated by the Kawar salt trade and the Hausa markets of centers like Kano and Katsina. To properly analyze this period, one must interrogate closely all sources, particularly the problematic oral traditions (or the debased or elaborated forms reported in colonial sources).

[1] Yves Urvoy, “Chroniques d’Agades,” 161.

[2] Ibid., 160, 162, 170

[3] Djibo Hamani, Le sultanat touareg de l'Ayar: au carrefour du Soudan et de la Berbérie, 261.

[4] H.R. Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan, 46.

[5] Ibid., 47.

[6] Eldridge Mohammadou, Le royaume de Wandala ou Mandara au XIXè siècle, 44.

[7] Friedrich Hornemann, The Journal of Frederick Hornemann's Travels, from Cairo to Mourzouk: The Capital of the Kingdom of Fezzan, in Africa, 113, 180-182. 

[8] Carsten Niebuhr, “Das Innere von Afrika", 981, 986.

[9] Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, Proceedings of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, Volume 1, 154, 157, 167.

[10] James Richardson, Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara in the Years of 1845 & 1846 Containing a Narrative of Personal Adventures During a Tour of Nine Months Through the Desert Amongst the Touaricks and Other Tribes of Saharan People; Including a Description of the Cases and Cities of Ghat, Ghadames and Mourzuk, Volume 2, 143.

[11] Heinrich Barth, Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake Chad, (1890), 154, 158.

[12] Ibid., Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu and the countries around Lake Chad, Volume 2 (1857), 281.

[13] Ibid., 599. 

[14] Landeroin, “Notice historique” in Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, 399. 

[15] C. Jean, Les Touareg du Sud-Est: l'Air ; leur rôle dans la politique saharienne, 119-120.

[16] Ibid., 121.

[17] Rodd, People of the Veil, 415, Hamani, 452. 

[18] Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan, 86.

[19] Maurice Abadie, Afrique centrale: La colonie du Niger, 177.

[20] Michel Le Sourd, "Tarikh El Kawar,: Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N VIII, (1946) 6, 28.

[21] Abadie, 5.

[22] Yves Urvoy, Histoire de l’Empire du Bornou, 91. 

[23] Landeroin, 399.

[24] Mohammadou, 55.

[25] Paul E. Lovejoy, Salt of the Desert Sun, 229.

[26] Maikorema Zakari, Contribution à l'histoire des populations du sud-est Nigérien Le cas: Mangari (XVIe - XIXe s.), 83.

[27] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa: A Study of the Origin, Growth, and Collapse of a Dynasty (891-1846), 268, 314.

[28] Knut S. Vikør, The Oasis of Salt, 212, 216.

[29] Hamani, 267.

[30] Kathleen O’Mara, A Political Economy of Ahir (Niger): Historical Transformations in a Pastoral Economy, 1760-1860, 114, 124, 343.