Part of Gustav Nachtigal's map of Kanem and the Lake Chad Region (Gallica)
Although the paucity of written sources makes it exceedingly difficult, the so-called siècles obscurs of the 17th and 18th centuries are worth revisiting. Far from being obscure, 17th–18th century Kanem was politically, economically, and socially dynamic. Several changes took place politically and ethnically as Kanem and the Bahr el-Ghazal witnessed population movements, the replacement of the Bulala sultans by an alifa under the auspices of the Sayfawa, and the growing threat of Wadai in the east. Kanem’s integration in a Borno-centered regional economy continued through the lively trade in livestock and horses while trona production and trans-Saharan trade continued. Kanem’s political conflict between the alifate based at Mao and the Tunjur leadership at Mondo likewise contributed to a period of political conflict. Nonetheless, Kanem’s social, ethnic, economic, and political transformations in this era provide another vantage point for viewing the gradual decline of Borno and the political revolutions that shocked the Central Sudan in the 19th century. Thus, the picture that emerges from an analysis of the 17th and 18th centuries is one of political and economic dynamism. This was a provincial dynamism that gradually declined with metropolitan Borno’s loss of the Bilma salt mines, insecure trans-Saharan routes, and a reorientation of the Central Sudan’s metropole with the rise of the Sokoto Caliphate.
First, the political changes. We have already attempted to create a more coherent chronology for the alifa rulers at Mao, using oral traditions and attempting to corroborate it with other sources. But, what was the state of the Dalatoa alifas? According to Landeroin, the institution began with Dala Afouno. Whether or not he was from a village in Kano, his descent from a Magumi mallam and appointment by the Sayfawa seems to have begun in the 17th century. Indeed, Zeltner has echoed Lavers in preferring a date by c. 1642 for the establishment of the caliphate at Mao.[1] As for the court at Mao, it consisted of court officials called kokenawa. The court dignitaries used titles like those of Borno: kaigamma, jerma, dugma, yerima, etc. In addition, the post of dima was a once-powerful position with authority over the Kanembu tribes and requiring ratification by Borno.[2] Conte has also stated that the court at Mao was modeled on that of Borno, with “fiefs” for some officials while others did not receive any land. The highest dignitary title, the zegbada, was quasi-hereditary and vested in a descent group of the alifas. Other court titles included Mala, N’goa, Kajala, gerema, dalado, maina, magiri, Nogona, and khalifa. The jerma was a minister of justice and the interior. As for the Mala, it was for the head of the Dalatoa Kingiru.[3] Moreover, a Kogona clan, established in the 17th century, was originally a military and administrative caste under the authority of the alifas.[4]
Additional details on the administrative structure of the Dalatoa-Magumi ruling group can be found in an ethnographic work by Robert Bouillé. His Les coutumes familiales au Kanem was published in the 1930s, after the momentous changes of the 19th century and the French colonial conquest. Nonetheless, it is likely reliable for the structure of the government before the 1800s, too. Thus, the alifas divided Kanem into sous-commandements led by chiefs with titles like Fougbou, Melinia, Kadela, etc.[5] While it is possible that the Fougbou at Mondo was very autonomous in the past, it is noteworthy that the leader of the Tunjurs there used a Kanembu title. Moreover, oral testimony reported to Landeroin clearly establishes how difficult it was for the alifas to ensure payment of tribute or taxes. Nonetheless, the state appears to have been modeled on the Sayfawa court of Borno (which, of course, first developed in Kanem several centuries earlier). As noted by Nachtigal, the alifas appointed dignitaries who oversaw several valleys from Mao to Gala, including Billema, Kimbageri, Niggara, Billangara, and more.[6] The family of the zegbada, the highest post, was said to be part of the Samarous tribe and had intermarried with the family of Mustafa (of the alifas) for around 200 years by the 1930s.[7] Intriguingly, Nachtigal believed the djegebada, or zigibada, was a slave official who functioned as a royal messenger in Borno.[8] In the case of Kanem’s alifas, this title was not associated with servile status and actually possessed a close relationship with the ruling family. Further confirmation is necessary, but we suspect the family that monopolized the post of zegbada may have included the father of the 19th alifa, Ahmadou Kalli (though he reigned more than once during the 19th century). In Landeroin’s genealogy, Ahmadou Kalli’s father is named jagata Moustapha.[9] Was this jagata Moustapha of the same family as the zegbada family?
In addition to taxes on agricultural produce and livestock, notables and village chiefs had to present gifts to the alifa for Ramadan, harvest times or other occasions. Failure to do so meant their goods were seized.[10] The principle of taxation paid to the alifa may have been linked to the idea of him as the sole “owner of the land” of the Kanembu. This justified their tax on outside groups, the kiski. Land was distributed in lougan, a term for a cultivated plot. Beneficiaries of the alifa were allowed access to land and paid a moud at harvest, 6 zakats per lougan.[11] In addition, the state used officials called mara to function as a village chief. Others, called Déguedji, were sent by chiefs to collect taxes.[12] Furthermore, Kanembu farmers sometimes paid several other taxes, such as the dougouchi, mararom, and sadaka.[13] In exchange for the burden of various taxes and forced “gifts” to the alifa, the state also maintained a Bit el mal while Borno still held Kanem. This was a caisse publique designed to feed the poor, provide gifts to mallams, aid foreigners, and to pay masons for the construction and maintenance of mosques.[14] Returning to the origins of the state based at Mao, the first alifa, Dala Afouno, had to submit most groups by force to receive tribute. This included the Tubu, Daganas, Koukas west of Fitri, and Shuwa Arabs. All of his successors similarly had to launch campaigns from Mao to force recalcitrant groups to pay the required tribute, save Hadji, the seventh alifa.[15] Consequently, the issue of taxation was a persistent problem for the rulers of Kanem during the 17th and 18th centuries. Indeed, by the end of the 18th century, Méle Koura b. Beker, the 14th alifa, was deposed by the mai of Borno for pillaging and attacking villages of the Yabouribous, a Magumi group that refused to pay tribute since they were of Magumi descent.[16] This led to the deposed alifa seeking the aid of Sabun of Wadai to seize his old position.
In the midst of the state’s struggle to ensure tribute payments, Kanem’s population structure was also changing. Zeltner, in his history of Kanem, wrote of the Awlad Himayd and Rashid in the Bahr el-Ghazal region in the 17th or 18th centuries. The Daganat united with the Awlad Alwan while the Bani Wa’il under Far’on and Idris were the most prosperous. The Kreda also pushed south. By the mid-18th century, the Asali had left the Bahr el-Ghazal, likely due to Tubu pressure.[17] Unsurprisingly, the Daza presence, migrating from Borku to Kanem, was also felt during the 18th century.[18] Growing pressure from nomadic groups like the Kreda also pushed the Bani Wa’il to disperse in c. 1780-1800.[19] Of course, the aforementioned Tunjur were also established in Kanem during the 17th century. The 18th century even witnessed the migration of various Kanembu populations to the west of Lake Chad. The Tsougourtis, for instance, were said to have left Kanem during the 18th century. New villages of Borati, Dogochi, Kaoua, Kounguia and others, of which Kaoua was the most important, were settled. Kaoua was said to have become a village during the reign of Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama of Borno.[20] The 19th century witnessed the arrival of the Awlad Sulayman, another nomadic group, while Borno and Wadai engaged in conflict with each other over suzerainty of Kanem. Undoubtedly, the perennial conflict between the Tunjur of Mondo and the Dalatoa of Mao continued.
Despite the population shifts with nomadic or semi-nomadic Tubu or Arab populations and the departure of Kanembu farmers, Kanem was believed to be a prosperous region by some outsiders. One of the rare textual sources that allude to the region in the 18th century referred to Kanem as a “city” 5 days from the town of Domboo. Kanem, or perhaps Mao, was seen as the capital of a fertile province where cattle and horses for the ruler of Borno were raised.[21] It is also quite likely that trona was collected in the Foli region, an area where a Magumi presence had been established for centuries and was filled with many villages.[22] Thus, despite the chronic conflict between Mondo and Mao or the pressure from Tubu and Arab nomads, Kanem continued to participate in trans-Saharan trade, promote a pastoralist economy, and likely exported trona to Borno and beyond. This trade in livestock, horses, salts, and other products ensured Kanem occupied a role in the larger Borno-centered Central Sudan economy. When peaceful relations were maintained, the Buduma likely participated in this exchange through providing canoes and barks for the movement of people and goods across Lake Chad. Even as ecological and population shifts made Kanem less capable of supporting larger cities or towns like Borno could, the region was likely more important than is often remembered for the larger Bornoan economy. On the other hand, the gradual decline of Borno’s economic power and the loss of control of the Kawar salt trade in the mid-18th century likely had a negative impact on Kanem. In fact, growing insecurity on the trans-Saharan routes may have decreased trans-Saharan trade that once reached Kanem.
Cultural and religious life during the “obscure centuries” can be glimpsed, too. After all, it was in Kanem where the father of the Shehu, Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, was born. Said to be a reputable mallam from Fahi, a village near Mao, Muhammad Ninka later married an Arab woman from Fazzan.[23] Kanem likewise produced Goni Musa Burmama, born in Mao in 1754/5. Although he came to Gazargamo for further study, his background points to the existence of Islamic scholars and prestigious religious figures in Kanem.[24] The region’s Kanembu peasantry also inherited certain customs from the Dalatoa or Bornoans. One of these customs, a form of mutual aid called debdou, illustrates how the peasantry engaged in mutual aid by sharing resources. The custom may very well have had deeper Kanembu origins, but the Dalatoa and their allies were believed by Bouillé to have brought it to Kanem.[25] The growing insecurity of the 19th century unsurprisingly shaped settlement patterns, too. The evidence for that in the 17th and 18th centuries is ambiguous, but the expansion of the Tubu and Arab presence may have fueled more conflicts as central authority weakened with the gradual decline of Borno.
In conclusion, the political, economic, demographic, and social picture of Kanem during the 1600s and 1700s is one of great dynamism. While some continuity in administrative structure is evident through the deeper common history of Kanem and Borno’s origins under direct Sayfawa administration, Kanem in particular witnessed the fall of the Bulala sultans, the brief rise of the Tunjur, and the subsequent ascent of the Dalatoa at Mao. Further, Kanem’s economy likely became even more centered on pastoralism as ecological shifts and the immigration of various Arab and Tubu groups transformed the region’s demography. Nonetheless, ongoing trade, links to Borno and trans-Saharan networks, as well as the trade in livestock, horses, and salt likely made its economy dynamic. To what extent, if any, the alifas controlled artisanal production by the Haddad, a caste group, is unclear but another possible factor for Kanem’s political economy. In short, there was much more going on than what Zeltner initially labeled the siècles obscurs.
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[1] Zeltner, Pages du histoire du Kanem, pays tchadien, 193.
[2] Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan III, 9-11, 21.
[3] Conte, Marriage Patterns, Political Change and the Perpetration of Social Inequality (in South Kanem, Chad), 120-122.
[4] Ibid, 129.
[5] Robert Bouillé, Les coutoumes familiales au Kanem, 279.
[6] Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan III, 74-75.
[7] Bouillé, 220, 240.
[8] Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan II, 252-253.
[9] Landeroin, “Notice historique” in Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, 1906-1909, 392.
[10] Bouillé, 168.
[11] Ibid, 189.
[12] Ibid, 192.
[13] Ibid, 193.
[14] Ibid, 196.
[15] Landeroin, 380.
[16] Ibid, 381.
[17] Zeltner, 193.
[18] Conte, 60.
[19] Zeltner, 194.
[20] Landeroin, 391.
[21] Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, Proceedings for the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa I, 129.
[22] Landeroin, 389.
[23]Brenner, The Shehus of Kukawa, 39.
[24] Bobboyi, The Ulama of Borno: a study of the relations between scholars and state under the Sayfawa, 1470-1808, 25.
[25] Bouillé, 146.