Manan, the earliest known capital of
Kanem, remains an enigma. Its exact location remains unknown. Nor is there much
information on the nature of this settlement or town from external Arabic
sources. Oral traditions in Kanem and Borno shed little light on the matter,
too. Revisiting the various sources on Manan, however, suggests its antiquity
predated the 10th century. Moreover, by using what we know of later capitals in
Kanem and Borno, it may be possible to reconstruct some of the characteristics
of Manan. Doing so emphasizes the importance of continuity over time in the
annals of Kanem and Borno. Of course, various changes took place over several
centuries, but distinct features of the Kanembu, Kanuri, and various peoples
living near Lake Chad persisted. In addition, reconsidering Manan as a
political capital also requires rethinking what we know of early Kanem and how
the consolidation of Kanem under a single dynasty required the unification of
many peoples inhabiting the region.
Manan and Early Kanem in Medieval
Sources
Naturally, one must begin with the
medieval Arabic sources. Most of them are available in the Corpus of Early
Arabic Sources for West African History, edited by Levtzion and Hopkins. The
first to unambiguously allude to Kanem was al-Ya’qubi in the 800s. According to
him, there was a Zaghawa kingdom in Kanem. He wrote, “Their dwellings are huts
made of reeds and they have no towns.”[1] It is possible that a
settlement later known as Manan already existed in this century, but al-Ya’qubi
did not consider it a city due to all its structures being reed huts. Intriguingly,
he also described another Zaghawa group, al-HWDN, with a king from the Zaghawa.
Then he mentioned an enemy kingdom called Malal, “who hate the king of Kanim.”[2] Malal, ruled by a king
called MYWSY, could have been a smaller polity later absorbed into Kanem. The
place name, Malal, does recall Manan and, according to one spelling, M.lan.
Besides al-Ya’qubi, the next detailed
accounts of Kanem are by al-Muhallabi from the late 900s (quoted by Yaqut). This
author reported that the Zaghawa had 2 towns: Manan and Tarazki, both in the
first clime at latitude 21 degrees. Yet their houses were still reed huts,
including the palace of the king: “Their houses are all reed huts as is also
the palace of their king, whom they exalt and worship instead of Allah.”[3] This source is important
as the earliest to unambiguously name a city or town of Manan in Kanem.
Although the source also expresses the idea of a multiplicity of Zaghawa, it is
quite clear that it is Kanem being described. Moreover, a glimpse of how the
king’s authority may have been seen and what counted as wealth can be gleaned
from the evidence: the king’s wealth was counted in livestock like sheep,
cattle, camels and horses. The latter is especially significant due to the
importance of horses in Kanem’s military power. The subjects were also said to
go naked or wear skins, while the king wore silk and woolen clothes.[4] Unfortunately, there is no
clear indication of where Manan was located, but the site must have had access
to trade routes through the Sahara and perhaps to the east.
After al-Muhallabi, al-Idrisi wrote about Manan.
To this 12th century geographer, Manan was 12 stages from Tamalma.
According to al-Idrisi, “Manan is a small town without industry of any sort and
little commerce. Its people breed camels and goats.”[5] This description suggests
that Manan was quite small and about 8 days travel from Anjimi (Njimi, the
capital of the Islamic Sayfawa rulers). Because he utilized sources from
different time periods without reconciling their inconsistencies, one must
interpret al-Idrisi cautiously. For instance, he also wrote that Manan was 13
stages away from the Tajuwa “town” which may have been an example of al-Idrisi inventing
a town. He also claimed that Manan was where the “governor” of the country
lived, who led an army mostly consisting of naked archers. This is a
fascinating piece of information, but possibly evidence that al-Idrisi
uncritically repeated outdated information. The reference to naked archers also
suggests the Haddad, an artisanal caste group in Kanem who were known in much
later times as the only people to use the bow and arrow.[6]
Last, but certainly not least, Ibn Sa’id wrote
a detailed account of Kanem that drew heavily on the lost work of Ibn Fatima. The
description of Kanem is that of the period of Dunama Dibalemi (c. 1210-1248).
It is also thanks to Ibn Sa’id that we know Njimi was southeast of Manan. Apparently,
the earlier Kanem capital was level with the angle of the Lake (Lake Chad) at
longitude 51 degrees, latitude 13 degrees. Manan was specifically said to have
been the capital of the pagan ancestors of Kanem’s king (in other words, the Duguwa
branch of the Sayfawa). Ibn Sa’id also specifies that to the east of Manan
wandered the Zaghawa and to their north, the Akawwar (presumably Teda-Daza
groups in Kawar?).[7]
Basically, Manan was to the southeast of Kawar (and south of the Tibesti Mountains
and Borku) while to its southeast, Njimi was closer to Bahr al-Ghazal (40 miles
away from this river). When one considers the higher water levels of Lake Chad in
the first millennium of our era and the fact that the Bahr al-Ghazal was
consistently flooded in the period from 900-1150, agricultural settlements
could have thrived in Kanem.[8] Manan, located closer to
Lake Chad than Njimi, would have made sense for a capital since it was closer
to the areas from which the ancestors of the Sayfawa migrated: Tibesti, Borku,
Kawar. At the time, it would have been able to support farmers, herders, and
enjoyed closer proximity to the trans-Saharan routes. Naturally, shifting the
capital to Njimi with Islamization may have been partly motivated by a desire for
better agricultural land as the population moved toward greater sedentarism.
Considering Manan and Early Kanem in Today’s
Scholarship
Moving into the modern era, where did
scholars believe was Manan? Borno historian Muhammad Nur Alkali postulated a
possible location in the Shitati region of Kanem. Some ambiguity can be seen in
his attempt to locate it along the northeastern shores of Lake Chad yet also
indicating a general location in the Shitati area.[9] When this region was
visited by Nachtigal in the 1870s, it was in a part of Kanem that had become
largely the terrain of nomadic groups. By this era, it did not neighbor Lake
Chad but included numerous valleys. In total, more than 50 valleys could be
found in Shitati, which also featured a natron lake. In Nachtigal’s time, most
of the people residing in Shitati were Yuroa, Orabba, and Qadawa, the latter a
Kanembu group of the Dibbiri with Daza ancestry. The Dibbiri, of course, appear
early on in the Diwan since the
mother of the first “black” mai,
Salmama, was the son of a Dibbiri woman named Hawa.[10] Besides these
aforementioned groups, some Kanembu and Danoa (Haddad) farmers also resided in
the area. Most importantly, Nachtigal named a place called Maten el-Milah that
was no longer part of Shitati. Instead, it consisted of valleys on the path to
Borku.[11] It is likely a
coincidence, but Manan was sometimes rendered as Matan in written Arabic
sources. In the case of this place, Nachtigal
reports that it was an Arabic name (Fountain of Salt) and not an indigenous one
of deeper antiquity. In other words, Shitati may have once harbored the early
capital of Kanem, but there is no smoking gun to irrefutably demonstrate it. In
its favor is its location northwest of Njimi and proximity to Lake Chad, which
enjoyed higher water levels over 1000 years ago.
Also worthy of consideration is the theory
of H.R. Palmer. Palmer, a towering figure in colonial-era scholarship on Borno,
was guilty of contemporary racial theories, shoddy or questionable linguistic
connections, and sometimes lacking transparency for his sources. Nonetheless,
Palmer did work with local elites to gather traditions or translate various
manuscripts, meaning that his work is unavoidable for any serious interest in
the history of Borno. In terms of Manan and early Kanem, he even gathered
traditions (which appear to contain anachronisms) of Dugu’s alleged southerly
campaign.[12]
As for Manan, Palmer apparently connects it to the Kulu or Kuluwan region.[13] Since Madan or Malan
appears to have been the place where the early mai Fune died, this is consistent with Manan as a royal capital. Against
Palmer’s theory, however, is the area of Kuluwan between Kanem and Bagirmi. This
is not consistent with medieval Arabic sources placing Manan to the northwest
of Njimi. It was also the area where Katur, a successor of Fune, died,
according to the Diwan. Ultimately,
Palmer’s attempt to link Manan or Matan with the Kuluwan region is not
persuasive and contradicted by the Diwan which
places Manan (or M.lan) in Kanem.[14]
Manan, Malal, and Early Kanem
Besides Palmer, John Lavers also proposed
an intriguing theory for early Kanem with relevance to Manan. Based on the
brief description of Kanem by 9th century author al-Ya’qubi, Lavers
has suggested that in c. 872, Kanem had “Zaghawa” rulers but also competed with
neighboring “Zaghawa” polities. One of these groups was called Hawdin, and
another was Malal. Since the ruler of Malal was called Mayusi or Mai Wasi, and
the Zaghawa king Kakarah (according to one reconstruction), is it possible that
the rulers of Malal superseded the early rulers of Kanem and became the
reigning dynasts?[15] This theory is, of
course, based on the assumption that the title of the ruler of Malal was mai and since that is the title used by
the kings of Kanem and Borno, Malal’s rulers may have replaced another polity
and became the dominant power in what became known as Kanem. Of course, the
absence of sufficient evidence limits its probability though it would possibly
correlate with the M.lan (or Manan) mentioned in the Diwan as the place where Funa died. Assuming, of course, that M.lan
is equivalent to Manan and possibly related to Malal.
This theory is likewise interesting if one
accepts Terio’s notion that the Zaghawa king of Kanem named by al-Ya’qubi was
actually the title kireh, used by the
Zaghawa for kings.[16] Alternatively, the rulers
of Malal may have intermarried with the “Zaghawa” or so-called Duguwa in Kanem,
since the Diwan presents Dugu as the
father of Funa, the mai who allegedly
died in M.lan. Furthermore, Zaghawa traditions remember a Zaghawa king of Kanem
named Douk Bourmè, presumably the same Dugu recalled in Kanuri girgams and the Diwan.[17] Since dating these
figures is a hazardous exercise, one can only tentatively assign dates. If the
excessive reign lengths in the Diwan are
meant to refer to generations as well as to stretch the dynasty back to Sayf b.
Dhi Yazan, we cannot be sure which kings are semi-legendary or when their
reigns may have taken place.
Obviously, this makes any endeavor to tie
the polities mentioned by al-Ya’qubi with the tentative chronology of Lange problematic.
Yet Lange has written, “Un souverain du nom de Funa semble avoir régné au
milieu du VIIIe siècle, Arsu à la fin du VIIIe et Katur au milieu du IXe
siècle.”[18]
If one accepts this mid-700s date for Funa, who died in a place called M.lan
that may be Manan, then it is difficult to reconcile with the theory that Malal
in the 870s was in conflict with Kanem and ruled by their own independent king.
Unless one proposes that Funa died in a war with Malal sometime in the 700s or
later traditionists merely fused the two dynastic lines together after their
intermarriage, it is difficult to square with Lange’s suggested chronology for
these “Duguwa” kings. Nonetheless, the possible Malal kingdom or polity as a
rival of Kanem under the “Zaghawa” could be a reference to a fusion of Zaghawa,
Teda-Daza, and Kanembu elements that occurred over several centuries,
consolidating as a single dynasty with regional supremacy in the 900s or 1000s.
Malal may, if the theory has any validity, have been a smaller polity of
Kanembu-affiliated people whose capital was changed into Manan.
Concluding Thoughts
Clearly, the location of Manan is a
subject of debate. The early medieval sources provide only glimpses of
pre-Islamic Kanem and must be used cautiously. Indeed, due to some of these
authors never actually seeing Kanem themselves, their reports are not based on
direct experience. Nevertheless, they provide a few clues about how early Kanem
developed and a rough idea of where Manan could have been.
Subsequent scholars from the colonial and
postcolonial eras offered new theories, but without any definitive evidence to
pinpoint exactly where Manan was. With the recent confirmation of Njimi’s
likely location at Tié, and the general idea that Manan was to the northwest of
Njimi, we can more confidently assert that it was closer to Lake Chad. This
makes the theory of Muhammad Nur Alkali plausible. The more speculative theory
proposed by Lavers could facilitate identifying the placement of Manan, too. Of
course, our interpretation of it relies on the questionable assumption that
Manan, Malal, and M.lan were designating the same place in the medieval Arabic
sources and the Diwan. Such a theory could elucidate why Manan has been
forgotten in Kanuri tradition, too.
In spite of its obscurity, Manan’s
position as the earliest known capital of Kanem makes it significant in the
growing sedentarization and consolidation of a powerful kingdom to the east of
Lake Chad by the 9th and 10th centuries. While definitive
proof remains elusive, the cumulative evidence suggests that Manan was an early
political center northwest of Njimi, and possibly linked to the polity of Malal
that appeared in the writings of al-Ya’qubi in the 800s. With future
archaeological surveys and excavations, a more confident location for Manan can
be found which could meaningfully change our perception of the origins of urbanism
in Kanem.
[1] al-Ya’qubi in Corpus of Early
Arabic Sources for West African History, 21. Some possible references to
the area of Kanem may predate c. 872, but the earlier Arabic authors only use
the name Zaghawa. This term may have been used very broadly for many different
ethnolinguistic groups living between Nubia and the central lands of Black
Africa. It is possible, nonetheless, for some Zaghawa groups to have lived as
far west as Kanem in the 9th century (or earlier) and interacted
with groups more closely related to the modern Teda, Daza, Bideyat and Kanembu.
[2] Ibid. John Lavers has also
proposed an interesting idea about this polity, although it remains purely
conjectural without additional sources.
[3] Ibid., 171. The reference to the
house of the king is important, even if it was built with reed and not the
monumental type of architecture Kanem and Borno developed after Islamization. The
town of Tarazki is also intriguing as it bears a resemble to the later Kanem
town of Daniski.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., 114. Earlier, al-Muhallabi
reported that livestock and horses were the wealth of Kanem’s ruler.
[6] For more information on the
Haddad, see Henri Carbou, La Région du Tchad et du Ouadaï. This group
has been the subject of more than a few unlikely or highly problematic
theories. Lange, for instance, has proposed identifying the Haddad or Danoa
with the so-called Duguwa dynasty. There is perhaps some basis in this theory
due to Haddad oral traditions remembering an early ancestor called Dana and the
fact that the Haddad, an Arabic name, are referred to as Duu or Dugu by the
Kanembu (See Edouard Conte, Marriage Patterns, Political Change).
Contrary to the theory of a Banu Duku or Duguwa origin, the Haddad are
remembered in oral traditions as sharing a common descent with the Bulala or
perhaps with slaves or servile populations in Kanem during the period of Bulala
rule. This theory, of course, requires deeper analysis but Carbou’s traditions
of origins for the Haddad seem to only go as far back in time as the Bulala
period. Interestingly, Nachtigal himself focused more on the N’Galma Dukko as a
group descended from an early prince of the Sayfawa dynasty, perhaps Duku or
the so-called “Duguwa” branch. See Sahara and Sudan Vol. 3.
[7] Ibn Sa’id in Corpus of Early
Arabic Sources for West African History, 188-189.
[8] For information on the fluctuations
in the levels of Lake Chad, see “Floods, Droughts, and Migrations: The Effects
of Late Holocene Lake Level Oscillations and Climate Fluctuations on the
Settlement and Political History in the Chad Basin” by Karsten Brunk and Detlef
Gronenborn in Living with the Lake: Perspectives on History, Culture and
Economy of Lake Chad. These authors have argued that the Bahr al-Ghazal was
flooded throughout this period and the Sahel zone was semiarid and subhumid.
But the Sudanic savannah lands would have been humid. Their theory that the
center of early Kanem in c. 900 was the Bodele region is fascinating, but this
seems too far north (and east) to help one determine Manan’s probable location.
[9] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa: A Study of
the Origin, Growth and Collapse of a Dynasty, 24, 57. For yet another 20th
century scholar’s theory, see Zeltner’s Pages d’histoire du Kanem,
which has suggested Manan was in the Egey region of Kanem.
[10] Dierk Lange, Le dīwān des sultans du (Kānem-)Bornū: Chronologie et histoire d'un
royaume africain (de la fin du Xe siècle jusqu'à 1808), 70.
[11] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. III, 65-68.
[12] See H.R. Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan for several
examples of similar types of stories, legends or traditions on the kings of
Kanem and Borno. Included is one 1751 manuscript which traces the origin of the
first Saif to Aghani, a land Palmer claims was the Zaghawa, called Aghna (Arna)
by the Kanuri.
[13] H.R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs Vol. I, 7, 74-75.
[14] Dierk Lange, Le dīwān des sultans du (Kānem-)Bornū: Chronologie et histoire d'un
royaume africain (de la fin du Xe siècle jusqu'à 1808), 66.
[15] John Lavers, “Kanem and Borno to
1808” in Groundwork of Nigerian
History, 189.
[16] Abdelkerim Souleyman Terio, Origine et évolution des Zaghawa: Du royaume
du Kanem aux Etats modernes (VIIIe-XXIe siècle), 94.
[17] Ibid., 89.
[18] Dierk Lange, Le dīwān des sultans du (Kānem-)Bornū: Chronologie et histoire d'un royaume africain (de la fin du Xe siècle jusqu'à 1808), 143.
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