What was Birni
Gazargamo? What was the city actually like, 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 included a palace complex with fired brick walls.
Unsurprisingly, the city also attracted traders and Islamic scholars. How did
the Sayfawa dynasty, beginning with Ali b. Dunama, transform Gazargamo into
this African metropolis of economic power? The combination of skilled
leadership, effective security and control of trade routes, textile production,
livestock rearing, and Islamic scholarship aided its development. Likewise,
state-oriented migration fostered the rapid development of a metropolitan
region that may have reached a population of 200,000. This brief article will
explore this process by first tracing the sources on Gazargamo’s origins. Then,
we shall briefly discuss aspects of the city and its surrounding districts.
This will reveal that Birni Gazargamo was an exceptional Sudanic city that grew
into an economic and political powerhouse under the Sayfawa dynasty.
The
Origins of Birni Gazargamo
The early period of
Birni Gazargamo's existence as a city is ambiguous. Traditions previously
examined indicate "Sao" presence in the area.[1] Either 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 the
Komadugu-Yobe area inhabited by earlier Chadic peoples. Yet the Bedde and
Tuareg may have also played a role.
The traditions on the
creation of Birni Gazargamo, the capital of the Sayfawa dynasty in Borno
established during the reign of Ali b. Dunama (r. 1465-1497), perhaps begun in
1472, provide interesting glimpses of the region at the time of Sayfawa
consolidation in Borno. According to oral traditions collected from Borno among
the Kanuri and Bade as well as traditions that were recorded in the “chronicles”
of Agadez, the Sao, Bedde, Tuareg and Sayfawa interacted in the choosing of
this site for the royal capital. Parsing through the traditions and written
sources raises significant questions about the nature of Sayfawa-Sao relations
in the 15th century. Furthermore, the possible participation of the Imikitan
Tuareg and the Bade (or Bedde) in this process is one that becomes increasingly
plausible with a thorough examination of the evidence, both textual and oral.
In short, the process of the establishment of the royal capital was probably an
effort that involved both the Sao, Kanuri, Tuareg, and Bade.
Let's begin with the
local Borno traditions. According to traditions collected by Landeroin during
the Tilho
Mission, Ali b. Dunama attacked the Sao chief at
Gambaru (traditions suggest Ali b. Dunama tried to establish a capital there
first), where he was later defeated. However, the mai was able to obtain
permission to settle in the region and trade with the Sao. This tradition
suggests the Sayfawa were not strong enough to dislodge the Sao (Sao Gafata?)
from the region of Gazargamo, but were able to establish a presence through
trade. Another tradition mentions the use of economic entanglements and debts
for securing the land. However, the account stresses the abundant merchandise
of the Sayfawa and how they were able to purchase land with it, gradually
establishing homes with the permission of the Sao leader, Dala Gomami.[2] Unfortunately for the Sao
leader, he purchased too many goods from the Sayfawa's followers, and being
unable to pay the debt, decided to leave the area to them. This was because the
Sayfawa planned to use the outstanding debts as a justification for war.
Intriguingly, this plan of selling on credit to the Sao chief was supported by
his brother, suggesting that conflicts within the Sao political elites created an
opening for Sayfawa domination of the future capital, Birni Gazargamo.
Despite the Sao leader
leaving the area to those he was indebted to, many Sao remained in the region.
Since the followers of the Sayfawa (or Toubbas, as recorded in the traditions
by Landeroin) used henna, they tricked the Sao who wanted to imitate this usage
of henna into tying up their hands. This facilitated the Sayfawa attack on the
remaining Sao, who were defeated and fled. According to tradition, this alleged
attack took place in 1452.[3] This would have been
during the reign of Ghadji b. Imata, according to Lange's chronology.
Naturally, one could ask if the specific year given in the traditions is really
reliable, although it is certainly plausible. If taken at face value, one may
surmise that the area around Gambaru was first seized during the reign of
Ghadji b. Imata, but Ali b. Dunama was the one who finally established the
capital on a more permanent basis at Gazargamo. As for earlier military
conflicts with the Sao, the Diwan records multiple Sayfawa
rulers who died in conflict with the "Sao" in the 1300s:
1. 1335-1339: Reign of Salma b. Abdallah of Kanem, died
in war with Sao
2. 1339-1340: Reign of Kuri le jeune in Kanem, died in war
with Sao
3. 1340-1341: Reign of Kuri l'aîné (the elder) of Kanem, died
in war with Sao
4. 1341-1342: Reign of Muhammad b. Abdallah of Kanem, died in
war with Sao
These aforementioned
conflicts took place over a century before the c.1452 victory of the Sayfawa in
Gambaru. Of course, one cannot say these conflicts were with the same group of
Sao, but it would be interesting if the tradition recorded by Landeroin might
be alluding to the same area. If so, the Sayfawa had already had their eyes on
the Gambaru region long before the mid-15th century. Only after a century of consolidation
did the final subjugation of the area took place. In fact, if the Diwan is
reliable, conflict among claimants to the throne erupted between Uthman b.
Kaday and Ali b. Dunama.[4] This may have prevented
Ali b. Dunama from finally shifting the capital to Birni Gazargamo or at least
stalled it. Just like the Sao of the region, divisions between the Idrisid and
Dawudid branches of the Sayfawa were probably exploited by others to protect
their autonomy or for plunder.
Lending some credence
to the traditions cited by Landeroin are the traditions collected by H.R.
Palmer. Palmer, who published traditions and manuscripts found in Borno,
repeated a very similar story of a ruse involving henna to defeat the Sao. In
the second volume of Sudanese
Memoirs, Palmer included a
narrative entitled "The So Dala N'Gumami." The name of this Sao leader
is clearly the same as the Dala Gomami recorded by Landeroin, but Palmer
provides the name of his city: Gagi Dibun. In Palmer's version, however, it is
unquestionably clear that it was Ali Gaji Zeinami, or Ali b. Dunama, who
orchestrated the trick using henna. A number of other details emerge in
Palmer's variant of the tradition. So Dala N'Gumami lived as a friend or ally
of the Sayfawa, whereas the version of Landeroin suggests he fled the region or
left since he could not pay his debts. Interestingly, there is a reference to
the Sao leader going to Kano and the impatience of the Sayfawa to build a
mosque.[5] This would suggest
long-standing ties to Kano and some familiarity with Islam on the part of So
Dala N'Gumami. Considering the penetration of Islam in Kano by the 1300s and
the presence of Muslims from Kanem in Borno by the 1200s, this is not
surprising, even if the Sao leadership had no interest in converting to Islam.
After all, according to the Diwan, rulers like Dunama Dibalemi were said
to have died at Zamtam, an area not too far from the future site of Gazargamo
in c.1248. A 14th century mai, Ibrahim b. Bir, was buried at Diskama, a
locality perhaps to be identified as Damasak, a Sao Gafata stronghold in the
16th century.[6]
The other traditions
recorded by Palmer are difficult to interpret. One of them, "The Bade
Tribes" in Sudanese Memoirs, suggests the Bade had followed the
Sayfawa from Njimi to Wudi, an earlier capital in Borno. At the same time, the Bade
were already living in Arege 4 years before the establishment of Gazargamo as
the capital. If true, this would suggest the Bade were living near the future
capital of Borno by the 1450s or 1460s. Furthermore, the discovery of the site
of Gazargamo allegedly took place when residents of Wudi pursued an escaped
cheetah and found the area of Gazargamo to be much more fertile and abundant
than Wudi. But what is somewhat remarkable here is a convergence with the
traditions recorded by Landeroin about a chief or leader of servile origin
appointed by Ali b. Dunama. According to Palmer, three brothers named Makinta
Baro, Makinta Yatku and Kaloma Arge were chiefs of an early town called Gamgar.
Palmer wrote, "These men were brothers, they came from Wudi to Borno.”[7] If by Borno the capital is
meant, perhaps one of these three men named Makinta was the individual also
named Mankinta who served Ali b. Dunama as a leader of servile origin at Wudi.[8] If these traditions are
correct, some of the Bedde or Bade may have been incorporated into the
administration of Borno as administrators of servile origin. The Badi may have
already been alluded to as western neighbors of the areas of Borno under Sayfawa
rule during the time of Dunama Dibalemi.[9] The Badi also lived on or
near the northern shores of Lake Chad and would have been in a position to know
of the future site of Gazargamo.
The other group said to
have played a role in the eventual site of the Sayfawa capital in Borno are the
Amakita or Imikitan Tuareg. The tradition of their presence in Kanem and Borno
can be found in the Agades Chronicles as well as Muhammad Bello's account of
the region. According to Bello, the Sokoto caliph writing in the early 19th
century (probably with access to manuscripts or at least oral traditions from
Ayar), the ancestors of the Sayfawa found their "Berber" kinsmen
ruling over a group called Amakita in Kanem. In his chapter on Ayar, Bello
later lists the Amakita as one of the original five clans in that region.[10] As for the more detailed
account found in the Agades
Chronicles, Yves Urvoy's translation of Manuscript
B includes the full tradition of the Amikitane Tuareg guiding the mai to
the site of Birni Gazargamo. According to this source, the tribe of the Sandals
(or Amakita) refused to accept the nomination of Ilisaouane as king of Ayar.
However, in the ensuing war, they were defeated and the grand part of their
population left Ayar. However, after driving “black” populations to the south
and seizing their lands, the lack of a sultan drove them to migrate to Kanem.
Perhaps this is a reference to the original need for a sultan of Ayar in the
first place, to restore order or act as a mediator between the Tuareg clans and
facilitate trade. It was in Kanem where the Saoutantane tribe of the Amakita
eventually guided the mai to the site of Birni Gazargamo. In exchange
for a gift, a member of this group promised to guide the sultan of Kanem to the
site, which his tribe knew of since they passed the cold season in the area of
the future Birni Gazargamo. The same source also mentions that this tribe had
been raided by the sultan of Borno, too. One wonders here if the traditions are
recalling moments of civil war between the different branches of the Sayfawa
dynasty, which perhaps at different times they raided the Tuareg, though
tradition recalls Ali b. Dunama raiding Ayar.[11] Yet, despite guiding the
sultan of Kanem to the site of Birni Gazargamo and allegedly contributing to
the construction of the wall, this Tuareg group requested permission to return
to Ayar, although agreeing to maintain peace with Borno.[12]
How does one make sense
of this Tuareg tradition of showing the Sayfawa the site for the capital of
Borno? According to Djibo Hamani, the Immikitan Tuareg would have started to
leave Ayar sometime after 1429/1430 when Alhaji Alisau became sultan of Ayar and
reigned approximately 20 years.[13] This would mean that the
Immikitan likely began an exodus to the south/southeast in the 1430s and 1440s,
likely leading to more contact (and perhaps, conflict through raiding) with
Borno. If the name "Amakita" is a reference to the amenokal of
the Immikitan, the Amiki, then what might be recorded in this tradition
is the submission of the Immikitan Tuareg to the Sayfawa dynasty in the 1400s.
One also wonders if the "Makinta" and Mankita" remembered in the
other traditions could be alluding to the same individual bearing this title.
According to Nachtigal's Sahara and Sudan, the title referred to an
enslaved person responsible for managing stores of wood, charcoal, dried fish,
vegetables, and other crops associated with the palace kitchen. The bearer of
the title would have received villages under their control along the Komadugu-Yobe
region.[14] A thorough examination of
this word in Bade, Kanuri, and Tamasheq languages might clarify the matter, but
it does raise some questions about a possible explanation for the
similar-sounding words of Amakita, Makinta, and Mankita. Nonetheless, the name Makinkta
as a title still exists in Borno for designating the head of a ward. Regardless
of this speculative train of thought, there are traditions in both Ayar and in
Borno that allude to conflict between the two during this time. The raids
experienced by the Saoutantante could have taken place during this same period
in the mid-15th century, although their origin likely began in the 14th century
and earlier centuries. Indeed, Hamani cites traditions collected from the
Kutuba of the court at Agadez that alluded to frequent raids from Borno to
seize women and frighten the Tuareg. Other traditions record the galadima
of Borno coming to Ayar to receive a tribute.[15] In addition, the Kano
Chronicle records one attack by Borno against Ayar that, in Palmer's
chronology, must have taken place between c.1438-1452. Although the attack
failed due to the lack of adequate water supplies, it does support the above
traditions of Borno attacks and raids in the 15th century, as well as an
extension of Borno's influence in lands to its west.[16] When one recalls that the
Immikitan would have likely been in Damergu and Kutus at this time, they could
have become vassals or tributaries of Borno as a Tuareg group in closer
proximity. As for Borno traditions, a Tuareg attack on a Magumi village
triggered Ali b. Dunama's attacks against the Tuareg. Perhaps the tale of his
construction of an artificial pond at Fachi for additional sources of water and
fish to supply his troops to attack them fits this historical narrative.[17]
Unfortunately,
reconciling these traditions on the origin of Birni Gazargamo remains
incredibly difficult. On the one hand, Palmer and Landeroin recorded traditions
that overlap and suggest a long period of coexistence and exchange between the
Sayfawa and the Sao (Gafata?) in the period before Ali b. Dunama established
the capital. But on the other hand, these same traditions may be compressing
events that developed over 2 centuries or more. Both also allude to a ruse or
trick, which may be a tradition designed to mask the fact that the Muslims from
Kanem lacked enough outright power or numbers to seize the land. To what extent
the Bade or Bedde and Tuareg contributed to this is unclear. The Bade
traditions and Landeroin mention someone named Mankinta or Makinta, with the
latter claiming he was left in charge of Wudi (Garoumele) during one of Ali b.
Dunama's expeditions against the Tuareg. Above we speculated that Makinta bears
a superficial resemblance to Amakita, a group remembered in Ayar tradition and
by Muhammad Bello for once living in Kanem, perhaps broadly conceived to
include parts of Borno. It seems unlikely that an Immikitan Tuareg captive
would have been left in charge of Wudi during one of Ali b. Dunama's campaigns,
but it is possible that this Tuareg group may have seasonally visited the area
around Birni Gazargamo for pasturage. We find it unlikely that they would have
aided in the construction of the walls of Gazargamo, but it is possible that
they contributed to the choosing of the site as capital. As to what happened to
the Sao in the region, the closest ones to Gazargamo a century later appear to
have been the Gafata, who were very much a threat to Birni Gazargamo. The question
of their possible relationship to earlier moments of Sayfawa-Sao conflict preceding
the establishment of Gazargamo remains an open question.
The
Early Period of Birni Gazargamo
As for early Gazargamo
itself, the origins of its fortifications are unclear. Heinrich Barth
attributed its walls to mai Dunama b. Muhammad.[18] Another source, a list in
verse of the Sayfawa rulers in H.R. Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan,
attributes the wall of Gazargamo to Ali b. Dunama.[19] 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 conflicts of the
Sayfawa rulers and was able to make the hajj in c.1484, one
may presume the conditions within Borno were stable. Conditions were 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.[20]
The city's location near two rivers, access to river transport, salines, and
fertile soil meant that Ali b. Dunama chose an excellent spot for the capital.
With the consolidation of a Sayfawa capital, 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.
Unfortunately, the best-known
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.[21] For these reasons, it is
difficult to use as a source for early Gazargamo.
By the late 1500s,
Anania described it as "C'est une immense ville avec beaucoup de
trafic...".[22]
Ahmad b. Furtu, the chronicler of Idris b. Ali's campaigns in Borno and Kanem,
frequently described Gazargamo as the "great city.”[23] Likewise, the
construction of brick or clay mosques in Gazargamo allegedly began under the
reign of this mai.[24] 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.
Borno provided captives for trans-Saharan trade, but the leather industry was
also important as a commodity traded to the Fezzan.[25] 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.[26]
Birni
Gazargamo Under Sayfawa Consolidation
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.[27] 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.[28] 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.[29] Jukun tradition similarly
recalls an attack by Kwararafa on Gazargamo that was only repelled when the
Borno forces convinced the Tuareg to help them defeat the southern pagans.[30] These accounts undeniably
illustrate Gazargamo was a walled city. Its imposing defenses made besieging it
a difficult enterprise.
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 provide details on the capital. Entitled,
"An Account of Ngazargamu" in H.R. Palmer's "Two Sudanese
Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century," authorship of the manuscript 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.
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.[31] 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 believed only had
5 aisles?[32]
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.[33] 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 fired brick
walls at his own palatial estate.[34] In addition, Pétis 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.[35] 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 Shaykh Hajrami, a prominent scholar of the capital.[36] 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.[37] It is worth noting that 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.[38] Last, but certainly not
least, the inflated population figures for worshipers 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 mosque.[39] 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.
Gazargamo During the
Late Sayfawa Period
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," and he received support from the mai for a
community as Gaskeru. Interestingly, a later Koyam Shaykh, 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.[40]
More detailed accounts
of the city, besides miraculous stories of a Koyam shaykh praying for rain in
the capital, 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.[41] His maternal ancestry
points to deep ties between Katsina and Birni Gazargamo in the 18th century.
Another writer, Brown, who heard of Borno
from Darfur, heard that the capital was walled, had 4 gates in each cardinal
direction, and was near a small river.[42] Johann von Einsidel also
heard of Borno's capital from North Africa. There, he was informed the capital
was called Mokouwi and had almost 10,000 houses.[43] This figure of 10,000
should not be taken literally but exemplifies how North Africans believed it
was a bustling city. Even in the 18th century, Gazargamo may have been attacked
by the Tuareg in 1765, when the Agadez sultan invaded.[44]
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. 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 the mortar was used in the construction of
houses. This resembles 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. This source even specifies children of a deceased mai stayed
in the palace until they reached maturity.[45] Since some kings
allegedly had hundreds of children, like mai Ali's 350
offspring, 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. Like Kukawa, Gazargamo certainly presented signs of a
division of labor in crafts and production for sectors like weaving. The dendal undoubtedly
served as a center for public life, too.[46] In the case of Gazargamo
with its oval 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 is still visible in
the center.
Among the less reliable
descriptions of Gazargamo are Abdallah of Affade. An informant to Ulrich
Seetzen in Cairo, young Abdallah was exaggerating to the skeptical Seetzen. If
one trusts Abdallah, Gazargamo used water from wells, which is plausible. 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. Likewise, it certainly did not take more than 1
day to cross the city. 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.[47] After all, the Diwan described
Ahmad (r. 1792-1808) as caring about the plight of the poor.[48] Whether or not one
believes the mai held in captivity French slaves who produced
cannons for him is another story.[49] Abdallah's exaggerated
account of Borno's capital nonetheless features some accuracy, and even if not
as sizable as Cairo, it was clearly a cosmopolitan city with a towering central
palace and many earthen and brick edifices.
Additional accounts of
Birni Gazargamo of the 18th century or early 19th are usually less detailed
than the previously mentioned. Natives of Borno sold into slavery and
transported to Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean referred to the ruler of Borno
as rarely leaving his palace. They also alluded to the royal practice of
placing goods in public places and using courtiers to arrest thieves and sell
them into slavery.[50] Local historian Hamsatu
Zanna Laminu, in her Scholarship in the History of Borno, cites traditions of Goni Musa
Ngalbiyama of Gazargamo. His sangaya in the 1700s allegedly
had 500 students.[51] Ali Eisami, a native of a
village in the Gazir, or capital, province, told Koelle about the many
districts in 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.[52] Elsewhere, Eisami
informed Koelle that Gazargamo had 7 gates with gatekeepers. A court near the
king's residence was called the kandegei.[53] Eisami similarly told
Koelle in Sierra Leone about words related to salt production, wrestling,
streets, 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 since he was a native of the capital district. Eisami conspicuously
did not include a word for chess, a game which the earlier account of Lucas and
Ledyard described as a pastime of elites.[54]
Considering Birni
Gazargamo After the Fall
Next, we consider 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 enemies affiliated with the Sokoto Caliphate
overran the western provinces of Borno. 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 complex 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. Its
site extended nearly to Lake Muggaby.[55] 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.[56] Consequently, long after
its fall, the site was still impressive.
Archaeologists and
academics who have visited the site in the 20th and 21st centuries affirm many
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.[57]
Gronenborn collected oral traditions near the site of Gazargamo which
attributed its brick palace to Tripoli craftsmen.[58] 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.[59] 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. The palace walls were of 6-10 feet in height.[60] Finally, Lange, who
visited the site, noted 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. The palace complex was likely a number of buildings with brick
walls or enclosures.[61]
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 every person of courtly rank lived at the capital.[62] 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. Another official, the jerma, received
an administrative district on the Komadugu Yobe near the capital. The digma, who
handled the king's correspondence, had an administrative district around the
royal residence.[63]
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.[64] The talba functioned
as the head of police, providing a measure of law and order in this bustling
city.
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.[65] 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 come to the
capital. Nicholas Said, who left Kukawa when still young, described the city's
population as more than doubling in the dry season.[66] 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 reached 200,000 people.[67]
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 favorable 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. While
archaeological evidence for Njimi in Kanem as a vast urban complex is still
missing, Gazargamo may have been modeled on the past royal capital in Kanem. If
so, then the tradition of urbanism in Kanem-Borno has deep roots reaching back
to the late first millennium CE.
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[1] For a tentative overview of these
traditions see Behique Dunama, “Traditions on the Origins of Birni
Gazargamo.” The
traditions collected on the cities origins suggest a “Sao” presence while one
variant attributes a role to the Tuareg. Some traditions also suggest a Bedde
role in the eventual site of the Sayfawa capital. An early “Sao” presence in
the area seems very likely while the Tuareg and Bedde claims may reflect later
relations with the Sayfawa.
[2] Moise
Landeroin, “Notice historique” in Jean Tilho, Jean, Documents Scientifiques
De La Mission Tilho, 355-356.
[3] Ibid., 357.
[4] 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), 79.
[6] 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), 74.
[7] H.R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs Vol. 2, 86.
[8] Moise
Landeroin, “Notice historique” in Jean Tilho, Jean, Documents Scientifiques
De La Mission Tilho, 355.
[9] J.F.P. Hopkins and Nehemia
Levtzion. Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, 187. Early Arabic sources from the late
1200s demonstrate the interest of the Sayfawa in the region that later became
known as Borno, which was already noted to have more fertile land.
[10] Muhammad Bello in Salahudeen Yusuf
(trans.), A History of Islam, Scholarship
and Revivalism in Western Sudan Being an Annotated Translation with Introduction
of Infaqul-Maisur fi Tarikh Bilad al-Tukur of Sultan Muhammad Bello bin Fodio,
71-72, 76.
[11] Moise Landeroin, “Notice
historique” in Jean Tilho, Jean, Documents Scientifiques De La Mission Tilho, 355.
[12] Yves Urvoy., "Le Chroniques
d'Agadès," 158.
[13] Djibo Hamani, Au Carrefour Du
Soudan Et De La Berbérie: Le Sultanat Touareg De L'Ayar, 145.
[14] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2, 255.
[15] Djibo Hamani, Au Carrefour Du
Soudan Et De La Berbérie: Le Sultanat Touareg De L'Ayar, 133-134.
[16] H.R. Palmer, “The Kano Chronicle,”
75.
[17] Moise Landeroin, “Notice
historique” in Jean Tilho, Jean, Documents Scientifiques De La Mission Tilho, 355. The tale recorded by Landeroin is
quite impressive in terms of the amount of power and labor resources available
to the Sayfawa mai of the 1400s.
[18] Heinrich Barth, Travels and
Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition
Undertaken Under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government in the Years
1849-1855, Vol. 2, 649.
[19] H.R. Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan, 53.
[20] See Yves Urvoy, “Chroniques
d'Agadès” for information on the Imikitan Tuareg and the area of Gazargamo.
[21] See Leo Africanus, A geographical historie of Africa, written
in Arabicke and Italian by Iohn Leo a More, borne in Granada, and brought vp in
Barbarie. Wherein he hath at large described, not onely the qualities,
situations, and true distances of the regions, cities, townes, mountaines,
riuers, and other places throughout all the north and principall partes of
Africa; but also the descents and families of their kings ... gathered partly
out of his owne diligent obseruations, and partly out of the ancient records
and chronicles of the Arabians and Mores. Before which, out of the best ancient
and moderne writers, is prefixed a generall description of Africa, and also a
particular treatise of all the maine lands and isles vndescribed by Iohn Leo.
... Translated and collected by Iohn Pory, lately of Goneuill and Caius College
in Cambridge. It is likely Leo Africanus did not travel to Borno and relied
on secondhand accounts.
[22] Dierk Lange and Silvio Berthoud.
"L'intérieur de l'Afrique occidentale d'après Giovanni Lorenzo Anania
(XVIe siècle)," 347.
[23] H.R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs Vol. 1, 65.
[24] Dierk Lange, A Sudanic
Chronicle: The Borno Expeditions of Idrīs Alauma (1564-1576) According to the
Account of Aḥmad B. Furṭū : Arabic Text, English Translation, Commentary and
Geographical Gazetteer, 72. Of
course, the antiquity of the use of brick for elite structures and mosques in
Kanem raises the question of earlier brick structures in Gazargamo or other
parts of Borno before the reign of Idris b. Ali.
[25] Dierk Lange and Silvio Berthoud.
"L'intérieur de l'Afrique occidentale d'après Giovanni Lorenzo Anania
(XVIe siècle),"349-351. North African Islamic scholars were welcome in
Borno, while “adventurers’ or mercenaries from Ottoman domains appear to have
also traveled to Borno.
[26] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno
under the Sayfawa: A Study of the Origin, Growth, and Collapse of a Dynasty
(891-1846), 62. Naturally, one
must wonder how Alkali reached this figure. Was this based on extensive
fieldwork and attempts to match names of places in the capital district
mentioned in the 1800s and early 1900s?
[27] Chirurgien esclave. "Passages
sur le Borno de l’Histoire chronologique du chirurgien esclave, 1685" in
Rémi Dewière, L’esclave, le savant et le sultan Représentations du
monde et diplomatie au sultanat du Borno (XVIe-XVIIe siècles), 608.
[28] S.W. Koelle, African Native
Literature, or Proverbs, Tales, Fables, & Historical Fragments in the
Kanuri or Bornu Language: To Which Are Added a Translation of the Above and a
Kanuri-English Vocabulary, 425.
For an additional reference to the North African quarter of Gazargamo, see
Kyari Tijani, Dynamics of Administrative Change in pre-colonial Borno: A Comparative
Study of the Sayfawa and Kanemi Dynasties, 188. An unpublished
Arabic text on the Fulani of Borno, Akhbar
asl Fullata Barnu,
refers to one of the gates of Gazargamo under the name of Wasilaram, suggestive
of a North African presence in that section of the capital. Another gate of the
capital was perhaps named after its slave market, Cuncunaram.
[29] Chirurgien esclave. "Passages
sur le Borno de l’Histoire chronologique du chirurgien esclave, 1685" in
Rémi Dewière, L’esclave, le savant et le sultan Représentations du
monde et diplomatie au sultanat du Borno (XVIe-XVIIe siècles), 603-604.
[30] J.M. Fremantle, J.M, Gazetteer
of Muri Province, 35.
[31] H.R. Palmer, “Two Sudanese
Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century,” 544, 546.
[32] Heinrich Barth, Travels and
Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition
Undertaken Under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government in the Years 1849-185,
Vol. 4, 23.
[33] H.R. Palmer, “Two Sudanese
Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century,” 547.
[34] Detlef Gronenborn,
"Kanem-Borno: a Brief Summary of the History and Archaeology of an
Empire in the Central Bilad-el-Sudan," 115.
[35] Dierk Lange, "Un document de
la fin du XVIIe siècle sur le commerce transsaharien,” 681.
[36] Hamidu Bobboyi, “The ’Ulama of
Borno: A Study of the Relations between Scholars and State under the Sayfawa,
1470-1808, 20.
[37] J.R. Patterson, Kanuri Songs, 17.
[38] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2, 251.
[39] S.W. Koelle, African Native
Literature, or Proverbs, Tales, Fables, & Historical Fragments in the
Kanuri or Bornu Language: To Which Are Added a Translation of the Above and a
Kanuri-English Vocabulary, 278.
[40] Moise Landeroin, “Notice
historique” in Jean Tilho, Jean, Documents Scientifiques De La Mission Tilho, 398, 400.
[41] Abú Bekr eṣ ṣiddíḳ. “Routes in
North Africa, by Abú Bekr Eṣ Ṣiddíḳ,” 104.
[42] William George Brown, Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, from
the year 1792 to 1798, 467.
[43] August von Einsiedel, “Nachricht
von den innern Länder von Afrika, auf einer 1785 nach Tunis unternommenen
Reise, aus Berichten der Eingebohrnen gesammelt,” 437.
[44] Paul E. Lovejoy, Salt of the
Desert Sun: A History of Salt Production and Trade in the Central Sudan,
229. For a skeptical interpretation of this claim, see Yves Francois, “Ali b.
al-Hajj Dunama and the Tuareg: Commerce, Conflict, and the Kawar Salt Trade in
18th Century Borno.”
[45] Paul Lucas and John Ledyard, Proceedings
of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, 134, 140, 143, 150.
[46] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2, 150, 153, 159.
[47] Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, “Nouveaux
Renseignements Sur Le Royaume Ou Empire De Bornou , Recueillis Au Caire,” 168, 175-177.
[48] 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), 82.
[49] Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, “Nouveaux
Renseignements Sur Le Royaume Ou Empire De Bornou , Recueillis Au Caire,” 180.
[50] Michel Étienne Descourtilz, Voyages
d'un naturaliste, et ses observations faites sur les trois règnes de la nature,
dans plusieurs ports de mer français, en Espagne, au continent de l'Amerique
septentrionale, à Saint-Yago de Cuba, et à St.-Domingue, où l'auteur devenu le
prisonnier de 40,000 noirs révoltés, et par suite mis en liberté par une
colonne de l'armée française, donne des détails circonstanciés sur l'expédition
du général Leclerc: dédiés à S. Ex. Mgr. le comte de Lacépède, grand
chancelier de la Légion d'Honneur…,
146.
[51] Hamsatu Zanna Laminu, Scholars
and Scholarship in the History of Borno, 12. Although tradition likely exaggerated the number of his students,
it does suggest that a substantial number of people lived and visited the sangaya
of this illustrious Muslim scholar in 18th century Gazargamo.
[52] S.W. Koelle, Grammar of Bornu or Kanuri Language, vii.
[53] S.W. Koelle, African Native
Literature, or Proverbs, Tales, Fables, & Historical Fragments in the
Kanuri or Bornu Language: To Which Are Added a Translation of the Above and a
Kanuri-English Vocabulary, 321,
420.
[54] Paul Lucas and John Ledyard, Proceedings of the Association for
Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, 154.
[55] Dixon Denham, Hugh Clapperton,
Walter Oudney, and Abraham V. Salamé. Narrative of Travels and
Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa: In the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824, 154.
[56] Heinrich Barth, Travels and
Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition
Undertaken Under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government in the Years
1849-1855, Vol. 4, 23.
[57] A.D.H. Bivar, and P. L. Shinnie.
“Old Kanuri Capitals,” 3.
[58] Detlef Gronenborn,
"Kanem-Borno: a Brief Summary of the History and Archaeology of an
Empire in the Central Bilad-el-Sudan," 115.
[59] Graham Connah, Three Thousand
Years in Africa: Man and His Environment in the Lake Chad Region of Nigeria, 229.
[60] Carlos Magnavita, "Birni
Gazargamo - the early capital of Kanem-Borno," 59, 61.
[61] Dierk Lange, A Sudanic
Chronicle: The Borno Expeditions of Idrīs Alauma (1564-1576) According to the
Account of Aḥmad B. Furṭū : Arabic Text, English Translation, Commentary and
Geographical Gazetteer, 115-116.
[62] Louis Brenner, The Shehus of
Kukawa: A History of the Al-Kanemi Dynasty of Bornu, 19. See Kyari Tijani, Dynamics of Administrative Change in
pre-colonial Borno: A Comparative Study of the Sayfawa and Kanemi Dynasties,
199. According to informants in the area of Gazargamo interviewed by Tijani, "Birnyin talawa
ba!" Of course, this could not have been entirely true as the nobility or
Sayfawa-era aristocracy required ample numbers of dependents, servants and
slaves to support their lifestyle.
[63] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2, 251-253.
[64] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno
under the Sayfawa: A Study of the Origin, Growth, and Collapse of a Dynasty
(891-1846), 139, 312. Also see
Muhammad Nur Alkali, “Economic Factors in the History of Borno under the
Sefuwa," in Studies in the History of Pre-Colonial Borno, 74.
[65] S.W. Koelle, African Native
Literature, or Proverbs, Tales, Fables, & Historical Fragments in the
Kanuri or Bornu Language: To Which Are Added a Translation of the Above and a
Kanuri-English Vocabulary, 287,
404.
[66] Nicolas Said, The Autobiography
of Nicholas Said, a Native of Bornou, Eastern Soudan, Central Africa, 13.
[67] S.W. Koelle, Grammar of Bornu or Kanuri Language, vii.
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