The Question of Manan and Early Kanem

Dierk Lange's reconstruction of a map of the Lake Chad basin based on Ibn Sa'id (from "La région du lac Tchad d’après la géographie d’Ibn Saʿīd. Textes et cartes").

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 12^th 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 9^th 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 9^th and 10^th 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.

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[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 9^th 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 20^th 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.

Kukawa: Twin Cities Capital of Borno

Nachtigal's plan of Kuka in Sahara and Sudan.

            The history of Borno’s 19^th century al-Kanemy dynasty, Kukawa, inherited many traits of past Kanuri and Kanembu capitals. First established in 1814 by the first shaykh, Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, Kukawa survived as a political capital until the conquest by Rabeh in 1893. Despite an attempt to revive the city as British Borno, it was replaced by Maiduguri. In spite of its brevity as Borno’s political center, Kukawa’s past is illustrative of certain trends in Kanem and Borno urbanization. Moreover, detailed descriptions of Kukawa can be found in the various works by Europeans who traveled to Kukawa during the 1820s, 1850s, 1870s and 1890s. With this more abundant material describing the city, a closer look at Kukawa’s past is in order to see how the al-Kanemi dynasty continued the tradition of urbanization.

            First, the origins. Louis Brenner, author of a major study of the al-Kanemi dynasty, collected oral traditions of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi conflicting with the people of Ngornu. This town, whose praise singers allegedly did not include al-Kanemi in their songs, may have had tensions with al-Kanemi.[1] By this time, Birni Gazargamo had already been abandoned due to conflict with forces claiming adherence to Uthman dan Fodio’s jihad. Furthermore, the Sayfawa, still holding much symbolic power, were based at Birni Kabela. Since al-Kanemi did not desire to completely supplant the role of the Sayfawa, he let them be as figureheads who still retained many followers in their own court. But al-Kanemi, in need of his own political center, established Kuka, or Kukawa, in c. 1814. This settlement, the original Kukawa, was what was later known as the western town after 1846, when the town had been attacked by Wadai.

Plan in the 1820s in Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa: In the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824.

Much of the early history of Kukawa must have involved the Shehu’s closest followers also establishing themselves in the city, particularly his Shuwa and Kanembu allies and inner circle. But over time, even the Shehu’s court began to resemble the court of the Sayfawa. According to Brenner, the Sayfawa even sent courtiers to Kukawa, where the system of seating by rank or precedence was adopted from the court of the mai.[2] More direct testimony of the town of Kukawa in the 1820s can be found in the writings of Denham and Clapperton, British travelers to Borno. According to Denham, the main market of the town was in front of one of the principal gates, attracting at least 15,000 people. In addition, wrestling was one attraction for spectators in the town.[3] But at this time, Ngornu was the most populous town in Borno and the major market town. Said to have contained at least 30,000 inhabitants, one is left with the impression that Kukawa was not designed to be a major center for trade by al-Kanemi.[4] Instead, Kukawa was envisioned mainly as a political center with Ngornu as an economic capital. Meanwhile, the Sayfawa figureheads retained their own large court at Birni Kabela. It is very likely that before Shehu Umar’s son extinguished the last mai in 1846, the courtiers of the old dynasty were still not entirely convinced to permanently shift their allegiance to the Shehu.

Barth's plan of Kukawa in Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa.

            Fortunately, some description of life in the capital in the 1820s can be found in the reports of the British visitors. For instance, al-Kanemi was motivated by a desire to control the moral behavior of women in the capital. Thus, when he ordered harsh punishment for 60 women of poor repute, in which 5 were hanged and 4 flogged, many “Bornouse” (Kanuri?) left the city. Indeed, supposedly more than 100 families left Kuka in disgust at al-Kanemi’s diabolical public punishment.[5] Besides the possible unpopularity of the Shehu’s public policy with regards to women and morality, there may have been ethnic tensions in early Kukawa, too. For example, Nicholas Said, who was, admittedly, born in a later period, recalled the divisions of Kukawa’s Kanuri, Shuwa, and Kanembu population. To Said, the Kanouri formed the ruling caste who occasionally mistreated or seized goods of the Shuwa and Kanembu.[6] Additionally, the map of the town produced by the 1820s British mission showed the city’s division into ethnic quarters, one each assigned to the Bornouese (Kanuri), Kanembu and Shuwa. Perhaps by the time of Nicholas Said’s youth, the elite from the old Sayfawa dynasty had been more thoroughly integrated into the al-Kanemi court. A possible example of this may be the family of the alkali of Kukawa, who at the time of Migeod’s visit was the grandson of Liman Yusufu of Gazargamo.[7] Either way, the possibility of ethnic tensions, especially in the early years of Kukawa, necessitated ethnic quarters. Perhaps Tripolitanian Arabs and Tubu were also assigned their own sections in the city, too.

Sketch of the dendal in Barth's Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa.

            Unfortunately, not much else is known about these early decades of Kukawa’s history until the death of al-Kanemi in c. 1837. Reports of an attack on the town from Bagirmi’s king, Burkomanda, indicate it must have been rebuilt at least once before the 1846 attack.[8] It is very likely that, with the consolidation of al-Kanemi’s rule and the decay of the Sayfawa, more of Borno’s old elite began to increasingly look to al-Kanemi as the real and legitimate authority. This likely attracted even more residents as it became clear to all that al-Kanemi’s power was not waning. With more people, Kuka may have also begun to attract more commerce, gradually becoming a major center for regional and trans-Saharan trade in Borno. Consequently, by the end of al-Kanemi’s life, his administration had survived a number of challenges: an attempt by the Sayfawa to retake power with the aid of Bagirmi, the Manga rebellion, attacks from the west and tensions with Sokoto, and even charismatic shaykhs who he saw as threats to his power. Undoubtedly, Kukawa must have grown with new people eager for titles or fiefs from the most powerful person in Borno.

            Moving into the reign of Shehu Umar, al-Kanemi’s son, even more detailed descriptions of Kukawa can be found. Unfortunately, Shehu Umar was seen as lethargic and less accomplished than his father. Nonetheless, Kukawa continued to grow. It was during his reign that the capital became two towns. After a final attempt by the Sayfawa to oust the al-Kanemi dynasty with the help of Wadai, Kukawa was pillaged again. Thus, after 1846, construction began on the eastern town. The capital was significantly expanded as the old city, the western town, was used for non-titled nobility, commoners, and North African merchants.[9] The area in between the two parts was called Gumzi-gini that was about ¼ of a mile.[10] The old, western town, or Bula-pute, was said to have been about 1 mile long each way before the capital was rebuilt.[11] The distance between the part of the western town where Rohlfs stayed in the 1860s to the Shehu’s palace in the eastern town took an hour to walk.[12]

Gustav Nachtigal's view of the dendal in Sahara and Sudan.

Nicholas Said, who recalled seeing Heinrich Barth during the latter’s visit to Kukawa, believed the town, which was enclosed by a clay wall 30 feet high, had at least 40,000 people. During the dry season, this population more than doubled to over 100,000.[13] Even the palace grounds of Shehu Umar in the eastern town were vast. One of them was said to have been larger than the town of Bilma in Kawar.[14] Barth, on the other hand, was surprised by the large extent of the double town.[15] During his time in the capital, he moved to a clay house in the western town, billa futeba, which contained small rooms and a yard. The eastern town was separated from the western one by a space about half a mile broad, also densely inhabited.[16] Yet compared with the bustle of Kano and towns in Hausaland, Barth believed that the town only had one dyeing yard.[17] Moreover, political turmoil in 1853-1854 struck as Shehu Umar was deposed by his brother, who briefly reigned until September 1854.[18] In spite of Shehu Umar’s lack of his father’s ability, Kukawa significantly expanded during his reign. Ties with North Africa continued as well, with the Ottoman authorities in Tripoli appointing Sharif Barkan as their resident in 1854-1869.[19] A few Christians were even living in Kukawa, the Lanzon Maltese family.[20]

Perhaps it was the visit of Gustav Nachtigal in the 1870s that produced the most comprehensive description of Kukawa. Nachtigal was able to see the eastern town, western town, and the various hamlets on the northern side which likely cultivated grain that fed the city. According to Nachtigal, Kuka was more than 2 kilometers from east to west and a little less than this from north to south. Confusingly, Nachtigal also wrote that Kukawa stretched, at its furthest east and west points, to more than ½ a German mile.[21] Its weekly market every Monday was held outside the western’s town’s western gate. The dendal, or major avenue, had earthen houses on either side. As one might expect for an old Kanuri city, the western town had few regular streets, like Birni Gazargamo. Moreover, the space between the eastern and western towns was more than 1 kilometer wide. Further, the eastern town, Billa gedibe, was longer and narrower than the western town but had a wider dendal that ended right at the palace and main mosque.[22] In terms of housing, the eastern town had more earthen houses than the western town, and they were similar to homes in the Fezzan but with smaller living spaces and bigger courtyards.[23] In the western town, more houses built of straw or reed, ngim, could be found. Of course, the western town was also where 2/3 of the population lived. Since Nachtigal estimated the total population at 50,00-60,00, the western town may have had as many as 40,000 residents.

Nachtigal's courtyard in Kukawa.

Public life was centered on the dendal. Nachtigal wrote, “Rides along this main thoroughfare were always of novel and enthralling interest for me, revealing a life of such variety and even splendour as a European can scarcely associate with the idea of a Negro town.”[24] Although it would become littered with many little lakes during the rainy season, the dendal was the center of life for the city. In addition, Nachtigal described aspects of the various social classes in the capital. For example, well-to-do free people often wore multiple garments as a sign of their wealth. Thus, wearing 2-4 garments showing off fine clothes and riding horses were signals of wealth and status.[25] The rich also lived in larger homes with flower and vegetable gardens.[26] Descendants of the old aristocracy of Borno were very much present, with the men carrying the mbare scepter.[27] Elite men also enjoyed giving audiences to their clients, slaves and servants.[28] Nachtigal also witnessed the influential Fezzani, Muhammad el Titiwi, who acted as a consul for North Africans in Kukawa.[29] Perhaps unsurprisingly, Shehu Umar also welcomed and gave gifts to foreign sharif visitors to Kukawa just as adventurers and pilgrims passed through Kukawa.[30] Besides the North African traders and local elites, Nachtigal also saw evidence of the artisans and laboring masses. Unlike Barth, he noticed signs of the division of labor and specialized artisans, with professional standards in the capital. Women were very much involved in the city’s economic life as vendors while those who dealt in horses, fish, cloth, leather, natron, salt, and other products sold their wares in the city. Young people also gathered at night to sing and dance while the streets were full of blind beggars and mendicant students.[31] But once one left the dendal, streets usually had less traffic and more crooked paths and modest homes were visible.

Outside Kukawa in De Saint-Louis à Tripoli par le Lac Tchad: Voyage au travers du Soudan et du Sahara.

As one moves into the last two decades of Kukawa’s history before the fall, sources are less detailed. An article describing the city in 1883 by Lt. Massari mentioned European merchandise for sale via Tripoli and ostrich feathers as a major export. However, Massari also described a city in which pleasure, amusement, singing, and dancing were the characteristics of its residents. Thus, it was common for bands of young girls to walk the streets while singing and clapping their hands.[32] This perspective of Europeans on the relative freedom of women in Kukawa was similarly noted by Monteil, who saw the city on the eve of its destruction.[33] In spite of the city’s joyful spirit, the 1880s also included a period of pestilence or disease, Wuromaram, which killed many people.[34] As the ruling dynasty declined in the years leading to Rabeh’s invasion and conquest of Borno, Kukawa probably declined as well. Certainly, the excessive taxation of the Shehus and their inability to defend trans-Saharan routes were symptoms of this period of decline. Finally, by 1893 (although some say 1894), Rabih was able to pillage Kukawa itself. According to one Mallam Aba asked about the event in 1895, the carnage of Rabih’s conquest of Kukawa lasted for 2 days, with 3,100 skulls counted by the end.[35]

Plan of Nachtigal's home in Kukawa.

With the fall of Rabih’s state and the coming of European colonialism, Kukawa was considered by the British to become the capital of Borno. However, those plans failed as Maiduguri was chosen instead. Despite this, Kukawa serves as an example of Kanuri urbanism under a non-Sayfawa dynasty. The city maintained many past traditions, such as the prominence of the dendal and mosques near the royal palace. The city’s daily and weekly markets were also probably organized along similar lines to what existed in Birni Gazargamo. Indeed, the various trades and crafts in the city appear to have been organized in this way. As the al-Kanemi dynasty borrowed more titles and styles of the Sayfawa court, one can imagine this also shaped the development of the capital’s neighborhoods or quarters in similar ways. However, Kukawa took this one step further by expanding to include an eastern town primarily associated with the Shehu’s court and high dignitaries. This spatial separation from the masses of the population is similar to the use of fired-brick walls and structures in Gazargamo, but Gazargamo’s royal complex was close to the center of that vast metropolis. Without fired-brick (except for the tombs of the Shehus), Kukawa’s elite built a separate eastern town that still marked their distinction from the rest of society spatially. In many respects, Kukawa inherited the older traditions of Gazargamo with 19^th century changes and modifications as the new dynasty rose and fell.

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[1] Louis Brenner, The Shehus of Kukawa: A History of the Al-Kanemi Dynasty of Bornu, 47.

[2] Ibid., 61.

[3] Denham, Dixon, Hugh Clapperton, and Walter Oudney. Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa: In the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824, 93, 273.

[4] Ibid., 108-109.

[5] Denham, Dixon, Hugh Clapperton, and Walter Oudney. Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa: In the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824 Vol. 2, page 79-80.

[6] Nicholas Said, The Autobigraphy of Nicholas Said: A Native of Bornou, Eastern Soudan, Central Africa, 14.

[7] Frederick William Hugh Migeod, Through Nigeria to Lake Chad, 179.

[8] Landeroin, “Notice historique” in Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, page 361.

[9] Louis Brenner, The Shehus of Kukawa, p. 70.

[10] Migeod, Through Nigeria to Lake Chad, 173.

[11] Ibid., 172.

[12] Frauke Jager, “Maiduguri—Twentieth Century Capital with Ancient Roots,” in From Bulamari to Yerwa to Metropolitan Maiduguri, 27.

[13] Nicholas Said, The Autobiography, 13.

[14] Ibid., 26.

[15] Heinrich Barth, Travels and Discoveries (1890), p. 354.

[16] Ibid., 376-377, 379.

[17] Ibid., 385.

[18] Brenner, The Shehus of Kukawa, 79.

[19] Rémi Dewière, “Borno in the Ottoman Archives,” 156.

[20] Raymond Hickey, “Filippo da Segni’s Journey from Tripoli to Kukawa in 1850,” 153.

[21] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2, 162.

[22] Ibid., 148-149.

[23] Ibid., 149-150.

[24] Ibid., 155.

[25] Ibid., 157.

[26] Ibid., 152.

[27] Ibid., 157.

[28] Ibid., 160.

[29] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 4, 11.

[30] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan Vol. 2, 174.

[31] Ibid., 159-160.

[32] Lieutenant Massari, “La traversée de l’Afrique de la mer Rouge au golfe de Guinée, article in Bull. de la Soc. belge de géographie (1883), 868.

[33] Monteil, De Saint-Louis à Tripoli par le Lac Tchad: Voyage au travers du Soudan et du Sahara, 355.

[34] Kyari Mohammed, Borno in the Rabih Years, 1893-1901: The Rise and Crash of a Predatory State, 24.

[35] H.R. Palmer, Gazetteer of Bornu Province, 109.