Aisa Kili bint Dunama

A favorite of the seraglio of the ruler of Borno in the 1820s based on a sketch in Denham, Clapperton and Oudney. The woman bears an uncanny resemblance to the magira photographed in Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan.

One of the great female rulers of Borno, Aisa Kili N’girmaramma, remains a mystery. The exact chronology of her regency, the conditions that led to her occupying the throne, and how she was able to lead military expeditions and protect a young Idris Alooma are not clear. However, they are aspects of a pivotal period in Borno’s consolidation as a major regional power. Said to have been the mother of Idris Alooma in some traditions while others others assert she was a Sayfawa ruler related to Dunama, her parentage has been tentatively identified with Dunama b. Salma of the Bulala rulers in Kanem. Using references based on Kanembu oral traditions recorded by Henri Carbou, it is possible to more confidently identify Aisa Kili as a daughter of the Bulala ruler remembered as Kalo, probably the very same Dunama b. Salma who was defeated by Idris Alooma’s grandfather, Idris b. Ali (reigned c. 1497-1519). In fact, her seizure by Borno forces may have contributed to the conflict between Idris b. Ali and the Bulala sultans that reignited during the reign of Muhammad b. Idris (c. 1519-1538). Once in Borno, however, the Bulala princess was married to Ali, the father of Idris Alooma. In spite of Ali’s death in c. 1539, Aisa Kili was able to reign in her own right and protect the interests of her adopted homeland.

Lamentably, it remains quite difficult to historicize and contextualize some of the traditions reported by Carbou. Take the Bulala king, Kalo, for instance. His mother was said to have been named Lafia.[1] The name Lafia appears as a mai named Lefia in H.R. Palmer’s Sudanese Memoirs. But, in Palmer’s sources, Lafia was the father of Jil, who was the father of Anas, who was the father of Salih.[2] Another Bulala sultan, who fought a losing war against Muhammad b. Idris, son of Idris b. Ali (r. 1497-1519), was named in the Diwan as Kaday b. Lafia.[3] Further identification of Kalo may be corroborated in Kanuri traditions of Aissa Kili bint Dunama, said to have been a daughter of the Bulala sultan Dunama b. Salma (r. c.1500-1530).[4] Assuming Idris Alooma’s mother was the daughter of Dunama b. Salma and not the other sons of Salma, who was the father of a Bulala princess remembered in Kanem as Assakele, then it is likely that Dunama b. Salma was in fact Kalo. However, traditions reported in Palmer’s Sudanese Memoirs are contradictory about Idris Alooma’s mother. According to Palmer, Aisa Kili succeeded Ali Gaji and ruled for 7 years. Ali Gaji was said to have married a daughter of the Bulala ruler, Umr. Moreover, Aisa Kili was allegedly a sister of Idris Alooma, and had lived among the Bulala.[5] Idris Alooma’s mother, named Amsa, was said to have been a daughter of Jil ibn Bikoru of the Bulala.[6] According to Lange, Dunama b. Salmama was one of the Bulala kings defeated by the Sayfawa mai, Idris b. Ali (r. c.1497-1519).[7] If so, this agrees with the chronology given by Dewiere (c.1500-1530). As for Aisa Kili, a girgam translated by Palmer listed her as a child of Dunama, and a “princess of the blood.”[8] This same girgam lists the parents of Idris Alooma as Ali and Hamsa, with no indication of Aisa Kili being the mother of Idris. As for contemporary written sources, Ahmad b. Furtu wrote that Idris Alooma was related to the Bulala by marriage or parentage.[9] The only other source asserting a Bulala origin for Idris Alooma’s mother is Muhammad Nur Alkali, who cited tradition that Idris’s mother was the sister of the Bulala sultan, Abdullahi.[10] Consequently, one is left uncertain about the Aisa Kili who was  held by tradition to be the mother of Idris Alooma.

Ruins of Gambaru in Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan.

Later traditions heard by Lange in the areas of Gambaru, Birni Gazargamo and other sites, add little more clarity. At the site of Mar, about 32 km southwest of Gambaru and where Aisa Kili was said to have died, Lange was told a well in the village had been constructed by the orders of Aisa Kili. In the village of Logomani, for instance, he was informed that it was founded by Aisa Kili, who was remembered in tradition as a male.[11] Intriguingly, her name has been translated as referring to her white horse, and tradition remembers her as leading military expeditions.[12] Lange also found that residents of the area of Gazargamo remembered Aisa Kili but not Idris Alooma.[13] Since Idris Alooma did indeed spend time at Gambaru and traditions remember a mother named Aisa Kili who built the site’s palace for her son, it does seem rather likely that Aisa Kili and Amsa are one and the same. 

Lange, in his earlier study and translation of the Diwan, suggested Aisa Kili was perhaps the mother of Idris Alooma’s grandfather, Idris b. Ali. This interpretation is based on the idea that Aisha may have been an important figure at the time who ensured the succession of Idris b. Ali (r. 1497-1519).[14] A defense of Lange’s interpretation can be found in the second volume of Palmer’s Sudanese Memoirs, where Ali Gaji Zeinami was said to have married Amsa, a daughter of the Bulala sultan, Umr.[15] Nonetheless, Nur Alkali makes a stronger case for placing Aisa Kili’s reign to the period of Abdullahi (r. 1557-1564). For instance, the maira Aisa Keli Ngermaram's reign was remembered to have included periods of famine or drought, which correlates with the Diwan on Abd Allah’s reign.[16] Likewise, the girgam published by Palmer places the reign of Aisa right before Idris Alooma’s. But unlike Muhammad Nur Alkali’s assertions, the girgam describes Aisa Kili as a daughter of Dunama, not a sister. To make matters even more baffling, Palmer’s Bornu Sahara and Sudan seems to imply she was a daughter of a Sayfawa monarch as well as a Bulala princess.[17]

Another question one must consider is the possibility that Aisa Kili was the magira but not necessarily the biological mother of Idris Alooma. The confusion found in the oral traditions might have arose due to the memory of Idris as Amsami in remembrance of his biological mother, but later fused her with traditions of the magira, Aisa Kili, who was indeed a major figure who held the throne for perhaps as many as 7 years. This might explain some of the inconsistencies in traditions about Idris Alooma’s mother as well as some of the contradictions in the traditions about relationships between similarly named kings of the Sayfawa from the time of Ali Gaji in the 15th century to Idris Alooma in the second half of the 16th century. Kings with similar names, might have been confused with their predecessors or successors and tradition remembered Aisa as a powerful ruler in her own right, perhaps thereby making her either a successor of Ali Gaji, mother of Idris Alooma, sister of Idris Alooma and sister of Dunama and Abdallah. A praise song even turns her into a daughter of Dunama Dibalemi.[18] This remains plausible since the same traditions sometimes turn Dunama Dibalemi into the father of Ali Gaji. In other words, the most prominent rulers of the annals of the Sayfawa were remembered and sometimes anachronisms emerged as events were traced to their illustrious reigns. 

In summation, Aisi Kili likely was a Bulala princess who, through a series of events and circumstances, briefly held paramount authority in Borno. Based on the Kanembu songs referring to a Bulala princess named Assakele, who was seized by Borno forces, it is likely she was the daughter of Dunama b. Salma (or Kadai). Kanembu sung tradition seems to identify Dunama b. Salma as Kalo. This very same Kalo was also said to have led the heroic resistance against the forces of Borno, presumably the campaign of Idris b. Ali (r. 1497-1519). Idris b. Ali’s son, Muhammad, subsequently led a Kanem campaign that defeated the Bulala sultan, Kadai b. Lafia, a brother of Dunama b. Salma. At some point, probably during the campaigns of Idris b. Ali or Muhammad b. Idris, Assakele was seized by a tsarma of Borno. She later became the wife of Ali b. Idris, who reigned briefly in c.1538-1539 in Borno. If she was indeed the mother or queen-mother of Idris Alooma, who came to the throne in c.1564, she was able to establish  herself politically and even lead military expeditions, perhaps during the troubled period of famines and drought that preceded the coming to power of Idris Alooma. If tradition can be trusted, she even sponsored fired-brick palaces and mosques at Gambaru and may have played a key role in the cordial relations between the Bulala and Sayfawa royal houses. In fact, the Bulala sultan, Abd Allah ibn Jil, who performed the hajj with Idris Alooma in 1565, would have been a cousin of the mai.[19] While much remains unanswered about her exact connection with Idris Alooma, it appears likely she was indeed at least a magira whose leadership skills helped the Sayfawa stay afloat during the turbulent years of famine in the 1550s and early 1560s.

________________

[1] Henri Carbou, La region du Tchad et du Ouadai, tome 2, 47. 

[2] H.R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs 3, 29..

[3] Lange, Diwan, 79.

[4] Remi Dewiere, Du lac Tchad à la Mecque, 379.

[5] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs 2, 42-43. 

[6] Ibid, 44. 

[7] Lange, Diwan, 79. 

[8] Palmer, “The Bornu Girgam,”79. 

[9] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs 1, 19.

[10] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa, 200. 

[11] Lange, A Sudanic Chronicle, 132. 

[12] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa, 148.

[13] Lange, A Sudanic Chronicle, 133.

[14] Lange, Diwan, 80.

[15] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs 2, 39.

[16] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno under the Sayfawa, 150. 

[17] Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan, 232-233.

[18] Lange, A Sudanic Chronicle, 132.

[19] Collet Hadrien, “Royal Pilgrims from Takrur According to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazīrī (12th–16th Century),” 193.

The First Mai to take the Sudanic Pilgrim Road?

Whilst perusing old notebooks, we came across a translation of a short rihla copied in 1850/51 describing a Sayfawa sultan's pilgrimage to Mecca in 1727/28, written by a descendant of the Sayfawa. According to Omer El-Nagar, who included a translation of the short text in his thesis, West Africa and the Muslim pilgrimage: An historical study with special reference to the nineteenth century, the text was from the personal library of Abu Bakr al-Miskin. al-Miskin, a descendant of the Sayfawa and specifically, of Muhammad Yanbu, likely possessed several other papers and books that shed further light on the history of Borno. Unfortunately, the text describing the hajj of a sultan in 1728 appears to conflate details of Ali b. Umar with the sultan in question, likely  Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun in Borno. However, we know from the Diwan that Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun in Borno ruled for 16 years, which aligns nicely with this source's allusion to the mai reigning for 15 years after his pilgrimage. In addition, the Diwan included a reference to a famine that lasted for two years during the reign of this mai. 

Where things get interesting is in the details from the source from Abu Bakr al-Miskin's library. According to this source, Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun took the "Sudan" road for his pilgrimage. This is interesting since as late as the 1690s, the Sayfawa sultans traveled through the Fazzan to reach Egypt. According to this account, however, he traveled through Bagirmi, Wadai, and Darfur to reach Egypt, from whence he crossed the Red Sea. It is likely that this occurred right at the beginning of his reign or before he became mai. In addition, he settled slaves in the lands he traveled through, allegedly leaving 5,000 captives in Bagirmi, and apparently over 4000 in Wadai. While this is difficult to interpret, El-Nagar suggests the author may have been alluding to similar practices of medieval Sayfawa rulers, who settled slaves in various parts of their kingdom and abroad. Either way, one wonders if the settlement of large number of captives in Bagirmi and Wadai can be interpreted to signify that Wadai and Bagirmi were still tributary to Borno in some form, as well as a recognition of the establishment of secure pilgrimage routes through Bagirmi, Wadai and Darfur for West African Muslims. After all, if the king established slave settlements there, one may assume they may have also served pilgrims from Borno who passed through the eastern lands, perhaps serving as possible nuclei for later settlements of Borno pilgrims.

Once in the Hijaz, Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun spent all his funds. Miraculously, with the aid of the ulama, pebbles were turned into gold (clearly fictional). The creation of this extra source of money allowed the sultan to purchase slaves. As for his return journey, he passed through Egypt and returned on the Sudan road, again confirming the placement of slaves in Wadai and Bagirmi. Since Bagirmi and Wadai recognized the suzerainty of Borno in some form at this period and the fact that a mai could travel unmolested through their territories, suggests a degree of security for Muslim pilgrims was already established by 1728. Furthermore, Kanuri praise songs seem to commemorate this mai's reassertion of authority over the Kurata Arabs in Kanem, a Tunjur group, since the song refers to the Kurata as slaves of the mai. It is certainly plausible for this mai to have reasserted Sayfawa influence in Kanem and the lands nearby, including Bagirmi and Wadai. Indeed, the praise song to him specifically praises him for creating settlements out of the relocation of captives. For example, the following verses of "The Song of the Ngijima to the Sultan of Bornu" from J.R. Patterson's Kanuri Songs allude to this practice:

You son of Aji, can collect or disperse people at your will

And turn again, and make a town (with those you have dispersed)

You are the scourge of Jillam, Dalla Darge and Dakkinam Dalla Damaram

Some towns are founded during the cold season of the year

But some of yours have been founded as the result of your victories, Aji Gana the Intriguer

Even more intriguing is the cause of Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun's death. According to the Diwan, he died in Gazargamo in 1744. The manuscript describing his pilgrimage, however, states, "He raided Krowrowa and died there in Krowrowa where his grave is visited" (El-Nagar, 399). If this is accurate, then the Diwan omitted the cause of his death in a defeat or failed raid of Krowrowa. Unfortunately, it is unclear what Krowrowa is referring to. It may be Kwararafa, a "pagan" polity to the south which was known to have engaged in conflicts with Borno during the reign of Ali b. Umar in the 1600s. Yet, even into the 18th century, reports of Kwararafa as a powerful state which occasionally entered into conflict with Borno reached the French consul in Tripoli, Lemaire. Alternatively, "Krowrowa" could be a reference to another polity or region subjected to raids by the Sayfawa, since the Kanuri appear to have usually referred to Kwararafa by Kwona or Kona. 

To make things even more confusing, the text later mentions Muhammad b al-Hajj Hamdun as a mai who performed the pilgrimage. But, if the year 1727/1728 for the hajj is accurate, and a regnal length of about 15 years followed, then Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun is the best candidate. Lamentably, since the author appears to have confused Ali b. Umar for the mai who performed the hajj in 1727 or 1728, one can only use this source cautiously. Nonetheless, it does suggest that Islamic pilgrims were using the "Sudan" Road to travel from West Africa to Mecca by the early 1700s. This development seems more plausible for the 18th century, since Ali b. Umar and subsequent 17th century sultans appear to have crossed the Sahara and traveled through North Africa rather than taking the "Sudan" road for the pilgrimage.

Archaeological Research and Njimi

A video on the work of archaeologists such as Carlos Magnavita and others who may have identified the ruins of Njimi, the capital of medieval Kanem (after Manan). We cannot wait for more published results from these excavations. Perhaps it will force us to rethink some of this blog's preconceived notions about Kanem-Borno urbanism before the Borno phase. It can also shed some light on medieval Kanem's relations with regions like Nubia and West Africa. 

Notice Historique du Tchad au Niger

An example of the type of musicians expected to announce and accompany the Shehu of Borno.

The historical chapter of the Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, 1906-1909 remains an indispensable source for reconstructing the history of the vast region from Lake Chad to the Niger. Landeroin and the Tilho Mission collected numerous local traditions, reports, and descriptions which, despite some severe limitations, supplement Barth and Clapperton excellently. Since they mostly base their themselves on local informants who were not always named, and they did not find much in the way of local written records (though extracts from one local source mentioning the various campaigns of what appears to have been Ali b. Umar suggest military expansionism, the centrality of slavery and the use of slave officials and relations of the mai in administration were significant) or lost chronicles, their historical chapter is most detailed and useful for the last 100 or 150 years before the European colonial conquest and partition of the region. For events and processes prior to the late 18th century, they usually rely on the speculations and analysis of Nachtigal, Barth, and guesswork based on the current traditions of the heterogeneous populations inhabiting the Chad Basin. Despite these limitations, and some of their questionable assertions regarding the chronology and origins of the Sayfawa dynasty in Kanem and Borno, we know of no other source with similarly rich oral traditions.

Undoubtedly, the major question of Sayfawa (or Toubba) origins occupies much of our attention. Repeating the tales of Yemen origins and the Toubba kings who migrated into Kanem with related and servile groups, the traditions cited here contract Barth, Nachtigal, the Diwan, and the chronicles of Ahmad b. Furtu. Despite acknowledging the monumental contributions of Barth and the written sources he was able to procure, the Tilho Mission wants one to believe that when the Sayfawa (or Seibouas) first came to Kanem, it was under Bulala rule. Then, after seizing control of Kanem, they chose to migrate to Borno by the 15th century. Other sources, however, suggest Bulala pressure was one of the primary factors that pushed the Sayfawa out of Kanem by the late 1300s. Moreover, local sources suggest the Sayfawa dynasty were the earliest major dynasty in Kanem, not relative newcomers who seized it from the Bulala. What appears to have happened here is a Kanem informant, of Magumi origins, told the version of the ruling clan's history as understood in early 20th century Kanem to the French visitors. Somewhere along the line, the chronology was distorted so that the Sayfawa reconquest of Kanem in the 1500s was pushed further back in time to match the earlier history of Birni Njimi and the dynasty's Kanem phase. However, the Tilho Mission is in agreement with Barth and others about the generally highly important reign of Ali Ghaji and his role in restoring the dynasty's fortunes in late 15th century Borno. This suggests that they may have not been careful enough when interviewing informants and collecting data, so their chronology is suspect. Perhaps the timeline for the genealogies of the khalifas of Kanem (descendants of Dala Afuno, who was either a Magumi raised in Hausaland or a slave of the Sayfawa dynasty appointed by the latter) is also suspect. If, indeed, the Tunjur were selected to oversee Kanem for the Sayfawa rulers based in Birni Gazargamo after defeating the Bulala, we cannot easily determine exactly when they were replaced by Dala Afuno. We also know that Idris Alooma had placed a Bulala vassal sultan in power in Kanem, so we still need to uncover when the Bulala sultans were finally disposed of by Borno. Much of what transpired in Kanem under the Bulala and Tunjur.

The oral traditions of the Buduma, Kanembu, Kanuri, and other groups claiming descent from the Sao also complicate any simple-minded assumptions of ethnic identity or ethnogenesis. The oral traditions of the Buduma or Yedina, by the early 20th century, linked them to a Bulu and common ancestry with the Kanembu. Since Bulu was one of the early kings remembered in the Diwan, these oral traditions suggest deep relations with the Kanembu east and within Lake Chad. Despite the ancestors of the Buduma appearing in Ibn Said' work as the Kuri infidels raided by the rulers of Kanem in the 13th century, they were and are closely related to the Kanembu and intermarriage between the two even led to the formation of new populations of Buduma, Kanembu, and Tubu origins. In addition, oral traditions of Ali Ghaji also refer to his conflicts with the Tuareg before he established Gazargamo as the capital. Traditions of this conflict appear to have been remembered and later recorded in the Agadez Chronicles, which suggest the Sayfawa rulers did conquer or at least raid the Tuareg in the area north of Borno in the 1400s. While one should doubt that the new capital was pointed out to Ali by the Tuareg, it points to the role of both northern and southern conquests and trade in the expansion of Sayfawa rule in Borno. Indeed, some of the traditions suggest merchandise and trade was one way in which the Toubbas won the favor of the autochthonous Sao, later seizing the territory through ruse and war.

Besides close ties with groups such as the Buduma, various descendants of the Sao, and even the Tuareg, the Sayfawa and related Kanembu, Kanuri, Koyam and Kanuriphone populations suggest a complex process of ethnogenesis. The Koyam, supposedly Kanembu pastoralists associated with Islamic education and piety, were also related to the Sayfawa. Various clan names that appear among the Tubu, Kanembu, Kanuri, and Koyam also point to a deep antiquity of relations and likely migratory waves that traversed Kanem, Lake Chad, and Borno. Some of these traditions claiming deeper antiquity could also be of relatively recent origin, perhaps invented traditions that spread with the growth of Sayfawa power across the region. In that regard, it is interesting that the Buduma, who were mostly independent due to their mobility and piracy on Lake Chad, would claim common ancestry with the Kanembu. Perhaps that was due to largely peaceful relations with them and the absorption of Kanembu populations? With Borno, on the other hand, the Buduma were usually independent and carried out frequent raids for booty and captives. Yet in the early 20th century, the Buduma were culturally similar to the Kanembu but less thoroughly Muslim. As for the Tomageras, Kayi, Magumi, Sugurtis, Koyam, and other widely dispersed groups claiming common origins or clan names, they might be a testament to the strategic matrimonial alliances of the millennial Sayfawa, whose marriages with women from these aforementioned groups helped secure allies across a vast area of the Central Sudan.

Despite the problematic chronology and uneven collection of oral traditions, the Tilho Mission bequeathed to posterity an amazing source. Some of the traditions may be "false" or misleading or perhaps misinterpreted, but they add rich narrative and cultural nuance. For instance, the story of Mai Ali telling the Koyam shaykh that his own followers would not die for him helps explain why he was defeated by Mandara in the 1780s. Perhaps, by then, the Sayfawa mais were no longer able to command loyalty from the military and were already losing legitimacy. Certainly, the inability of the Sayfawa mais to protect and defend the western and northwestern frontiers of the empire would have compromised the willingness of soldiers and vassals to obey. The traditions likewise report personal details that may have played a role in the final demise of the Sayfawa. For example, the attempt in 1846 to remove Shehu Umar with the help of Wadai allegedly failed, in part, because the puppet mai's daughter revealed the details of the plot to her lover, a relative of Umar. The historical narrative here also sheds a more cynical light on Shehu al-Kanemi and his son, portraying the former as ambitious and usurping and the latter as corrupt and too close to his vizier. These details need corroboration, naturally, but unveil more of the personal dynamics of the key personages. 

The Sultanate of Mandara to 1902: History of the Evolution, Development and Collapse of a Central Sudanese Kingdom

We strongly believe that studying the history of the lesser known polities in the Lake Chad Region is very useful for understanding Kanem-Borno, our main area of interest. By studying smaller polities and societies who, in some cases, were vassals of the state or "empire" of the Sayfawa, one begins to see how Kanembu and Kanuri influences spread throughout various regions in the Lake Chad Basin and beyond. Barkindo's short but powerful study of the Mandara Sultanate from its shadowy 15th century origins to the colonial conquest is a great example of this. Barkindo, with good reason, dismisses accounts of foreign origins or echoes of the Hamitic Hypothesis to explain the formation of a Mandara kingdom. 

Assembling linguistics, oral traditions, archaeological studies, textual sources, and the similarities in political structure of pre-Islamic Mandara and its neighboring societies, it becomes quite clear that the origins of the state cannot be attributed to Tubu, Arab, Berber, or even Borno roots. However, the relocation of the Sayfawa dynasty to Borno in the late 14th century appears to have pushed the ancestors of the Wandala further south into the hills and plains of what became the Mandara state in the 1400s and 1500s. Over time, a combination of Gamergu and Wandala peoples combining agriculture, hunting, iron production, and trade, established a kingdom that was important enough to appear on the world map of Fra Mauro in the 1400s and appear in the works of Leo Africanus and d'Anania. 

But over time, the Mandara/Wandala people adopted and adapted aspects of Bornoan civilization as well as Islam (in c. 1715) and, provide a possibly useful case study of the complexity of Borno relations with neighboring societies. Instead of solely seeing Borno's relationship with Mandara and others in the larger region as one of conquest or empire, the economic, cultural, and, eventually, religious factors appear to explain more fully how the Lake Chad area became a "Bornoan" Sea of sorts. This perspective can be seen in the way Yusuf Bala Usman sought to redefine or contextualize the nature of Hausaland-Borno relations and the question of tribute and gift exchanges. Instead of assuming military conquest was the dominant or only route to which the Sayfawa dynasty established itself as the regional hegemon, cultural, economic, and social factors appear to have been just as important. 

As the dominant power of the Central Sudan until the 18th century, Borno's dominance of salt production/trade, trans-Saharan exchange, textile industry, livestock, horse breeding, and function as a center for Islamic scholarship and culture placed it at a favorable position and could have played a role in Mandara submission or sending of tribute to Borno. Until the second half of the 18th century, when Bagirmi and Wadai offered alternative routes to luxury goods from North Africa and beyond, Borno would have been the major supplier of North African goods to Mandara. Kanuri or Bornoan settlers, Shuwa Arabs, and Islamic scholars also flocked to Mandara, bringing their expertise in weaving, dyeing, animal husbandry, and religious skills to a state that, unsurprisingly, would be more deeply drawn into this orbit. Mandara's expansion and economic growth was stimulated by this development. 

If Barkindo's analysis is correct, Islam also provided a path to push for greater political centralization of the kingdom by challenging the traditional title-holders and their control of the kingship. It would be interesting to compare this with other groups who adopted Islam via Kanem-Borno influence, as well as pushing back against the notion that the Sayfawa were opposed to the expansion of Islam because it would have hurt the slave trade by decreasing the number of legally enslaveable captives. Understanding how and why some peoples resisted Islamization would be shed light on Islamic proselytism and state support for it but we have much to learn about the Bedde, Kotoko, Musgun, Margi, and other ethnic groups and their own distinct histories of relations with Borno. 

Ulama and the State in Borno

In our quest here at the blog to read all the relevant Nigerian scholarship on Borno, we finally read Bobboyi's dissertation, The 'Ulama of Borno: A study of the relations between scholars and state under the Sayfawa, 1470-1808. Due to their local proximity, access to oral and written sources, and a deeper familiarity with Kanuri history and culture, we have been trying to find more of the often inaccessible studies on Kanem-Borno by African scholars. Sadly, these excellent secondary sources are not easy to find. Lamentably, some of the precious primary sources at Nigerian archives or museums are not cited enough by outsiders, so we have to rely on Kanuri and other Nigerian scholars who have read the documents and have access to excellent sources on oral history to add context and fill in the gaps in our knowledge. 

For instance, Bobboyi's dissertation, and other studies by Nigerian scholars, cite late Sayfawa-era primary sources excluded in other studies, particularly two texts by Maina Muhammad Yanbu. These sources, although late in the history of the dynasty, should be more widely known, cited, and translated to add to the list of known internal textual sources on Kanem. But besides the use of important oral and written sources, Bobboyi's study establishes a clearer idea of who and what the ulama of Kanem-Borno were during the Borno period of the dynasty, with hints of continuity from their earlier Kanem phase. We get an inkling of the reputable scholars and their disciplines, the educational curriculum, how they were fully integrated into the state apparatus of Kanem-Borno as an Islamic administration, the role of the mahrams in shaping ulama-state relations, and Borno Sufism. This last chapter was probably the weakest, but given the limitations of the sources, a step forward in contextualizing the earlier history of Sufism in Kanem-Borno. Once we have read more of the Nigerian scholarship, we shall return to these topics in light of other perspectives on the administration of Kanem-Borno and Islamic influences.