From the late 14th century to the early 17th, the sultanate of Kanem was ruled not by the Sayfawa dynasty whose state had originated there, but by a rival dynasty known as the Bulala, who had driven the Sayfawa westward to Borno. How the Bulala rose to power, how they governed Kanem, and why they eventually relocated eastward to the Lake Fitri region are questions that the available sources address only partially and often contradictorily. Naturally, the origin of the Bulala rulers of Kanem is a topic worthy of close scrutiny. The exact conditions in which the Bulala rulers have been able to seize control of Kanem from the Sayfawa dynasty in the late 14th century, and how they ruled Kanem, are not sufficiently explored topics. Neither are the factors that led to their exodus from Kanem sometime in the 17th century. Some historians, using both oral and written sources from Borno, stress the rise of the Bulala to the east, in the Lake Fitri region. Supposedly, the early Bulala ruling lineage or dynasty claimed descent from either a son of Dunama Dibalemi or a later mai in the late 13th century. Over time, they gradually extended their power from a base in the east before killing a number of Sayfawa maiwa in the second half of the 14th century. Others, however, stress an early Bulala alliance with Shuwa Arabs, particularly the Hemet group, at some point in the 1300s and their ascent to domination of Kanem began with their attacks from the south. Lange, on the other hand, stresses the Bulala usurpation of Kanem does not totally explain the Sayfawa relocation to Borno. Indeed, changes in the environment, ecological factors, and the greater fertility of the land in Borno may have already led to the Sayfawa establishing a stronger base in Borno by the late 13th century.
And what of Kanem under the suzerainty of the Bulala monarchs and the conditions in which they eventually (re)established their sultanate in the Lake Fitri region? Many scholars and historians, such as H.R. Palmer, Muhammad Nur Alkali, Jean-Claude Zeltner, Remi Dewiere, and Dierk Lange have relied on the Diwan, external Arabic sources such as al-Maqrizi, the chronicles of Idris Alooma’s campaigns written by Ahmad b. Furtu, and oral traditions, girgams, or observations of fired-brick ruin sites in Kanem and the Bahr el-Ghazal regions of Chad to speculate on this question. Scholars drawing on Bulala, Kanembu, and Tunjur traditions also add further details to the poorly understood 16th and 17th centuries in Kanem. Instead of revisiting in excruciating detail the Kanem campaigns of Idris Alooma (or, Idris b. Ali, r. 1564-1596), we believe a more holistic view of the Bulala sultanate in Kanem requires closer examination of Kanembu oral tradition, Bulala tradition, and an attempt at corroboration of various traditions collected from the Bulala, Kanuri, Tunjur, Bagirmi, and Waday states or peoples. Thus, in order to explore the question of Bulala origins, the establishment of a Bulala-ruled sultanate in Kanem, and their eventual decline by the 17th century, we shall endeavor to elucidate these questions through a combination of all the aforementioned sources. It shall be demonstrated that the Bulala sultanate was one which, if not initially of Sayfawa descent, recreated the administrative structure of the Banu Sayf state in Kanem.
First, one must begin with an example of how problematic oral traditions can be for reconstructing the history of Kanem. The traditions recorded by Landeroin for the Tilho Mission in the beginning of the 20th century, for example, attribute the Sayfawa arrival in Kanem after the Bulala had already ruled the area. According to this body of tradition, the ancient Kanem subjects of the Bulala were the Kanembu, Tomaghera, Kangou, Koubouri, Tsougourti, Djiloas and Bulala.[1] Clearly, Kanembu oral traditions contradict the mainstream narrative of the annals of the Sayfawa dynasty, which establish the origins of the dynasty in medieval Kanem. However, by the 20th century, oral traditions in Kanem appear to have postdated the arrival of the Sayfawa to the era after Bulala rule, likely a reference to the establishment of the alifa at Mao in the 17th century. In addition, tradition attributed the exodus of the Sayfawa to Borno due to the greater fertility of the soil, not Bulala aggression.[2] Since these traditions are countered by earlier written sources (Ahmad b. Furtu’s chronicle, the Diwan, external Arabic sources from the medieval period, the traditions and narratives collected by Heinrich Barth and Gustav Nachtigal), one must interpret them very cautiously when endeavoring to make sense of the history of Kanem.
Another major source from the colonial-era, Henri Carbou, also collected traditions from Kanem and nearby regions of Chad. According to his informants, the Bulala were already mixed with the Hemet Arabs when they chased the Sayfawa out of Kanem.[3] Later, he wrote of the Hemat Arabs as contributing to the formation of the Bulala tribe.[4] However, other Arabs, like the Essela faction of the Salamat, aided Borno against the Sao. To some extent, Carbou’s interpretation of traditions were more accurate than that of the Tilho Mission. For instance, he postdated the arrival of the Bulala sultanate at Yao after the rise of Waday.[5] This is in accordance with other sources for a 17th century date of the Bulala (re)establishment of their base in the Lake Fitri region. Unlike Nachtigal, who wrote of the Bulala as a mixture of the Kouka and Awlad Hemed Arabs, Carbou emphasized a different origin.[6] Instead, the Bulala were a mix of the Kanembu and Hemat Arabs who were defeated by the Tunjur, thereby leading to their invasion of the Lake Fitri region. It is there that the Bulala mixed with the Kuka and Abou Semen.[7] Unfortunately, the inexact genealogies of the Bulala sultans appear to leave many rulers out, but a Sayfawa origin is asserted. Carbou favored an origin from mai Ibrahim b. Dunama’s son, Ali Gatel Magabirna.[8] Carbou, luckily, cites some names of Bulala sultans remembered in Kanembu songs as Hassen, Derbali, and Kalo.[9] Kanembu traditions further recall the Bulala as builders of walls or fortified sites.[10] This appears to be confirmed by Ahmad b. Furtu’s descriptions of fortified sites occupied by the Bulala in the 16th century, such as Gharni Kiyala. Later, Carbou also recorded the Kanembu tradition of a Bulala king named Kalo, who led the resistance to Borno in what must have been the first half of the 16th century.[11] This Kalo was said to have been the father of a Bulala princess named Assakele, where a community of Kanembu still resided in the 20th century in an area named after her.[12] According to Kanembu songs, Assakele was seized by Kalee djerma Melei, a slave official of Borno’s ruler sent to Kanem. A war broke out between the Bulala and Kanem when this djerma seized Kalo’s daughter by force.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16] Further identification of Lalo 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).[17] 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.[18] Idris Alooma’s mother, named Amsa, was said to have been a daughter of Jil ibn Bikoru of the Bulala.[19] According to Lange, Dunama b. Salmama was one of the Bulala kings defeated by the Sayfawa mai, Idris b. Ali (r. c.1497-1519).[20] 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.”[21] 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 only wrote that Idris Alooma was related to the Bulala by marriage or parentage.[22] 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.[23] Consequently, one is left uncertain about the Aissa Kili who was held by tradition to be the mother of Idris Alooma yet also remembered as Amsa.
As the aforementioned accounts of Landeroin, Palmer and Carbou demonstrate, the question of Bulala origins remain an enigma. Early sources from Kanem, particularly the 16th century writer Ahmad b. Furtu clearly identifies the Bulala as attacking Sayfawa mai Dawud from the region of Fitri and Madama.[24] Furtu’s account is based on a lost chronicle from earlier in the 16th century as well as informed oral tradition. Since he lived much closer in time to the events in question than Kanembu or Kanuri informants of the early 1900s, it is perhaps wise to lend greater credence to Furtu’s account. Indeed, some corroboration of it can be found in the Diwan, which lists a number of Sayfawa rulers killed in wars against the Bulala during the late 1300s: Dawud b. Ibrahim, Uthman b. Dawud, Uthman b. Idris, Abu Bakr Liyatu, Sa’id, and Kaday Afnu.[25] This strongly suggests that the traditions recorded by Ahmad b. Furtu are likely correct, and the wars with the Bulala grew in scale during the late 14th century. It is precisely during this period when Umar, who likely reigned from 1382-1387, moved the court to Kagha. As for the earlier origins of the Bulala, a possible hint of an alliance with Arab groups who had recently migrated into the region may be found in a letter to the Mamluk sultan, Barquq, by mai Uthman b. Idris in the early 1390s. According to said letter, the Judham Arabs had pillaged the lands of Borno and apparently took the side of the “enemies” of the Sayfawa, likely the Bulala.[26] Furthermore, al-Maqrizi, writing in the 15th century, wrote of the rulers of Borno waging jihad against Kanem for their apostasy and rebellion.[27] Some have interpreted this as a sign that the Sayfawa rulers were waging war against the Bulala sultans, who may have received support from part of the Kanembu population. This may also be corroborated by Fra Mauro’s mid-15th world map, indicating a place called “Bolala” in an area roughly corresponding to Kanem or its east. This map serves as further indication of some type of Bulala polity in the region of Kanem by the mid-1400s. As for the Arabs mentioned in the letter to Barquq, the Judham Arabs may have included some of the Arab groups said to have been part of the early Bulala coalition. Indeed, according to Carbou, the Bulala were already mixed with the Hemat when they chased the Sayfawa out of Kanem.[28] Even Nachtigal was told by a Bulala sultan that the Bulala were a mixture of the Kuka and Awlad Hemed Arabs.[29] As for their precise ethnic origins, Zeltner has proposed that they may have been related to the Kuka, as they speak a language similar to that of the Kuka, Bablia, Kenga and Medogo.[30] On the other hand, Carbou believed that the Bulala were actually Kanembu and Hemat Arabs who invaded them, were defeated by the Tunjur (thereby leading to their invasion of Fitri) and then mixed with the Kuka and Abou Semen.[31] Nonetheless, this is contradicted by the earlier testimony of Ahmad b. Furtu, who cited traditions of the Bulala attacking Kanem from the east with the peoples of Fitri and Madama. This implies that the Bulala were a distinct group, although they may have included Kanembu elements in their coalition that later conquered Kanem.
What of the alleged Sayfawa origin for the Bulala sultans? Carbou saw their kings as descendants of a son of Ibrahim b. Dunama of Kanem, named Ali Gatel Magabirna.[32] Barth, however, thought the founder of the Bulala dynasty was Djil Shikomeni, said to have been a son of Dunama Dibalemi.[33] Palmer, citing sometimes ambiguous traditions or producing elaborate versions of them in Sudanese Memoirs, offers more detail. According to one tradition, the Bulala of Fitri seized power from Dawud Nikalemi, which is in accordance with Ahmad b. Furtu’s understanding. However, in a Bulala girgam, the Bulala were presented as the son of a daughter of the Borno sultan. The sultan of Kanem (Borno?) then attacked the N’Gizam of Kanem for hosting the Bulala, but failed. This led to a kaygama named Dawud rebelling and ruling N’Gizam and the Bulala.[34] Intriguingly, the Diwan does mention a kaigama called Nikali who engaged in a civil war against Uthman b. Dawud, who only reigned for 9 months (c.1421-1422).[35] Is it conceivable that the kaigama Dawud Nigalemi may be a partially erroneous memory of the Nikali who overthrew Uthman b. Dawud in the tale recorded by Palmer? Further evidence is required, but it does match the portrait of dissension and civil wars among the Sayfawa during the period after Dunama Dibalemi’s reign. Indeed, the Diwan similarly recalls another kaygama, Muhammad, who fought a war against Bir b. Idris (r. 1389-1421).[36] On the other hand, Palmer also wrote of the first Bulala mai being a Lafia, who lived at Kowa Bagale near Njimi. He was said to have moved to Fitri after a war with Dunama Dibalemi, leaving his son Jil, at Bagale.[37] Assuming that Dunama Dibalemi was anachronistically inserted into the narrative, there was indeed a Bulala ruler named Abd al-Jalil, son of Amiya, who killed the Sayfawa king, Dawud, in c.1376. Moreover, Ahmad b. Furtu wrote that there were no Bulala in the days of Dunama Dibalemi, suggesting traditions are anachronistically inserting the illustrious 13th century ruler into the later annals of Sayfawa and Bulala history.[38] Until further evidence is uncovered, it does appear that the Bulala ruling dynasty developed due to the civil wars of the Banu Sayf, eventually establishing themselves as the new masters of Kanem. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some of the traditions were possibly garbled or misunderstood by European travelers and colonial officials, whereas new traditions may have “replaced” earlier notions of the history of the Bulala. For instance, Nachtigal was told that the name, Bulala, was derived from a leader named Belal, the first to centralize the Bulala government.[39] Such an etymology seems like an example of a “just-so” popular etymology and lacks the rich details of other traditions tracing the genealogies of the Bulala sultans at Yao. The ambiguity and unanswered questions on the origins of the Bulala sultans is perhaps no surprise given the loss of written sources, relocation of their dynasty to the east, and the attested intermarriage or common parentage with the Sayfawa.
And what of Kanem under the rule of the Bulala sultans? According to Zeltner, presumably relying on traditions, the Sayfawa rulers of Borno retained control of the entire northern shore of Lake Chad well into the 15th century. After 1460, however, the Bulala ruler Abd al Jalil b. Kade fought Borno over Buluj and 2 other villages.[40] Moreover, Idris Alooma’s grandfather went to war against the Bulala twice, eventually retaking Njimi 122 years after it fell to their rivals.[41] A Bulala sultan named Kaday ibn Abdul Jalil was said to have come to Borno and died at Lada after, allegedly early into the reign of Idris’s successor, Muhammad b. Idris. According to Ahmad b. Furtu, Bulala raids on Borno territory continued into the mid-16th century. In Kanembu tradition, the Bulala sultans were remembered for their fortified sites, too, such as Garni Kiyala, Ikuma and al Agafi.[42] This is perhaps no surprise given their conflicts with the Sayfawa rulers in Borno and ongoing depredations against Borno territory. Nonetheless, the Bulala rulers had close ties with the Banu Sayf. One sultan, Abd Allah ibn Jull, performed the pilgrimage to Mecca with Idris Alooma in 1565. He was described as “not very famous” and part of the suite of the mai.[43] The previously mentioned Aisa Kili, who may have been the mother of Idris Alooma and a Bulala princess, perhaps contributed to close relations between the two royal houses.
Unfortunately, conflict arose again in the 1570s when Idris Alooma led multiple campaigns against the Bulala sultans. Very detailed accounts of those campaigns written by the chief imam, Ahmad b. Furtu provides the most complete description of Kanem in this era. Thanks to Furtu, we know of some of the Bulala fortified sites or towns. Luckily, Magnavita et al. have also used radiocarbon dating on some sites of fired-brick ruins in Kanem. At least two of the fired-brick sites in a cluster of central Kanem ruin suites were dated to the period between the 1400s to the 1600s, when the Bulala sultans held sway over the region. But, their fired-brick ruins were constructed at the slopes of the dunes and bottoms of depressions, unlike earlier Sayfawa-era sites.[44] In addition, the town of Mao was already an important center in Kanem by the 1570s. The Bulala political capital of the region is not clear, but it would seem that the sultans had managed to form alliances with the Tubu against Borno. Other groups to the east appear to have been under the suzerainty of the Bulala sultans, as Arabs and Kuka from the Fitri region felt compelled to meet with Idris Alooma near the Bahr el Ghazal.[45] This implies that the Bulala sultanate encompassed not just Kanem, but likely parts of the Fitri region and perhaps the northern part of what became the kingdom of Bagirmi in the 1500s.[46] Indeed, Bir b. Idris, a Sayfawa ruler, died in Bagirmi in c.1421.[47] The Bulala influence in the northern part of Bagirmi may have sparked the conflict with the Sayfawa lead to the death of this mai. The Bulala were even remembered in Kawar for one particularly brutal raid in Bilma during the 17th century, probably in the early 1600s, when Bulala forces massacred locals.[48] Intriguingly, Nachtigal recorded a raid from Bagirmi that would have reached Kawar in the 1600s, possibly referring to the same attack if Bagirmi and Bulala forces collaborated in a raid.[49] This same Bagirmi mbang, Burkomanda (r. 1635-1665), had a sister married to the Bulala ruler in Fitri.[50] Ultimately, in the 1400s and 1500s, the Bulala sultans may have held more power than the burgeoning kingdom of Bagirmi while also imposing tribute on lands east of Kanem.
The sultanate in Kanem appears to have maintained practices of the Sayfawa with certain adaptations due to demographic and ecological shifts. In terms of their state’s administrative structure, it appears to have continued the Sayfawa system, with titles like galadima, djerma, yerima, sindilma and more. Such titles still existed among the Bulala in Fitri.[51] It is very likely that the Bulala state managed to impose tribute on parts of the Lake Fitri region, northern Bagirmi, and upon the Kanembu in Kanem for resources. They must have also continued to engage in some degree of trans-Saharan trade through Kawar and perhaps with lands to the east. Within Kanem, their subjects were said to encompass the Tomagheras, Kangus, Koubouri, Tsougourtis, Djiloas, and Bulala.[52] A Kuka population in Gujer may have accompanied the Bulala when they conquered Kanem in the 14th and 15th centuries.[53] Adding further detail is the brief mention of the Bulala by Ahmad Baba of Timbuktu. Writing in response to North Africans about which black population were permissible to enslave, Baba wrote of the Bulala as composed of Muslim Fulani, Shuwa Arabs, and “Sudan” who were sometimes enslaved and sold by Borno.[54] One may surmise that the trona deposits of Foli were also exploited by this point, making salt, trona, livestock, leather and possibly captives probable items of exchange for the economy. Lastly, the Bulala sultans may have played a role in the rise or maintenance of “casted” populations, the Haddad. The common ancestry of some Haddad and the Bulala was still known in the early 20th century.[55] To what extent specific caste-like groups associated with specific types of labor developed in Kanem is unclear, but the Bulala sultans may have played a role in at least continuing it across Kanem.
Another poorly understood aspect of Kanem’s history is the fall of the Bulala sultanate in the region. Many sources concur on attributing its decline to the coming of the Tunjur from Waday. The standard narrative suggests that, following Idris Alooma’s successful campaigns, the Bulala sultans continued to reside in Kanem and likely sent tribute to the Sayfawa mai. However, at some point in the 17th century, after the rise of Waday (likely in the 1630s, according to Nachtigal’s chronology), part of the Tunjur population led by a son of the last Tunjur king, Dawud, migrated west. At some point after the fall of the Bulala sultans in Kanem, Borno sent the first alifa, Dala Afuno, who ruled from Mao. Zeltner, drawing on Gros’s study of Tunjur oral traditions and other sources, believed that the Bulala may have gradually shifted from Kanem due to environmental factors as it became more arid in the 17th century. Furthermore, the Tunjur, who may have begun migrating to Kanem in the 1630s at the earliest, may not have been powerful enough to seriously threaten or unseat the Bulala sultanate.[56] Bulala traditions from the Fitri region shed little further light. A king, Djili Esa Toubou, who had been raised in Bagirmi, was said to have conquered Fitri from the dry Massoa region.[57] This Djili Esa Toubo, or Djil Essa Tubo in Hagenbucher’s spelling, was said to have come to the aid of the Abou Semen against the Kuka and was succeeded by 20 sultans until 1967.[58] This Djil, or Djili, may be equated with the Abd al Jalil mentioned by Palmer as the first Bulala sultan ruling the Kuka at Gao (Yao?).[59] This narrative seems to imply that the Bulala had already left Kanem by the time of Djili Esa Toubo, so possibly in the decades after the rise of Waday and during or after the immigration of the Tunjur in Kanem. In light of the uncertainty caused by the lack of firmer dates for the establishment of Waday, the migration of the Tunjur, the relocation of the Bulala, and Borno sponsoring an alifa at Mao, one can only follow Zeltner’s argument for the Tunjur migration in the 1630s. By 1642, the Dala Afuno of Mao was likely present, probably to restore order in Kanem and ensure the province’s (re)integration in Borno’s sphere of influence.
Undoubtedly, further research must be done to clarify, elaborate, and expand on the period of Bulala domination of Kanem. Sadly, the sources that do exist are Borno-centric or mainly focus on Kanuri traditions. Deeper examination of Kanembu oral traditions and songs may shed further light on the period of Bulala rule. Nonetheless, one can corroborate aspects of the traditional history through a multiplicity of sources. They are not enough to reconstitute more of Kanem’s history in the period, but they are revealing. The Bulala appear to have usurped control of Kanem by the late 14th century, and their state likely continued practices of the Sayfawa in administrative structure. The state likely controlled the Fitri region (however loosely) and perhaps parts of the northern section of Bagirmi. It is similarly likely that the Bulala sultans may have sponsored the migration of the Kuka into Gujer as well as some of the Shuwa Arabs. Their state may have reinforced or sponsored caste lineage groups for specific types of labor and forging. Despite their recurring conflicts with the Sayfawa maiwa in Borno, close relations were ensured through marriage alliances and even joint pilgrimages to Mecca. When relations were cordial or not disrupted by Bulala raids or refusal to send tribute, they likely enjoyed much local autonomy. It is our hope that with more surveying in Kanem and dating of sites with brick walls or ruins, the era of Bulala hegemony may receive further attention.
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[1] Moïse Landeroin, “Notice Historique,” in Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, 1906-1909, 388.
[2] Ibid, 354.
[3] Henri Carbou, La région du Tchad et du Ouadai II, 34.
[4] Ibid, 51.
[5] Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 292.
[6] Ibid, 300.
[7] Ibid, 301.
[8] Ibid, 18.
[9] Ibid, 303.
[10] Ibid, 305.
[11] Ibid, 306.
[12] Ibid, 37.
[13] Ibid, 44.
[14] Henri Carbou, La région du Tchad, II, 47.
[15] H.R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs III, 29.
[16] Lange, Diwan, 79.
[17] Rémi Dewière, Du lac Tchad à la Mecque, 379.
[18] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs II, 42-43.
[19] Ibid, 44.
[20] Lange, Diwan, 79.
[21] Palmer, “The Bornu Girgam,”79.
[22] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 19.
[23] Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa, 200.
[24] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 17.
[25] Lange, Diwan, 76-77.
[26] Yusufu Bala Usman (editor), Studies in the History of Pre-Colonial Borno, 165.
[27] Lange, “L’eviction des Sefuwa du Kanem,” 327.
[28] Carbou, La région du Tchad II, 34.
[29] Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 300.
[30] Jean-Claude Zeltner, Pages d’Histoire du Kanem, pays tchadien, 107.
[31] Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 301.
[32] Ibid, 18.
[33] Lange, Diwan, 76.
[34] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs II, 32.
[35] Lange, Diwan, 77.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs III, 28-29.
[38] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 50.
[39] Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan IV, 34.
[40] Zeltner, 111.
[41] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 17.
[42] Zeltner, 110.
[43] Collet Hadrien, “Royal Pilgrims from Takrūr According to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazīrī (12th–16th Century),”193.
[44] Carlos Magnavita, “New Luminescence and Radiocarbon Dates for Kanem-Borno Fired-Brick Elite Sites in Kanem, Chad: Bayesian Chronological Modelling of Settlement Construction,” 12.
[45] Zeltner, 151.
[46] Hints of possible Bulala rule in the north of the future kingdom of Bagirmi appear in Nachtigal’s account of Bagirmi history. Carbou claims it was actually the Kuka who imposed tribute on the north of Bagirmi (La région du Tchad I, 298).
[47] Lange, Diwan, 77.
[48] Maurice Abadie, La colonie du Niger, 133.
[49] Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan III, 405.
[50] Ibid.
[51] Hagenbucher, “Notes sur les Bilala du Fitri,” 50.
[52] Landeroin, 388.
[53] Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan III, 74.
[54] Ahmad Baba, Miʻrāj al-ṣuʻūd, 48.
[55] Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 52.
[56] Zeltner, 192-193.
[57] Carbou, La region du Tchad I, 308.
[58] Hagenbucher, 50.
[59] Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs II, 30.
