This is meant to highlight Nigeria's history, government and political organization before the colonizers were able to take control of our day-to-day societal administration.
The emphasis will be on the people that shaped our various tribes, people, towns and events. Those people whose legend and real life contributions have been passed down from our forebears either through oral history, folklore or actual documented evidence.
LISABI, A Leader of the Egba people of Yorubaland
Lived in the mid-1700s to early 1800s
There seems no doubt that the Egba were subjected to the empire of Oyo at some period since. In addition to both Egba and Oyo traditions about this, a considerable assimilation of culture and governmental practice seems to have taken place; this can be observed especially in the case of the northern Egba, the Gbagura. How and when the Egba came to accept Oyo domination is not known, but it seems likely that this occurred during the century following the return of the Alaafin from Igboho to Oyo Ile; author S.O. Biobaku suggests that the situation evolved peaceably, the Egba (he asserts) having no military organization capable of defending their land and so being prepared to pay tribute to Oyo in return for protection. But this Oyo overlordship came to be increasingly resented. The Alaafin placed his ajeles in the Egba towns to represent him and to collect annual tribute, and the presence and exactions of these officials, who had become the lords of even the kings, eventually provoked a national rising.
The hero and liberator of the Egba was Lishabi, born at Itoku and living in Igbein, both in the Alake’s province. He is remembered as a man of gigantic stature and his career shows that he was a great organizer and leader. At first, he worked in secret, grouping his followers into the Egbe Aro, a society of farmers pledged to help each other in their work. This society gradually extended over the whole of Egbaland and at the same time changed its character, becoming an underground army, the Egbe Olorogun. When the time was ripe, Lishabi gave the signal for a general rising by killing the ajele in his own town of Igbein, and from there the movement spread through the Egbe to all the other towns of the land. Tradition claims that over 600 of the Oyo ajeles were massacred in this rising. The Alaafin replied by sending a large army, made up of Oyo, Ibarapa, and Egbado troops, against the rebels. This army crossed the Ogun at Mokokoki and advanced towards Igbein. Lishabi now showed his qualities as a general. Having ordered the town to be evacuated, he concealed his followers in the nearby Melego ravine and then, as the Oyo searched the deserted town, fell upon them, routing them and gaining at one stroke independence for his people.
It is uncertain at what point in the decline of Oyo this revolt of the Egba occurred. Circumstance suggest that it may have been at some time during the long reign of Alaafin Abiodun; Biobaku places it during the disturbance at Oyo which resulted in the downfall of Bashorun Gaha, and author I.A. Akinjogbin considers that it was in those latter years of Abiodun which also saw the unsuccessful Oyo campaigns against the Borgu (1783) and Nupe (1791). But tradition in the Oyo kingdom, as recorded by the Bada of Shaki, places the revolt during the short regency of Bashorun Ashamu at Oyo after the suicide of Alaafin Awole, and therefore in or about 1796 or 1797. This would accord with what is known of the general military and political decline which had set in at Oyo by the end of the 18th century and also with developments among the Egba under Lishabi and up to the opening of the long wars of the 19th century in Yorubaland.
Lishabi’s role was not confined to winning independence for the Egba. Biobaku describes him as the Egba Lycurgus who gave his people laws. He was yet more than that. He taught them the art of defending themselves by arms and fortifications, so that they were able to throw back the raids of their fierce neighbours, the Dahomeans. He also encouraged the Egba to take advantage of the changed political conditions of the country by engaging in trade on a wider scale than before, especially in sending kola from their forests to the markets in the north. He boasted that he had fought for the Egba so that they should wear the best kinds of cloth, alari and sekini, and his countrymen still look on him as father of their nation and on themselves as his children, omo Lishabi.
The circumstances of Lishabi’s end are mysterious. He is said to have died in the forest, perhaps murdered by a group of jealous chiefs, though another account is that he was killed during a Dahomean raid. It seems that towards the end of his life he lost his popularity with the Egba, despite the benefits which he had brought them. Biobaku suggests that they did not understand his anxiety about the defence of their lands and resented the conscription into his militia of men whose labour was needed on the farms.
After the removal of Lishabi’s influence and example, political conditions among the Egba deteriorated and local differences re-emerged. Tradition recollects four outbreaks of civil war preceding the wider conflagration of the Owu war. The first arose from a quarrel between the people of Igbein and Itoku, both towns subject to the Alake, over the petty offences of a former slave, now a wealthy trader, Ogedepagbo. The second grew out a competition for office between rival chiefs in Ilugun, which drew in other towns as mediators and then participants. The third came about when Alake Okikilu raised an army in Egbado under the warrior Agbaje (who gave his name to this war) in order to attack a group of towns in his province whose court was depriving him of the revenue which he expected from his own jurisdiction. The last was a bitterly fought contest between the Ijeun and Itoku against the Oba people; this again concerned towns within Ake, apparently the most disturbed and unruly of the Egba provinces.
Thus the stage was set for the Owu war of the early 19th century, which was to bring in its wake the direst and most far-reaching consequences for all the Yoruba. Among these consequences was the destruction of the town and kingdom of Owu and the eventual removal of its ruler and people to Abeokuta, the new metropolis of all the Egba, where they have since then occupied the southwest part of the town.
The Owu did not originally belong to the Egba. Their kingdom lay to the east of the Egba forest across the River Oshun, with Ife to the northeast and Ijebu on the south. Little is remembered about the early history of Owu, except for a couple of wars fought against Ondo, but the impressive remains of fortifications at Owu Ipole, consisting of massive earthen walls still some twenty feet high, suggest that here was a formidable power. Author S. Johnson describes the Owu as a martial race, and adds: “Hardihood, stubbornness, [redacted] and haughtiness are marked traits in their character.” To illustrate the equal fierceness of their women, he quotes a proverb: ‘a child is born at Owu and you ask (whether) male or female: which would be a proper child? (abi omo l’Owu, o ni ako tabi abo ni, ewo ni yio se omo nibe?) Nevertheless, like their Egba neighbours, the Owu were subject to the Oyo, and indeed were proud to act as the Alaafin’s warriors in the south. “From the days of Sango,” claims Johnson,” they had been very loyal to the Alaafin of Oyo.” This loyalty in latter days was to lead to their downfall.
Excerpted from Kingdoms of the Yoruba, by Robert Smith, 1969.
SOUN OGUNLOLA OF OGBOMOSO
The traditional head of Ogbomoso is called the Soun. Soun came to the site where the town is today over three hundred and fifty years ago. At that time, the area was a dense forest, however, the area is now an open Savannah . Ogbomoso traditions insists that Soun was a great hunter of Bariba origin who Migrated Southward about 1659. The migration of Soun was consistent with the usual pattern of north-south movements that were common at that time.
Soun Ogunola was a great hunter who enjoyed hunting expeditions. In one of his hunting expeditions, he pitched his camp under the Ajagbon tree. The site of this tree became the centre of Ogbomoso town where the Ogbomoso Palace stands today. Not far from Soun's Camp three other hunters had also established their camps. One of them was a Nupe elephant hunter who had his camp in a place known today in Ogbomoso as Oke-Elerin (Elephant Hill). Another was an Otta Prince who left his place because of chieftaincy dispute. His descendants became Baales of Ijeru. There was also another hunter who had his camp at Isapa. It is related that Soun Ogunola observed that these hunters were not far from his camp because of the smoke that came out of their fires. He later went to invite them to his camp. Ogunlola established his supremacy over these hunters because his wife was very good at preparing tobacco snuff and corn-wine which always attracted the tree hunters to his camp. Apart from that, disputes were always settled in Soun Ogunlola's camp as the settlement became bigger.
As a restless warrior, Soun Ogunlola heard of the developments of Oyo-Ile during the reign of Alaafin Ajagbo. The Alaafin was faced with attacks from a certain Elemoso, who with his arrows put many inhabitants of Oyo to death. He therefore engaged Elemoso in a battle. Soun Ogunlola shot Elemoso with an arrow. After his victory, he returned to his camp and continue his leadership. Subsequently, his camp was called “The camp of him who took Elemoso's head” meaning in Yoruba. “ Eyiti Ogbori Elemoso. “This was shortened for Agbelemaso and over time it evolved to Ogbomoso.
This history of Ogbomosoland was very peaceful until the early 19 th century, when the Fulani launched the Jihad (or holy war) against the Yoruba.
SANGO OF OYO KINGDOM
Sango was the third king of the Oyo Kingdom prior to his post-humous deification.
Stories about Shango's life exemplify some major themes regarding the nature of character and destiny. In one set of stories, Shango is the son of Aganju and Obatala when in female form. As the story goes, Obatala, the king of the white cloth was travelling and had to cross a river. Aganju, the ferryman and Undergod of fire, refused him passage. Obatala retreated and turned himself into a beautiful woman. He returned to the river and traded his/her body for passage. Shango was the result of this unusual union. The tension between reason represented by Obatala and fire represented by Aganju would form the foundation of Shango's particular character and nature. In further patakis or stories of the faith, we find that Shango goes in search of Aganju, his father, and the two of them play out a drama of conflict and resolution that culminates with Shango throwing himself into the fire to prove his lineage. All of the stories regarding Shango tend to revolve around dramatic events such as this one. He has three wives; his favorite (because of her excellent cooking) is Oshun, a river Undergoddess. His other wife, Oba, another river spirit, was conned by Oshun into offering their husband her ear to eat. His anger was greatly kindled by this, and she is said to have fled from his presence to subsequently become the Oba River, which merges with the Oshun River to form dangerous rapids that are believed to be the physical manifestation of her life-long hatred for her fellow royal consort. Lastly, Oya was Shango's third wife, and was the one out of the three who managed to learn the secrets of his special powers to use in later life.
Another Sango pataki from Yorubaland goes like this; Sango was an Alaafin, ruling as king in Oyo. He learnt the some of the secrets of his special abilities from the Ibariba, his mother's people. He came back to Oyo and amazed with his ability to make fire come out of his mouth. He thus ruled with fear of his special powers. He had two war generals, Timi and Gbonka. Timi Agbale Olofa-ina could shoot arrows of fire. Gbonka was equally powerful. Alaafin Sango sensed that he was not safe with these two powerful generals and tried to set them against each other. He sent Gbonka to Ede, another town in Yorubaland, to capture Timi. Gbonka was immune to Timi's fire arrows, because he also mastered the secrets of fire, and put Timi to sleep by chanting incantations. He brought Timi back to Oyo. Sango insisted they fight again in the public square. Gbonka repeated his feat, was again victorious and cut Timi's head off. Gbonka then asked to be burned alive. He was burnt to ashes, and miraculously re-appeared on the third day. Gbonka then gave Sango the ultimatum to leave town for his infidelity. Sango is then said to have sadly left town and committed suicide on the Ayan tree in a place called Koso. His followers quickly rallied and declared defiantly that the king did not commit suicide, rendered in the Yoruba language as "Oba ko so". They then attacked anybody who said otherwise with the lightning that they had been allowed to wield by the death of their lord. That is why anyone killed by lightning in Yorubaland is buried by the members of the Royal Cult of Sango, whose members are typically referred to as Baba-mogba. As a tacit acknowledgement of the propaganda that is ascribed to the cultists, one of the late king's praise names is Olukoso- the one who did not hang.
The earlier story of Shango and Oba, meanwhile, seems to be the tribe's way of saying "one must be wary of dark counsel". As we have already said, Shango had three wives, Oba, his first and, in a traditional sense, legitimate wife, Oshun, his second wife, and Oya, his concubine and the only one of his wives that he made his princess consort. At that time they are said to have lived in a compound. In that compound, Shango had his own house and each wife had her own house surrounding his. He would then visit his wives in their houses to eat and to sleep with them. Oba went to Oshun one day and asked her how she kept Shango so happy. Oshun, being asked this, is said to have been filled with resentment. As children of the first wife, Oba's children would inherit Shango's kingdom. Her children would not have nearly the same status, being birthed by his concubine. She then decided to play a trick on Oba, out of jealousy. She told Oba that many years ago, she had cut a small piece of her ear off and dried it. From this she made a powder which she sprinkled on Shango's food from that moment on. As he ate it, she told Oba, Shango would desire the food and Oshun all the more. Oba, excited by this information, ran home to prepare Shango's amala, his favorite meal. Once it was done, she decided that if a little piece of Oshun's ear produced such an effect, her whole ear would drive Shango mad with desire for her and he would forget Oshun forever. She sliced off her ear and stirred it into Shango's food. When Shango came to eat, he sat down and began eating without looking at his dish. When he finally glanced down, he saw an ear floating in the stew. Shango, thinking Oba was trying to poison him, drove her from his house. Oba ran from the compound, crying, and fell to the ground to become a river, where she is still venerated today. As an Orisha, she is the patron of matrimony and is said to destroy any marriage that abuses either partner.
KURUNMI OF IJAYE
After the defeat of Ilorin by Ibadan in 1840, rivalry between Ibadan and Ijaye grew. In Ibadan the population had increased to over 60,000 by 1851. The Oyo Yoruba had come to dominate the political life of the town, and a political system gradually evolved which was well suited to military expansion (Awe,1967). There was no Oba, and chiefships were not hereditary. The chiefs were organised into four lines: the civil chiefs, led by the Bale; the military chiefs in two lines, headed by the Balogun and the Seriki; and the women chiefs led by the Iyalode. Within each of these lines the titles were ranked, and each chief moved up a rank as those above him died or were killed in battle. The bottom ranks were filled by magaji, the elected leaders of the Ibadan descent groups. The most senior title, that of Bale, was usually filled by a Balogun who had proved himself in war. The fact that there was no oba reflected the theoretical suzerainty of the Alafin, though from its foundation Ibadan pursued an independent foreign policy. In the 19th century the military chiefs usually had the greatest authority. Promotion to a title depended on a man's ability to mobilise a following and on military skill. Prestige and wealth came from warfare and the result was an aggressive policy of expansion.
Ijaye was founded about the same time as Ibadan, by refugees from the Ikoyi area, led by Kurunmi, described by Johnson as the 'greatest soldier of his age'. It became an important communications centre, and under strong leadership it prospered. Mann, the CMS missionary, lived in the town in the 1850s, and he provided much first-hand information on it. By this time, Ijaye probably had a population of 40,000 or more. Initially, relations with Ibadan were good, but rivalry between the two gradually developed. An issue for a final confrontation was provided by the death of Alafin Atiba in 1859. He was succeeded by the Aremo Adelu, and Kurunmi refused to recognise the succession. Ijaye and Oyo were already at loggerheads over the control of the Upper Ogun towns around Saki. In any case, Ibadan sided with the new Alafin and war broke out. Kurunmi died in 1861, before the final capture and destruction of his town.
QUEEN AMINA OF ZAZZAU
Grandfather: probably ruler of Zazzua, a Hausa city-state which is now Zaria province in Nigeria
Mother: Bakwa of Turunka, ruling queen
Brother: Karama (ruled as king, 1566-1576)
Amina refused to marry and had no children
About Amina, Queen of Zazzua::
Amina's mother, Bakwa of Turunka, was ruler of Zazzua. Amina was trained in skills of government and military warfare, and fought in battles with her brother, Karama.
In 1566, when Bakwa died, Karama became king. In 1576 when Karama died, Amina, now about 43, became Queen of Zazzua. She used her military prowess to expand the territory of Zazzua to the mouth of the Niger in the south and including Kano and Katsina in the north. These military conquests led to great wealth, both because they opened more trading routes, and because conquered territories had to pay tribute.
Mud walls around cities became known as "Amina's walls" because Amina is said to have build such walls around her military camps.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF HER LIFE
Amina Sukhera (also called Aminatu) was a Hausa Muslim Queen of Zazzau (now Zaria), in what is now north central Nigeria.[1] She is the subject of many legends, but is widely believed by historians to have been a real ruler, though contemporary evidence about her is limited. There is controversy among scholars as to the date of her reign, one school placing her in the mid-15th century, and a second placing her reign in the mid to late 16th century.
The Arabic female name Amina means truthful, trustworthy and honest.
The earliest source to mention Amina is Muhammad Bello's history Ifaq al-Maysur, composed around 1836. He claims that she was "the first to establish government among them," and she forced Katsina, Kano and other regions to pay tribute to her.[2] Bello, unfortunately provided no chronological details about her. She is also mentioned in the Kano Chronicle, a well-regarded and detailed history of the city of Kano, composed in the late 19th century, but incorporating earlier documentary material. According to this chronicle, she was a contemporary of Muhammad Dauda, who ruled from 1421–38, and Amina conquered as far as Nupe and Kwarafa, collected tribute from far and wide and ruled for 34 years.[3] A number of scholars accept this information and date her reign to the early to mid-15th century.[4][5]
There is also a local chronicle of Zaria itself, written in the 19th century (it goes up to 1902) and published in 1910 that gives a list of the rulers and the duration of their reigns.[6] Amina is not mentioned in this chronicle, but oral tradition in the early 20th century held her to be the daughter of Bakwa Turunku, whose reign is dated by the chronicle from 1492–1522, and on this basis some scholars date her reign to the early 16th century.[7] Abdullahi Smith, using similar discripancies places her reign after 1576.[8] It is on the basis of her absence in this source as well, that claims that she never ruled but was only a princess are made.[9]
More recent oral tradition has a series of lively stories about the queen, and these have found their way into popular culture. Among them were: Amina was a fierce warrior and loved fighting. As a child, her grandmother Marka, the favorite wife of her grandfather Sarkin Nohir, once caught her holding a dagger. Amina holding the dagger did not shock Martha, rather it was that Amina held it exactly as a warrior would. As an adult, she refused to marry like Elizabeth the First of England for the fear of losing power. She helped Zazzau (Zaria) become the center of trade and to gain more land. Her mother, Bakwa, died when Amina was 36 years old, leaving her to rule over Zaria. She was also said to have taken a lover from among the conquered people after each battle, and to have killed him in the morning following their night together.
PRINCESS INIKPI OF IGALALAND
Princess Inikpi was a very beautiful woman. She was from a royal family. She was a heroin with great attributes.
There was war between the Bini kingdom and the Igala people. No house was safe. No markets were safe. Even the streams were women and children would fetch water from or have a bath were not safe. The Igala people’s streams were poisoned so that anyone that used the water on the day would die. Fear griped the Igala people for a long time. When the oracle was consulted, it said that their victory could not come unless the princess was buried alive to prevent the inevitable destruction that was hanging on the Igala kingdom during the war with the Binis.
Princess Inikpi was the beloved and only daughter of Attah of Igala then Ayegbu Oma Idoko, who willingly gave herself to be buried alive. Her father, the Attah of Igala loved his daughter so much. When he was informed of the only solution to the problem by the oracle and some of the eunuchs in his palace, he wished there was an alternative.
For days he could not eat or drink. The Princess noticed how downcast her father was and decided to ask him the reason behind his sadness. He wouldn’t tell her. Rather, he would sit her down and tell her folktales under the moonlight. On the seventh day of her asking her father why he was downcast, he decided to tell her as a matter of urgency as the war was making him powerless as a leader and as a human being from the land that was been under attack.
Princess Inikpi did not object. She did not fight. She went voluntarily on the day to the bank of River Niger , the place where she was to be buried alive. It was a sad resolution but the Igala people hailed her for indeed she was their heroine and a brave one at that. After the sacrifice as the Binis were advancing they saw the whole town in flames of fire and went back feeling that there was no need taking a war to a place already on fire. But it was the blood of Inikpi that deceived them.
The Princess Inikpi statue located at Ega in the heart of the Idah market in Kogi state still represents an important historic event in the life of the Igala people. Today, so many people in Idah bear the name Inikpi in honour of the princess.
This sacrifice was an expensive one. It made peace reign on the Igala land. The Igala people were able to live life once again but for how long? Years later until recent, there have been ethnic cleansing on the Igala land. Some of the reasons are political, religious and other reasons best known to the people behind these inter tribal massacres.
The late Chief Ogedengbe Agbogubgboro, the Generalissimo of Ekiti Army was born at Atorin, a village about twenty kilometres from Ilesha in the now Atakomosa East Local Government areas. This was his mother's village; his father's village was Oke-Orisa which is about the same distance from Ilesha and in the same present day Local Government areas as Atorin.
Before Ogedengbe was born, the Ifa oracle predicted that he was going to be the saviour of Ijeshaland. The name given to Ogedengbe at birth was SARAIBI.
He was born as a normal child and he grew up at Atorin as a healthy industrous young man. From the early years of his life, it became clear that he was very strong and surpassed all his mates in acts of valour, whenever he engaged in wrestling with his mates, he always floored them, hence the name "OGEDENGBE". In adulthood, Ogedengbe engaged in several campaigns against the Ibadan people who were oppressing and attacking the Ijesha people. During one of such campaigns, he was captured and taken to Ibadan.
It was on this occassion the Ibadan people put tribal marks on his face before releasing him. He fought in the Ibadan army until he became a senior military commander and then returned to fight and lead the Ijesha forces. After this, he gathered a large army of Ijesha young men and engaged in several bitter fightings against the Ibadan people.
Ogedengbe exploits also took him to Ekiti and Akoko areas where he sold a lot of them into slavery. This was why he was often referred to as "O soko Ekiti soko Akoko". He also went as far as the present day Edo state. The Oba of Benin had to appeace him before he desisted from waging war against his domain. He gave Ogedengbe presents of beads, slaves and other valuable articles.
After this exploit, Ogedengbe returned to Igbara-Oke intending to settle down there. This was the time when the Ibadan people engaged the Ijeshas and the Ekitis in a fierce war at Oke-Imesi. The leaders of the Ijeshas and the Ekitis had to persuade Ogedengbe to come and lead them as his unrivalled exploits had become a legend in the whole of Yoruba land. He agreed and went to the battle field to check the inordinate ambition of the Ibadan people.
The fighting went on for about nine years . It was Captain Bower, the then resident commissioner at Ibadan who finally settled the war by a treaty in 1886 (23rd September, 1886) after he had won the war.
It was due to all these attributes that he possessed that made him into a local hero in his town.
Ogedengbe subsequently became one of the most important men in the history of Yorubaland, Nigeria and Africa, hence the name ‘OGEDENGBE AGBOGUNGBORO’ meaning ‘OGEDENGBE THE WARRIOR’
It began in the 19th century, a century of revolution in Yorubaland, after the fall of the old Oyo Empire due to political crisis. Ibadan, a new city founded in the 1820s wanted to dominate and rule the rest of the Yorubaland and as result, there were wars among the kingdoms of the Yorubas.In particular the Kiriji war (also known as the sixteen years war) which started in 1877, it involved the struggle for power, influence and survival.The Ibadan on declared ‘a war to end all wars’ on the Egba on Monday, 30th July 1877, the Kiriji war officially begun. The Ijebu joined and it began to spread. In 1878, it spread to the east, the Ekiti and Ijesa countries became united and formed an alliance known as Ekiti-parapo (the combined forces of the Ijesa and Ekiti) which was led by Ogedengbe of Ilesha . The Ife and Ilorin later joined. Ibadan now had a string of foes that were ready to fight for their independence and also to free themselves from Ibadan imperialism.
MOREMI AJASORO
Moremi hailed from Ile Ife, a kingdom that is said to have been at war with an adjoining tribe who were known to them as the Forest people (Ìgbò in the Yoruba language, though the said tribe is believed by scholars to have had no relation to the contemporary Ìgbòs of modern Nigeria). Scores of Ife citizens were being enslaved by these people, and because of this they were generally regarded with disdain by the Yoruba city-states.
Moremi was a very brave and beautiful woman who, in order to deal with the problem facing her people, offered anything she had to give in sacrifice to the Spirit of the river Esimirin so that she could discover the strength of her nation's enemies.
In a manner that has certain parallels with the biblical stories of Moses, Miriam and Esther, she is then said to have been taken as a slave by the Igbo and, due to her beauty, married their ruler as his anointed queen. After familiarising herself with the secrets of her new husband's army, she escaped to Ile-Ife and revealed this to the Yorubas who were able to subsequently defeat them in battle.
Following the war she returned to her first husband, King Oramiyan of Ife (and later Oyo), who immediately had her re-instated as his Princess Consort. In order to fulfil the pledge she made to Esimirin before embarking on her mission, her son Olurogbo was given in sacrifice to the Spirit because this is what it asked her for when she returned to its shrine.
The Edi Festival is said to have then been started as a means of celebrating the sacrifice the princess made for the people of Yorubaland. Furthermore, a number of public places are named after the princess in contemporary Nigeria, such as the Female Halls of Residence in the University of Lagos and Obafemi Awolowo University.
Mai Dunama Dabbalemi
Kanem's expansion peaked during the long and energetic reign of Mai Dunama Dabbalemi (ca. 1221–1259), also of the Sayfawa dynasty. Dabbalemi initiated diplomatic exchanges with sultans in North Africa and apparently arranged for the establishment of a special hostel in Cairo to facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca. During his reign, he declared jihad against the surrounding tribes and initiated an extended period of conquest. After consolidating their territory around Lake Chad the Fezzan region (in present-day Libya) fell under Kanem's authority, and the empire's influence extended westward to Kano (in present-day Nigeria), eastward to Ouaddaï, and southward to the Adamawa grasslands (in present-day Cameroon). Portraying these boundaries on maps can be misleading, however, because the degree of control extended in ever-weakening gradations from the core of the empire around Njimi to remote peripheries, from which allegiance and tribute were usually only symbolic. Moreover, cartographic lines are static and misrepresent the mobility inherent in nomadism and migration, which were common. The loyalty of peoples and their leaders was more important in governance than the physical control of territory.
Dabbalemi devised a system to reward military commanders with authority over the people they conquered. This system, however, tempted military officers to pass their positions to their sons, thus transforming the office from one based on achievement and loyalty to the mai into one based on hereditary nobility. Dabbalemi was able to suppress this tendency, but after his death, dissension among his sons weakened the Sayfawa Dynasty. Dynastic feuds degenerated into civil war, and Kanem's outlying peoples soon ceased paying tribute.
By the end of the 14th century, internal struggles and external attacks had torn Kanem apart. Between 1376 and 1400, six mais reigned, but Bulala invaders (from the area around Lake Fitri to the east) killed five of them. This proliferation of mais resulted in numerous claimants to the throne and led to a series of internecine wars. Finally, around 1396 the Bulala forced Mai Umar Idrismi to abandon Njimi and move the Kanembu people to Bornu on the western edge of Lake Chad. Over time, the intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the Kanuri.
But even in Bornu, the Sayfawa Dynasty's troubles persisted. During the first three-quarters of the 15th century, for example, fifteen mais occupied the throne. Then, around 1472 Mai Ali Dunamami defeated his rivals and began the consolidation of Bornu. He built a fortified capital at Ngazargamu, to the west of Lake Chad (in present-day Niger), the first permanent home a Sayfawa mai had enjoyed in a century. So successful was the Sayfawa rejuvenation that by the early 16th century Mai Ali Gaji (1497–1515) was able to defeat the Bulala and retake Njimi, the former capital. The empire's leaders, however, remained at Ngazargamu because its lands were more productive agriculturally and better suited to the raising of cattle.
Kanem-Bornu peaked during the reign of the outstanding statesman Mai Idris Aluma (c. 1571–1603). Aluma is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms, and Islamic piety. His main adversaries were the Hausa to the west, the Tuareg and Toubou to the north, and the Bulala to the east. One epic poem extols his victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles. His innovations included the employment of fixed military camps (with walls); permanent sieges and "scorched earth" tactics, where soldiers burned everything in their path; armored horses and riders; and the use of Berber camelry, Kotoko boatmen, and iron-helmeted musketeers trained by Turkish military advisers. His active diplomacy featured relations with Tripoli, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire, which sent a 200-member ambassadorial party across the desert to Aluma's court at Ngazargamu. Aluma also signed what was probably the first written treaty or cease-fire in Chadian history (like many cease-fires negotiated in the 1970s and 1980s, it was promptly broken).
Aluma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Islamic law (sharia). He sponsored the construction of numerous mosques and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he arranged for the establishment of a hostel to be used by pilgrims from his empire. As with other dynamic politicians, Aluma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers and allies, and he frequently relied on slaves who had been educated in noble homes. Aluma regularly sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans. He required major political figures to live at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through appropriate marriages (Aluma himself was the son of a Kanuri father and a Bulala mother).
Kanem-Bornu under Aluma was strong and wealthy. Government revenue came from tribute (or booty, if the recalcitrant people had to be conquered), sales of slaves, and duties on and participation in trans-Saharan trade. Unlike West Africa, the Chadian region did not have gold. Still, it was central to one of the most convenient trans-Saharan routes. Between Lake Chad and Fezzan lay a sequence of well-spaced wells and oases, and from Fezzan there were easy connections to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. Many products were sent north, including natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, kola nuts, ivory, ostrich feathers, perfume, wax, and hides, but the most important of all were slaves. Imports included salt, horses, silks, glass, muskets, and copper.
Aluma took a keen interest in trade and other economic matters. He is credited with having the roads cleared, designing better boats for Lake Chad, introducing standard units of measure for grain, and moving farmers into new lands. In addition, he improved the ease and security of transit through the empire with the goal of making it so safe that "a lone woman clad in gold might walk with none to fear but God."
Reference:
www.wikipedia.com
www.nairaland.com
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