Kanem Empire

Kanem Empire
c. 700–1387
Flag of Kanem also known as Organa from Dulcerta atlas 1339
Influence of Kanem Empire around 1200 AD
Capital		Njimi
Languages		Tedaga
Religion		traditional beliefs, later Islam
Government		Monarchy
King (Mai)
•	c. 700	Sef
•	1382–1387	Omar I
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	c. 700
•	Invaded and forced to move, thus establishing new Bornu Empire	1387
Area
•	1200	776,996 km² (300,000 sq mi)
Succeeded by Bornu Empire

Flag of Kanem also known as Organa from Dulcerta atlas 1339

The Kanem Empire (c. 700–1376) was located in the present countries of Chad, Nigeria and Libya. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only most of Chad, but also parts of southern Libya (Fezzan) and eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon. The history of the Empire is mainly known from the Royal Chronicle or Girgam discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth.

The empire of Kanem began forming around AD 300 under the nomadic Tebu-speaking Kanembu. According to the Girgam, the Kanembu were forced southwest towards the fertile lands around Lake Chad by political pressure and desiccation in their former range. The area already possessed independent, walled city-states belonging to the Sao culture. Under the leadership of the Duguwa dynasty, the Kanembu would eventually dominate the Sao, but not before adopting many of their customs. War between the two continued up to the late 16th century.

One theory proposes that the lost state of Agisymba (mentioned by Ptolemy in the middle of the 2nd century AD) was the antecedent of the Kanem Empire.