Borno Empire
| Bornu Empire | ||||||||||
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 Bornu Empire extent c.1750
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| Capital | Ngazargamu | |||||||||
| Languages | Kanuri | |||||||||
| Religion | Islam | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| King (Mai) | ||||||||||
| • | 1381–1382 | Said of Bornu | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Established | 1380 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 1893 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 1800 | 50,000 km² (19,305 sq mi) | ||||||||
| • | 1892 | 129,499 km² (50,000 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||
| • | 1892 est. | 5,000,000 | ||||||||
| Density | 38.6 /km² (100 /sq mi) | |||||||||
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Flag of Bornu, also known as Organa, from Vallseca atlas of 1439
The Bornu Empire (1380–1893) was a state of what is now northeastern Nigeria from 1380 to 1893. It was a continuation of the great Kanem Empire founded centuries earlier by the Sayfawa Dynasty. In time it would become even larger than Kanem, incorporating areas that are today parts of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
After decades of internal conflict, rebellions and outright invasion from the Bulala, the once-strong Sayfawa Dynasty was forced out of Kanem and back into the nomadic lifestyle they had abandoned nearly 700 years earlier. Around 1380, the Kanembu finally overcame attacks from neighboring Arabs, Berbers and Hausa, to found a new state in Bornu. Over time, the intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the Kanuri.
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 1455, Mai Ali Dunamami defeated his rivals and began the consolidation of Bornu. He built a fortified capital at Ngazargamu (in present-day Nigeria), to the west of Lake Chad. This was 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 (1455–1487) 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. Ali Gaji was the first ruler of the empire to assume the title of Caliph.
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Wikipedia