Sayfawa Dynasty

Sayfawa dynasty or more properly Sefuwa dynasty is the name of the kings (or mai, as they called themselves) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, centered first in Kanem in western Chad, and then, after 1380, in Borno (today north-eastern Nigeria).

The dynasty was rooted in the Tubu expansion by the Kanembu. The first ten kings present in the list in the Girgam are difficult to date and to identify. The dynasty, one of Africa's longest reigning, lost the throne in 1846.

The chronology of the Sefuwa concerns the rule of the Sayfawa dynasty first over Kanem, then over Kanem-Bornu and finally, since c. 1380, over Bornu alone. The chronology of kings has been ascertained from dynastic records of the Sefuwa on the basis of lengths of reign for the successive kings (mai), found in the Girgam. African historians presently use several conflicting chronologies for the history of Kanem-Bornu. Below a list of the main kings of the Empire with the conflicting chronologies is provided.

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