The Bornu Empire (1396-1893) was an African state
of Nigeria from 1396 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 1396, 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.
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 Nigeria), 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.