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Kanem, Bornu, and the Fazzān: Notes on the political history of a Trade Route

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

B. G. Martin
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Extract

The Chadian Muslim states of Kanem, and later Bornu, have been linked throughout their history to North Africa by an important trade-route across the Sahara, from the Libyan coast to Lake Chad. The popularity and permanence of this route throughout the centuries have been detennined by the economic needs and specialities of the N. African littoral, as well as of the Western Sudan. This route, first controlled by Ibāḍī Muslim Berbers from Zawīla from the eighth to the twelfth centuries, then briefly by the Ayyubids of Cairo, came under the control of Kanem, which was expanding northwards in the thirteenth century. The Fazzān (and Zawīla) then came under the control of Kanem, which seems to have maintained friendly relations with the Hafsid dynasty of Tunis. After the thirteenth century, independent states arose in the Fazzān. Then, after the establishment of an Ottoman Turkish province in Libya, the Turks and the Mais of Bornu were soon in contact, probably from about 1555, and certainly in the time of Mai Idrīs of Bomu (on the throne in 1557–8), as some newly found correspondence from the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul makes clear. There was certainly a friendly association between Bornu and the Turks at this period, if not an actual alliance, as Mai Idrīs hoped to obtain arms and perhaps Turkish troops as well to use against his enemies of the W. Sudan, principally the Hausa state of Kebbi. However, Idris's hopes were deceived, and the Ottoman Sultan Murād III did not provide what was wanted, causing Idrīs to turn to the Sa'dī Sharifian ruler of Fās, Aḥmad al-Manṣūr al-Dhahābī, with a similar request.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1969 , pp. 15 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

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21 Nachtigal, G., op. cit. 1, 164ff.Google Scholar

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26 Lacking any better sources, I have had to depend on Mischlich, A. and Lippert, J., ‘Beiträge zur Geschichte der Hausastaaten’, MSOS, vs (Berlin, 1903; Afrikanische Studien), 137–242, esp. 149–53 for the history of Kebbi.Google Scholar

27 A very useful source for contacts between Bornu and Tripoli to 1677 is the Narrative of the French Prisoner (Rélation du médecin-esciave), which was written about 1685, probably by a certain Girard. It is listed under Fonds Français 12219 and 12220 at the Bibliothèque National, Paris. Used by Féraud, L. C. in his Annales tripolitaines (Paris, 1927), extracts from it may also be found in Fresnel, loc. cit. (see note 24 above). This source was also used by C. de la Roncière, ‘Une histoire de Bornou au XVIIe siècle par un chirurgien français captif à Tripoli’, Revue de l'histoire des colonies françaises (1919), 78–88, which I have not seen. Girard also obtained some of his information from the Cosmografia of the Neapolitian nobleman Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania (first edition Naples 1573, second and third editions Venice 1576 and 1582). This important source, of which the third section (Tratiato Terzo) deals with Africa, requires a critical edition and a translation.Google Scholar

28 See Aziz, Samih liter, ṣimali Afrikada Türkler, ii (Istanbul, 1937), 128.Google Scholar

29 Ibid. 128–9.

30 This passage is taken from Arabic Letter II, next-to-last paragraph.

31 Fresnel, , loc. cit. 254.Google Scholar

32 Fresnel, , loc. cit. 254.Google Scholar

33 See the chapter on ‘Songhay, Bornu, and the Hausa states in the 16th century’ by J. O. Hunwick in the forthcoming book by M. C. Crowder and Ajayi, J. F. A., A History of West Africa (Ibadan), (1969).Google Scholar Hunwick discusses the complex interrelationships of Bornu, Songhay, and Kebbi with Morocco. See also Almad, b. Khᾱlid al-Nᾱirī al-Salᾱwi, Kitᾱb al.Istiqṣᾱ’ li-akhbᾱr duwal al.Maghrib al-Aqṣᾱ’, iii (Bulsq, 1304 H./1886–1897), 49–53.Google Scholar In this book the nineteenth-century Moroccan historian al-Salᾱwi (1855–97) quotes a long unpublished historyof‘Abdal-’Azlzal-Fishtᾱli al-ṣanhᾱjI (956–103 1/1549–1621), the Manᾱhil al-ṣafᾱ’ fi akhbᾱr Mulῡk al-Shurafä (‘The pure springs concerning the history of the Sharifian Kings’), Brockelmann, cf., GAL, Supplement ii, 680).Google Scholar Fishtᾱil, who served as katīb al-dawla, or state secretary to Mawlaī Abmad al-Mansür al-Dhahᾱbl, has the following to say about Malik Idrīs's efforts to obtain firearms and military aid at Faa in 990 H./1582–1583: ‘And one of the motives of his Sultᾱn [Malik Idrls] in sending the letter which he despatched by him [emissary from Bornu to Ahmad al-Mansūr] was to seek help from the Amir al-Mu'minin, soldiers, and an army, a number of muskets [bunduq] and some fire- belching cannons [madafi' al-na,-] to wage the jihᾱd on the unbelievers adjoining their [territory] in a remote part of the Sῡdᾱn. Previously, this messenger had gone to visit the Turkish Sultan at Istanbul, Murᾱd the ‘Uthmᾱni, to obtain assistance from him…’ (p. 50). I am grateful to Mr Hunwick for this reference. The ManOhil has now been published in an abridged form by ‘Abdaltak Gannun Titwan, 1964; cf. pp. 61–62.

34 Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania, Cosmografia (L'Universalefabrica del mondo, overo cosmografia) in the Venice edition of 1582, 349−50, has the following to say about Bornu:‘ Then comes Bornò on the banks of the River Negro (where there is a great lake, caused by the aforesaid river), a very great city having much commerce. It has its own king… In writing to foreign princes, they use the Arabic language, as I am informed by Signor Giovanni di Vesti, a most honourable person. Among the Turks, where he was the slave a great count, he himself saw a letter which he [Mai of Bornu] wrote to the Bassa [Pᾱshᾱ] of Tripoli, with much eloquence and very great art. This prince is so powerful, that he has several times put into the field 100,000 men against the King of Cabi [Kebbi]. Because of his power, the Negroes deem him to be an emperor. They also have a great multitude of horses, which the Arabs bring in from their countries, selling them for at least 700 or 1000 scudi each. These do not live for long, for when the sun enters the Sign of the Lion, many die each year from the extreme heat… Many Turks go there to seek their fortunes, and also many Moors of Barbary, who are their learned men, and where, being very few, they are extremely well paid. This is the case amongst all of these Negroes who are Mahometans. And from there set out each year merchants who carry such quantities of the best Cordovan [leather] that it is accounted a great thing in the Fizzan [sic], and from where they return with infinite numbers of horses for their country, accompanying the caravans of Negro mechants’.

35 Fresnel, , Op. cit. 254–7,Google Scholar and also Rossi, , loc. cit.337–51Google Scholar, also Krause, , loc. cit. 362–70 for more detail.Google Scholar

36 See Martin, B. G., ‘Five Arabic letters from the Tripoli Archives’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, II, 3 (Ibadan), 1963, 350–70 (letter V).Google Scholar