Borno in the Rabih Years

Although our primary area of interest in Kanem-Borno lies in the Sayfawa dynasty, one cannot ignore the tumultuous late 19th century in Borno history. The Sudanese military leader Rabih was able to conquer a weakened Borno under Shehu Hashimi and pave the way for European colonial conquest of the region, thereby depriving Borno of a possible third dynasty and dividing the region into spheres of British, French, and German imperialism. Kyari Mohammad's Borno in the Rabih years, 1893-1901: The Rise and Crash of a Predatory State remains an important study of the conquest and short-lived state established by Rabih. 

The reign of Shehu Umar and his successors proved to be an unstable era in Borno. The al-Kanemi dynasty proved itself unable to adapt or bridge the gap between the aristocracy and the rest of the population. Divisions within the ruling class, excessive tax burdens on the peasantry, and unpopular leaders who were easily defeated by Rabih's disciplined, modern forces reveal how weak Borno was by the end of the 1800s. This decline and economic downtown was inherited by Rabih's brutal conquest, with its negative demographic impact, scorched earth tactics, and repressive measures. Rabih's "military dictatorship" further weakened the economy, agriculture, trans-Saharan and regional trade, and almost appears to have been doomed to fail. That the Shehus were unable to mount a real resistance and were only restored by European colonial support exhibits how weak and ineffective the al-Kanemi dynasty had become. And the fact that Rabih failed to establish a state but recycled the old fief system and had failed in nearly all his major diplomatic and economic initiatives illustrates the decline of Borno as a major power in the region. 

One is almost tempted to think back to the Sayfawa dynasty in the beginning of the century, who had to rely on al-Kanemi to drive the Fulani jihadists out. Yet the decline of the Sayfawa in the early 19th century does not appear to have been as severe as that of the Shehus of Kukawa. Nonetheless, it would be interesting to further explore the dynastic changes in 19th century Borno to trace the possible antecedence of the political turmoil, social dislocation and political decline that caused the kingdom to lose its position as the preeminent power of the Central Sudan. For instance, to what extent was the "peasant revolt" of the Manga in the 1820s similar to the failed movement of Mallam Abu Gantur's resistance to Rabih in the 1890s? Or peasant resistance to the excessive taxation of Shehu Bukar in 1883? Was the "contract" between rulers and ruled already so weak from the early 19th century conflicts or Sayfawa decline in the 18th century?