From the late 14th
century to the early 17th, the sultanate of Kanem was ruled not by the Sayfawa
dynasty whose state had originated there, but by a rival dynasty known as the
Bulala, who had driven the Sayfawa westward to Borno. How the Bulala rose to
power, how they governed Kanem, and why they eventually relocated eastward to
the Lake Fitri region are questions that the available sources address only
partially and often contradictorily. Naturally, the origin of the Bulala rulers
of Kanem is a topic worthy of close scrutiny. The exact conditions in which the
Bulala rulers have been able to seize control of Kanem from the Sayfawa dynasty
in the late 14th century, and how they ruled Kanem, are not sufficiently
explored topics. Neither are the factors that led to their exodus from Kanem
sometime in the 17th century. Some historians, using both oral and written
sources from Borno, stress the rise of the Bulala to the east, in the Lake
Fitri region. Supposedly, the early Bulala ruling lineage or dynasty claimed
descent from either a son of Dunama Dibalemi or a later mai in the late 13th century. Over time, they gradually extended
their power from a base in the east before killing a number of Sayfawa maiwa in
the second half of the 14th century. Others, however, stress an early Bulala
alliance with Shuwa Arabs, particularly the Hemet group, at some point in the
1300s and their ascent to domination of Kanem began with their attacks from the
south. Lange, on the other hand, stresses the Bulala usurpation of Kanem does
not totally explain the Sayfawa relocation to Borno. Indeed, changes in the
environment, ecological factors, and the greater fertility of the land in Borno
may have already led to the Sayfawa establishing a stronger base in Borno by
the late 13th century.
And what of Kanem under
the suzerainty of the Bulala monarchs and the conditions in which they
eventually (re)established their sultanate in the Lake Fitri region? Many
scholars and historians, such as H.R. Palmer, Muhammad Nur Alkali, Jean-Claude
Zeltner, Remi Dewiere, and Dierk Lange have relied on the Diwan,
external Arabic sources such as al-Maqrizi, the chronicles of Idris Alooma’s
campaigns written by Ahmad b. Furtu, and oral traditions, girgams, or
observations of fired-brick ruin sites in Kanem and the Bahr el-Ghazal regions
of Chad to speculate on this question. Scholars drawing on Bulala, Kanembu, and
Tunjur traditions also add further details to the poorly understood 16th and
17th centuries in Kanem. Instead of revisiting in excruciating detail the Kanem
campaigns of Idris Alooma (or, Idris b. Ali, r. 1564-1596), we believe a more
holistic view of the Bulala sultanate in Kanem requires closer examination of
Kanembu oral tradition, Bulala tradition, and an attempt at corroboration of
various traditions collected from the Bulala, Kanuri, Tunjur, Bagirmi, and
Waday states or peoples. Thus, in order to explore the question of Bulala
origins, the establishment of a Bulala-ruled sultanate in Kanem, and their eventual
decline by the 17th century, we shall endeavor to elucidate these questions
through a combination of all the aforementioned sources. It shall be
demonstrated that the Bulala sultanate was one which, if not initially of
Sayfawa descent, recreated the administrative structure of the Banu Sayf state
in Kanem.
First, one must begin
with an example of how problematic oral traditions can be for reconstructing
the history of Kanem. The traditions recorded by Landeroin for the Tilho
Mission in the beginning of the 20th century, for example, attribute the
Sayfawa arrival in Kanem after the Bulala had already ruled the area. According
to this body of tradition, the ancient Kanem subjects of the Bulala were the
Kanembu, Tomaghera, Kangou, Koubouri, Tsougourti, Djiloas and Bulala.[1]
Clearly, Kanembu oral traditions contradict the mainstream narrative of the
annals of the Sayfawa dynasty, which establish the origins of the dynasty in
medieval Kanem. However, by the 20th century, oral traditions in Kanem appear
to have postdated the arrival of the Sayfawa to the era after Bulala rule,
likely a reference to the establishment of the alifa at Mao in the 17th century. In addition, tradition attributed
the exodus of the Sayfawa to Borno due to the greater fertility of the soil,
not Bulala aggression.[2] Since these traditions are countered by earlier
written sources (Ahmad b. Furtu’s chronicle, the Diwan, external Arabic sources
from the medieval period, the traditions and narratives collected by Heinrich
Barth and Gustav Nachtigal), one must interpret them very cautiously when endeavoring
to make sense of the history of Kanem.
Another major source from
the colonial-era, Henri Carbou, also collected traditions from Kanem and nearby
regions of Chad. According to his informants, the Bulala were already mixed
with the Hemet Arabs when they chased the Sayfawa out of Kanem.[3] Later, he
wrote of the Hemat Arabs as contributing to the formation of the Bulala
tribe.[4] However, other Arabs, like the Essela faction of the Salamat, aided
Borno against the Sao. To some extent, Carbou’s interpretation of traditions
were more accurate than that of the Tilho Mission. For instance, he postdated
the arrival of the Bulala sultanate at Yao after the rise of Waday.[5] This is
in accordance with other sources for a 17th century date of the Bulala (re)establishment
of their base in the Lake Fitri region. Unlike Nachtigal, who wrote of the
Bulala as a mixture of the Kouka and Awlad Hemed Arabs, Carbou emphasized a
different origin.[6] Instead, the Bulala were a mix of the Kanembu and Hemat
Arabs who were defeated by the Tunjur, thereby leading to their invasion of the
Lake Fitri region. It is there that the Bulala mixed with the Kuka and Abou
Semen.[7] Unfortunately, the inexact genealogies of the Bulala sultans appear
to leave many rulers out, but a Sayfawa origin is asserted. Carbou favored an
origin from mai Ibrahim b. Dunama’s
son, Ali Gatel Magabirna.[8] Carbou, luckily, cites some names of Bulala
sultans remembered in Kanembu songs as Hassen, Derbali, and Kalo.[9] Kanembu
traditions further recall the Bulala as builders of walls or fortified
sites.[10] This appears to be confirmed by Ahmad b. Furtu’s descriptions of
fortified sites occupied by the Bulala in the 16th century, such as Gharni
Kiyala. Later, Carbou also recorded the Kanembu tradition of a Bulala king
named Kalo, who led the resistance to Borno in what must have been the first
half of the 16th century.[11] This Kalo was said to have been the father of a
Bulala princess named Assakele, where a community of Kanembu still resided in
the 20th century in an area named after her.[12] According to Kanembu songs,
Assakele was seized by Kalee djerma
Melei, a slave official of Borno’s ruler sent to Kanem. A war broke out between
the Bulala and Kanem when this djerma seized Kalo’s daughter by force.[13]
Lamentably, it remains
quite difficult to historicize and contextualize some of the traditions
reported by Carbou. Take the Bulala king, Kalo, for instance. His mother was
said to have been named Lafia.[14] The name Lafia appears as a mai named Lefia in H.R. Palmer’s Sudanese
Memoirs. But, in Palmer’s sources, Lafia was the father of Jil, who was the
father of Anas, who was the father of Salih.[15] Another Bulala sultan, who
fought a losing war against Muhammad b. Idris, son of Idris b. Ali (r. 1497-1519),
was named in the Diwan as Kaday b. Lafia.[16] Further
identification of Lalo may be corroborated in Kanuri traditions of Aissa Kili
bint Dunama, said to have been a daughter of the Bulala sultan Dunama b. Salma
(r. c.1500-1530).[17] Assuming Idris Alooma’s mother was the daughter of Dunama
b. Salma and not the other sons of Salma, who was the father of a Bulala
princess remembered in Kanem as Assakele, then it is likely that Dunama b.
Salma was in fact Kalo. However, traditions reported in Palmer’s Sudanese
Memoirs are contradictory about Idris Alooma’s mother. According to
Palmer, Aisa Kili succeeded Ali Gaji and ruled for 7 years. Ali Gaji was said
to have married a daughter of the Bulala ruler, Umr. Moreover, Aisa Kili was
allegedly a sister of Idris Alooma, and had lived among the Bulala.[18] Idris
Alooma’s mother, named Amsa, was said to have been a daughter of Jil ibn Bikoru
of the Bulala.[19] According to Lange, Dunama b. Salmama was one of the Bulala
kings defeated by the Sayfawa mai,
Idris b. Ali (r. c.1497-1519).[20] If so, this agrees with the chronology given
by Dewiere (c.1500-1530). As for Aisa Kili, a girgam translated by Palmer
listed her as a child of Dunama, and a “princess of the blood.”[21] This same
girgam lists the parents of Idris Alooma as Ali and Hamsa, with no indication
of Aisa Kili being the mother of Idris. As for contemporary written sources,
Ahmad b. Furtu only wrote that Idris Alooma was related to the Bulala by
marriage or parentage.[22] The only other source asserting a Bulala origin for
Idris Alooma’s mother is Muhammad Nur Alkali, who cited tradition that Idris’s
mother was the sister of the Bulala sultan, Abdullahi.[23] Consequently, one is
left uncertain about the Aissa Kili who was held by tradition to be the mother
of Idris Alooma yet also remembered as Amsa.
As the aforementioned
accounts of Landeroin, Palmer and Carbou demonstrate, the question of Bulala
origins remain an enigma. Early sources from Kanem, particularly the 16th
century writer Ahmad b. Furtu clearly identifies the Bulala as attacking
Sayfawa mai Dawud from the region of
Fitri and Madama.[24] Furtu’s account is based on a lost chronicle from earlier
in the 16th century as well as informed oral tradition. Since he lived much
closer in time to the events in question than Kanembu or Kanuri informants of
the early 1900s, it is perhaps wise to lend greater credence to Furtu’s
account. Indeed, some corroboration of it can be found in the Diwan,
which lists a number of Sayfawa rulers killed in wars against the Bulala during
the late 1300s: Dawud b. Ibrahim, Uthman b. Dawud, Uthman b. Idris, Abu Bakr
Liyatu, Sa’id, and Kaday Afnu.[25] This strongly suggests that the traditions
recorded by Ahmad b. Furtu are likely correct, and the wars with the Bulala
grew in scale during the late 14th century. It is precisely during this period
when Umar, who likely reigned from 1382-1387, moved the court to Kagha. As for
the earlier origins of the Bulala, a possible hint of an alliance with Arab
groups who had recently migrated into the region may be found in a letter to
the Mamluk sultan, Barquq, by mai
Uthman b. Idris in the early 1390s. According to said letter, the Judham Arabs
had pillaged the lands of Borno and apparently took the side of the “enemies”
of the Sayfawa, likely the Bulala.[26] Furthermore, al-Maqrizi, writing in the
15th century, wrote of the rulers of Borno waging jihad against Kanem for their
apostasy and rebellion.[27] Some have interpreted this as a sign that the
Sayfawa rulers were waging war against the Bulala sultans, who may have
received support from part of the Kanembu population. This may also be
corroborated by Fra Mauro’s mid-15th world map, indicating a place called
“Bolala” in an area roughly corresponding to Kanem or its east. This map serves
as further indication of some type of Bulala polity in the region of Kanem by
the mid-1400s. As for the Arabs mentioned in the letter to Barquq, the Judham
Arabs may have included some of the Arab groups said to have been part of the
early Bulala coalition. Indeed, according to Carbou, the Bulala were already
mixed with the Hemat when they chased the Sayfawa out of Kanem.[28] Even
Nachtigal was told by a Bulala sultan that the Bulala were a mixture of the
Kuka and Awlad Hemed Arabs.[29] As for their precise ethnic origins, Zeltner
has proposed that they may have been related to the Kuka, as they speak a
language similar to that of the Kuka, Bablia, Kenga and Medogo.[30] On the
other hand, Carbou believed that the Bulala were actually Kanembu and Hemat Arabs
who invaded them, were defeated by the Tunjur (thereby leading to their
invasion of Fitri) and then mixed with the Kuka and Abou Semen.[31]
Nonetheless, this is contradicted by the earlier testimony of Ahmad b. Furtu,
who cited traditions of the Bulala attacking Kanem from the east with the
peoples of Fitri and Madama. This implies that the Bulala were a distinct
group, although they may have included Kanembu elements in their coalition that
later conquered Kanem.
What of the alleged
Sayfawa origin for the Bulala sultans? Carbou saw their kings as descendants of
a son of Ibrahim b. Dunama of Kanem, named Ali Gatel Magabirna.[32] Barth,
however, thought the founder of the Bulala dynasty was Djil Shikomeni, said to
have been a son of Dunama Dibalemi.[33] Palmer, citing sometimes ambiguous
traditions or producing elaborate versions of them in Sudanese Memoirs,
offers more detail. According to one tradition, the Bulala of Fitri seized
power from Dawud Nikalemi, which is in accordance with Ahmad b. Furtu’s understanding.
However, in a Bulala girgam, the Bulala were presented as the son of a daughter
of the Borno sultan. The sultan of Kanem (Borno?) then attacked the N’Gizam of
Kanem for hosting the Bulala, but failed. This led to a kaygama named Dawud rebelling and ruling N’Gizam and the
Bulala.[34] Intriguingly, the Diwan does mention a kaigama called Nikali who engaged in a
civil war against Uthman b. Dawud, who only reigned for 9 months
(c.1421-1422).[35] Is it conceivable that the kaigama Dawud Nigalemi may be a partially erroneous memory of the
Nikali who overthrew Uthman b. Dawud in the tale recorded by Palmer? Further
evidence is required, but it does match the portrait of dissension and civil
wars among the Sayfawa during the period after Dunama Dibalemi’s reign. Indeed,
the Diwan similarly recalls another kaygama, Muhammad, who fought a war against Bir b. Idris (r.
1389-1421).[36] On the other hand, Palmer also wrote of the first Bulala mai being a Lafia, who lived at Kowa
Bagale near Njimi. He was said to have moved to Fitri after a war with Dunama
Dibalemi, leaving his son Jil, at Bagale.[37] Assuming that Dunama Dibalemi was
anachronistically inserted into the narrative, there was indeed a Bulala ruler
named Abd al-Jalil, son of Amiya, who killed the Sayfawa king, Dawud, in
c.1376. Moreover, Ahmad b. Furtu wrote that there were no Bulala in the days of
Dunama Dibalemi, suggesting traditions are anachronistically inserting the
illustrious 13th century ruler into the later annals of Sayfawa and Bulala history.[38]
Until further evidence is uncovered, it does appear that the Bulala ruling
dynasty developed due to the civil wars of the Banu Sayf, eventually
establishing themselves as the new masters of Kanem. By the late 19th and early
20th centuries, some of the traditions were possibly garbled or misunderstood
by European travelers and colonial officials, whereas new traditions may have
“replaced” earlier notions of the history of the Bulala. For instance,
Nachtigal was told that the name, Bulala, was derived from a leader named
Belal, the first to centralize the Bulala government.[39] Such an etymology
seems like an example of a “just-so” popular etymology and lacks the rich
details of other traditions tracing the genealogies of the Bulala sultans at
Yao. The ambiguity and unanswered questions on the origins of the Bulala
sultans is perhaps no surprise given the loss of written sources, relocation of
their dynasty to the east, and the attested intermarriage or common parentage
with the Sayfawa.
And what of Kanem under
the rule of the Bulala sultans? According to Zeltner, presumably relying on
traditions, the Sayfawa rulers of Borno retained control of the entire northern
shore of Lake Chad well into the 15th century. After 1460, however, the Bulala
ruler Abd al Jalil b. Kade fought Borno over Buluj and 2 other villages.[40]
Moreover, Idris Alooma’s grandfather went to war against the Bulala twice,
eventually retaking Njimi 122 years after it fell to their rivals.[41] A Bulala
sultan named Kaday ibn Abdul Jalil was said to have come to Borno and died at
Lada after, allegedly early into the reign of Idris’s successor, Muhammad b.
Idris. According to Ahmad b. Furtu, Bulala raids on Borno territory continued
into the mid-16th century. In Kanembu tradition, the Bulala sultans were
remembered for their fortified sites, too, such as Garni Kiyala, Ikuma and al
Agafi.[42] This is perhaps no surprise given their conflicts with the Sayfawa
rulers in Borno and ongoing depredations against Borno territory. Nonetheless, the
Bulala rulers had close ties with the Banu Sayf. One sultan, Abd Allah ibn
Jull, performed the pilgrimage to Mecca with Idris Alooma in 1565. He was
described as “not very famous” and part of the suite of the mai.[43] The previously mentioned Aisa
Kili, who may have been the mother of Idris Alooma and a Bulala princess,
perhaps contributed to close relations between the two royal houses.
Unfortunately, conflict
arose again in the 1570s when Idris Alooma led multiple campaigns against the
Bulala sultans. Very detailed accounts of those campaigns written by the chief
imam, Ahmad b. Furtu provides the most complete description of Kanem in this
era. Thanks to Furtu, we know of some of the Bulala fortified sites or towns.
Luckily, Magnavita et al. have also used radiocarbon dating on some sites of
fired-brick ruins in Kanem. At least two of the fired-brick sites in a cluster
of central Kanem ruin suites were dated to the period between the 1400s to the
1600s, when the Bulala sultans held sway over the region. But, their
fired-brick ruins were constructed at the slopes of the dunes and bottoms of
depressions, unlike earlier Sayfawa-era sites.[44] In addition, the town of Mao
was already an important center in Kanem by the 1570s. The Bulala political
capital of the region is not clear, but it would seem that the sultans had
managed to form alliances with the Tubu against Borno. Other groups to the east
appear to have been under the suzerainty of the Bulala sultans, as Arabs and
Kuka from the Fitri region felt compelled to meet with Idris Alooma near the
Bahr el Ghazal.[45] This implies that the Bulala sultanate encompassed not just
Kanem, but likely parts of the Fitri region and perhaps the northern part of
what became the kingdom of Bagirmi in the 1500s.[46] Indeed, Bir b. Idris, a
Sayfawa ruler, died in Bagirmi in c.1421.[47] The Bulala influence in the
northern part of Bagirmi may have sparked the conflict with the Sayfawa lead to
the death of this mai. The Bulala
were even remembered in Kawar for one particularly brutal raid in Bilma during
the 17th century, probably in the early 1600s, when Bulala forces massacred
locals.[48] Intriguingly, Nachtigal recorded a raid from Bagirmi that would
have reached Kawar in the 1600s, possibly referring to the same attack if
Bagirmi and Bulala forces collaborated in a raid.[49] This same Bagirmi mbang,
Burkomanda (r. 1635-1665), had a sister married to the Bulala ruler in
Fitri.[50] Ultimately, in the 1400s and 1500s, the Bulala sultans may have held
more power than the burgeoning kingdom of Bagirmi while also imposing tribute
on lands east of Kanem.
The sultanate in Kanem
appears to have maintained practices of the Sayfawa with certain adaptations
due to demographic and ecological shifts. In terms of their state’s administrative
structure, it appears to have continued the Sayfawa system, with titles
like galadima, djerma, yerima, sindilma and
more. Such titles still existed among the Bulala in Fitri.[51] It is very
likely that the Bulala state managed to impose tribute on parts of the Lake
Fitri region, northern Bagirmi, and upon the Kanembu in Kanem for resources.
They must have also continued to engage in some degree of trans-Saharan trade
through Kawar and perhaps with lands to the east. Within Kanem, their subjects
were said to encompass the Tomagheras, Kangus, Koubouri, Tsougourtis, Djiloas,
and Bulala.[52] A Kuka population in Gujer may have accompanied the Bulala when
they conquered Kanem in the 14th and 15th centuries.[53] Adding further detail
is the brief mention of the Bulala by Ahmad Baba of Timbuktu. Writing in
response to North Africans about which black population were permissible to
enslave, Baba wrote of the Bulala as composed of Muslim Fulani, Shuwa Arabs,
and “Sudan” who were sometimes enslaved and sold by Borno.[54] One may surmise
that the trona deposits of Foli were also exploited by this point, making salt,
trona, livestock, leather and possibly captives probable items of exchange for
the economy. Lastly, the Bulala sultans may have played a role in the rise or
maintenance of “casted” populations, the Haddad. The common ancestry of some
Haddad and the Bulala was still known in the early 20th century.[55] To what
extent specific caste-like groups associated with specific types of labor
developed in Kanem is unclear, but the Bulala sultans may have played a role in
at least continuing it across Kanem.
Another poorly understood
aspect of Kanem’s history is the fall of the Bulala sultanate in the region.
Many sources concur on attributing its decline to the coming of the Tunjur from
Waday. The standard narrative suggests that, following Idris Alooma’s
successful campaigns, the Bulala sultans continued to reside in Kanem and
likely sent tribute to the Sayfawa mai.
However, at some point in the 17th century, after the rise of Waday (likely in
the 1630s, according to Nachtigal’s chronology), part of the Tunjur population
led by a son of the last Tunjur king, Dawud, migrated west. At some point after
the fall of the Bulala sultans in Kanem, Borno sent the first alifa,
Dala Afuno, who ruled from Mao. Zeltner, drawing on Gros’s study of Tunjur oral
traditions and other sources, believed that the Bulala may have gradually
shifted from Kanem due to environmental factors as it became more arid in the
17th century. Furthermore, the Tunjur, who may have begun migrating to Kanem in
the 1630s at the earliest, may not have been powerful enough to seriously
threaten or unseat the Bulala sultanate.[56] Bulala traditions from the Fitri
region shed little further light. A king, Djili Esa Toubou, who had been raised
in Bagirmi, was said to have conquered Fitri from the dry Massoa region.[57]
This Djili Esa Toubo, or Djil Essa Tubo in Hagenbucher’s spelling, was said to
have come to the aid of the Abou Semen against the Kuka and was succeeded by 20
sultans until 1967.[58] This Djil, or Djili, may be equated with the Abd al
Jalil mentioned by Palmer as the first Bulala sultan ruling the Kuka at Gao
(Yao?).[59] This narrative seems to imply that the Bulala had already left
Kanem by the time of Djili Esa Toubo, so possibly in the decades after the rise
of Waday and during or after the immigration of the Tunjur in Kanem. In light
of the uncertainty caused by the lack of firmer dates for the
establishment of Waday, the migration of the Tunjur, the relocation of the
Bulala, and Borno sponsoring an alifa at Mao, one can only follow Zeltner’s
argument for the Tunjur migration in the 1630s. By 1642, the Dala Afuno of Mao
was likely present, probably to restore order in Kanem and ensure the province’s
(re)integration in Borno’s sphere of influence.
Undoubtedly, further
research must be done to clarify, elaborate, and expand on the period of Bulala
domination of Kanem. Sadly, the sources that do exist are Borno-centric or
mainly focus on Kanuri traditions. Deeper examination of Kanembu oral
traditions and songs may shed further light on the period of Bulala rule.
Nonetheless, one can corroborate aspects of the traditional history through a
multiplicity of sources. They are not enough to reconstitute more of Kanem’s
history in the period, but they are revealing. The Bulala appear to have
usurped control of Kanem by the late 14th century, and their state likely
continued practices of the Sayfawa in administrative structure. The state
likely controlled the Fitri region (however loosely) and perhaps parts of the
northern section of Bagirmi. It is similarly likely that the Bulala sultans may
have sponsored the migration of the Kuka into Gujer as well as some of the
Shuwa Arabs. Their state may have reinforced or sponsored caste lineage groups
for specific types of labor and forging. Despite their recurring conflicts with
the Sayfawa maiwa in Borno, close
relations were ensured through marriage alliances and even joint pilgrimages to
Mecca. When relations were cordial or not disrupted by Bulala raids or refusal
to send tribute, they likely enjoyed much local autonomy. It is our hope that
with more surveying in Kanem and dating of sites with brick walls or ruins, the
era of Bulala hegemony may receive further attention.
________________
[1]
Moïse Landeroin, “Notice Historique,” in Documents scientifiques de la
Mission Tilho, 1906-1909, 388.
[2]
Ibid, 354.
[3]
Henri Carbou, La région du Tchad et du Ouadai II, 34.
[4]
Ibid, 51.
[5]
Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 292.
[6]
Ibid, 300.
[7]
Ibid, 301.
[8]
Ibid, 18.
[9]
Ibid, 303.
[10]
Ibid, 305.
[11]
Ibid, 306.
[12]
Ibid, 37.
[13]
Ibid, 44.
[14]
Henri Carbou, La région du Tchad, II, 47.
[15]
H.R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs III, 29.
[16]
Lange, Diwan, 79.
[17]
Rémi Dewière, Du lac Tchad à la Mecque, 379.
[18]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs II, 42-43.
[19]
Ibid, 44.
[20]
Lange, Diwan, 79.
[21]
Palmer, “The Bornu Girgam,”79.
[22]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 19.
[23]
Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa, 200.
[24]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 17.
[25]
Lange, Diwan, 76-77.
[26]
Yusufu Bala Usman (editor), Studies in the History of Pre-Colonial
Borno, 165.
[27]
Lange, “L’eviction des Sefuwa du Kanem,” 327.
[28]
Carbou, La région du Tchad II, 34.
[29]
Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 300.
[30]
Jean-Claude Zeltner, Pages d’Histoire du Kanem, pays tchadien,
107.
[31]
Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 301.
[32]
Ibid, 18.
[33]
Lange, Diwan, 76.
[34]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs II, 32.
[35]
Lange, Diwan, 77.
[36]
Ibid.
[37]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs III, 28-29.
[38]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 50.
[39]
Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan IV, 34.
[40]
Zeltner, 111.
[41]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs I, 17.
[42]
Zeltner, 110.
[43]
Collet Hadrien, “Royal Pilgrims from Takrūr According to ʿAbd al-Qādir
al-Jazīrī (12th–16th Century),”193.
[44]
Carlos Magnavita, “New Luminescence and Radiocarbon Dates for Kanem-Borno
Fired-Brick Elite Sites in Kanem, Chad: Bayesian Chronological Modelling of
Settlement Construction,” 12.
[45]
Zeltner, 151.
[46]
Hints of possible Bulala rule in the north of the future kingdom of Bagirmi
appear in Nachtigal’s account of Bagirmi history. Carbou claims it was actually
the Kuka who imposed tribute on the north of Bagirmi (La région du
Tchad I, 298).
[47]
Lange, Diwan, 77.
[48]
Maurice Abadie, La colonie du Niger, 133.
[49]
Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan III, 405.
[50]
Ibid.
[51]
Hagenbucher, “Notes sur les Bilala du Fitri,” 50.
[52]
Landeroin, 388.
[53]
Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan III, 74.
[54]
Ahmad Baba, Miʻrāj al-ṣuʻūd, 48.
[55]
Carbou, La région du Tchad I, 52.
[56]
Zeltner, 192-193.
[57]
Carbou, La region du Tchad I, 308.
[58]
Hagenbucher, 50.
[59]
Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs II, 30.
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