Speculating on Kandakma and 'an.d.k.ma

 

The title of Dunama, the man who killed Kaday b. Dunama (Augustin Holl, The Diwan Revisited: Literacy, State Formation and the Rise of Kanuri Domination (AD 1200-1600)). 

Something we have been reconsidering whilst re-reading parts of the Diwan is the dignitary who murdered Kaday b. Dunama (in c.1277, according to Lange's reckoning). As he indicated in his footnotes, the Arabic text suggests that the man who killed the mai, named Dunama, held a title or perhaps was a dignitary in the Sayfawa court. Lange, however, did not venture speculating on what the title may have been, yet his French translation rendered it as the above.

H.R. Palmer, in his Bornu Sahara and Sudan, endeavored to identify the title. According to Palmer, who did not explain his reasoning, it was a "Dikuma" who was supposedly the chief of the N'Galma Diku (N'Galma Duku). Using evidence from the gargams, Palmer also believed that Kaday (or, Kadai) was killed at Zui Zui in Borku. 

Muhammad Nur Alkali was apparently influenced by Palmer's thinking here for he raised the possibility of Zuwi Zuwi being an oasis known as Zau Kura along the Kawar-Tripoli trade route. Thus, he rendered the title in the Diwan as "Ndikuma." This is more reminiscent of the Dirkuma of the Tura and difficult to reconcile with Palmer's claim the title was held by the chief of the N'Galma Duku. 

As for Heinrich Barth, he wrote the title as ʿAndákama. Barth's reading is close to Lange's. Here is how the Arabic text looks for this part of the Diwan on page 38 in Lange:

Lange wisely avoided a guess at the possible meaning or origin of the title. We, however, wonder if this obscure title or official disappeared in the Sayfawa court but survived among the Bulala sultans in Kanem (and later, Fitri). Our evidence is slim, but Hagenbucher's study of the Bilala of Fitri found a title called kandakma. Described as the premier adjoint of the galadima, the title was occupied by the N'guidjim. Part of the Birni dignitaries of the sultanate, they were on the "left" of the court. Among the Birni or "people of the left" were the N'Guidjim, Kassawa, Gaswa, Madawa, Fadawa, Kiliti, and Argumba. Since many of these titles appear to be of Kanembu/Kanuri origin, and the Bulala sultanate in Kanem likely borrowed many titles from the Sayfawa court, we wonder if the kandakma is another borrowing. Even if we are correct, we cannot automatically assume the office meant the same thing given the vast chronological distance between 13th century Kanem and 20th century Fitri.

Another obstacle is explaining the absence of the initial k in the Diwan. One wonders if what occurred here is a case in which the prefix was not included by the copyist of the Diwan through an error or differences between spoken forms of Kanuri in medieval versus more recent times? Assuming the Bulala spoke Kanembu during the centuries their sultanate controlled Kanem,  and the adoption of a Naba or Kuka-related language began after their exodus to the Fitri region, one might expect kandakma to be closer to an early Kanuri/Kanembu pronunciation of the word. Alternatively, there may be no connection whatsoever between the Bulala kandakma and the 'an.d.k.ma in the Diwan. But if the two words are indeed linked, which seems plausible, then the dignitary who killed Kaday b. Dunama in c. 1277 may have been someone who served the galadima and was close to the court. This, of course, assumes the deep antiquity of the title galadima and the post possibly being connected to the N'guidjim of Kanem (according to Carbou, the chief of the N'guidjim in Kanem was called galadima, although the uncertain but close ties to the Bulala may mean one cannot assume continuity from the earlier Sayfawa period in Kanem).

Another one of our incredibly speculative thoughts on this title is a possible link to a word in Kanuri, kə́ndə́gái, which the English–Kanuri dictionary (by Norbert Cyffer) gives for a reception room in a palace. Hutchison's study of Kanuri word formation analyzes kə̀ndə́gái ("royal reception room") and kə̀ndə́gà ("living") as derived from the verb dəgá, "live." If the Diwan's ʿan.d.k.ma and the Fitri kandakma reflect a form like kəndəg(a)-ma, the consonants k-n-d-g-m would account for the whole skeleton. The formation has a close parallel. Cigama (cikama), the Kanuri "gatekeeper" or chamberlain, from ciga, "town gate," plus -ma, so an office named after a part of the palace is exactly the kind of title that could explain the kandakma. We must stress that kəndəgama is not attested, that Lange has suggested control of royal audiences fell under the remit of the Cikama and correspondence and visitors to the Digma. If the link holds, the kandakma would be a palace-household officer attached to the reception room, with the kind of access that could explain how he reached Kaday.

Ultimately, our theory remains a tentative one. Clearly, Lange himself did not propose this in his study of the Diwan, and to our knowledge, the title has not been clearly elucidated or identified. The -ma suffix and the structure of the sentence suggest a title, and the overlap with the kandakma of the Bulala sultanate in Fitri is rather striking.  As for what the function of the 'an.d.k.ma may have been, it was perhaps a title for a first deputy of the galadima who may have been a "first minister" and thus close associate of the mai who advised the ruler. This is purely speculative, but one wonders if the word galadima is etymologically linked to an Old Kanembu word for advise (galā in Bondarev's dictionary of Old Kanembu). The kandakma Dunama was thus someone who was likely closely entwined in court affairs and possibly related to Kaday. Since Kaday's successor was his brother Bir, it is not inconceivable that 'an.d.k.ma Dunama was acting on behalf of Bir's faction. 

Kanem's Eastward Expansion (1200s)

A map of Kanem at its apogee based on a problematic map by Waziri.

One topic in the annals of medieval Kanem that remains poorly understood is the eastward expansion of the 13th century. The eastward expansion likely began during the reign of Dunama Dibalemi (1210-1248, according to the chronology of Lange). Kanem's influence spread as far east as the land of the Tajuwa and Zaghawa. However, the nature of this control or influence is not clear. Nor can one easily determine its longevity or the reasons for why the Sayfawa maiwa believed extending this far was a worthwhile endeavor. Fortunately, some clues to the nature of this eastward expansion have been possibly revealed through chemical analysis of beads at the site of Njimi in Kanem. Data from stone ruins in Darfur dated to the era of Daju rule as well as evidence from Christian Nubian provide additional clues.

First, let us begin with the early written sources. The most detailed account from the 13th century, by Ibn Sa'id, draws from the earlier writings of Ibn Fatima. Ibn Fatima traveled to Kanem during the reign of Dunama Dibalemi. Writing later in the 13th century, Ibn Sa'id included the "Zaghawa" and "Tajuwa" as subjects of Kanem's Muslim ruler. Ibn Sa'id's brief description of this vast region is unfortunately limited, one can make some sense of it. The Zaghawa, who lived east of Manan (in Kanem) were said to be mostly subjects of Kanem. Tajuwa, said to be the capital of the Zaghawa, adopted Islam and accepted Kanem's suzerainty. Yet, later on, Ibn Sa'id wrote that the Tajuwiyyin were pagans who were refractory to the sultan of Kanem and kept to the deserts and mountainous terrain (Hopkins & Levtzion 189). This confusing account suggests that the land between Kanem and Nubia included Zaghawa and Tajuwiyyin peoples. The latter had a capital where Islam was accepted and the ruler recognized the authority of Kanem's sultan. It is very likely that Ibn Sa'id was also using the 12th century work of al-Idrisi here, particularly in his account of a town called Tajuwa. For al-Idrisi, however, the Tajuwin were pagans who kept camels and were raided by their neighbors (124). One of their towns was Samna, which was raided by the ruler of Bilaq (in Nubia). The news of this attack reached travelers to Kawar, who later related it to al-Idrisi (114). If Ibn Sa'id's muddled narrative is reliable, the town of Tajuwa (the capital of the Daju polity?) included Muslims and recognized Kanem's rule, yet other groups living in the region of Darfur (or its surroundings) were largely autonomous of Kanem or sought to maintain their autonomy.

Besides Ibn Sa'id, other sources merely reemphasize the Tajuwa as a type of "Zaghawa" (Ibn Khaldun) or, in the case of al-Maqrizi, add a few details. The latter wrote of a place called Tukama at the beginning of Taju land. Word of the Taju's penchant for working in stone and their wars against the enigmatic Wathku also reached al-Maqrizi in Egypt (354). Putting together all the aforementioned external Arabic sources, one can surmise that medieval Islamic geographers from the north saw the Taju as a branch of the Zaghawa. In addition, they lived between Kanem and Nubia and included Muslims among their pagan population. In the 13th century, some recognized the authority of Kanem while those living near deserts or the mountainous, rugged terrain, were able to at least resist Kanem's oversight. When one considers the vast distance between Darfur and Kanem and the rough terrain, outright military conquest was unlikely. Thus, it is perhaps more logical to see Kanem's interests in this region as one of securing an eastern trade route. Besides this trade route, occasional raiding outside of a small tributary zone may have been a common feature. Consequently, the "town of Tajuwa" with its Muslims may have been linked to the trade route while the rest of the area was very loosely controlled by Tajuwa.

A map of Africa based on Ibn Sa'id in Cuoq, Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale du VIIIe au XVIe siècle).

In the absence of internal written sources from the 13th century, one must look to oral traditions and archaeology for further detail. Gustav Nachtigal, who traveled to Darfur and Wadai in the 19th century, collected oral traditions everywhere he visited. In the Sula kingdom ruled by a Daju dynasty, Nachtigal saw a list given by a prince which enumerated 21 rulers (Nachtigal 81). Another list of kings that Nachtigal saw included 13 Daju kings, 13 Tunjur kings and 22 Keira (Fur) sultans. Yet another list gave 5 Daju kings and 25 Tunjur and Keira rulers. The first Daju king was called Gitar (272). This early Daju kingdom in the Darfur region was based in Jebel Marra (273). On the other hand, Nachtigal was also told that the first Daju ruler was named Kosber, who lived in Debba. And in the first list of 21 Daju sultans Nachtigal received from a Sula prince, 6 were said to have been pagans based at Jebel Marra. These Daju kings were said to have controlled Darfur until the Tunjur, Ahmed el-Maqur, seized power (274). Based on Nachtigal and subsequent authors, O'Fahey's study of the Darfur Sultanate endeavored to use all known traditions on the Daju and Tunjur kings of Darfur to reconstruct a more coherent chronology. O'Fahey was able to locate written sources that allude to a Tunjur dynasty in Darfur by the 16th century (O'Fahey 31). Furthermore, the Daju title for a chief, shartay, survived in Darfur among the Keira sultans (37). This roughly suggests that the Daju kings in Darfur rose to power sometime before the 1500s, probably in the 1100s or 1200s.

In terms of archaeological evidence from Darfur, Andrew James McGregor has produced the detailed work to date. According to McGregor, the Daju rose to power in the 12th or 13th century (McGregor 34). The Daju were the Taju pagans of al-Idrisi, with only 2 towns. Moreover, al-Tunisi apparently believed the Daju were one of the 5 aboriginal Wadai groups 40). Yet as a polity, the Daju kingdom was remembered in Tunjur tradition for primarily subsisting on raiding its neighbors (47). Intriguingly, McGregor found a manuscript source that assigned the arrival of the Daju to Sila to 1692 (39). This date, however, must be too late since Tunjur oral traditions in Kanem contradict it. According to Gros, who studied Tunjur oral tradition in Kanem, the father of the Tunjur ruler, Daoud el Mireim, Omar, had subdued the Daju of Sila (Gros 274). If so, and Daoud el Mireim was the last Tunjur ruler of Wadai, then the Tunjur dynasty there would have conquered the Daju of Sila (Sula) by the early 1600s if not late 16th century. In other words, a Daju presence in Sila (Sula) likely predates the 17th century. Anania's late 16th century description of a polity in Darfur called Uri, presumably the Tunjur dynasty's capital or commercial town, included Dagio (Daju) among its subjects (Anania 343). 

So, based on oral traditions and written sources, we know there was a Daju polity in the Darfur region by the 13th century. It was said to have been based on Jebel Marra and likely raided neighboring groups in Darfur and perhaps further afield. Although the early rulers were said to be pagans, Ibn Sa'id believed that Tajuwa, the capital or principal town, was a Muslim city. Since the kingdom of Makuria allegedly raided one of the Daju towns in the 12th century, it is possible the polity had also disrupted a trade route or attacked parts of Kordofan closer to the Christian kingdom. Overall, sadly, it is difficult to reconcile the sources on this enigmatic polity. Yet it's rather loose administrative structure and reliance on raiding may be clues for a weak polity. If this was the case, why was Kanem interested in conquering this region?

Recent archaeological evidence and chemical analysis of artifacts found at the probable site of Njimi may provide the answer. The article "LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Tié (12th–14th centuries), Kanem, Chad: Evidence of trans-Sudanic exchanges" noted that the chemical composition of beads at Njimi were more similar to medieval beads found in eastern African sites than those of West Africa. While not the best smoking gun, this pecularity for medieval Kanem suggests that most of its beads were ultimately derived from the same sources of Eurasian beads that arrived in places along the Swahili Coast, southeastern Africa or the Red Sea coasts of Africa. This pattern, so different from sites in West Africa in the 10th-15th centuries, implies that Kanem was ultimately part of the Indian Ocean network that brought high alumina soda glass beads to eastern African sites. Since these types of beads were not common west of Kanem, despite trade routes through the Fazzan connecting western Africa to the Mediterranean, one must wonder if Kanem accessed the beads through a separate route to Egypt or Nubia. While further confirmation of the analysis of glass bead chemical composition in Makuria and Alwa is necessary, it is possible this eastward route from Kanem connected to the Red Sea/Indian Ocean networks through Nubia (or Egypt). Possible indications of a route to Nubia may be found in the analysis of beads at Soba, the capital of Alwa. In Soba, 20 high alumina beads of Indian origin were part of a study of 23 glass beads.

Besides the data from chemical analysis of glass beads, studies of cattle remains suggest Makuria imported cattle from the west. According to "The cattle factor. Faunal evidence for the study of social and economic processes in the medieval Middle Nile Valley. Sudan" by Marta Osypińska and Mariusz Drzewiecki, Makuria imported long-horned cattle from the west, probably the Central Sahel or Kordofan. Their analysis of faunal remains suggests that Alwa practiced a more conservative livestock farming based on ancient Kush while Makuria may have imported as much as 1/4 of its cattle from the west. While there is no evidence for Kanem playing any role in supplying cattle from the Central Sahel to Nubia (Makuria), it is possible that both Kanem and Makuria had an interest in secure trade routes through Kordofan and Darfur. This facilitated access to Egypt (and Nubia) for Kanem while the Christian Nubian kingdoms could be guaranteed of some security for trade routes through Darfur to Kawar and North Africa. Evidence from Nubian graffito writings or inscriptions found in Kordofan, such as one attesting to King Siti and likely from the 1330s, likewise demonstrate Makuria's interests in Kordofan and perhaps Darfur to the west. 

In summation, Kanem's eastward expansion in the 13th century was likely related to economic interests that likely included access to Indian Ocean networks via Nubia (and/or Egypt). While the northern, trans-Saharan route through Kawar and the Fazzan to the Maghreb and Egypt was still very important, the unique chemical composition of beads found at medieval Njimi suggest the use of an alternative route for at least beads. Since the Daju polity of the 13th century was possibly decentralized and divided, Kanem may have been able to expand its influence and promote an Islamic community of traders at the town of Tajuwa, likely somewhere near the Daju polity's base in Jebel Marra. Direct control or tribute-raising on much of the region would have been difficult due to the Zaghawa and Daju "pagans" who used the deserts and mountains to resist Kanem. Nonetheless, for the region to retain its significance to Kanem's rulers, Kanem may have engaged with the Daju polity for more security of the trade routes that led to Nubia (or Egypt). The possible evidence of a Nubian use of this trade route, or at least use by Muslim traders from Makuria and Alwa who also traded with the lands west of the Nile, can be seen in the cattle imports from the Sahel in Makuria. Furthermore, Makuria's rulers raiding a Daju town in the 12th century may be due to their raiders disrupting trade passing through the region. Lastly, the chemical composition of several beads at Soba, the capital of Alwa, resemble those of Njimi in Kanem. This may be due to interest in Makuria and Alwa in maintaining the trade routes to the west. Although any evidence for direct engagement between Kanem and the Christian Nubian states is lacking, Muslim traders active in all three kingdoms may have been the link.

Bibliography

Courtecuisse, L (editor). Les Arabes du Tchad. Paris: Centre de hautes études administratives sur l’Afrique et l’Asie modernes, 1971.

Hopkins, J. F. P., and Nehemia Levtzion (editors). Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2000.

Lange, Dierk, and Silvio Berthoud.  "L'intérieur de l'Afrique occidentale d'après Giovanni Lorenzo Anania (XVIe siècle)". Cahiers d'histoire mondiale, 14, no. 2 (1972): 299-351.

Magnavita, S., MacDonald, B. L., Magnavita, C., & Oga, A. (2024). LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Tié (12th–14th centuries), Kanem, Chad: Evidence of trans-Sudanic exchanges. Archaeometry, 66(1), 100–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12898

McGregor, Andrew James. The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan (dissertation). University of Toronto, 2000.

Nachtigal, Gustav, Allan G. B. Fisher, and Humphrey J (trans.). Fisher. Sahara and Sudan, Vol. 4. Berkeley and; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971.

O’Fahey, R. S. 2008. The Darfur Sultanate : A History. New York: Columbia University Press.

Osypińska, Marta, and Mariusz Drzewiecki. 2024. “The Cattle Factor. Faunal Evidence for the Study of Social and Economic Processes in the Medieval Middle Nile Valley. Sudan.” Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 55 (April): 104513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104513.

Then-Obłuska, J., & Dussubieux, L. (2023). Overseas imports on the Blue Nile: Chemical compositional analysis of glass beads from Soba, Nubia. Archaeometry, 65(5), 1018–1031. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12863

Revisiting the Mahram of the N'Galma Duku Witness List

 

Whilst revisiting Bobboyi's work on the mahram texts that have survived in Borno, we came across an interesting find. Bobboyi actually located an Arabic text in Geidam that is a version of the "Mahram of the N'Galma Duku" published in H.R. Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan. The witness list in the Geidam copy found by Bobboyi was apparently shorter than the version used by Palmer. Nonetheless, one notices that a Dunama b. Salma appears as a yarima while the talib was named Yunus. We strongly suspect Dunama b. Salma to have been a yerima during the reign of his father, Salma (sometimes rendered Tsilim). Furthermore, we believe that the talib listed as a witness was the grandfather of Kaday b. Dunama. We've made our case before, but this Arabic copy of the mahram that is likely more reliably translated by Bobboyi is further indication that the yerima in the text was probabl a young Dunama Dibalemi.