The Shehus of Kukawa: A History of the Al-Kanemi Dynasty of Bornu

Louis Brenner's The Shehus of Kukawa: A History of the Al-Kanemi Dynasty of Bornu is required reading for the history of Borno in the 19th century in spite of its flaws. Brenner's use of internal and external textual and oral sources provided him with some basis for his speculations on the nature of land tenure, administrative structure, and social relations in Borno during the period. Unfortunately, Brenner's study does suffer from an absence of a larger, convincing thesis on the decline of the dynasty. While exploring the decline of the Sayfawas and their reliance on al-Kanemi to thwart the Fulani jihadists, and then covering the rule of al-Kanemi, Brenner is on strong ground. One almost wishes he endeavored to write a biography of al-Kanemi, a remarkable figure who rose from what was essentially a reputable village mallam to effective ruler of a powerful state in the Central Sudan. However, Brenner tried to continue the story of the dynasty's decline and fall for the rest of the 19th century, despite lacking a more sophisticated or larger argument about the reasons for its decline. 

While there are questions as to the nature of his "Field Notes" and his local informants on various episodes in the history of the Shehus of Borno, he usually corroborates it with textual sources and plausible speculation. Brenner also draws on the ethnographic work of scholars like Cohen and the earlier colonial-era research of problematic figures like Palmer in an attempt at reconstructing the administrative structure of new dynasty. He presents persuasive evidence of continuity in political structure from the Sayfawa dynasty to al-Kanemi and his progeny, even though the Shehus may have instituted a more centralized state with fewer semi-autonomous provinces. Due to al-Kanemi's reliance on Arab and Kanembu allies for his early political and military successes, the regime favored them with tax exemptions, political office, and territorial fiefs. So, instead of the earlier Kanuri and Sayfawa-affiliated courtiers and fief-holders, al-Kanemi leaned heavily on his coethnic Kanembu and Arab supporters for the new administrators and ruling class. 

This, plus changes in the function of certain offices and Borno's loss of effective suzerainty over Kanem and declining trans-Saharan trade later in the 19th century, led to the chimas or holders of fiefs to extract more taxes from the peasantry. Brenner also suggests al-Kanemi's successor, Umar, was forced to reward less able sons of the original supporters of al-Kanemi, which further weakened the administration by supporting an unskilled nobility that, over time, failed to protect the borders, increase trade, or engage in activity besides court intrigue. Perhaps all accurate and plausible, but one finds Brenner engaging in tautologies to elucidate the decline of the al-Kanemi dynasty beginning with Umar. 

In short, al-Kanemi was a good ruler because he possessed great leadership skills. Umar, on the other hand, was a poor ruler because of his bad leadership skills or lack of will to lead. This in itself does not explain anything, but the larger structural flaws or shortcomings in Borno's political economy before and during the al-Kanemi dynasty might better elucidate the decline. If Brenner is correct about the exploitation on the peasantry and the lack of economic reforms, one might be on firmer ground to understand how and why Borno fell so quickly to Rabeh. One almost wishes the Sayfawa dynasty had succeeded in 1846 during their attempt to remove Umar from power. Perhaps a dynasty with legitimacy, political support, and nearly 1000 years of history in the Lake Chad Region might have been able to usher in a more united front and rebuild Borno from the foundation al-Kanemi started. 

Borno in the 1820s

Mai Ibrahim (?), who was allowed to maintain a Sefuwa court at New Birni while all effective power was in the hands of Sheikh al-Kanemi, the "George Washington of Borno"

Although dismissed by some scholars for not being the best or most useful source on Borno's past,  Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa: In the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824 by Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney remains a key text. As the first representatives of Britain to reach Borno, the trio described the trans-Saharan route used to reach it (Tripoli-Fezzan-Borno) and the climate, geography, political context, social conditions and economic factors at play in Borno and nearby regions, particularly around Lake Chad and the Sokoto Caliphate to the west. Astonishingly, some of the social features described by Denham were still relevant in 20th century Borno, if the ethnographic work of Cohen is to be relied on for Kanuri village society. Indeed, Clapperton's account actually includes extensive information on Muhammad Bello, while Denham met with Borno's Sheikh al-Kanemi several times and described his skills as a political leader. Moreover, they were accompanied by a Caribbean native, Adolphus Sympkins of St. Vincent, who may have been the first Afro-Caribbean person to reach Borno. Particularly useful were the materials in the appendix, including a court document from Kuka, extracts from a work by Muhammad Bello on the land of "Takrur" (extending from Darfur in the east to the Atlantic coast of West Africa), and various letters by Sheikh al-Kanemi and the pasha of Tripoli. 

What was perhaps most useful for our purposes, however, is the testimony of Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney on the political consolidation of Borno under the new Shehu dynasty in the 19th century. Unable to rise to the occasion of defending Borno from Fulani incursions and pillagings of the old capital and western Borno, the Sefuwa mai called for Sheikh al-Kanemi, who liberated the land from the "Felatah" jihadists and brought Kanembu and Shuwa Arab followers from Kanem. While Borno had lost some of its western territories to the Sokoto Caliphate, and faced invasions from Bagirmi and Wadai's incursions into the territory of Kanem, al-Kanemi's successful military leadership established a secure basis for a reassertion of Borno's political hegemony and influence over much of the Lake Chad Region. While former vassal states like Bagirmi and Wadai's intervention in Kanem were a threat, and Tuareg and "Biddoomah" islander raids continued, al-Kanemi established more secure conditions for Borno's subjects and traveling merchants. One cannot help but admire the man, even though his wars of conquest and raids were often generating hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of captives for the slave trade. Indeed, one must question the sincerity of al-Kanemi when he complained of the fact that Arabs would only trade for slaves. Perhaps al-Kanemi knew what Denham and Clapperton wanted to hear, and in order to promote the idea of direct exchange with Britain for manufactured goods, pretended to be personally opposed to the slave trade, which had for so long been central to Borno's trans-Saharan trade network.

But the main interest for us at the blog with regards to this text is contextualizing Borno in the 1820s within a larger "Sudanic" and African context. By this we mean Borno's relations with other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the "Sudanic" pilgrim route, trade and migration across the continent. For instance, a man Denham wished to meet, a native of Loggun who had lived in Sennar and was in Borno, would have been an interesting interview subject on the movement of people between Lake Chad and the Middle Nile. Or the fascinating Fulani "fighi" from Timbuktu, Abdel Gassam ben Maleky, en route to Mecca, who met Denham  in Kuka. The Timbuktu pilgrim's father was a "Felatah" chief of Jenne and was living on charity to make it to Mecca with caravans. Unfortunately, the young man was said to have drowned in Lake Chad after heading for Wadai. Alternatively, people from the Muslim central lands were also in the "Central Sudan," such as El Raschid, a native of Mecca who lived in Wadai and Sennar before meeting Denham in Loggun. Perhaps even more intriguing, Denham met a "Moor" fighi named Khalifa who had been to Sierra Leone ("Seralo") and knew English! Thus, despite the difficulties with Wadai and Bagirmi that made the "Sudanic" pilgrim route dangerous in the 1820s, Borno continued to host a variety of transients and migrants from different parts of Africa and the world. People who had traveled or lived in Timbuktu, Sierra Leone, Hausaland, Tripoli, Morocco, Mecca, Fezzan, Kanem, Bagirmi, Tuareg territories, Loggun, Sennar, and beyond intersected in Borno.