The Kanem-Bornu Empire existed in Africa, established around 1200 and lasting, in a changed form, until the 1840s. At its height it encompassed an area covering modern southern Libya, Chad, northeastern Nigeria, eastern Niger, and northern Cameroon. The original empire was called Kanem and grew out of a coalition...
Kanem-Bornu Empire, a historical state of West Africa
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Bornu is for the most part an alluvial plain, the country sloping gradually to Lake Chad, which formerly spread over a much larger area than it now occupies.
The vast plain of Bornu is stoneless, except for rare outcrops of ironstone, and consists of the porous fissured fl earth called "cotton soil" in India, alternating with, or more probably overlaid by, sand.
The towns in Bornu, which have populations varying from 10,000 to 50,000 or more, are surrounded with walls 35 or 40 ft. in height and 20 ft. in thickness, having at each of the four corners a triple gate, composed of strong planks of wood, with bars of iron.
By the early 19th century, Kanem-Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in 1808 Fulani warriors conquered Ngazargamu.
But Umar, who eschewed the title mai for the simpler designation shehu (from the Arabic shaykh), could not match his father's vitality and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers (wazirs).
Bornu began to decline, as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Ouaddai Empire to the east.
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