Kafela

Birni Kafela
Birni Kafela
Shown within Nigeria
LocationBorno State, Nigeria
RegionSahel
Coordinates12°30′13″N 13°44′59″E / 12.50359°N 13.74984°E / 12.50359; 13.74984
TypeSettlement
Part ofKanem–Bornu Empire
History
BuilderMuhammad IX Ngileruma[1][2]
Founded1813[3]
Abandoned1846[4]

Birni Kafela,[a] also called Kabela and Jadid, was the capital of the Kanem–Bornu Empire from 1813 to 1846. Kafela was founded by Muhammad IX Ngileruma as the new imperial capital after the former capital, Ngazargamu, was destroyed in the Fula jihads.

History

The former capital of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, Ngazargamu, was destroyed in 1808 by the Fulani.[7] Although the ruins were briefly reoccupied by mai Dunama IX Lefiami, they were soon left abandoned due to repeated Fulani attacks directed in the area. Dunama fled east but failed to decide upon a new permanent capital, instead moving his court every few months.[4] The failure to select a new permanent seat was among several factors that contributed to a group of leading courtiers deposing Dunama[4] in 1811,[8] replacing him as mai with his uncle Muhammad IX Ngileruma.[4] The mais were swiftly falling under the influence of the prominent military leader and religious scholar Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi.[4]

In 1813,[3] Ngileruma founded[1][2] Kafela as the new permanent capital of the empire.[4] Kafela was sometimes referred to as Birni Jadid, meaning "new Birni" (the previous Birni being Birni Ngazargamu).[9] Kafela was located relatively close to al-Kanemi's seat at Ngurno.[10] The site of Kafela may have been chosen to profit of the potash trade, which traditionally passed through the area.[11] Kafela was the residence of the mai and likely also the majority of the empire's aristocracy.[12] Unlike Ngazargamu, Kafela had no structures built with fire bricks.[13]

Kafela was retained as the capital upon Dunama's restoration to the throne in 1814.[4] Kafela remained the seat of the mai until 1846, though al-Kanemi and his son Umar Kura (who used the style shehu) gradually became more powerful than the monarchs. In 1846, mai Ali V Minargema fought against Umar Kura to reassert the power of the mai but was defeated and killed. Umar Kura had Kafela destroyed and then took full power of the empire.[4] Kukawa, Umar's seat, became the empire's new capital.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Birni means city,[5][6] especially in the context of a capital city.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Brenner, Louis (2018). "Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Kānimī and Religion and Politics in Bornu". Studies in West African Islamic History: The Cultivators of Islam. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-315-29732-3.
  2. ^ a b Ikime, Obaro (1980). Groundwork of Nigerian History. Historical Society of Nigeria. p. 333. ISBN 978-978-129-954-4.
  3. ^ a b Zeltner, J. C. (2002). Histoire des Arabes sur les rives du lac Tchad (in French). Karthala Editions. p. 18. ISBN 978-2-84586-286-9.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brenner, Louis (1973). The Shehus of Kukawa: a history of the Al-Kanemi dynasty of Bornu. Clarendon Press. pp. 30–36, 66, 70. ISBN 978-0-19-821681-0.
  5. ^ Norris, Edwin; Richardson, James (1853). Grammar of the Bornu Or Kanuri Language: With Dialogues, Translations, and Vocabulary. Harrison & Sons. p. 77.
  6. ^ a b Kirk-Greene, Anthony Hamilton Millard (1969). The Meaning of Place Names in Hausaland. Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Série B: Sciences humaines. p. 265.
  7. ^ Hogben, Sidney John (1967). An Introduction to the History of the Islamic States of Northern Nigeria. Oxford University Press. pp. 169–170.
  8. ^ Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2012) [1996]. The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. p. 127. ISBN 0-7486-2137-7.
  9. ^ Hodgkin, Thomas (1975). Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology. Oxford University Press. p. 425. ISBN 978-0-19-285055-3.
  10. ^ Lavers, John E. (1993). "The al-Kanimiyyin Shehus: a working chronology". Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs. 268 (2): 180.
  11. ^ Connah, Graham (1981). "Man and a Lake". Publications de la Société française d'histoire des outre-mers: 161–178.
  12. ^ Last, M. (1989). "The Sokoto caliphate and Borno". UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VI: Africa in the Nineteenth Century Until the 1880s. University of California Press. p. 592. ISBN 978-0-520-03917-9.
  13. ^ Magnavita, Carlos; Adebayo, Olusegun; Höhn, Alexa; Ishaya, Daniel; Kahlheber, Stefanie; Linseele, Veerle; Ogunseyin, Sunday (2009). "Garu Kime: A Late Borno Fired-Brick Site at Monguno, NE Nigeria". African Archaeological Review. 26 (3): 219–246. doi:10.1007/s10437-009-9058-0. ISSN 1572-9842.
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