Thank you for this, I hope one day someone clever enough perhaps with the use of AI , to map and recreate what those towns and cities looked like at their height, any takers? 😉
Mr Samuel (with apologies if I should have addressed you with another title!),
I have been following your substack with glee. But today, I am especially glad that you are writing about Kanem. I am in the process of writing a book on religions of the African Diaspora—and have to begin on the continent of Afrika. My point in doing so is that Africa and its many spiritualities cannot be understood when the history and the people are so maligned. I wrote of this empire and Mansa Musa, but I have time to add in some of your material, which is so rich in detail. I will be able to cite you as well—I will use your substack link as the reference point.
The borders of Sayfawa potentates constantly expanded & contrasted. It also cannot be coincidental that Ibn Furtu's account of Kanem's territorial reach at its zenith, obtained from local scholars who came before him, perfectly aligns well with much more contemporary external accounts of the far-flung polities that owed obedience to Kanem at its zenith in the 13th century. Except Ibn Furtu or the scholars that he learnt from were familiar with the works of Ibn Said via later arab scholars who plagiarised him, which is highly unlikely. Also, the information on Kanem from Ibn said came from Ibn Fatima, who was familiar with the Sahara, Sudan & East Africa, according to Levtzion & Hopkins.
Additionally, if I recall correctly, there is some information from a manuscript on Mamluk Egypt & Nubia in the 13th century that I think (can't recall correctly) which i have come across in secondary sources that talks about a Mamluk punitive force in the area learning about a belligerent prince from the west who was seizing territories in the area. Not sure if it relates to Kanem potentates & if I recalled correctly. Also, the mighty Dunama of the 13th century was at constant war with the rebellious Toubous who live/lived in areas well north of Darfur in contemporary Northern Sudan.
The region between North-eastern Chad and North-western Sudan is an archeological and historical black hole of which we know little, but i think it may have been significant since the Pharaonic times.
The conflicts between Wadai and Darfur in the 17th/18th century, and the relative weakness of the arab normads to their north compared to those in their south, lead me to believe that the stretch from N.E Chad to N.W Sudan was easy to raid but probably not easy/profitable to occupy.
I think the west to east stretch between lake chad and the confluence of the Nile (which would be the kingdom of Alodia in this case) would be more easy for Kanem to control than the diagonal from lake chad to lower nubia that's implied by Ibn Furtu's account. But even here it would be doubtful, because Nubia, which was a united empire at the time, was at its strongest during the early 13th century and was making plans to ally with the European crusaders against the Ayyubids and the newly established Mamluks. The Tunjur, who were a powerful muslim kingdom that could have served as allies of Kanem, didnt really became important until the collapse of Nubia in the late 14th/early 15th century.
It could be that there was an eastern trade route between Kanem and Nubia that allowed for light goods of high value like glass beads to pass through multiple intermediaries without necessarily involving political coersion. But Kanem wasnt exactly a trading empire, so maybe there were other motivations like transhumance, which is better documented in the post-medieval period in Wadai and Darfur.
we will have to wait for more archeological digs to confirm this relationship between Kanem and the nile valley. Augustin Holl mentioned something about the decorated pottery of the kanem in the 200-1200 CE period (Koto Koro culture) as being derived from the Nile valley.
Great article! I’ve always been fascinated by medieval Kanem. I think that one episode of Dunama Dibbalemi expanding over the Fazzan is an overlooked aspect of Sudanic expansion and should be highlighted more.
Also, magnavita’s team have uploaded a new study on Tié at the beginning of the year, which now reveals to us that Tié was bigger than originally though. With there now being 90 sites known in the region.And the study highlights two smaller enclosures with interior structures located just 2.5km away from the main enclosure that date from the 11th century or earlier.
Which tells us that al-Idrisi’s account on Kanem was probably outdated and Kanem was gradually shifting to being more sedentary from at least the 11th century.
Yeah I’ve always wondered why it was so underrated and given lesser attention than Ghana or Mali. Despite being as impressive if not more impressive.
Also I liked that you pushed back on the popular claim made by scholars (and even in Magnavita’s article) that early Kanem was growing in power due to the slave trade with Zuwila. Even I never realised that there wasn’t a sufficient amount of evidence in the early sources that explicitly state that Kanem was growing off the slave trade with Zuwila.
One source does emphasise (I think Al-Yaqubi) that it was rather the kingdom of Kawar that was slave trading with Zuwila rather than Kanem. But even in the 9th century, Kanem still had some influence further north, with a Ibadi governor from Jabal Nefusa who knew how to speak the language of Kanem.
One thing i've learned from reading about the Atlantic slave trade is that sometimes, small-scale societies are much better at exporting larger numbers of slaves than their bigger counterparts. Like in the Fante region of Ghana, the Aro-Igbo region of S. Nigeria, the Dembos region of Angola, etc
The slaves need not to have come from Kanem itself, because Kawar may have been supplied them just as well. Its also interesting that Kanem's towns were never signficiant commercial emporiums like Gao and Djenne, and even those two werent really known for slave trade.
I think the colonial-era historiography which tended to link large states with slaving is one of those paradigms that should be discarded.
As for the influence, there's a real but unexplored possibility that Kanem's interest in the Fezzan had something to do with its religious/intellectual links with the Ibadis. Infact, i think the history of the Ibadis in west Africa (and east africa tbh) is one of those unexplored but potentially significant topics of african history. If its true that the one of the structures at Gao was an ibadi mosque, and that Ibadis sought refuge in Kawar, and that Kanem's scholary tradition was already well established soon after its adoption of islam, its possible that Kanem saw itself as a protector of these early Ibadis, not necessary to trade with them.
This is all every speculative ofcourse, but it could solve the mystery of Kanem's northern expansion if trade wasn't the primary/sole motivation.
Yeah, even in the 13th century of Kanem during its height under Mai Dunama Dibbalemi, we don’t have Ibn Said say verbatim that Kanem was sending any slaves further north.
The only mentions of slavery in Kanem is where Ibn Said mentions that Dunama enslaved a group of Berbers who were his followers and also converted to Islam by him.
The other mention is Dunama Dibbalemi conducting slave raids south of lake Chad but no mention of slave trading north iirc.
So even by the time of Kanem’s peak, still no mention of slave trading north to the Maghreb.
Also the point you brought up about Ibadis importance in west Africa is interesting, and I do see the oppression of Ibadi Fezzanis being a motivation for Kanem’s expansion into the region.
But unfortunately Fezzan during the period of Kanem’s dominion is understudied and overlooked.
Thank you for this, I hope one day someone clever enough perhaps with the use of AI , to map and recreate what those towns and cities looked like at their height, any takers? 😉
They'll have to excavate them first. As far as I can tell, only Zilum and Tie have been excavated.
Mr Samuel (with apologies if I should have addressed you with another title!),
I have been following your substack with glee. But today, I am especially glad that you are writing about Kanem. I am in the process of writing a book on religions of the African Diaspora—and have to begin on the continent of Afrika. My point in doing so is that Africa and its many spiritualities cannot be understood when the history and the people are so maligned. I wrote of this empire and Mansa Musa, but I have time to add in some of your material, which is so rich in detail. I will be able to cite you as well—I will use your substack link as the reference point.
Thank you.
Stephanie Mitchem
Hi stepahie, thanks alot for the appreciation.
since you're writing about the African diaspora, here's something else that may interest you https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers
Thank you! This is wonderful.
What a pleasant find. I'm a Sudani-american and never heard of them before.
The borders of Sayfawa potentates constantly expanded & contrasted. It also cannot be coincidental that Ibn Furtu's account of Kanem's territorial reach at its zenith, obtained from local scholars who came before him, perfectly aligns well with much more contemporary external accounts of the far-flung polities that owed obedience to Kanem at its zenith in the 13th century. Except Ibn Furtu or the scholars that he learnt from were familiar with the works of Ibn Said via later arab scholars who plagiarised him, which is highly unlikely. Also, the information on Kanem from Ibn said came from Ibn Fatima, who was familiar with the Sahara, Sudan & East Africa, according to Levtzion & Hopkins.
Additionally, if I recall correctly, there is some information from a manuscript on Mamluk Egypt & Nubia in the 13th century that I think (can't recall correctly) which i have come across in secondary sources that talks about a Mamluk punitive force in the area learning about a belligerent prince from the west who was seizing territories in the area. Not sure if it relates to Kanem potentates & if I recalled correctly. Also, the mighty Dunama of the 13th century was at constant war with the rebellious Toubous who live/lived in areas well north of Darfur in contemporary Northern Sudan.
The region between North-eastern Chad and North-western Sudan is an archeological and historical black hole of which we know little, but i think it may have been significant since the Pharaonic times.
The conflicts between Wadai and Darfur in the 17th/18th century, and the relative weakness of the arab normads to their north compared to those in their south, lead me to believe that the stretch from N.E Chad to N.W Sudan was easy to raid but probably not easy/profitable to occupy.
I think the west to east stretch between lake chad and the confluence of the Nile (which would be the kingdom of Alodia in this case) would be more easy for Kanem to control than the diagonal from lake chad to lower nubia that's implied by Ibn Furtu's account. But even here it would be doubtful, because Nubia, which was a united empire at the time, was at its strongest during the early 13th century and was making plans to ally with the European crusaders against the Ayyubids and the newly established Mamluks. The Tunjur, who were a powerful muslim kingdom that could have served as allies of Kanem, didnt really became important until the collapse of Nubia in the late 14th/early 15th century.
It could be that there was an eastern trade route between Kanem and Nubia that allowed for light goods of high value like glass beads to pass through multiple intermediaries without necessarily involving political coersion. But Kanem wasnt exactly a trading empire, so maybe there were other motivations like transhumance, which is better documented in the post-medieval period in Wadai and Darfur.
we will have to wait for more archeological digs to confirm this relationship between Kanem and the nile valley. Augustin Holl mentioned something about the decorated pottery of the kanem in the 200-1200 CE period (Koto Koro culture) as being derived from the Nile valley.
(Holocene Saharas by A. Holl pg 189)
Great article! I’ve always been fascinated by medieval Kanem. I think that one episode of Dunama Dibbalemi expanding over the Fazzan is an overlooked aspect of Sudanic expansion and should be highlighted more.
Also, magnavita’s team have uploaded a new study on Tié at the beginning of the year, which now reveals to us that Tié was bigger than originally though. With there now being 90 sites known in the region.And the study highlights two smaller enclosures with interior structures located just 2.5km away from the main enclosure that date from the 11th century or earlier.
Which tells us that al-Idrisi’s account on Kanem was probably outdated and Kanem was gradually shifting to being more sedentary from at least the 11th century.
Here’s the new article by magnavita’s team: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-025-09611-1
Kanem is very terribly underrated.
i hope to gather as many sources as i can about it
Yeah I’ve always wondered why it was so underrated and given lesser attention than Ghana or Mali. Despite being as impressive if not more impressive.
Also I liked that you pushed back on the popular claim made by scholars (and even in Magnavita’s article) that early Kanem was growing in power due to the slave trade with Zuwila. Even I never realised that there wasn’t a sufficient amount of evidence in the early sources that explicitly state that Kanem was growing off the slave trade with Zuwila.
One source does emphasise (I think Al-Yaqubi) that it was rather the kingdom of Kawar that was slave trading with Zuwila rather than Kanem. But even in the 9th century, Kanem still had some influence further north, with a Ibadi governor from Jabal Nefusa who knew how to speak the language of Kanem.
One thing i've learned from reading about the Atlantic slave trade is that sometimes, small-scale societies are much better at exporting larger numbers of slaves than their bigger counterparts. Like in the Fante region of Ghana, the Aro-Igbo region of S. Nigeria, the Dembos region of Angola, etc
The slaves need not to have come from Kanem itself, because Kawar may have been supplied them just as well. Its also interesting that Kanem's towns were never signficiant commercial emporiums like Gao and Djenne, and even those two werent really known for slave trade.
I think the colonial-era historiography which tended to link large states with slaving is one of those paradigms that should be discarded.
As for the influence, there's a real but unexplored possibility that Kanem's interest in the Fezzan had something to do with its religious/intellectual links with the Ibadis. Infact, i think the history of the Ibadis in west Africa (and east africa tbh) is one of those unexplored but potentially significant topics of african history. If its true that the one of the structures at Gao was an ibadi mosque, and that Ibadis sought refuge in Kawar, and that Kanem's scholary tradition was already well established soon after its adoption of islam, its possible that Kanem saw itself as a protector of these early Ibadis, not necessary to trade with them.
This is all every speculative ofcourse, but it could solve the mystery of Kanem's northern expansion if trade wasn't the primary/sole motivation.
Yeah, even in the 13th century of Kanem during its height under Mai Dunama Dibbalemi, we don’t have Ibn Said say verbatim that Kanem was sending any slaves further north.
The only mentions of slavery in Kanem is where Ibn Said mentions that Dunama enslaved a group of Berbers who were his followers and also converted to Islam by him.
The other mention is Dunama Dibbalemi conducting slave raids south of lake Chad but no mention of slave trading north iirc.
So even by the time of Kanem’s peak, still no mention of slave trading north to the Maghreb.
Also the point you brought up about Ibadis importance in west Africa is interesting, and I do see the oppression of Ibadi Fezzanis being a motivation for Kanem’s expansion into the region.
But unfortunately Fezzan during the period of Kanem’s dominion is understudied and overlooked.