The Borno Emirate or Borno Sultanate is a traditional
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
state formed at the start of the 20th century. It is headed by descendants of the rulers of the
Bornu Empire Bornu may refer to:
* Bornu Empire, a historical state of West Africa
* Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while i ...
, founded before 1000. The rulers have the title
Shehu of Borno (var. Shehu of Bornu, Sultan of Borno/u). The traditional Emirate of Borno maintains a ceremonial rule of the
Kanuri people
The Kanuri people (Kanouri, Kanowri, also Yerwa, Baribari and several subgroup names) are an African ethnic group living largely in the lands of the former Kanem and Bornu Empires in Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Libya and Cameroon. Those gener ...
, based in
Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a m ...
,
Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern borde ...
, Nigeria, but acknowledged by the 4 million Kanuri in neighbouring countries.
The current ruling line, the al-Kanemi dynasty, dates to the accession of
Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi in the early 19th century, displacing the
Sayfawa dynasty which had ruled from around 1300.
History
The old Bornu Empire collapsed in 1893 when the
Funj
The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar (after its capital Sennar) or Blue Sultanate due to the traditional Sudanese convention of referring to black people as blue () was a monarchy in what is now Sudan, northwestern E ...
warlord
Rabih Zubayr ibn Fadlallah seized power and transferred the capital to
Dikwa. The French, then expanding in West Africa, defeated and killed Rabih they installed Shehu Sanda Kura, a member of the old Bornu dynasty, as the first Shehu of Borno in Dikwa in 1900. In 1901 they replaced him by his brother Umar Abubakar Garbai, ancestor of the current Emirs of Borno. Based on a treaty between the French, Germans and British, the old Bornu was split up and Dikwa became part of the German colony of Cameroon. The British invited Umar Abubakar Garbai to become ruler of the part falling to the British, and he moved in 1902 first to
Monguno and later to
Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a m ...
.
Later Dikwa was transferred to the newly created British
Northern Nigeria Protectorate
Northern Nigeria (Hausa: ''Arewacin Najeriya'') was a British protectorate which lasted from 1900 until 1914 and covered the northern part of what is now Nigeria.
The protectorate spanned and included the emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate an ...
, resulting in two Shehus, the Shehu of Borno based at Maidgurui and the
Shehu of Dikwa based at
Dikwa.
Rulers
Rulers of the Borno Emirate since the beginning of the colonial period with the title of "Shehu":
Local Government Areas in Borno Emirate
Borno Emirate covers fifteen Local Government Areas
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory.
The phrase i ...
:
* Abadam
* Chibok
Chibok is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, located in the south of the state. It has its headquarters in the town of Chibok.
Landscape
It has an area of 1,350 km²
Population
It has a population of 66,105 at the 2006 cen ...
* Gubio
* Guzamala
* Jere
* Kaga
* Konduga
* Kukawa
* Mafa
* Magumeri
* Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a m ...
* Marte
Marte may refer to:
*Marte, Nigeria, a Local Government Area in Borno State
*Marte (surname), including a list of people with the name
* C.D. Marte, a Mexican football club
* C.D. Atlético Marte, a Salvadoran football club
* ST ''Marte'', a tug i ...
* Mobbar
* Monguno
* Nganzai
See also
*Bornu Empire Bornu may refer to:
* Bornu Empire, a historical state of West Africa
* Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while i ...
* Kanem Empires
*Nigerian traditional rulers
Nigerian traditional rulers often derive their titles from the rulers of independent states or communities that existed before the formation of modern Nigeria. Although they do not have formal political power, in many cases they continue to comm ...
References
{{Nigerian traditional states
*
Maiduguri
Nigerian traditional states
Emirates