Life
He succeeded queen Aissa Koli. His main adversaries were the Hausa people, Hausa to the west, the Tuareg people, Tuareg and Toubou to the north, and the Bulala to the east. One epic poetry, epic poem extols his victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles. His innovations included the employment of fixed military camps with Defensive wall, walls, permanent sieges and scorched earth tactics where soldiers burned everything in their path, armored horses and riders as well as the use of Berber people, Berber camelry, Kotoko people, Kotoko boatmen, and iron-helmeted musketeers trained by Ottoman Empire, Ottoman military advisers. His active diplomacy featured relations with Ottoman Tripolitania, Tripoli, Egypt Eyalet, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire, which sent a 200-member Diplomatic mission, ambassadorial party across the desert to Alooma's noble court, court at Ngazargamu. Alooma also signed what was probably the first written treaty or ceasefire in Chadian history. Alooma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Sharia, Islamic law. He sponsored the construction of numerous mosques and made a Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca, where he arranged for the establishment of a hostel to be used by pilgrims from his empire. As with other dynamic politicians, Alooma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers and allies, and he frequently relied on slavery, slaves who had been educated in Nobility, noble homes. Alooma regularly sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans. He required major political figures to live at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through appropriate marriages (Alooma himself was the son of a Kanuri people, Kanuri father and a Bulala mother). Kanem-Bornu under Alooma was strong and wealthy. Government revenue came from tribute (or War booty, booty if the recalcitrant people had to be conquered) and duties on and participation in trans-Saharan trade, trade. Unlike West Africa, the Chadian region did not have gold. Still, it was central to one of the most convenient routes across the Sahara desert. Between Lake Chad and Fezzan lay a sequence of well-spaced Water well, wells and oasis, oases and from Fezzan there were easy connections to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean. Many products were sent north, including natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, kola nuts, ivory, ostrich feathers, perfume, wax, and Hide (skin), hides, but the most profitable trade was in Slavery in Africa, slaves. Imports included salt, horses, silk, glass, muskets, and copper.Hunwick, "Songhay, Bornu", 207-211. Alooma took a keen interest in trade and other economic matters. He is credited with having cleared the roads, designed better boats for Lake Chad, introduced standard units of measure for grain, and moving farmers into new lands. In addition, he improved the ease and security of transit through the empire with the goal of making it so safe that "a lone woman clad in gold might walk with none to fear but God."Trivia
In 2013, Magnus Edet became the youngest award-winning film director in Cinema of Nigeria, Nollywood and dedicated it to Idris Alooma believing he was indeed a strong man during his reign on earth as a freedom fighter.See also
* Ibn Furtu * Chronology of the Sefuwa (Kanem-Bornu) * Sayfawa dynasty * Bornu EmpireBibliography
* Barkindo, Bawuro: "The early states of the Central Sudan", ''in'': J. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds.), ''The History of West Africa'', vol. I, 3rd ed. Harlow 1985, 225-254. * Dewière, Rémi, L'esclave, le savant et le sultan. Représentations du monde et diplomatie au sultanat du Borno (XVIe-XVIIe siècles), thèse de doctorat dirigée par le professeur Bertrand Hirsch, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, 2015, 713 f. * Hunwick, John: "Songhay, Bornu and Hausaland in the sixteenth century", in: J. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds.), ''The History of West Africa'', vol. I, 1st ed. London 1971, 202-239. * Ibn Furṭū: "The Kanem wars", in: Herbert R. Palmer: ''Sudanese Memoirs'', vol. I, Lagos 1928, p. 15-81. * Lange, Dierk: ''Le Dīwān des sultans du Kanem-Bornu'', Wiesbaden 1977. * --: ''A Sudanic Chronicle: the Borno Expeditions of Idrīs Alauma'to', Wiesbaden 1987.References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alooma, Idris 16th-century births 1617 deaths Rulers of the Bornu Empire 16th-century monarchs in Africa 17th-century monarchs in Africa 16th-century Nigerian people 17th-century Nigerian people