Ali Gazi, Ali Gaji Dunamami ibn Zeinab, or Ali ibn Dunama, was a ruler of
Bornu Empire Bornu may refer to:
* 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 ...
from 1476 until 1503 or 1507.
Prior to his reign, the
Sefuwa ruling house had split into two ruling branches. The result was palace intrigues and internal strife. He consolidated his reign by killing the candidate from a rival house and restricting opposition from challengers.
Ali Gazi later took on the
Bulala
The Bilala or Bulala are a Muslim people that live around Lake Fitri, in the Batha Prefecture, in central Chad. The last Chadian census in 1993 stated that they numbered 136,629 people. Their language, Naba language, Naba, is divided in four diale ...
nomads
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
, who had driven out his people from
Kanem during the decline of the
Kanem Empire Kanem may refer to:
* Kanem–Bornu Empire, existed in modern Chad and Nigeria known to Arabian geographers from the 9th century AD onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1900
* Kanem Prefecture, of former prefectures of Chad
* ...
. He defeated them and re-captured the old Kanem capital,
Njimi Njimi was the capital of the Kanuri state of Kanem (later Kanem-Bornu), north of Lake Chad, from the 11th through the 14th centuries. Founded by the Sefawa dynasty in the 11th century, the town dominated trans-Saharan trade in ivory and slaves ...
. He also founded a new capital at
Birnin Gazargamu.
References
Rulers of the Bornu Empire
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