Sayfawa dynasty, Sefouwa, Sefawa, or Sefuwa dynasty is the name of the
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
kings (or ''mai'', as they called themselves) of the
Kanem–Bornu Empire
The Kanem–Bornu Empire existed in areas which are now part of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. It was known to the Arabian geographers as the Kanem Empire from the 8th century AD onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu (the B ...
,
[ centered first in Kanem in western ]Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
, and then, after 1380, in Borno (today north-eastern Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
).
The dynasty was rooted in the Tubu
Tubu is a village in North-West District of Botswana, 10 kilometers due east of Gumare village. It is located close to the Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland; formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana i ...
expansion by the Kanembu.US Country Studies: Chad
/ref>
"The legendary eponymous ancestor of the Saifawa, as the Maghumi are called, only became in Muslim times Saif, the 'lion of Yaman.'[ The pre-Muslim dynasty is known as the ]Duguwa dynasty
The Duguwa dynasty, or Dougouwa (700–1086), is the line of kings (''mai'') of the Kanem Empire prior to the rise of the Islamic Seyfawa dynasty in 1086.
According to the '' Girgam'', the Duguwa kings were the kings of Kanem whose dynastic name ...
.[
]
Sayfawa-Humewa kings in Kanem
The chronology of the Sefuwa concerns the rule of the Sayfawa dynasty first over Kanem, then over the Kanem–Bornu and finally, since c. 1380, over Bornu alone. The chronology of kings has been ascertained from dynastic records of the Sefuwa on the basis of lengths of reign for the successive kings (''mai''), found in the ''Girgam
The ''Girgam'' (or ''Diwan'') is the royal chronicle of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, written in Arabic. Girgam is also used as the name for written historical records in some kingdoms west of Bornu, including Daura, Fika and Mandara, defined as "ch ...
''. African historians presently use several conflicting chronologies for the history of Kanem–Bornu. Below a list of the main kings of the Empire with the conflicting chronologies is provided.
List of rulers of the Sayfawa dynasty according to John Stewart's ''African States and Rulers'' (1989).
The Sayfawa dynasty ended in 1846 and was succeeded by a series of Sheikhs who ruled the Bornu empire until 1893.
See also
*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 ...
*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
* ...
* Othman I
References
Bibliography
* Barkindo, Bawuro (1985). "The early states of the Central Sudan", ''in'': J. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds.), ''The History of West Africa'', vol. I, 3rd ed. Harlow, 225-254.
* Barth, Heinrich (1858). "Chronological table, containing a list of the Sefuwa", in: ''Travel and Discoveries in North and Central Africa''. Vol. II, New York, 581-602.
* Lavers, John (1993)
"Adventures in the chronology of the states of the Chad Basin".
In: D. Barreteau and C. v. Graffenried (eds.), ''Datations et chronologies dans le Bassin du Lac Chad'', Paris, 255-267.
* Levtzion, Nehemia (1978):"The Saharan and the Sudan from the Arab conquest of the Maghrib to the rise of the Almoravids", in: J. D. Fage (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of Africa'', vol. II, Cambridge 1978, pp. 637–684.
* Nehemia Levtzion
Nehemia Levtzion ( he, נחמיה לבציון; November 24, 1935 — August 15, 2003) was an Israeli scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and the President of the Open University of Israel from 1987 to 1992 and the ...
and John Hopkins (1981): ''Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History'', Cambridge.
* Palmer, Herbert Richmond (1936). ''Bornu Sahara and Sudan''. London.
* Smith, Abdullahi (1971). ''The early states of the Central Sudan'', in: J. Ajayi and M. Crowder (Hg.), ''History of West Africa''. Vol. I, 1. Ausg., London, 158-183.
*
*Urvoy, Yves (1941). "Chronologie du Bornou", ''Journal de la Société des Africanistes'', 11, 21-31.
External links
* ; see also ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 4th ed., Chicago 1980, vol. 4, 572-582.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayfawa Dynasty
Countries in medieval Africa
Bornu Empire
Kanem Empire
Sunni dynasties