The Territory and Boundaries of Borno (1810-2010)
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From a Kingdom to a Nigerian State: the Territory and Boundaries of Borno (1810-2010) Vincent Emmanuel Jean Etienne Hiribarren Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds, School of History Submitted March 2012 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2012 The University of Leeds and Vincent Emmanuel Jean Etienne Hiribarren 1 Acknowledgements This project dawned on the banks of the Yangzi River in Tongling, China and, from the start, travelling was an essential part of it. This thesis is about space and I was lucky enough to fly from Europe to Africa and even back to China during the past three years (2008-2011) to discuss the outcome of my research. None of this would have been possible without the help of my parents, and aitatxi and amatxi. Financial support was also provided by the Martin Lynn Scholarship from the Royal History Society and grants from the Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique and the Economic History Society. I am very grateful to Shane Doyle who supervised this thesis throughout these three years. His help, advice and patience have been invaluable. I am also indebted to other friends at the University of Leeds. Simon Burrows gave me the opportunity to improve my mapping skills. Moritz Föllmer, William Gould, William Jackson, Christoph Laucht, Andrea Major, Christopher Prior and Ian Wood gave me very useful advice and helped me formulate my ideas. While in Africa or Europe, I received tremendous help from academics. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Antony Kirk-Greene, Kyari Mohamed, Yakubu Mukhtar, Bosoma Sheriff and Peter Yearwood who took the time to read some chapters of this thesis. In addition, Nur Alkali, Pierre Boilley, Louis Brenner, Murray Last, Ibrahim Modu, Zakari Maïkorema, Gerhard Muller-Kosack, Paul Nugent, Olukoya Ogen, Gisela Seidensticker-Brikay, Kyari Tijani, Ibrahim Waziri and Wolfgang Zeller never hesitated to give me constructive comments on my work. Saïbou Issa and Christian Seignobos made travelling within Cameroon much easier. In Niger, Daouda Marte also facilitated my work. The network of Alliance Française was also very useful and I always received help from them everywhere I went. I am indebted to the staff in libraries and archive centres in Leeds, Oxford, London, Berlin, Paris, Kaduna and Maiduguri who helped me find the right documents to complete this thesis. I am especially grateful to Rachael Foy who always devoted her time to reading my chapters. For her time and patience, I would like to thank her. Thanks are also due to Jean-Pierre Bat who discussed many of my arguments while in Paris or Guinea. Camille Lefebvre also gave me precious comments to assess nineteenth-century sources. Without Robin Seignobos, I would not have been able to grasp the complexity of medieval African cartography. Rudolf Hafeneder 2 also helped me understand the wealth of German colonial cartography. I am also grateful to an indefatigable runner, Nicholas Grant, whose help was priceless. Alexander Lock never hesitated either to proof-read some parts of my thesis. Aidan Stonehouse, Oliver Godsmark, Henry Irving, Thomas Davies and Peter Whitewood also helped me reformulate some of my arguments. I also owe to my friends and family a debt of gratitude. Without their encouragement, I would not have finished this thesis. I am very grateful to my fellow research students in the School of History at the University of Leeds. I would also like to thank all the students I have taught during these three years as I subjected them to my obsession with Nigeria. From the Basque Country to Paris, Liverpool and Leeds, I would also like to thank Raphaël Aldaz, Mathieu Baladou, Benjamin Bober, Vincent Bouat, Say Burgin, Hugo Cruz, Júlio Decker, Emmanuel Farhat, Rebecca Gattrell, Andrew Gladwinfield, Anne Hiribarren, Arnaud Hiribarren, Guillaume Hiribarren, Louis Hiribarren, Marie Hiribarren, Alexandre Hugues, Rachael Johnson, Marie-Pierre Legendre, Jean-François Moufflet, Julien Nicolau, Simone Pelizza, Juliette Reboul, Émilie Senmartin, Louise Seaward, Mileva Stupar, Damien Varenne, Mark Walmsley and Ceara Weston. Knowingly and unknowingly, they all contributed to this project. Throughout this thesis, I have received considerable help from many individuals but it is worth saying that all mistakes are my own. Finally, milesker to the sheep of Estérençuby. 3 Abstract This thesis examines the political space of Borno part of modern-day Nigeria from 1810 to 2010. It seeks to bridge the gap between precolonial, colonial and postcolonial history while studying the evolving concept of a Bornoan space in the longue durée. This research project highlights the continuity of the spatial framework of a nineteenth-century kingdom in colonial and postcolonial Nigeria. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the Bornoan space survived the European colonisation as the British manipulated the concept of the territory of Borno in their competition against other Europeans in Africa. European imperialism did not always destroy African polities but, in the case of Borno, favoured the reconstruction of a nineteenth-century territory within the Nigerian colony. It will be argued that the quest for territorial legitimacy led the British to constantly adapt their colonial administration to the previous nineteenth-century space as the colonial administration recycled the kingdom of Borno within the Nigerian framework. The creation of the province of Borno was thus based on the utilisation of some of its nineteenth-century borders and its concept of territoriality. Thus, Indirect Rule preserved the territory of Borno within colonial Nigeria. This last argument means that the Bornoan space was re-used and reconstructed by the colonial officials with the help of the Bornoan elite. The independent kingdom was no more but it could survive within British administration and scholarly writings. This attitude can explain why the British officials wanted to reunify German and British Borno in two United Nations plebiscites in 1959 and 1961. The Scramble for Borno which began at the end of the nineteenth century was thus not over before 1961. Postcolonial Nigeria directly inherited this administrative framework and territorial practices from its colonial predecessor. This last phenomenon can explain the creation of Borno State in 1976. However, this process came to an end in 1991 when Yobe State was carved out Borno. It will be argued that the Bornoan spatial identity is evolving and turning into a cultural phenomenon in the twenty-first century. 4 Résumé Cette thèse analyse l’espace politique de Borno (Nigeria) de 1810 à 2010. Elle se propose de s’affranchir des divisions entre histoire précoloniale, coloniale et postcoloniale en étudiant l’évolution de l’espace bornouan sur la longue durée. Cette recherche a pour ambition de souligner la continuité territoriale de Borno du royaume du dix-neuvième siècle jusqu’au Nigeria contemporain. Ce projet démontre que l’espace bornoan a survécu à la colonisation en démontrant que les Britanniques ont manipulé le concept du territoire de Borno dans leur compétition avec les autres Européens en Afrique. L’impérialisme européen n’a pas toujours détruit les organisations politiques africaines et, dans le cas de Borno, a favorisé la reconstruction d’un royaume du dix-neuvième siècle au sein-même de la colonie du Nigeria. La quête de légitimité territoriale a constamment conduit les Britanniques à adapter leur administration coloniale à l’espace bornoan. Ainsi, la provincialisation du Borno se basait sur certaines frontières et sur le concept de territorialité du Borno directement hérités du dix- neuvième siècle. L’Indirect Rule a donc préservé le territoire du Borno au sein du Nigeria. Cet argument signifie que l’espace bornoan était réutilisé et reconstruit par les officiers coloniaux avec l’aide de l’élite bornouane. Le royaume indépendant n’était plus mais il pouvait survivre dans les écrits scientifiques et l’administration des Britanniques. Cette attitude explique pourquoi ces derniers désiraient réunifier les Bornos allemand et britannique dans les deux plébiscites de 1959 and 1961. Le partage de l’Afrique commencé à la fin du XIXe siècle ne s’est donc terminé qu’en 1961 pour Borno. Le Nigeria indépendant a directement hérité cette structure administrative et ces pratiques territoriales de son prédécesseur. Ceci peut expliquer la création de l’État fédéral de Borno en 1976. Cependant, cette dynamique a été rompue en 1991 avec la division de l’État de Borno entre Yobe et Borno. Cette thèse démontre donc que l’identité spatiale de Borno a largement évolué pour finir par devenir un phénomène culturel au début du XXIe siècle. 5 Resúmen Este trabajo analiza el espacio político de Borno (Nigeria) entre 1810 y 2010. Se propone de encontrar los vínculos entre la historia pre-colonial, colonial y post-colonial a la luz del estudio de la evolución del espacio de Borno en la larga duración. Se pone al descubierto la continuidad territorial de Borno desde el reino que llevó su nombre en el siglo XIX hasta la República de Nigeria contemporánea. En esta tesis se da cuenta de la supervivencia del espacio de Borno durante la colonización y el por qué los británicos manipularon el concepto del territorio de Borno para competir con otros europeos en África. El imperialismo europeo no siempre destruyó las organizaciones políticas africanas y, en el caso de Borno, reconstruyó el reino del siglo XIX en la colonia de Nigeria. La búsqueda de una legitimidad territorial condujo a los británicos a adaptar su administración colonial al espacio político de Borno.