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ANTHROPOS 104.2009: 3–24 The Early Magistrates and Kings of Kanem as Descendants of Assyrian State Builders Dierk Lange Abstract. – From an analysis of information provided by the Introduction D¯ıwan¯ , in conjunction with comparative elements, it appears that the state of Kanem was founded towards 600 B.C. by The earliest history of Kanem is only known by refugees retreating from Syria-Palestine because of the col- a number of royal names transmitted by the dy- lapsed Assyrian empire. Divided into ethnically distinct groups, nastic records of Borno. However, these names the invaders established several minor states in the Central are enigmatic, and it is at first sight impossible Sudan in which the ruling people spoke Chadic languages, to decide, whether they designate legendary or contrasting with the present-day Kanembu-Kanuri of Kanem- historical figures, and whether, if the latter is true, Borno, a Nilosaharan language. In the first half of the first these kings reigned in Kanem or elsewhere.1 Sup- millennium A.D., Kanem emerged as the leading state of the plementary data provided by the royal chronicle region of Lake Chad. It was governed by different immigrant of Kanem-Borno, the D¯ıwan¯ sala¯t.¯ın Barnu¯, give a clans and united local warrior groups within the framework of touch of reality to these early figures by indicating a suffet system based on the annual celebration of the dying and rising god. When in the second half of the eleventh century, the for each king the length of his reign and some ruling class adopted Islam as the state religion, this religious- other precise elements. But again, the exceedingly administrative system became obsolete, and a dynastic system long duration of some reigns, reaching in two cases emerged progressively in its stead. After the failure of radical two hundred and fifty years or more, are highly 2 Islam in the first half of the thirteenth century, the old system suspicious. Most dubious is the identification of was partly reestablished in form of a rotational succession be- the great dynastic ancestor Sef with the late pre- tween two royal lines. From the middle of the fourteenth centu- Islamic Yemenite hero Sayf b. Dh¯ı Yazan. Whether ry onwards, the Sefuwa properly speaking imposed themselves at all any light can be thrown on this obscure peri- as the sole legitimate dynasty, although elements of a rotational od, which in its early phase certainly predates the system lingered on until the middle of the fifteenth century. references of the first Arab geographers to Kanem, [Kanem, Kanem-Borno, Duguwa, Zaghawa, Sefuwa, Assyrians depends to a large extent, on the possibility to in Africa, migrations, state foundation, conquest state, ruling identify and analyse the names of these kings. class, ruling clans, dying and rising god]. Oral traditions of Kanem-Borno are at first sight likewise very vague and difficult to use for histori- Dierk Lange, Dr. Troisieme` Cycle (1974 Paris), These` d’Etat´ (1987 Paris); 1988 Professor em. of African history, University of Bayreuth. – Field research in Nigeria, Niger, and Libya. – 1 Previous authors were convinced of a local identity of the Publications include: “Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa” (Det- early kings of Kanem, even though they are sometimes telbach 2004); articles on the history of the great empires of conceived of as Berber nomads (Barth 1857/II: 581–585; West Africa (Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kanem-Bornu)¯ and on the Urvoy 1949: 17–30; Smith 1971: 164–174; Zeltner 1980: history and anthropology of the Kanuri, Hausa and Yoruba. – 27–38; Lange 1988: 445–450). See also References Cited. 2 For the text of the chronicle see Lange (1977: 22–82). https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2009-1-3 Generiert durch IP '170.106.202.126', am 27.09.2021, 09:49:44. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig. 4 Dierk Lange cal reconstruction. They insist on the Yemenite ori- Many of them seem to have reached sub-Saharan gins of the Magumi clans, formerly united in a dis- Africa, leaving particularly pertinent traces in the tinct ruling class, and they are undoubtedly deeply traditions, the languages, and in the material arte- influenced by Arab historical writings (see Palmer facts in the region of Lake Chad (Lange 2008a, 1928/II: 83–95; 1928/III: 15–21). It is, however, 2009a, 2009b). also shortsighted to discard them entirely as being irrelevant, since Arab notions of Yemenite history may contain pertinent, although not yet properly 1 The Duguwa as Pre-Dynastic Magistrates understood, references to the history of the ancient of Kanem (600 B.C. to A.D. 1068) Near East. In fact, Arab historians themselves situate the The most important information concerning the early Yemenite kings at the beginning of Arab his- history of Kanem is transmitted by the D¯ıwan¯ , the tory and even attribute to them a preeminent role in brief chronicle of the kings of Kanem-Borno. In world history. They are fascinated by the military its present form the D¯ıwan¯ might date from the exploits of the early Yemenite rulers leading to fifteenth century, but there could have been earlier the conquest of Syria and Iraq, and extending as versions.5 Its orally preserved name girgam, which far as Azerbaijan, Samarqand, and India (Lange is also known as a designation for written dynastic 2009b). Further, they echo Berber traditions trac- records in some neighbouring kingdoms, seems ing the origin of the Sanhaja and the Kutama to be derived from Sumero-Akkadian girginakku likewise to Yemen.3 Even more so, besides the (box of tablets, library).6 Together with the form Kanembu-Kanuri of Kanem-Borno, other Sahelian of the chronicle, it suggests that there were earlier people cherish similar claims of Yemenite origins versions, possibly in a language of the ancient (Masonen 2000: 159, 202, 490 f.; Lange 2009c). Near East (Lange 2004a: 245; CAD/V: 86 f.). Instead of dismissing these assertions, deeply root- According to the oldest layer of information ed in Arab, Berber, and sub-Saharan traditions, as in the D¯ıwan¯ , the kings of Kanem descend from Islamic feedback without any foundation in histo- Sef, the “king of the four regions of the world,” ry,4 it may be useful to consider them in connec- not from the minor Yemenite hero of the sixth tion with other historical, onomastic, and linguistic century A.D., Sayf b. Dh¯ı Yazan. Apparently, evidence pointing to ancient Near Eastern connec- the resemblance between the two names made tions. Muslim scholars suggest, that the two figures The partly dependent and partly independent were the same (Lange 2004a: 243). Moreover, the traditions of origin from different West African D¯ıwan¯ claims that the mother of the eponymous people appear to echo vast migrations set in motion founder of the Sefuwa was a daughter of the by the collapse of the Assyrian empire at the end king of Baghdad, a town of which the regional of the seventh century B.C. (Lange 2008a: 82 f., predecessor might have been highly significant for 89–92). As a result of the defeat of the Assyrian a mighty king remembered in Kanem-Borno. In army by the advancing Babylonian and Median fact, there are good reasons to suppose that the troops, the members of the numerous communities mother of the dynastic founder was identical with of Assyrian deportees in Syria-Palestine far to the Aisha from Baghdad, the ancestress of the two west were at the mercy of their liberated local successive ruling groups of Kanem, the Duguwa neighbours (Oded 1979: 75–135). In this anar- and the Sefuwa, and the legendary equivalent of chic situation, the deportee communities, who had the powerful queen mother of the state, the Magira largely preserved their languages and cultures, ap- (Palmer 1928/II: 51, 83; Lange 2004a: 243). As peared to the local people as the representatives of Magira is derived from g!bˆıraˆ, the name of the their former Assyrian oppressors, and as such they Israelite queen mother (Lange 2004: 181), it would were threatened to be exterminated. Flight away not be surprising, if Baghdad was not the actualiza- from this situation of turmoil and insecurity, was for them the only hope of preserving their lives. 5 The earlier suggested thirteenth-century date (Lange 1977: 156–160) seems to be too optimistic in view of the incon- sistencies noted below. 3 For a convenient summary of the information provided 6 The term designates in particular the two libraries of Ashur- by al-Ya qub¯ ¯ı, al-Tabar. ¯ı, al-Mas ud¯ ¯ı, und Ibn Khaldun¯ see banipal (664–627) in Niniveh (Unger, Bibliothek, RLA/II: Radtke (1992: 11–108). With respect to the origin of the 24). The Arabic term d¯ıwan¯ (register, collection; Lane Berbers see Norris (1982: 33–46). 1863–93/III: 939) is a rather exact equivalent, while the 4 On the important issue of feedback for the historical method more common ta’r¯ıkh (history) – used in one manuscript see the debate between Lange (2008b) and Henige (2008). in the rare plural form tawar¯ ¯ıkh (Lange 1977: 22) – is not. Anthropos 104.2009 https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2009-1-3 Generiert durch IP '170.106.202.126', am 27.09.2021, 09:49:44. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig. The Early Magistrates and Kings of Kanem as Descendants of Assyrian State Builders 5 tion of a more ancient Mesopotamian capital city, 1981: 21).8 Al-Muhallab¯ı, in the tenth century, probably Niniveh, in which the origin of the likewise situates the Zaghawa in Kanem – without legendary ancestress of the kings of Kanem – and mentioning the country’s name – and describes formerly also the eponymous state founder him- the ruler of the kingdom as a sacred king living in self – were located.

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