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...Who We Are
Kanuri is a Western Saharan language of the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan family and is spoken in Nigeria (in parts of Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi states and most predominantly in Bornu State), in Niger (in the eastern prefectures of Zinder and Diffa, with some speakers also found in the Bilima of the Agadez prefecture), and in Cameroon. Its sister language Kanembu is spoken in Chad around the northern, eastern and southern shores of the disappearing Lake Chad.

The major dialects of Kanuri spoken in Nigeria and Niger are Bilma, Dagera, Fashi, Manga, Mobar, and Yerwa. A wide range of dialects of Kanembu are spoken in Chad, and certain of the westernmost dialects, a very few of which are spoken on the former shores of Lake Chad in eastern Niger (Kuburi, Suwurti, and Tumari) are mutually intelligible with the Mobar dialect of Kanuri. The Kogono dialect of Kanembu spoken in the Kanem region north of lake chad is also mutually intelligible with the Mobar dialect and is the dialect that has traditionally been used to broadcast Kanembu in Chad. In Nigeria, the dialect emerging as most important is Yerwa of Maiduguri, owing to the city's historical and present day political importance. The Yerwa dialect closely resembles that spoken by the Mobor (or Mowar). Its population straddles the Nigeria-Niger border area. In Niger, more than half of the Kanuri-speaking population is for the most part Manga and partially Dagera speaking. The Manga and Dagera dialects are fully mutually intelligible, though significantly different from the Mobar and Yerwa dialects.

...A Peep Into History
The original empire was called Kanem and grew out of a coalition of chiefdoms near Lake Chad, located on the trade routes that linked sub-Saharan Africa with the Middle East. But a group called the Kanuri migrated into the Kanem area in the 1100s and in the 13th century, the Kanuri began to conquer the surrounding areas. The main expansion occurred under Mai (King) Dunama Dibbalemi of the Sefuwa dynasty, who reigned from 1221 to 1259. He was the first of the Kanuri to convert to Islam and he declared jihad against the surrounding tribes and initiated an extended period of conquest. Dibbalemi declared jihad, or "holy war," against surrounding chieftaincies and so precipitated one of the most dynamic periods of conquest in Africa.

After consolidating their territory around Lake Chad they struck north at the Fezzan (Libya) and west at the Hausa lands (Nigeria).

This expansion was to protect the trade routes to the north. As the trade grew so did the power of the Kanuri Empire. In return for fabrics, salt, minerals and slaves, they received copper, guns, and horses. At its height the Kanuri controlled a large strategic chunk of northern Africa. All the trade routes in north Africa had to pass through this territory. The culture of the Kanuri changed as their wealth increased, they gradually moved from a nomadic lifestyle into a sedentary one built around urban centres, such as Njimi the first capital of the empire.

...More History
The Kanuris developed the powerful empire of Kanem-Bornu, which reached its peak in the 16th century. They have been Muslims since the 11th century. They number about four million.

It was ruled by the Sef dynasty in the 9th-19th century. Its territory at various times included what is now Southern Chad, Northern Cameroon, Northeastern Nigeria, Eastern Niger, and southern Libya. Probably founded in the mid-9th century, it became an Islamic state at the end of the 11th century. Its location made it a trading hub between North Africa, the Nile Valley, and the sub-Saharan region. From the 16th century Kanem-Bornu, sometimes called simply Bornu, was extended and consolidated. The Sef dynasty died out in 1846.

At the height of their empire, the Kanuri controlled territory from Libya to Lake Chad to Hausaland. These were strategic areas: all the commercial traffic through north Africa had to pass through Kanuri territory. As a result of the military and commercial growth of Kanem, the Kanuri slowly changed from a nomadic to a sedentary people.

In the late 1300's, civil strife within Kanuri territory began to seriously weaken the empire. By the early 1400's, Kanuri power shifted from Kanem to Bornu, a Kanuri kingdom south and west of Lake Chad. When Songhay fell, this new Kanuri empire of Bornu grew rapidly. The Kanuri grew powerful enough to unite the kingdom of Bornu with Kanem during the reign of Idris Alawma (1575-1610). In Alawma was a fervent Muslim and set about building a Muslim state all the way west into Hausaland in northern Nigeria. This state would last for another two hundred years. In 1846, it finally succumbed to the growing power of the Hausa states.The Bornu were well known for their chain-mailed cavalry.

His courtly robes flowing, the dignified Kanuri official carries the air of his powerful ancestors. Although no longer controlling great wealth, the royal and aristocratic classes are still highly respected in Kanuri society. Deep scars line the official's face in the distinctive patterns of his tribe. He has carried these scars all his life; they were made during a naming-ceremony when he was just eight days old, while the mullah (religious leader) read from the Koran. Rituals like the naming ceremony punctuate and order life in a Kanuri town. Birth, naming, marriage, death, and burial all have their ceremonies. Traditional and Islamic holidays mark off the year and give life meaning and structure.

The empire finally collapsed in the 1840s, it had been challenged by the growing anti-Muslim power of the Hausa states for many years (the Kanem capital had been destroyed in 1808) and the arrival of the colonial powers was the final blow. The empire was absorbed into the the Wadai kingdom in 1846.

...Within The City Jurisdiction
The Kanuri governed through regional governors who were, more or less, chosen from the indigenous chiefs and elders. This feudal type of government awarded land to people who served the Kanuri kings well, and provided men to serve the Kanuri in time of war. The empire traded kola nuts, gold, ivory and slaves (eunuchs and young girls kidnapped in raids to the south of Kanem, a Kanuri specialty were much sought by North African Berbers) for horses, salt, copper and metal wares.

... Government And Infighting
By the fourteenth century a new capital was built (principally by King Umar) west of Lake Chad, to replace Njimi which had been over-run by the neighboring Bulala people, thus establishing the Kingdom of Bornu. Bornu was largely agricultural, and their people were little affected by the presence of the Kanuri, given the Kanuri system of government that seldom interfered with local affairs.

In the fifteenth century, Ali Ghaji ended palace struggles, and established a new capital at Gazargamu. This created an up turn in the fortunes of the Kanuri.

Under the reign of Idris Alooma (1580-1603), the now merged Empire of Bornu-Kanem regained much of its influence with its borders encompassing Murzuk to the north and Darfar in the east. This gave Bornu-Kanem control of trade from the Nile valley in the east, and the North African coast, and established its almost total control of the central Sahel. Idris introduced firearms to his military, along with Ottoman instructors to train them in their use. With such advanced weaponry and tactics, Idris subdued all of his neighbors, defeated the Tuaregs and reconquered Kanem.

Idris was also devoutly Muslim, and worked to establish mosques in the capital city of Gazargamu and hostels for travelers from Bornu in Mecca. He was particularly interested in establishing a system of law and government that followed the Koran. This tightened control of local populations, and established new moral codes of conduct. The previous local autonomy enjoyed by local tribal groups was effectively removed.

...These Days
Even though Kanuri language, culture, and history are distinctive, other elements are similar to the Hausa. They include the general ecology of the area, Islamic law and politics, the extended households, and rural-urban distinctions. The people remained intensely proud of their ancient traditions of Islamic statehood. Among many ancient traits include their long chronicles of kings, wars, and hegemony in the region, and their specific Kanuri cultural identity seen in the hairstyles of the women, the complex cuisine, and the identification with ruling dynasties.

Things have been changing, however. Maiduguri, the central city of Kanuri influence in the twentieth century, was chosen as the capital of an enlarged Northeast State during the Nigerian civil war. Because this state encompassed large sections of Hausa-Fulani areas, many of these ethnic groups came to the capital. This sudden incorporation, together with mass communications, interstate commerce, and intensification of travel and regional contacts brought increased contacts with Hausa culture. By the 1970s, and increasingly during the 1980s and into the 1990s, Kanuri speakers found it best to get along in Hausa, certainly outside their home region and even inside Borno State. By 1990 women were adopting Hausa dress and hairstyles, and all schoolchildren learned to speak Hausa. Almost all Kanuris in the larger towns could speak Hausa, and many Hausa administrators and businesspeople were settling in Borno. Just as Hausa had incorporated its Fulani conquerors 175 years earlier, in 1990 it was spreading into Kanuri speaking areas, assimilating as it went. Its probable eventual triumph as the universal northern language was reinforced by its utility, although the ethnically proud Kanuri would retain much of their language and culture for many years.