Sayfawa dynasty explained

Coat Of Arms:	Old Sayfawa Coat of arms.jpg
Country:	Kanem-Bornu Empire
Founded:	700 AC
Founder:	Saif
Dissolution:	1846
Final Ruler:	Ali Delatumi
Historic Seat:	Njimi Ngazargamu Kafela
Titles:	Mai of Bornu

Sayfawa dynasty, Sefouwa, Sefawa, or Sefuwa dynasty is the name of the Muslim kings (or mai, as they called themselves) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, centered first in Kanem in western Chad, and then, after 1380, in Borno (today north-eastern Nigeria).

The dynasty was rooted in the Tubu expansion by the Kanembu.^[1] "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.

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. 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.

Name of the king (mai)	Barth 1857^[2] ^[3]	Palmer 1936^[4] ^[5]	Urvoy 1941^[6] ^[7]
	1086–1097	1086–1097	1085–1097
	1221–1259/60	1221–1259	1210–1224
	1472–1504	1476–1503	1473–1507
	1505–1526	1503–1526	1507–1529
	1572–1603	1570-1602/3	1580–1617

List of rulers of the Sayfawa dynasty according to John Stewart's African States and Rulers (1989).^{[8] [9]}

	Name	Reign Start	Reign End
Kanem (1085  - 1256) (Succeeded the Duguwa dynasty which had ruled since 784)
1	Hume	1085	1097
2	Dunama I	1097	1150
3	Biri I	1150	1176
4	Bikorom (or Dala, or Abdallah I)	1176	1194
5	Abdul Jalil (or Jilim)	1194	1221
6	Dunama Dibbalemi	1221	1256
Kanem-Bornu (c. 1256  - c. 1400)
-	Dunama Dibbalemi	1256	1259
7	Kade	1259	1260
8	Kashim Biri (or Abdul Kadim)	1260	1288
9	Biri II Ibrahim	1288	1307
10	Ibrahim I	1307	1326
11	Abdullah II	1326	1346
12	Selma	1346	1350
13	Kure Gana es-Saghir	1350	1351
14	Kure Kura al-Kabir	1351	1352
15	Muhammad I	1352	1353
16	Idris I Nigalemi	1353	1377
17	Daud Nigalemi	1377	1386
18	Uthman I	1386	1391
19	Uthman II	1391	1392
20	Abu Bakr Liyatu	1392	1394
21	Umar ibn Idris	1394	1398
22	Sa'id	1398	1399
23	Kade Afunu	1399	1400
Bornu Empire (c. 1400  - 1846)
24	Biri III	1400	1432
25	Uthman III Kaliwama	1432	1433
26	Dunama III	1433	1435
27	Abdullah III Dakumuni	1435	1442
28	Ibrahim II	1442	1450
29	Kadai	1450	1451
30	Ahmad Dunama IV	1451	1455
31	Muhammad II	1455	1456
32	Amr	1456
33	Muhammad III	1456
34	Ghaji	1456	1461
35	Uthman IV	1461	1466
36	Umar II	1466	1467
37	Muhammad IV	1467	1472
38	Ali Gajideni	1472	1504
39	Idris Katakarmabe	1504	1526
40	Muhammad V Aminami	1526	1545
41	Ali II Zainami	1545	1546
42	Dunama V Ngumaramma	1546	1563
43	Dala (or Abdullah)	1563	1570
44	Aissa Koli	1570	1580
45	Idris Alooma	1580	1603
46	Muhammad Bukalmarami	1603	1617
47	Ibrahim III	1617	1625
48	Umar III	1625	1645
49	Ali III	1645	1685
50	Idris IV	1685	1704
51	Dunama VI	1704	1723
52	Hamdan	1723	1737
53	Muhammad VII Erghamma	1737	1752
54	Dunama VII Ghana	1752	1755
55	Ali IV ibn Haj Hamdun	1755	1793
56	Ahmad ibn Ali	1793	March 1808
57	Dunama IX Lefiami	1808	1810
58	Muhammad VIII	1810	1814
-	Dunama Lefiami (Restored)	1814	1817
59	Ibrahim	1817	1846
60	Ali Delatumi	1846

The Sayfawa dynasty ended in 1846 and was succeeded by a series of Sheikhs who ruled the Bornu empire until 1893.^[9]

See also

• Bornu Empire
• Kanem Empire
• Othman I

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 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.
• Book: Stewart, John . African States and Rulers: An encyclopedia of Native, Colonial and Independent States and Rulers Past and Present . McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers . Jefferson, NC . 1989 . 0-89950-390-X . 395 Pages .
• Urvoy, Yves (1941). "Chronologie du Bornou", Journal de la Société des Africanistes, 11, 21-31.

External links

• Chronology . 6 . 1. ; see also Encyclopædia Britannica, 4th ed., Chicago 1980, vol. 4, 572-582.

Notes and References

1. http://countrystudies.us/chad/6.htm US Country Studies: Chad
2. Barth, Travels, II, 15-25, 581-602.
3. Book: Barth . Henry . Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa . 1890 . Ward, Lock, and Co. . London . 361 . 10 March 2019.
4. Palmer, Bornu, 112-268.
5. Book: Palmer . Richmond . The Bornu Sahara and Sudan . 1936 . John Murray . London . 90–95.
6. Urvoy "Chronologie", 27-31.
7. Book: Urvoy . Y. . Historie De L'Empire Du Bronu . 1949 . Librairie Larose . Paris . Memoires De L'Institut Francais D'Afrique Noire, No. 7 . 26, 35, 52, 56–57, 73, 75.
8. Book: Stewart, John. African States and Rulers. McFarland. 1989. 0-89950-390-X. London. 146.
9. Book: Stewart, John. African States and Rulers. McFarland. 1989. 0-89950-390-X. London. 34–35.