LESSON 29
THE JAMÂ`A PERIOD AND BEGINNING OF JIHÂDS
In the 1580s, while Morocco's enemies Spain and Ottoman Turkey were distracted by war, Morocco
turned its attention to the Sahara and tried to take control the trans-Saharan trade routes both along the
Atlantic and through Tuwât and Taghâza. The Moroccans took Taghâza from Songhay in 1586, whereupon Askiya al-Hâjj (1582-6) decreed a trade boycott of Taghâza. Al-Mansûr was infuriated by
this successful action and by the insulting reply of the next askiya, Isâq II, to his threats to depose
him. So he sent Judar Pasha with a force of 4,000 men, including many European mercenaries,
against Songhay. Judar Pasha first took the coveted salt mines of Taghâza and then marched across the
desert. In a battle in 1591 near Tondibi (just north of Gao) the Moroccan troops, though weakened
from crossing the desert, overpowered Songhay without difficulty because it was a battle of firearms
against the bows, spears and swords of the Songhay. After entering Gao, the town seemed so humble
and poor that after 17 days Judar Pasha moved on to Timbuktu. Songhay resistance was gradually
overcome, but the Moroccans gained nothing from it. The former voluminous trade in gold and slaves
with North Africa was greatly reduced, and the Moroccans could not guarantee security. In the 17th
century Timbuktu, Jenne and Gao all became the prey of raiders, either Bambara from Segu, or Tuareg
from the Sahara, or Fulani who were beginning to migrate eastward from Senegal.
Until the jihâd movements, mostly in the 18th century, no empire arose to replace the Songhay
empire. Even in the best conditions empires are difficult to organize and maintain. Nevertheless well
over a century of stagnation was not merely the effect of the Moroccan invasion. The main reason for
the decline of the Sudan at this period was the Turkish occupation of most of North Africa, starting
with Egypt in 1517 and Algiers in 1525. The northern coast, from Egypt to Algiers, became part of
the Ottoman Empire. The Turks in North Africa, who controlled only the towns and land along the
coast, were interested only in the Mediterranean world and Istanbul, leaving the Sahara to the bedouins
and their shaykhs. Also at this time American silver and gold was flowing into Europe and interest
dropped in the more difficult to obtain African gold traded on the West or North African coasts. With
the northern terminus of the trans-Saharan trade cut off, the sub-Saharan empires had no other choice
but to die that is, until the Atlantic trade became a sufficient substitute to cause a revival.
The Muslim minorities left after the breakup of Songhay organized themselves in small communities or jamâ`as which served all their needs: religious, economic, defence etc. Yet most of
them could not avoid coming under pagan rule, which did not help strict Islamic practice. The
religious impetus for a jihâd to change the situation was reinforced by economic considerations. The
Atlantic trade stimulated the birth of several coastal empires, e.g. Benin, y, Dahomey, Ashante.
From all of these states supply routes went far to the interior, stimulating the formation of jihâd states
to take advantage of the new market, as we will see in the next lesson.
In the meantime, Kanem/Borno, continued to survive because it fed the central Saharan slave
route. Ume Jilmi (1085-97) is said to have been the first Mai (king) of Kanem to become a Muslim,
probably through the presence of a foreign Muslim community and his contacts with North Africa. He
died while on pilgrimage to Mecca. The capital of the kingdom at this time was Njimi. The next Mai,
Dunama I (1097-1151), made the hajj twice and on the third time was drowned in the Red Sea. The
mother of the Mai bore the title "Magira" and had great power in the kingdom, showing the strength of
African traditions such as matriarchy. A tradition that the king is something more than a human
mortal, moreover, obliged the king to remain hidden from public view, a custom observed also in
Benin. Mai Dunama II Dibbalemi (1221-59) extended Kanem authority over Fezzân, did much to
promote Islam and established a hostel in Cairo for Kanemi students. He also established diplomatic
relations with al-Muntasir, the Hafsid ruler of Tunis, and sent him the present of a giraffe.
As Islam developed among the elite during the two centuries following Mai Ume Jilmi, Kanem
political power also grew. Neighbouring peoples were first subjugated, then assimilated by the
adoption of the Kanuri language, Islam and loyalty to the Mai. Ethnic and religious assimilation,
however, affected the rural people little, and many areas they were under some kind of indirect rule or
were independent tributary states. By the end of the 13th century the empire included Kanem east of
Lake Chad, Borno to the west, and in the desert most of Fezzân.
Mai Dâwûd (1353-56) not only had to contend with civil war, but also with external aggression
from the Bulala, a people east of Kanem. In the reign of Mai `Umar (1380-88) the royal family
abandoned Kanem to the Bulala and fled to Borno, where Kanuri immigrants proceeded to subjugate
and gradually assimilate the native So people. Dynastic strife turned Borno into anarchy, until Mai
`Alî Gaji Dunama (1476-1503) restored stability and peace. He built Ngazargamu, which remained
the capital of Borno until 1811. `Alî Gaji's son, Mai Idrîs Katakarmabe (1503-26), reincorporated
Kanem into the empire. The Mais maintained diplomatic relations with Tripoli, which the Ottoman
Turks captured in 1551. The Ottomans in Tripoli (in contrast to Algiers) showed a continued interest
in trans-Saharan trade, again mainly in slaves. Large numbers of male slaves were destined for the
Egyptian army, while female slaves became concubines of shaykhs in North Africa and the Middle
East. The Borno empire owed its existence to the demand for slaves, and regularly carried out raids
on peoples to the south. Practically no gold passed through Borno to North Africa, but ivory was a
valued export. Like Songhay, the Borno empire appears to have existed only to provide a trading
oligarchy with luxury goods, without developing local production and the lot of the common man.
QUESTIONS
- Explain how Songhay died away and had no immediate successor state.
- Explain the organization of a jamâ`a and how it could organize warfare and politics as well as serve religious needs.
Assess the religious and political-military character of Kanem/Borno.
- Explain why Kanem/Borno survived a few centuries longer than Songhay.