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Ngazargamu

Coordinates: 13°05′N 12°22′E / 13.083°N 12.367°E / 13.083; 12.367
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Birni Gazargamu
Ngazargamu is located in Nigeria
Ngazargamu
Shown within Nigeria
LocationYobe State, Nigeria
Coordinates13°05′N 12°22′E / 13.083°N 12.367°E / 13.083; 12.367
Part ofKanem-Bornu
History
Founded1480[1]
Abandoned1809
CulturesKanuri, Shuwa Arab, Babur
Site notes
ConditionAbandoned

Ngazargamu, Birni Ngazargamu, Birnin Gazargamu, Gazargamo or N'gazargamu, was the capital of the Bornu Empire from ca. 1460 to 1809. Situated 150 km (93 mi) west of Lake Chad in the Yobe State of modern Nigeria, the remains of the former capital city are still visible. The surrounding wall is 6.6 km (4.1 mi) long and in parts it is still up to 5 m (16 ft) high.

The capital city was built in c. 1488, during the reign of Mai Ali Gazi (1476–1503). It was located in the fork of the Komadugu Gana River and the Komadugu Yobe, near present-day Geidam.[2][3]

The city became Bornu's leading center for Islamic education under Idris Alooma.[2]: 504 

In 1808, Gazargamo was taken by the Fulani Jihad.[4][3]: 259 [5]

Toponymy

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The first segment of N'gazargamu, which is N'gasar, indicates that the earlier residents of the area were known as either N'gasar or N'gizim. The latter segment of the word, gamu or kumu, shares similarities with the initial portion of the name Gwombe and can signify either (i) a leader or monarch or (ii) a revered ancestral spirit.[6]

Based on the Kanuri pronunciation, the correct spelling of the city is Birni Gazargamu. The spellings N'gazargamu or Birnin Gazargamu are likely of Hausa origin.[7]: 20 

History

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During the late 14th-century, the Sayfawa dynasty, which had ruled Kanem for centuries, fled their capital of Birni Njimi due to a civil war. They settled in Bornu, a southern province of Kanem. The civil war continued throughout much of the 15th-century until the reign of Ali Gaji, who succeeded in defeating his rivals and brought an end to the war. Ali Gaji then established Birni Gazargamu, a fortified city that served as the capital of Kanem-Bornu until the 19th-century.[7]

Little is known of the physical appearance or population of the city. The city was surrounded by a circular wall spanning approximately two kilometers in diameter, with the Mai's palace, constructed of red bricks, occupying its center.[7]: 20  A description of the city was given by one Mallam Salih ibn Ishaku and translated by H R Palmer:

At N'gazargamu [sic] there were six hundred and sixty roads cleared and widened, called Le. Sixty of these roads were well known to the Amir [Mai], for he traversed them, but many of the roads were unknown to the Amir since he did not traverse them and so did not know them . . . There were four Friday mosques. Each of these mosques had an Imam for Friday who led the Friday prayer with the people. At each mosque there were twelve thousand worshippers.[8]

Gazargamu emerged as a major trading hub within the Sudan region. By the 17th-century, the city's markets attracted caravans from various directions: Tunis, Tripoli, and Cairo in the north; Timbuktu, Awdaghust, Agades, and Gao in the west; and Kordofan and the Nile regions in the east. These trade caravans transported a variety of goods, including silk, carpets, weapons, and books from the Middle East; paper and glass beads from Venice; leather products, copperware, and tobacco from the Maghreb; and gold and kola nuts from Ashanti in the south.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Bondarev, Dmitry; ‮بونداريف‬, ‮دميتري‬ (2006). "An Archaic Form of Kanuri/Kanembu: A Translation Tool for Qur'anic Studies/ ‮صورة قديمة من الكانوري/كانيمبو: من وساﺋﻞ الدراسات القرآنية‬". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 8 (1): 142–153. ISSN 1465-3591.
  2. ^ a b Smith, Abdullahi (1972). Ajayi, J.F. Ade; Crowder, Michael (eds.). The early states of the Central Sudan, in History of West Africa, Volume One. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 182. ISBN 0231036280.
  3. ^ a b Palmer, Richmond (1936). The Bornu Sahara and Sudan. London: John Murray. p. 223.
  4. ^ Shillington, Kevin (2012). History of Africa. Palgrave Macnikkan. p. 233. ISBN 9780230308473.
  5. ^ Bondarev, Dmitry; ‮بونداريف‬, ‮دميتري‬ (2006). "An Archaic Form of Kanuri/Kanembu: A Translation Tool for Qur'anic Studies/ ‮صورة قديمة من الكانوري/كانيمبو: من وساﺋﻞ الدراسات القرآنية‬". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 8 (1): 142–153. ISSN 1465-3591.
  6. ^ H. R. Palmer (1926). History Of The First Twelve Years Of The Reign Of Mai Idris Alooma Of Bornu ( 1571 1583) ( Fartua, Ahmed Ibn). pp. 74–75.
  7. ^ a b c Brenner, Louis (1973). The Shehus of Kukawa : a history of the Al-Kanemi dynasty of Bornu. Internet Archive. Oxford : Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821681-0.
  8. ^ Palmer, H. R. (1929). "Two Sudanese Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 5 (3): 541–560. ISSN 1356-1898.
  9. ^ Dalen, Dorrit van (2019-04-01), "4. How Muhammad al-Wali developed a radical definition of the unbeliever", 4. How Muhammad al-Wali developed a radical definition of the unbeliever (in German), De Gruyter Oldenbourg, p. 42, doi:10.1515/9783110623628-004, ISBN 978-3-11-062362-8, retrieved 2024-02-29

Bibliography

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  • Barth, Heinrich: Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, 3 vols., New York 1857-8 (see vol. III, p. 29-31).
  • Louis Brenner: The Shehus of Kukawa, Oxford 1973 (p. 20, 32–34).
  • Lange, Dierk: A Sudanic Chronicle: the Borno Expeditions of Idrīs Alauma, Wiesbaden 1987 (p. 114-7).
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