Sayfawa dynasty

Sayfawa dynasty or more properly Sefuwa dynasty is the name of the kings (or mai, as they call themselves) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, centered first in Kanem in western Chad, and then, after 1380, in Borno (today north-eastern Nigeria).Theories on the origins of this dynasty vary.

Many scholars assert that it may have been rooted in a Tubu expansion or comprised an indigenous dynasty.

Other theories have also been made.

The German historian Dierk Lange has argued that the advent of the Sayfawa dynasty came in the 11th century, when Hummay consolidated Islam in Kanem.

Lange adds that Hummay's advent represented the ascent of a Berber dynasty over the previous Duguwa.

The Duguwa is a sub-Kanembu/Kanuri clan currently living in the regions of South Kanem and Massakory in Chad, and the region of Maiduguri in Nigeria.

The latter means the region or the city of Mai Dugu in Kanembou/Kanouri language.

Thus, the sub-clan exists even today and is considered to be part of the Mayi royal clan and does not have anything to do with Zaghawa as mentioned here.

You can contact Mr. Hssan Ahamt, the owner of the "Alimentation la Tchadienne" in N'Djamena who is a member of the sub-clan kanembu Dugua.In the Islamic period, the Sayfawa themselves claimed as their eponymous ancestor the late pre-Islamic Yemenite hero Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan, hence their amended name Sayf-awa.

This tradition was first mentioned by the Andalusian scholar Ibn Said in the 13th century, and Lange believes it to be mainly the fruit of the reinterpretation of an indigenous tradition by Muslim scholars who arrived to Kanem from regions where Himyarite traditions were strong.FFormerly most historians thought, that the leaders of this new dynasty belonged to the indigenous Kanembu.

The first ten kings present in the list are difficult to date and to identify.

Scholars are divided on this topic.

Some researches tried to link them with the Ancient Middle East, in a diffusionist point of view.

These researches tried to relate the founding of Kanem with immigrants from the collapsing Assyrian Empire, claiming descent from Sef/Sargon of Akkad, hence their name Sef-uwa.

Being highly controversial, this hypothesis must not be considered as definitive.

It is therefore probable that the first kings of this dynasty are legendary and cannot be equated with any historical characters.The dynasty, one of Africa's longest living, loses the throne in 1846.

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