BORNU, a country in the Central Sudan, lying west and south of Lake Chad, bounded west by Sokoto, south by Muri and Adamawa, and north by the Sahara. Formerly an independent Mohammedan sultanate, it was divided between Great Britain, Germany and France. To France has fallen a portion of northern Bornu and also Zinder (q.v.), a tributary state to the north west, while the south-west part was incorporated in the former German colony of Cameroon. Three-fourths of Bornu proper, some 50,000 square m., forms part of the British protectorate of Nigeria.
Bornu slopes gradually to Lake Chad, which was formerly much larger. The Komadugu (i.e., river) Waube—generally known as the Yo—and its tributaries rise south-east of Kano, and flow north and east to Lake Chad, the Yo in its last few miles marking the frontier between French and British possessions. A part of south-west Bornu drains to the Benue. The rivers are intermittent, and water in southern Bornu is obtained only from deep wells. The vast plain of Bornu is stoneless, except for tare outcrops of ironstone, and consists of the porous fissured black earth called "cotton soil" in India, alternating with, or more probably overlaid by, sand. Throughout the flat country water is apparently found everywhere at a depth of 54 ft., correspond ing to the level of Chad, and the riverine areas of Chad and Chari are sometimes flooded when the lake rises. Acacia forest extends from Gongola to Gujba. The general vegetation is sub desert with acacia bush, tamarinds and palms. South of Mai foni are baobabs, also some Ficus. The baobab has been taken north to Kuka, north of which grow Hyphaene palms, tamarinds and figs. Wild cotton and indigo give rise to the blue-striped cot ton industry of the country, and the cotton near Lake Chad is fine. Rice and wheat are raised, but in small quantities, the staple food being gussub millet. Ground-nuts, yams, sweet potatoes, several sorts of beans and grains. peppers, onions, water-melons, tomatoes, limes and figs are grown. Lions, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, crocodiles, hippopotami, antelopes, gazelles and ostriches find food and cover in wood and marsh. Horse, camel and ox are used as beasts of burden. The country abounds with bees, and honey is a great delicacy.
From March to the end of June it is oppressively hot, day temperatures are often 1o5 ° to 107°, and night ones not much below loos'. In June the wet season begins, with thunder and lightning, and rivers and lakes are in flood till September, but the rainfall is only 35o millimetres at Kuka and 73o millimetres at Fort Lany. Fevers are prevalent in the rainy season but in Sep tember cooler winds blow from west and northwest and the cli mate becomes healthy and agreeable.
The dominant Bornuese, Berberi or Kanuri negroes, with an infusion of Berber blood, have black skins, large mouths, thick lips and broad noses, but good teeth and high foreheads. The women tattoo extensively, stain their faces with indigo, and dye their front teeth black and their canine teeth red. The law allows polygamy, but the richest seldom have more than two or three wives. North of Chad mixture with the Tebu has given rise to the Kanembu.
The Kuka country is occupied by the Shuwas, of Arab origin, speaking a good dialect of Arabic, who came from the east Sa hara 30o years ago. They are divided into numerous distinct clans, with villages of rudely constructed huts, of an exaggerated conical form. Another tribe, La Salas, inhabits low fertile islands in Lake Chad, separated from the mainland by fordable channels.
The Bornuese are noted horsemen, and, in war, horses, as well as riders, used to wear light iron mail. The Shuwas warriors wear only a light shirt, and the Kanembu spearmen go almost naked, and fight with shield and spear. Notwithstanding the heat, the body is enveloped in successive robes, the number indicating the rank of the wearer. The head likewise is enclosed in numerous turbans. The prevailing language in Bornu is the Kanuri. It has no affinity, according to Heinrich Barth, with the great Berber family. S. W. Koelle published grammar in 1854 as well as a volume of tales and fables, with translation and vocabulary.
The history of Bornu goes back to the gth century A.D., but its early portions are very fragmentary and dubious. The first dy nasty known is that of the Sefuwa, or descendants of Sef, which came to the throne in the person of Dugu or Duku, and had its capital at Njimiye (Jima) in Kanem on the north-east shores of Lake Chad. The Sefuwa are of Berber origin. Mohammedanism was adopted towards the end of the 11 th century, and has since continued the religion of the country. From 1194 to 1220 reigned Selma II., under whom the power of the kingdom was greatly extended; and Dunama II., his successor, was also a powerful and warlike prince. In the following reigns the prosperity of the country began to diminish, and about 1386 the dynasty was ex pelled from Njimiye, and forced to seek refuge in the western part of its territory by the invasion of the Bulala. Mai Ali (I.) Ghajideni, who founded the city of Birni, rendered his country once more redoubtable and strong. His successor, Idris II., completely vanquished the Bulala and subjugated Kanem ; and under Mohammed V., the next monarch, Bornu reached its high est pitch of greatness. A series of for the most part peaceful reigns succeeded till about the middle of the 18th century, when Ali (IV.) Omarmi entered upon a violent struggle with the Tuareg or Imoshagh. Under his son Ahmed (about 18o8) the kingdom began to be harassed by the Fula, who had already conquered the Hausa country. Expelled from his capital by the invaders, Ahmed was only restored by the assistance of the fakir Mohammed al-Amin al-Kanemi, who, pretending to a celestial mission, hoisted the green flag of the Prophet and undertook the deliverance of his country. The Fula appear to have been taken by surprise, and in ten months were driven completely out of Bornu. The conqueror invested the nearest heir of the ancierrt kings with all the appearance of sovereignty—reserving for him self, however, under the title of sheik, all its reality. The court of the sultan (shehu) was established at New Bornu, or Birni, which was made the capital, the old city having been destroyed during the Fula invasion; while the sheik, in military state, took up his residence at the new city of Kuka. Fairly established, he ruled the country with a rod of iron, and at the same time inspired his subjects with a superstitious notion of his sanctity. His zeal was peculiarly directed against moral or religious offences. The most frivolous faults of women, as talking too loud and walking in the street unveiled, rendered the offender liable to public indictment, while graver errors were visited with the most ignominious punishments, and often with death itself. Kanemi died in 1835, and was succeeded by his son, Sheik Omar, who altogether abolished the nominal kingship of the Sefuwa.
During Omar's reign, which lasted about 5o years, Bornu was visited by many Europeans, who reached it via Tripoli and the Sahara. The first to enter the country were Walter Oudney, Hugh Clapperton, and Dixon Denham (1823). They were followed in 1851-55 by Heinrich Barth. Later travellers included Gerhard Rohlfs (1866) and Gustav Nachtigal. All these travellers were well received by the Kanuri, whose power from the middle of the gth century began to decay.
After the visit of Nachtigal the country was visited by no European traveller until 1892, when Col. P. L. Monteil resided for a time at Kuka. At this time a danger was threatening from the south-east, where the negro adventurer, Rabah, once a slave of Zobeir Pasha, was menacing the kingdom of Bagirmi. After making himself master of the fortified town of Manifa, Rabah proceeded against Bornu, defeating the army of the sultan Ahsem in two pitched battles. In Dec. 1893 Ahsem fled from Kuka, which was entered by Rabah and soon afterwards destroyed, the capital being transferred to Dikwa in the south-east of the king dom. Rabah had raised a large, well-drilled army, and proved a formidable opponent to the French in their advance to Lake Chad from the south. However in 1900 he was killed at Kussuri near the lower Shari, by the combined forces of three French expeditions which had been converging from the Congo, the Sahara, and the Niger.
After the defeat of Rabah French military expeditions occu pied both the German and British portions of Bornu, but in 1902 on the appearance of British and German expeditions the French withdrew to their own country, east of the Shari. The British placed on the throne of Bornu Shehu Garbai, a descendant of the ancient sultans, and Kuka was again chosen as the capital of the state. From that date Bornu, as a province of the Protectorate of Nigeria, has been under effective administrative control. The people proved industrious, large areas were brought under culti vation, and taxes were collected without difficulty. Owing to its increasing commercial importance the native capital was moved, in 1908, to Maidugari. Following the conquest of the Cameroons the part of Bornu which had been under German rule was placed in 1919 under British mandate. For administrative purposes it was added to Bornu province but with a distinct native govern ment under its own emir and council. This re-union of the dis membered parts of Bornu had beneficial results. Road and river communications were much improved, and the population (partly by immigration) more than doubled in the period 190o-25. Sur veys for an extension of the Nigerian railway system to Bornu were undertaken in 1927-28 (see also NIGERIA and BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Heinrich Barth's Travels in North and Central Bibliography.-Heinrich Barth's Travels in North and Central Africa (1857, new ed. 189o) , contains an exact picture of the state in the period (c. 185o) preceding its decay. The earlier Travels of Denham and Clapperton (182 8) may also be consulted, as well as Rohlfs' Land and •Volk in A f rika (1870); Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan, vol. i. (1879) ; and Monteil, De St.-Louis a Tripoli par le lac Tchad (1895). Lady Lugard's A Tropical Dependency (1905) deals with Bornu up to that date. C. K. Meek, The Northern Tribes of Nigeria (1925) deals with ethnology; F. W. H. Migeod, Through Nigeria to Lake Chad (1924), the Annual Reports on Nigeria issued by the Colonial Office, London; also the Annual Report: Northern Prov inces (Lagos), first issued in 1928.