Kanem-Bornu Empire

Timeline

1. 1451–1456Lake Chad · Lake Chad BasinThe Bornu Kingdom controlled fisheries, salt pans, and farmland around Lake Chad, using Ngazargamu as a hub linking trade routes to North Africa, the Niger River basin, and the Sudanian savanna. Trans-Saharan camel caravans exchanged salt, slaves, ivory, and horses there, giving the kingdom steady fiscal revenue.
2. 1453–1460Ngazargamu · Borno StateBornu rulers used Islamic judges and court officials to manage local chiefs, maintaining an elite cavalry to suppress nomadic revolts and expand their sphere. The court and mosques of Ngazargamu became centers of Islamic culture in the eastern Sahel, attracting North African scholars and merchants.
3. 1455–1460Eastern Sahel · Lake Chad BasinBornu maintained complex diplomatic and military relations with Hausa city-states, Kanuri groups, and North African sultanates. In the 1450s the kingdom held hegemony in the Lake Chad Basin while facing challenges from nomadic tribes and southern powers, creating conditions for Ali Gazi's reunification of Kanem and Bornu in the 1470s.