The ''Girgam'' (or ''Diwan'') is the royal chronicle of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, written in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. Girgam is also used as the name for written historical records in some kingdoms west of Bornu, including

Daura Daura is a town and Local Government Area in Katsina State, northern Nigeria. It is the spiritual home of the Hausa people. The emirate is referred to as one of the "seven true Hausa states" ( Hausa Bakwai) because it was, (along with Biram, Ka ...

, Fika and Mandara, defined as "chronicle or 'list of ancestors'" or simply "date". "A very meagre and incorrect abridgement" of the ''Girgam'' was provided by a local associated with the Sefuwa dynasty to the German traveller

Heinrich Barth Johann Heinrich Barth (; ; 16 February 1821 – 25 November 1865) was a German explorer of Africa and scholar. Barth is thought to be one of the greatest of the European explorers of Africa, as his scholarly preparation, ability to speak and wri ...

in 1851, in Kukawa, the nineteenth century capital of Bornu. Barth reported that a translation was published in 1852. It provides the names of 69 rulers of Kanem-Bornu and some supplementary information concerning the length of their reigns, their ascendancy, and often some events of their reigns. The information given by several Arab authors ( Ibn Sa'īd,

al-Maqrīzī Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...

and al-Qalqashandī) confirm the validity of the data provided by the ''Girgam''. On the basis of these sources, a nearly accurate chronology of the rulers of Kanem-Bornu can be established between the tenth and the nineteenth centuries. Since the fall of the Sefuwa dynasty in 1846, "the new dynasty of the Kánemíyín ānemīendeavours to obliterate as much as possible the memory of the old Kanúri efuwadynasty, and has assiduously destroyed all its records wherever they could be laid hold of."Henry Barth 1957, p. 255 The two copies of the chronicle obtained by Barth are the only ones that are known to have survived.

References

{{Reflist

Literature

*Barth, Heinrich (1857): ''Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa''. Vol. II, New York, pp. 15–35, 581-602. *Barth, Henry (1857)
''Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa''
Vol. II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, pp. 253-268. *Blau, M. (1852): Translation of the Girgam (presumably into German). ''Zeitschrift of the Leipsic eipzigOriental Society'', "p. 305. ff." This source is referenced by Henry Barth (1857 p. 253 footnote). *Palmer, Herbert R. (1936): ''The Bornu Sahara and Sudan.'' London 1936 (English translation of the ''Dīwān'' S. 89-95 *Lavers, John (1982)
"Review of 'Le ''dīwān'' des sultans du Kanem-Bornu'
''Journal of African History'', 23, 122-3. *

Nehemia Levtzion Nehemia Levtzion ( he, נחמיה לבציון; November 24, 1935 — August 15, 2003) was an Israeli scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and the President of the Open University of Israel from 1987 to 1992 and the ...

and John Hopkins (1981): ''Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History'', Cambridge. *Palmer, Richmond: ''The Bornu Sahara and Sudan'', London 1936 (a rough English translation of the ''Dīwān'', pp. 89–95). Chadian culture African chronicles Bornu Empire Kanem Empire

See also

References

Literature