4.3.1. CHANGE RIPPLES DOWN FROM THE SAHARAN FRINGE

THE MISAKULLAH STORY FORESHADOWS REGIONAL CHANGE 

Trade routes through the central Sahara lead to Bornu, a kingdom that resembles those of the Middle Niger. Comparing the accounts of two explorers,* in 1825 and 1855, shows signs of coming storm.

 -- Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in 1821, 1822, 1823
by Captain Hugh Clapperton, London, 1826

-- Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa by Heinrich Barth, London, 1855

Regions at the epicenter of Boko Haram now.

Bornu toward 1825:

(The shortened name is used for the 19th-century state)

• The economy is comparable to that of 15th-century France. This horseman resembles a knight:

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Clapperton's narrative

• A theocratic ruler becomes head of the 1000-year-old kingdom. He is stronger than the former obese kings, but constraints still hem him in:

Shehu al-Hajj Muhammad al-Kânemi, Clapperton / zoom

White robes represent saintliness and being the representative of God strengthens authority...

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But the giant turban hampers movement and the barrier isolates.  

  

Logone, a state south of Bornu so farther from Saharan trade, keeps traditional restraints on growth:

• The king offers the mission far more supplies than it can consume, so that it will not seek them from local producers.

• Clapperton sees an iron for the first time and gives it a rare illustration:

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• But commerce is expanding and power developing, as in Djimini. Weaving and dyeing appear in the 18th century. Chieftaincies unite at about the same time and toward 1800 the king becomes nominally Muslim, a sign of strength since it claims that power comes from God.

# # #

In Bornu a generation later...

• Barth finds that a revolution has defeated the oldest nobility, that is, the descendants of the men with the huge turbans. The ruler physical constraints. 

• Cowries arrive with that revolution. The change takes place decades later than in Djimini, because the king is more powerful than the Kondougou chief.

In Logone...

•  Commercial production expands:

Cotton is grown, "weaving and dyeing are here carried on to a considerable extent, new land is being cleared, a market is "fairly active," and "field-hand villages" grow up during the rainy season. 

• Cotton bands have replaced the iron money. They are a divisible currency, though less so than cowries : one band = eight cowries.   

• But the government remains the same: The ruler continues to provide a huge quantity of supplies, enough for a hundred people though Barth is alone. He receives him behind a curtain.

The economy is developing 
 but authority stays the same:
For now.

*     *     *

Next,
4.3.2.
An explorer is taken for the messiah