Editing Kanem–Bornu Empire (section)

==Theories on the origin of Kanem==
Kanem was located at the southern end of the [[trans-Saharan trade]] route between [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] and the region of [[Lake Chad]]. Besides its urban elite, it also included a [[confederation]] of [[nomad]]ic peoples who spoke languages of the [[Teda language|Teda]]–[[Daza language|Daza]] group, the [[Toubou people]] or [[Berbers|Berber people]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=سفير |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RbuVEAAAQBAJ&dq=%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF+%D8%A8%D9%86+%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A+%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B1&pg=PA217 |title=موسوعة سفير للتاريخ الاسلامي - المجلد الثالث ج3 المسلمون في إفريقيا جنوبي الصحراء |publisher=شركة سفير |pages=613 |language=ar}}</ref>

In the [[8th century]], [[Wahb ibn Munabbih]] used [[Zaghawa people|Zaghawa]] to describe the Teda-Tubu group, in the earliest use of the ethnic name. [[Al-Khwarizmi]] also mentions the Zaghawa in the [[9th century]], as well as the Daza-Tubu, and [[ibn al-Nadim]] references the Zaghawa in the 10th century in his ''[[Al-Fihrist]]<ref>'' Al-Fiḥrist'', Book I, pp. 35–36</ref>''

The term 'Kanem' derive from two syllables: 'Kw', which, like 'Tu' (which can also be written as 'Ta') means 'country' or 'homeland', and 'Anum' (which can also be spelled 'Anem' or 'Anwm'), meaning 'south'. Hence, the name Kanem translates to 'southern homeland' or 'southern country'. All these terms originate from the Toubou (Gouran) language, making it a distinctly geographic term.<ref>Carbou, Henri. (1912) ''La région du Tchad et du Oudaï: études ethnographiques, dialecte Toubou''. Paris: E. Leroux, p. 1-15.  <https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.81484374v1/?sp=28&st=image&r=-0.97,-0.187,2.94,1.84,0</ref> During the [[1st millennium|first millennium]], as the [[Sahara]] underwent [[desiccation]], people speaking [[Kanembu language|Kanembu]] migrated to Kanem in the south. This group contributed to the formation of the [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]]. Kanuri traditions state the Zaghawa dynasty led a group of nomads called the Magumi.<ref name="Nehemia">{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemia |editor1-last=Fage |editor1-first=J.D. |title=The Sahara and the Sudan from the Arab conquest of the Maghrib to the rise of the Almoravids, in The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 2, from c. 500 BC to AD 1050 |date=1978 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-21592-7 |pages=667, 680–683}}</ref> This desiccation of the Sahara resulted in two settlements, those speaking Teda-Daza northeast of Lake Chad, and those speaking [[Chadic languages]] west of the lake in Bornu and [[Hausaland]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Abdullahi |title=History of West Africa |date=1972 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-03628-0 |editor1-last=Ajayi |editor1-first=J. F. Ade |volume=1 |location=New York |pages=168–172, 199–201 |chapter=The early states of Central Sudan |editor2-last=Crowder |editor2-first=Michael |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historyofwestafr0000ajay/page/168}}</ref>{{rp|164}}

===Founding by local Kanembu (Dugua) c. 700===
The origins of Kanem are unclear. The first historical sources tend to show that the kingdom of Kanem began forming around 700 under the [[nomad]]ic Tebu-speaking [[Kanembu people|Kanembu]]. The Kanembu were supposedly forced southwest towards the fertile lands around Lake Chad by political pressure and [[desiccation]] in their former range. The area already possessed walled [[city-state]]s belonging to the [[Sao civilisation]]. Under the leadership of the [[Duguwa dynasty]], the Kanembu would eventually dominate the Sao, but not before adopting many of their customs.<ref>Urvoy, ''Empire'', 3–35; Trimingham, ''History'', 104–111.</ref> War between the two continued up to the late 16th century.

===Diffusionist theories===
One scholar, Dierk Lange, has proposed another theory based on a diffusionist ideology. Based on the written and [[oral tradition]]s of Kanem-Bornu, which place the origin of the ruling [[Sayfawa dynasty|Sefuwa dynasty]] in the [[Near East]], Lange connects the creation of Kanem–Bornu with the departure from the collapsed [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] c. 600 BC to the northeast of Lake Chad.<ref>Lange, [http://dierklange.com/pdf/reviews/dierklange_allgemein/FOUNDING_9.5.2011.pdf ''Founding of Kanem''], 31–38.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dierklange.com/component/content/article/14-books/25-reviews-of-dierk-lange-ancient-kingdoms-of-west-africa.html?Itemid=475 |title=Reviews of Dierk Lange – Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa |website=dierklange.com |access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref>
He also proposes that the lost state of [[Agisymba]] (mentioned by [[Ptolemy]] in the middle of the [[2nd century]]) was the antecedent of the Kanem Empire.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://dierklange.com/pdf/contents/12Mune-Symbol_as_the_Ark.pdf |last=Lange |first=Dierk |title=The 'Mune'-Symbol as the Ark of the Covenant between Duguwa and Sefuwa |publisher=Borno Museum Society |journal=Newsletter |issue=66–67 |date=2006 |pages=15–25 |access-date=16 May 2019 |via=dierklange.com}} The article has a map (page 6) of the ancient Central Sahara and proposes to identify Agisymba of 100 CE with the early Kanem state.</ref> This theory has been criticized for lacking direct and clear evidence.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bjorkelo |first1=Anders |date=1979 |title=Response to Dierk Lange |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=286–289 |doi=10.2307/218839 |jstor=218839}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barrows |first1=Leland conley |date=2006 |title=Review of Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa-Africa-Centred and Canaanite-Israelite Perspectives: A Collection of Published and Unpublished Studies in English and French |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40034020 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=171–173 |issn=0361-7882 |jstor=40034020}}</ref>

According to the ''Diwan salatin Barnu'' ("the chronicle of the kings of Bornu."), the Sefuwa kings were ethnically distinct from their subjects until the thirteenth century. With respect to the king Salmama (1176–1203) the chronicle notes: "From Sultan Sayf to him, no sultan was born black, but they were red like the Beduin Arabs."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dierklange.com/pdf/reviews/dierklange_allgemein/FOUNDING_9.5.2011.pdf |title=The Founding of Kanem by Assyrian Refugees ca. 600 BCE: Documentary, Linguistic, and Archaeological Evidence |last1=Lange |first1=Dierk |date=2011 |publisher=Boston University}}</ref>