Editing History of Chad (section)

==Era of Empires (900&ndash;1900)==
At the end of the 1st millennium, the formation of states began across central Chad in the [[sahel]]ian zone between the [[desert]] and the [[savanna]]. For almost the next 1,000 years, these states, their relations with each other, and their effects on the peoples who lived in stateless societies along their peripheries dominated Chad's political history. Recent research suggests that indigenous [[History of Africa|Africans]] founded these states, not migrating [[Arabic language|Arabic-speaking]] groups, as was believed previously. Nonetheless, immigrants, [[Arab]]ic-speaking or otherwise, played a significant role, along with [[Islam]], in the formation and early evolution of these states.<ref name="locchad14">Collier 1990 p. 14</ref>

Most states began as [[monarchy|kingdoms]], in which the king was considered divine and endowed with temporal and spiritual powers. All states were [[militarism|militaristic]] (or they did not survive long), but none was able to expand far into southern Chad, where forests and the [[tsetse fly]] complicated the use of [[cavalry]]. Control over the [[trans-Saharan trade]] routes that passed through the region formed the economic basis of these kingdoms. Although many states rose and fell, the most important and durable of the empires were [[Kanem Empire|Kanem–Bornu]], [[Kingdom of Baguirmi|Baguirmi]], and [[Ouaddai Empire|Ouaddai]], according to most written sources (mainly [[Noble court|court]] [[chronicle]]s and writings of Arab [[merchant|traders]] and travelers).<ref name="locchad14" />[http://countrystudies.us/chad/5.htm Chad – Era of Empires, A.D. 900–1900]

===Kanem–Bornu===
{{main|Kanem–Bornu Empire}}
The Kanem Empire originated in the 9th century AD to the northeast of [[Lake Chad]]. Historians agree that the leaders of the new state were ancestors of the [[Kanem Empire|Kanembu]] people. Toward the end of the 11th century the [[Sayfawa dynasty|Sayfawa]] king (or ''mai'', the title of the Sayfawa rulers) [[Hummay]], converted to Islam. In the following century the Sayfawa rulers expanded southward into [[Kanem (region)|Kanem]], where was to rise their first capital, [[Njimi]]. Kanem's expansion peaked during the long and energetic reign of Mai [[Dunama Dabbalemi]] (c. 1221&ndash;1259).<ref name="locchad15">Collier 1990 p. 15</ref>
[[Image:Group of Kanem-Bu warriors.jpg|thumb|left|Group of Kanem-Bu warriors]]

By the end of the 14th century, internal struggles and external attacks had torn Kanem apart. Finally, around 1396 the [[Bulala]] invaders forced ''Mai'' [[Umar Idrismi]] to abandon Njimi and move the Kanembu people to [[Borno State|Bornu]] on the western edge of Lake Chad. Over time, the intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]], and founded a new capital, [[Ngazargamu]].<ref name="locchad15" />

Kanem–Bornu peaked during the reign of the outstanding statesman ''Mai'' [[Idris Aluma]] (c. 1571&ndash;1603). Aluma is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms, and Islamic piety. The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid-17th century, when its power began to fade. By the early 19th century, Kanem–Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in 1808 [[Fulani Empire|Fulani]] warriors conquered Ngazargamu. Bornu survived, but the Sayfawa dynasty ended in 1846 and the Empire itself fell in 1893.<ref name="locchad15" />

===Baguirmi and Wadai===
{{main|Kingdom of Baguirmi|Wadai Sultanate}}
[[File:Rabih az-Zubayr 1896.png|thumb|right|[[Rabih az-Zubayr]]'s Empire, [[Wadai Sultanate]], [[Senussi]] and other state entities in the region, 1896]]
The [[Kingdom of Baguirmi]], located southeast of Kanem-Bornu, was founded in the late 15th or early 16th century, and adopted Islam in the reign of [[Abdullah IV]] (1568–1598). Baguirmi was in a tributary relationship with Kanem–Bornu at various points in the 17th and 18th centuries, then to Ouaddai in the 19th century. In 1893, Baguirmi sultan [[Abd ar Rahman Gwaranga]] surrendered the territory to France, and it became a French protectorate.<ref name="locchad16">Collier 1990 p. 16</ref>

The [[Wadai Sultanate]] (Ouaddai Kingdom), west of Kanem–Bornu, was established in the early 16th century by Tunjur rulers. In the 1630s, [[Abd al Karim]] invaded and established an Islamic sultanate. Among its most impactful rulers for the next three centuries were [[Muhammad Sabun]], who controlled a new trade route to the north and established a currency during the early 19th century, and [[Muhammad Sharif of Ouaddai|Muhammad Sharif]], whose military campaigns in the mid 19th century fended off an assimilation attempt from Darfur, conquered Baguirmi, and successfully resisted French colonization. However, Ouaddai lost its independence to France after a [[Ouaddai War|war]] from 1909 to 1912.<ref name="locchad16" />