Editing Niger (section)

==== Kanem–Bornu Empire (700s–1700s) ====
{{Main|Kanem–Bornu Empire|Sultanate of Damagaram}}
To the east, the [[Kanem–Bornu Empire]] dominated the region around [[Lake Chad]] for a period.<ref name=countrystudy/> It was founded by the [[Zaghawa people|Zaghawa]] around the 8th century and based in [[Njimi]], north-east of the lake. The kingdom gradually expanded, including during the rule of the [[Sayfawa dynasty]] which began in {{circa|1075}} under ''Mai'' (king) [[Hummay]].<ref name="ancient2">{{cite web| url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Kingdom_of_Kanem/| title = Kingdom of Kanem| publisher = World History Encyclopedia| author = Cartwright, Mark| date = 23 April 2019| access-date = 13 November 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190508165923/https://www.worldhistory.org/Kingdom_of_Kanem/| archive-date = 8 May 2019| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ryder|first=A.F.C.|title=General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|year=1981|publisher=UNESCO|location=Paris|page=239|editor=D.T. Niane}}</ref> The kingdom reached its greatest extent in the 1200s, partly due to the effort of ''Mai'' [[Dunama Dibbalemi]] (r. 1210–1259), and grew "richer" from its control of some Trans-Saharan trade routes; most of eastern and south-eastern Niger, including [[Bilma]] and [[Kaouar]], was under Kanem's control in this period.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ryder|first=A.F.C.|title=General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|year=1981|publisher=UNESCO|location=Paris|pages=251–52|editor=D.T. Niane}}</ref> Islam had been introduced to the kingdom by Arab traders from the 11th century, gaining more converts over the following centuries.<ref name="ancient2"/> Attacks by the [[Bulala]] people in the 14th century forced Kanem to shift westwards of Lake Chad where it became known as the Bornu Empire ruled from its capital [[Ngazargamu]] on what is later the [[Niger-Nigeria border]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ryder|first=A.F.C.|title=General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|year=1981|publisher=UNESCO|location=Paris|pages=258–65|editor=D.T. Niane}}</ref><ref name="ancient2"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Islam in Africa|author-link=Nehemia Levtzion|author1=Nehemia Levtzion|author2=Randall Pouwels|publisher=Ohio University Press|page=81}}</ref> Bornu "prospered" during the rule of ''Mai'' [[Idris Alooma]] (r. circa 1575–1610) and re-conquered most of the "traditional lands" of Kanem, hence the designation 'Kanem–Bornu' for the empire. By the 17th century and into the 18th the Bornu kingdom had entered a "period of decline", shrinking back to its Lake Chad heartland.<ref name=countrystudy/><ref name="ancient2"/>

Circa 1730–40 a group of [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]] settlers led by Mallam Yunus left Kanem and founded the [[Sultanate of Damagaram]], centred on the town of [[Zinder]].<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The sultanate remained nominally subject to the [[Borno Empire]] until the reign of Sultan Tanimoune Dan Souleymane in the 19th century, who declared independence and initiated a phase of expansion.<ref name="Bradt"/> The sultanate managed to resist the advance of the Sokoto Caliphate (''see below''), and was later captured by the French in 1899.<ref name="Bradt"/>