Flag of the Bornu Empire (1380–1884)

The Kanem–Bornu Empire was an empire based around Lake Chad that once ruled areas which are now part of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, and Chad. The empire was sustained by the prosperous trans-Saharan trade and was one of the oldest and longest-lived empires in African history. The foundation and early history of the Kanem–Bornu Empire is poorly known. The state is typically dated to have been founded around the year 700, though it may have been established centuries earlier or later. The ruling Duguwa dynasty ruled from their capital Njimi in the Kanem region and used the ruling title mai. By the 11th century, the Duguwa had been replaced by the Sayfawa dynasty and the empire had converted to Islam. Economic factors and conflict with the Bilala people caused the empire to lose Kanem in the 14th century. Mai Omar I re-centred the empire in the Bornu region, formerly a tributary state. A century of political instability followed, until mai Ali I Gaji founded Ngazargamu as a new permanent capital. Although Kanem was later recovered by mai Idris II Katagarmabe, scholars sometimes divide the Kanem–Bornu Empire into an earlier Kanem Empire and later Bornu Empire. From the 15th century the empire experienced a slow but steady decline due to changing economic patterns and conflicts with various neighbours, such as the Tuareg. Despite this, the empire was brought to the peak of its power and influence under mai Idris III Alooma in the late 15th century, and remained powerful and prosperous for long thereafter. In the aftermath of the Fula jihads in the 19th century, the Sayfawa dynasty was supplanted by the al-Kanemi dynasty, who ruled with the title shehu (sheikh). In 1893, Kanem–Bornu was conquered by the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, who transformed the empire into a brutal military dictatorship. Subsequent civil unrest was exploited by France and Britain. Although the al-Kanemi dynasty was restored in 1900, they governed under colonial suzerainty. The empire's territories were incorporated into the French and British colonial empires in 1902. Remnants of the Kanem–Bornu regime survive today in the form of the non-sovereign Borno and Dikwa emirates, two traditional states in Borno State, Nigeria.