Idris Alooma

Idris Alooma (also written Idris Alauma or Idris Aloma) was a Kanuri Mai — king — of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, the great Sahelian state that stretched across what is now Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. He belonged to the Sayfawa (Sefuwa) dynasty, one of the longest-ruling royal lines in world history: it held the throne for roughly 800 years, from about 1085 until 1846. By Idris's day the dynasty had already governed for some five centuries from its fortified capital, Ngazargamu, west of Lake Chad. Historians disagree on his exact dates — different king-lists give him 32, 33, 36 or even 51 years — but his reign is usually placed in the last third of the 16th century (commonly given as c. 1564–1596, with some sources extending it to about 1603).

Almost everything we know of him comes from a single remarkable voice: his chief imam and chronicler Ahmad ibn Furtu (Ahmad bin Fartuwa), who set down a detailed account of the first twelve years of the reign — one of the earliest surviving works of indigenous African history-writing. Through Furtu we see a ruler who modernised his army with startling speed. Idris imported firearms and hired Turkish (Ottoman) musketeers and military advisers to train a corps of iron-helmeted gunmen. He clad his cavalry in chain mail and quilted armour, introduced camel cavalry to the Lake Chad region, used Kotoko boatmen on the rivers, and fought with walled war-camps, prolonged sieges and scorched-earth campaigns. One epic poem credits him with victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles.

Yet Idris is remembered as much for justice as for war. A devout Muslim, he reformed his courts along Islamic law (sharia), established qadi (judge) courts and a court of appeals, and deliberately separated the judiciary from the rest of the government — a striking idea for any state of his era. He sponsored the building of mosques, and on pilgrimage to Mecca he founded a hostel to shelter pilgrims travelling from Bornu. His diplomacy reached far beyond the Sahara: he exchanged embassies with Tripoli, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, which once sent a 200-member ambassadorial party across the desert to his court, while his own envoys travelled north to Istanbul. Under his hand, Kanem-Bornu reached the height of its power and influence.