Kanem–Bornu Empire in the context of "Negroland"

Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. It covers a land area of almost 1.27 million km (490,000 sq mi), making it the largest landlocked country in West Africa and the second-largest landlocked nation in Africa behind Chad. Over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara. Its predominantly Muslim population of about 25 million lives mostly in clusters in the south and west of the country. The capital, Niamey, is located in Niger's southwest corner along the namesake Niger River.

Following the spread of Islam to the region, Niger was on the fringes of some states, including the Kanem–Bornu Empire and the Mali Empire before more significant parts of its territory became included in states such as the Sultanate of Agadez and the Songhai Empire. It was colonized by France during the Scramble for Africa as part of French West Africa, becoming a distinct colony in 1922. Since obtaining independence in 1960, Niger has experienced five coups d'état and four periods of military rule. Niger's seventh and most recent constitution was enacted in 2010, establishing a multiparty, unitary semi-presidential system. Following the most recent coup in 2023, the country has been ruled by National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, a military junta.

Bardia, also El Burdi or Bardiyah (Arabic: البردية, romanized: al-Bardiyya or Arabic: البردي, romanized: al-Burdiyy) is a Mediterranean seaport in the Butnan District of eastern Libya, located near the border with Egypt. It is also occasionally called Bórdi Slemán.

The name "Bardia" is deeply rooted in the ancient history of the early ancestors of the Tebu (Gara'an) and has remained significant across generations. This continuity extends into the era of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, whose royal family is of Tebu origin. The rulers of the empire traditionally traveled via Bardia en route to Egypt, continuing via the Red Sea route to Mecca for pilgrimage (Hajj) . Their journeys often passed through key waypoints such as Traghen, Zeila, Jalo, Ajdabiya, Tazerbu, and Jaghbub, followed by Swia, before proceeding directly to Egypt or from Jaghbub to Bardia and onward towards Egypt and the Red Sea.

Hausa Kingdoms (Masarautun Hausa), also known as Hausaland (Kasar Hausa), was a collection of states ruled by the Hausa people, before the Fulani jihads. It was situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad (modern day northern Nigeria). Hausaland lay between the Western Sudanic empires of Ancient Ghana, Mali and Songhai and the Eastern Sudanic empire of Kanem-Bornu.

Hausa oral traditions detail the Bayajidda legend, which describes the adventures of the Baghdadi hero, Bayajidda, culminating in the killing of the snake in a well at Daura and his marriage to the local queen Magajiya Daurama. According to the legend, Bayajidda's descendants founded the Hausa Bakwai (seven "true" states), as well as the Hausa Banza ("bastard" or "illegitimate" states).

The Fula (or Fulani) jihads (Arabic: جهاد الفولا), also called the Fulani revolution were a series of jihads that occurred across West Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries, led largely by the Muslim Fula people. The jihads and the jihad states came to an end with European colonization.

The earliest Fulbe polity was established in Bundu in 1690. The first armed uprising took place in Futa Jallon in 1725, when Fula pastoralists, assisted by Muslim traders, rose against the indigenous chiefdoms. By 1750, the Fula had established the Imamate of Futa Jallon and placed the region under sharia law. Their success inspired the Toucouleurs on the banks of the lower Senegal to establish their own state, the Imamate of Futa Toro, through a series of wars between 1769 and 1776. In the early 19th century, the jihad movement spread eastward to the Hausa states. The revolutionary Usman dan Fodio, through a series of jihads begun in 1804, created the Sokoto Caliphate, the largest state in West Africa at that time. An aggressively expansionist polity, it severely weakened the old Bornu Kingdom.

The Kanuri people (kanuri, Kanuri, also Barnawi, Yerwa, Barebari and several subgroup names) are an African ethnic group living largely in the lands of the former Kanem and Bornu Empires in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon, as well as a diaspora community residing in Sudan. Those generally termed Kanuri include several subgroups and dialect groups, some of whom identify as distinct from the Kanuri. Most trace their origins to ruling lineages of the medieval Kanem–Bornu Empire, and its client states or provinces. In contrast to the neighboring Toubou or Zaghawa pastoralists, Kanuri groups have traditionally been sedentary, engaging in farming, fishing the Chad Basin, trade, and salt processing.

The mai (sometimes equated to king or emperor) was the monarch of the Kanem–Bornu Empire from the foundation of the empire in the 8th century to the abolition of the office in the mid-19th century. From the conversion to Islam in the 11th century and onwards, the mai sometimes adopted additional titles, such as emir, sultan, or caliph. The last mai, Ali V Minargema, was killed in 1846, whereafter the empire was ruled by the shehus.

Records of the mais generally distinguish between an earlier Duguwa dynasty (8th–11th century) and a later Sayfawa dynasty (11th–19th century) but it is unclear whether this distinction is rooted in an actual change in royal lineage or the result of some other factor. The line of rulers is reconstructed by scholars through orally recited sources such as the girgam (the empire's royal chronicle), surviving literary sources, and contemporary sources from other parts of the Islamic world.

Birni Njimi, also called N'Jimi, N'jimi, and Anjimi, was the capital of the Kanem–Bornu Empire until the 14th century. Njimi is first recorded in texts from the 12th century but was probably the empire's original capital, perhaps established as early as the 8th century. Njimi was located in the Kanem region in modern-day Chad, east of Lake Chad, but its precise location has yet to be securely identified.