Sayfawa

The Sayfawa were the royal line of Kanem–Bornu around Lake Chad, ruling as mai from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. The royal chronicle, the girgam, began the line with the twelfth mai, Hummay; later tradition traced it to the Himyarite prince Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan.

Under Dunama II Dibalemi, who reigned from about 1221 to 1259, Kanem reached its height. He built a cavalry force, controlled the Fezzan and trans-Saharan trade, and drew the empire deeper into Islam. Wars with the Bilala drove the court into Bornu, where Ali I Gaji founded Ngazargamu; Idris III Katagarmabe later reconquered Kanem.

Idris Alooma, reigning from 1571 to 1603, made Bornu a power through firearms, mosques and Islamic law. The Fula jihads broke the empire in the early nineteenth century; the last mai was overthrown, leaving power to the al-Kanemi family.