Lake Chad

Lake Chad is a shallow inland lake on the southern edge of the Sahara. The Chari and Logone bring water from the south, while the Komadugu Yobe enters from the west. Its shores and islands change with the level of the water, and reeds and marshes fringe parts of the lake. Fishing communities, cultivators and herders have long lived around its basin.

The lake gave its name and setting to the kingdoms of Kanem and Bornu. In the fourteenth century, the Sayfawa rulers lost their capital Njimi east of the lake to the Bilala and shifted their centre of power to Bornu on the western side. They later recovered Kanem, but the court remained at Ngazargamu, the capital founded in Bornu in the fifteenth century.