Massenya

Massenya was the capital of Baguirmi, a kingdom founded southeast of Lake Chad in the sixteenth century. Its ruler, the mbang, presided over a court that embraced Islam around the turn of the seventeenth century. The kingdom’s position between Bornu and Wadai brought both opportunities for expansion and pressure from powerful neighbours. Baguirmi gained wealth through the trade in enslaved people and expanded when Bornu’s grip weakened. In the early nineteenth century Sultan Sabun of Wadai invaded, plundered Massenya, and carried its people away into slavery. The capital remained caught between rival claims of overlordship as Bornu and Wadai competed for influence over the kingdom.