Mirriah

Mirriah was a centre of the Sossébaki, a ruling house whose traditions traced its ancestry to a prince of Bornu. Situated near the town of Zinder in the central Sahel, it became the seat of an independent state under Bazaza in 1774. After Bazaza died fighting his uncle, his brother Ibel ruled Mirriah and made it a power that overshadowed its neighbour.

The balance changed in the early nineteenth century as Zinder grew stronger under Sélimane dan Tintouma. Mirriah's ruler Mohamed Kosso, Ibel's son, was defeated and driven into exile; another member of the family, May Nassara, was placed in power under Zinder's authority. The old dynasty continued, but its rulers now had to reckon with a neighbour capable of deciding its succession.