The kingdom of Dahomey founded until the century. XVI and conquered by France in 1894 after a famous campaign, despite the cruelty of the customs of its residents, who were excellent farmers and craftsmen, it had a remarkable organization. The state of Benin has had since the century. XV, and perhaps even from more ancient times, flower and power, and its artistic production is well known, in bronze and ivory, of which many objects adorn some European museums (see also liberia).
In central Sudan, the Haussa population (v.) Is of great importance, between the regions of the Songhai and Bornu. The various small Haussa states of Gober (already known in the 16th century), of Kano, known by Leo the African, of Kátsina, etc. they manage in 1600 to break the yoke of Kebbi ‘s kanta, under which they had been for a long time; the shaikh toucouleur iosmān Dan Fōdio (see above), relying on the Fulbe populations of Gober, conquered the Haussa country in the early 1800s and founded his empire there with capital in Sokoto. Moḥammed Bello (1815-1837) son of ‛Osmān Dan Fōdio, and who was a good scholar and wrote many works in Arabic, repelled the attack of the Bornu ruler called al-Kānemī (see below); under the successors of Moḥmmed, for their ineptitude and for the revolts of the fulbè populations of Gober, Kebbi, etc. who did not want to convert to Islam, the Toucouleur kingdom of Sokoto fell, and the English easily occupied it in 1904 and later incorporated it into Nigeria.
To the east of the Haussa country are the Bornu and the Kanem, whose population is linked to the Teda or Tebu (see Hamiti). In the century XII the Teda dynasty, pagan founded by Saefe, is replaced by a Kanembu dynasty, under a king of which, Idrīs I (1352-1376) Ibn Baṭṭūṭah visited the country. Under Idrīs III (1571-1603) the Bornu reaches its maximum power. Then it loses possession of Kanem, where after the Bulala, who had rebelled several times, come the Tungiur, an Arabic-speaking pagan population, which is very important for the history of central Sudan; power then goes to the family of the chief Moḥammed al-Amīn (Lamine), called al-Kānemī, who in 1810 repelled the attack of ‛Osmān Dan Fōdio and his Toucouleur del Haussa. The son of Kānemī was proclaimed sultan also of Bornu in 1846 and established his capital in Kuka, which was then destroyed in 1893 under the sultan Hāshim by the adventurer Rābaḥ.
The Baghirmi kingdom south of Kanem goes back to the century. XVI, during which it would also be Islamized. During the century XVIII wins the reign of Uadai, then becomes vassal of Bornu, managing however to emancipate himself, until in 1806 the Uadai imposes his sovereignty on him, against which he fought for a long time. The ruler ‛Abd ar-Rahmān Găurang II, attacked by Rābaḥ accepted the French protectorate in 1897. In the Uadai, first ruled by the aforementioned pagan Tungiur, Islam penetrates at the beginning of the century. XVII: ‛Abd al-Karīm who defeated the Tungiur with an army of Arabs and Blacks, reigned in Warah, paying tribute to Darfur from 1635 to 1655. The history of the Uadai, whose kings often ruled with cruelty, then takes place between struggles with Bornu, Baghirmi and Darfur: good sovereign was Moḥammed Sharīf (1835-1858) placed on the throne by the sultan of Darfur of which he accepted the sovereignty. In 1909 the French took the capital of Uadai, whose king Dudmurra submitted in 1911.
The Sudan Anglo – Egyptian. – In Darfur dominated first by the Tungiur, he settled in the century. XVI a house of Muslim kings, who brought the capital to Kabkabiyyeh, and imposed their sovereignty on Uadai. King Tīrāb conquered Kordofan, founded al-Fasher, and was associated with Napoleon during the Egyptian campaign. In 1874 Darfur was annexed by Zobeir Pasha to Egyptian Sudan, under King Hārūn, who, later rebelled, was defeated and killed by Slatin Bey, later Pasha, appointed governor of Darfur in 1879.
Kordofan, first dominated by the Tungiur, was then conquered by the Nuba, or Muslims of the southern provinces: after the annexation to Darfur it was taken in 1821 by the defterdār Mohammed Bey, son-in-law of the viceroy Mohammed ‛Alī, and annexed to the Egyptian Sudan.
In Nubia after the end of the Christian kingdoms of Dongola and Soba that lasted until the century. XIV, the influence of the Arab elements is consolidated which, immigrants since the century. VIII, had established themselves in Sennar, where Islam became the dominant faith. In the century XV the black populations of the Blue Nile mixed with the Arabs constitute the kingdom of the Fungi, extending their conquests to the north to the borders of Egypt. Recognized by all tribes was the ruler ‛Amārah Dunqas (1484-1526); the kingdom already had great fame under ‛Adlān (1596-1603), whose grandson Bādī made expeditions among the Scilluk and in Kordofan.
A bloody war broke out at the beginning of the century. XVIII between Sennar and Abyssinia ended with the victory of the one, which was much celebrated in the Muslim world. Near the end of the century. XVIII power is taken by the Hameǵ, and the decline of the Sennar begins, until the Egyptian conquest.
