Kanem-Bornu · about 1085-1600

Kanem-Bornu: a kingdom around Lake Chad

One royal family ruled around Lake Chad for more than 700 years. Students follow the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu as it turned to Islam, moved its heartland across the lake and bought muskets through Ottoman Tripoli.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1100 to AD 1600
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

One royal family ruled around Lake Chad for more than 700 years. Students follow the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu as it turned to Islam, moved its heartland across the lake and bought muskets through Ottoman Tripoli.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Kanem and Bornu on either side of Lake Chad and the desert road north to Tripoli.
  • Explain how Islam and the trans-Saharan trade connected Kanem-Bornu to North Africa.
  • Describe how Mai Idris Alooma used firearms and diplomacy in the 1500s.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1100

Around the lake

Open the map in 1100 and find the label Kanem near Lake Chad. Which desert lies to its north, and which way would caravans have to travel to reach the Mediterranean?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1530

A move across the lake

Drag the slider from 1100 to 1530. The kingdom is now called Bornu-Kanem. Compare its position with Kanem in 1100. Why might a kingdom move its heartland?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1600

North to the sea

Move to 1600 and zoom out. Follow the desert from Lake Chad north to the Mediterranean coast. Which great empire ruled the coast at Tripoli?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The Sayfawa family ruled Kanem-Bornu for more than 700 years. What helps a ruling family stay in power so long?
  2. Mai Idris Alooma bought muskets and hired Turkish musketeers. How could new weapons change the balance of power in a region?
  3. The kingdom moved from one side of Lake Chad to the other. What pushes a state to move its heartland?
  4. Much of what we know about Idris Alooma comes from his own court writer. Why should historians be careful with such a source?
  5. Lake Chad has shrunk greatly since the 1960s. What would such a change mean for the people around it, then and now?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent, whose Ottoman Empire held the Mediterranean coast north of the Sahara. Discuss: why would the Ottomans and a king at Lake Chad want contact with each other?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.