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The Sao civilisation flourished in Central Africa from the sixth century BC to as late as the sixteenth century AD after which the Sao were absorbed into the Bornu Empire. The Sao lived by the Chari River Around Lake Chad in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They were made up of several patrilineal clans who were united into a single polity. The polity were organized into ranked and centralized societies. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers…

The Kanem–Bornu Empire was an empire that existed in modern Chad and Nigeria. It was known to the Arabian geographers as the Kanem Empire from the 9th century AD onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu (the Bornu Empire) until 1900. The Kanem Empire (c. 700–1380) was located in the present countries of Chad, Nigeria and Libya. The empire of Kanem formed under the nomadic Tebu-speaking Kanembu, who eventually abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and founded a…

The Kingdom of Bamum (also spelled Bamoum, Bamun, Bamoun, or Mum) (1394–1884) was a pre-colonial Central African state in what is now northwest Cameroon. It was founded by the Mbum, a Bantu ethnic group from northeast Cameroon who claim descent from the Tikar of the Cameroon highlands. Its capital was the ancient walled city of Fumban. The Bamum kingdom was founded by emigrants related to the Tikar royal dynasty of Nsaw. The founding king (called a "fon" or "mfon") was Nchare…

The Kotoko kingdom was an African monarchy in what is today northern Cameroon and Nigeria, and southwestern Chad. Its inhabitants and their modern descendants are known as the Kotoko people. The rise of Kotoko coincided with the decline of the Sao civilisation in northern Cameroon. A king headed the nascent state, which came to assimilate several smaller kingdoms. Among these were Kousséri, Logone-Birni, Makari, and Mara. Kotoko spread to parts of what is today northern…

The Mandara Kingdom (sometimes called Wandala) was an African kingdom in the Mandara Mountains of what is today Cameroon. The Mandara people are descended from the kingdom's inhabitants. Tradition states that Mandara was founded shortly before 1500 by a female ruler named Soukda and a non-Mandarawa hunter named Gaya. The kingdom was first referred to by Fra Mauro (in 1459) and Leo Africanus (in 1526); the provenance of its name remains uncertain. For the kingdom's first…

The Sultanate or Kingdom of Bagirmi or Baghermi (French: Royaume du Baguirmi) was a kingdom and Islamic sultanate southeast of Lake Chad in central Africa. It was founded in either 1480 or 1522 and lasted until 1897, when it became a French protectorate. Its capital was Massenya, north of the Chari River and close to the border to modern Cameroon. The kings wore the title Mbang. The Bagirmi carried a tradition that they migrated from far to the east, which is supported by the…