Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 81
Borno empire for about a month in 1513 (Rauchenberger 1999). Leo's account was published
in Italian in 1529, and he mentioned the 'Medra' (Mandara) but not Kirawa. Leo was the first
to write about the geographical dichotomy of Borno, consisting of mountains and plains, but
we will hear about that a little later.
For the next 150 years, no further sources refer to Kirawa, which makes the above two
sources very significant, since they establish that Kirawa was then the capital of the early
Wandala state. The next source which mentions 'Krawa' (Kirawa) is the Wandala Chronicles,
a series of Arabic manuscripts, which were written in the early 18th century (after 1723/24
AD) when the ruling Wandala dynasty officially converted to Islam (Forkl 1995). 1
By then the Wandala had already transferred their capital from Kirawa to Doulo, near Mora,
presumably under the pressure of the Borno empire, against which the Wandala had struggled
to stay independent. The new Islamic rulers of Wandala wanted a pre-Islamic narrative of
their pre-dynastic origins. This early narrative is historical only in the sense that it describes
the legendary origin of the Wandala state based on oral accounts the Wandala scribes
recorded in the first half of the 18th century. The part dealing with Kirawa goes as follows
(ibid):
Because Agamakiya had no other children Zegda became their queen and she was very much loved.
Zegda went to Krawa to rest. Krawa was in possession of a man by the name Agakuma Gatu. After
40 days Zegda returned home to Ishga-Kawe and left Agakuma in Krawa behind.
According to the Wandala Chronicles, Agamakiya was the first king of the Wandala, but he
still lived in Ishga-Kawe (between Bama and Dikwa, see Figure 1) while his daughter Zegda
possibly had a child with Agakuma Gatu, the chief of Kirawa. The name of that child might
well have been Abalaksaka Gile, although the Chronicles speak of the father of Abalaksaka
Gile as a hunter from Yemen by the name Gaya, whom Zegda invited to sit next to her on the
throne. This was most likely an invention by the newly established Islamic dynasty, who
presumably ordered their scribes to construct an acceptable narrative of their rulers' preIslamic origin. The Chronicles, therefore, continue by saying (ibid):
After Gaya's rule was fully secured he changed the title of his wife Zegda to nuhundi of all women of
Mandara. After this Gaya and Zegda moved with their entourage from Ishga-Kawe to Krawa where
they stayed with Agakuma, together with their son Abalaksaka Gile. After some time they returned
to Ishga-Kawe but left Abalaksaka Gile in Krawa with Agakuma. Abalaksaka was their chief in
Krawa. Eventually Zegda and Gaya died in Ishga-Kawe, where they were buried and Abalaksaka
Gile became king in Krawa.
The Chronicles tell us that after 'Abalaksaka', the succession moved to his son 'Bira Misi', and
then to his son 'Zare'. Next were his two sons 'Aldawa Barara Kinimu' and 'Agaldawa', and
after that Agaldawa's son 'Akutafa Tahe' became king. Then the succession continued for a
while from father to son, first to 'Aguwa Fagula', then 'Ankre Yawe', next 'Akutafa Dafla' and
'Aguwa Gaku'. The latter had three sons, who all succeeded, first 'Aldawa Wandala', next
'Akutafa Kataliyawe' and finally 'Sankre' (see list of rulers in Table of Contemporaneity).
These are twelve Wandala rulers altogether (excluding Zegda) that we can establish for
Kirawa, since Sankre's marriage to a Maya princess, in the first half of the 17th century, made
him move the capital from Kirawa to Doulo. Unfortunately we cannot link any of those rulers
with certainty to the date that Ibn Furtu's writing indicates for king Alauma's siege of Kirawa,
but we infer that it was Ankre Yawe's brother who was the 'usurper', and that it was Akutafa
Dafla who was reinstated in Kirawa during the second half of the 16th century. Ankre Yawe,
also known as 'Umar', had converted to Islam, and perhaps this was the reason his brother had
taken over, because he might have wanted Wandala to remain a pagan kingdom.
This leaves us with the reinstatement of Umar's son, eight Wandala rulers before the date of
Ibn Furtu's report in 1576, and four (including Akutafa Dafla) after it, when the capital was
1
We use Forkl (1995:84ff) as base for the dynstic sequencing of our list of Wandala rulers of Kirawa.
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