History of Northern Nigeria |
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Sayfawa dynasty, Sefouwa, Sefawa, or Sefuwa dynasty is the name of the Muslim kings (or mai, as they called themselves) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire,[1] centered first in Kanem in western Chad, and then, after 1380, in Borno (today north-eastern Nigeria).
The dynasty was rooted in the Tubu expansion by the Kanembu.[2]
"The legendary eponymous ancestor of the Saifawa, as the Maghumi are called, only became in Muslim times Saif, the 'lion of Yaman.'[3]: 9 The pre-Muslim dynasty is known as the Duguwa dynasty.[1]: 26