Bukar or Bukar Kura was Shehu of Borno

Kanem-Bornu Empire

The Kanem-Bornu Empire 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 until 1900. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only much of Chad, but also parts of...

 from 1881 to ca.1884.

Reign of Bukar

Bukar became Shehu of Borno in 1881 at the death of his father Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin

Umar of Borno

Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin or Umar of Borno was Shehu of the Kanem-Bornu Empire and son of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi.-Reign of Umar:...

. His three-year reign was marked by a deep economic crisis which forced him to impose a tax on his subjects. In Kanuri language

Kanuri language

Kanuri is a dialect continuum spoken by some four million people, as of 1987, in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as small minorities in southern Libya and by a diaspora in Sudan. It belongs to the Western Saharan subphylum of Nilo-Saharan...

, this tax was called kumoreji (splitting a calabash in half) which meant that Bukar appropriated half the wealth of his subjects.

Bukar as seen by Heinrich Barth

In 1851, a British expedition led by Heinrich Barth

Heinrich Barth

Heinrich Barth was a German explorer of Africa and scholar.Barth is one of the greatest of the European explorers of Africa, not necessarily because of the length of his travels or the time he spent alone without European company in Africa, but because of his singular character.-Biography:Barth...

 arrived in Borno. Barth met Bukar when he was around twelve and according to him he was:

Dynasty

External links

• Kanuri Studies Association