Bornu
Bornu
Historical region, northeastern Nigeria. Prominent physical features include a vast plain, a volcanic plateau, and swamps south of Lake Chad. Now inhabited chiefly by the Kanuri people, it constituted a Muslim kingdom from about the 11th century. Together with Kanem it later formed an empire (see Kanem-Bornu), which reached the height of its power c. 1570–1600. In 1902 it became part of Nigeria, which was then under British rule. The region is largely contained in Nigeria's present-day state of Borno.
This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise.
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