Page "Kanuri people" Paragraph 11

Originally a pastoral people, the Kanuri were one of many Nilo-Saharan groups indigenous to the Central South Sahara, beginning their expansion in the area of Lake Chad in the late 7th century, and absorbing both indigenous Nilo-Saharan and Chadic ( Afro-Asiatic ) speakers.

According to Kanuri tradition, Sef, son of Dhu Ifazan of Yemen, arrived in Kanem in the ninth century and united the population into the Sayfawa dynasty.

This tradition however, is likely a product of later Islamic influence, reflecting the association with their Arabian origins in the Islamic era.

Evidence of indigenous state formation in the Lake Chad area dates back to the early first century B. C.

( ca.

800 B. C.

) at Zilum.