Umar of Borno
# Umar of Borno

Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin (Arabic: اولعمر ابن محمد لرشيد) or Umar of Borno (died 1881) was Shehu (Sheik) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire and son of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi.

## Reign of Umar

Umar came to power at the death of his father in 1837. Umar did not match his father's vitality and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers (wazirs). Umar ruled from 1837 until November 1853 when he was deposed by his brother `Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Amin who became Shehu. The latter only reigned until 1854 when Umar reconquered his throne.

Umar ruled as Shehu for a second time from September 1854 to 1880. Borno began to decline, as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Ouaddai Empire to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons, and in 1894 Rabih az-Zubayr, leading an invading army from eastern Sudan, conquered Borno.

## Dynasty

Umar of Borno House of Kanemi :

| Regnal titles |||
| - | - | - |
| Preceded byMuhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi | 2nd Shehu of Borno 1837-1853 | Succeeded by`Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Amin |
| Preceded by`Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Amin | 2nd Shehu of Borno 1854-1881 | Succeeded byBukar Kura |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Louis Brenner, The Shehus of Kukawa: A History of the Al-Kanemi Dynasty of Bornu, Oxford Studies in African Affairs (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1973), p.72.
* ↑ Herbert Richmond Palmer, The Bornu Sahara and Sudan (London: John Murray, 1936), p. 269.
* ↑ Louis Brenner, The Shehus of Kukawa: A History of the Al-Kanemi Dynasty of Bornu, Oxford Studies in African Affairs (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1973), pp.78-79.
* ↑ Helmolt, Hans F., ed. (1903). The history of the world; a survey of a man's record, Volume III: West Asia and Africa. New York: Dodd, Meade and Company. p. 538. OCLC 1193060.
