Kuka (place)
Kuka (Kukaua, Kukawa) is a place in the northeast of the state of Borno in Nigeria . It is located in central Sudan , not far from Lake Chad .
The place was founded around 1814 as the residence of a new ruling dynasty under Sheikh Muhammad al-Amîn al-Kânemî in the Central African empire Bornu . According to legend, Kukaua is named after the baobab tree ( Adansonia digitata L .; in the Hausa language : "Kuka").
Kuka consisted of two different cities about a kilometer apart. Most of the people lived in the western city (area around 4 km² ) and most of the trade was carried out here. The eastern city essentially comprised the Sheikh's palaces. The population was estimated at around 50,000 to 60,000, with the suburbs at 100,000. On the weekly market days it increased by more than 10,000, most of which were involved in the slave trade .
During an English expedition to establish trade relations with the more important kingdoms of Central Africa, the German African explorer Heinrich Barth made two longer stops in Kukaua in April and August 1851. His contemporary observations provide information about the rich history of Bornu with its capital Kukaua, the ethnic groups and its most important commercial goods. In 1870 and 1872, Gustav Nachtigal, a German traveler to Africa, made two trips to Kuka, which he describes in his letters to his family in Germany.
In 1894 the city was conquered and destroyed by Rabeh , the ruler of Bornu.
Web links
literature
- Heinrich Barth (1859): Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa in the years 1849 to 1855 . Verlag Justus Perthes, Gotha (here especially Chapter 10: Reception and first stay in Kukaua. Brief outline of the history of Bornu).
Coordinates: 12 ° 55 ' N , 13 ° 34' E