Ali III of Bornu
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Ali III (ʿAlī bin ʿUmar), also known as Hajj-Ali (al-Ḥājj ʿAlī),[1] was the mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in 1645–1684.[2]
Life
Ali was the son of Omar III,[1] who he succeeded as mai in 1645.[2] According to the German explorer Heinrich Barth, who visited Bornu in the mid-19th century, Ali was a "valiant and intelligent man", who made pilgrimages to Mecca three times in his reign (1648, 1656, and 1667).[3]
Barth records that Ali was involved in several military campaigns, and that the empire suffered several famines during his reign. On his return journey from Mecca in 1667, Ali had to put down a rebellion against him.[3] Ali waged several wars against the Sultanate of Agadez in the north. During one of these wars, the Kanem–Bornu capital of Ngazargamu was besieged by a combined Tuareg and Kwararafa army. Ali managed to turn the Tuareg and Kwararafa against each other, and then defeated the remaining forces of both.[3]
In a Kanem–Bornu list of rulers transcribed by French interpreter Moïse Landeroin, a mai named Bir appears before Ali III, though this figure is omitted in all other known lists.[1] This Bir was either the same person as Ali III, or an otherwise unknown figure whose reign preceded or overlapped with that of Ali.[1]
Ali was succeeded by his son Idris IV[1] in 1684.[2]
References
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