Early empires Evidence of human habitation has been found in the Chad basin and at sites near Maroua and Mokolo. The
Paleo-Sudanese peoples are the earliest known inhabitants of the territory. The arrival of
Neo-Sudanese groups from the east and west forced the Paleo-Sudanese into the Mandara Mountains. The
Shuwa Arabs, descendants of
Banu Hilal deported from the
Fatimid Caliphate in
Egypt, arrived from the northeast and settled around Lake Chad in the 15th century. Archaeological finds attest to the existence of the
Sao culture in the Logone valley and around Lake Chad as early as the 5th century. Little is known about the Sao, except that they were copper and ironworkers and, legend says, fearsome giants. Legends of later peoples claimed that the Sao were descendants of the
Hyksos who arrived in the area in several waves. Another theory makes them the original inhabitants of the Chad basin, traditionally an oasis to the north of the basin. They may have been of
Nilotic origin. Even the span of their civilisation is in dispute, with various estimates putting their rise at some point between the 5th and 8th century and their fall between the 8th and 15th century. The prevailing opinion among scholars, however, dates them to no later than the 10th century. At this time, eastern invaders entered the Chad Basin and conquered them. The Sao likely disappeared through intermarriage with this and other groups. Many of the current ethnic groups in the Far North claim descent from the Sao. The
Kanem Empire, originated in the 9th century AD to the northeast of
Lake Chad, and from there expanded in the region. Islam reached Kanem early, and the rulers converted in the 11th century. Kanem-Bornu strengthened as an Islamic stronghold, and the population converted as well. Embassies were traded with North African states, and trade increased. The rulers launched a series of conquests, culminating in
Dunama Dabbalemi's (r. 1221–1259) expansion south as far south as the
Adamawa Plateau. At this point, Kanem and its successor
Bornu were active participants in
trans-Saharan trade.
Slaves in particular were frequently traded in exchange for horses and salt. The Kanem-Bornu Empire lasted until 1893, when the
Sudanese warlord
Rabih az-Zubayr overthrew it. Other groups in the territory also formed kingdoms, such as that of the
Kotoko. They were eventually split, as the northern Kotoko became a vassal state of the Kanem Empire, while the southerners paid tribute but remained mostly independent with their capital at Logone-Birni. This part of the kingdom would eventually be Islamicised as well. The Mandarawa settled the Mandara Mountains in the 15th century. They coalesced into state, called
Mandara. Over the next hundred years, they fought wars of expansion against their neighbours, eventually capturing
Dulo, which would become their capital. Civil war erupted after this conquest, and an appeal was made to the ruler of Bornu in 1614 to settle it. The resulting settlement established Bornu as an important influence over Mandara. In 1715, King
Boukar received three Muslim missionaries and converted to their faith. The Mandara would largely convert to Islam over the next 200 years. Boukar also ended Bornu influence in Mandara when he defeated a Bornu expedition sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. He launched further conquests on neighbouring groups.
Fulani jihads Fulani herdsmen migrated into the territory from the west beginning in the 13th century. The earliest of these settled as minorities in pre-existing population centres, but by the 17th century, Fulani-only settlements had been established. A conversion to Islam only strengthened Fulani identity, and by 1804, population pressures were driving Fulani herdsmen to seek new territory in which to lead their cattle.
Usman Dan Fodio declared a
jihad in what is now northern Nigeria and Cameroon, and
Modibo Adama led the charge into the land of
Fumbina, which included areas of the Far North. Adama focused first on areas south. Then he turned his attentions toward the Mandara kingdom. Many soldiers who had fought Mandara in previous engagements in 1808 joined his ranks. Adama first attacked from the south and took
Guider by 1810. He then took the Dulo, the Mandara capital, but the Mandarawa counterattacked and recaptured it. Bornu and Mandara allied against the Fulani invaders; meanwhile, several of Mandara's pagan vassal states rebelled. Bornu took advantage of Mandara's weakness and burnt Dulo. The Fulani took Bornu in 1845, and the weakened Mandarawa eventually fell to Fulani aggression in 1893. Adama took Maroua in battles from 1808 to 1813. The Fulani eventually came to rule the territory, with the exceptions of Mandara, Kotoko, and various Kirdi ethnic groups that had fled to the mountains and swamps. The region had been depopulated by war, slavery, and disease. Adama set up government over this new
Adamawa Emirate in
Yola (present-day Nigeria), answering only to the sultan of the
Sokoto Empire. The Mandara Mountains and the swampy confluence of the Logone and Chari rivers supported the highest population density, as many peoples had fled the Neo-Sudanese and Fulani invasions by taking refuge on higher ground. The region was part of a
lamidat ruled from Maroua.
European contacts The earliest Europeans to reach the territory were British explorers
Hugh Clapperton,
Dixon Denham, and Dr.
Walter Oudney, who were exploring the Niger River. They crossed the
Sahara Desert overland and reached Lake Chad in 1822. Denham then explored the lake while Clapperton and Oudney followed the Chari River. Denham accompanied the Bornu and Mandara army in its attack on Fulani in Mosfei, north of Maroua in April 1823. He was captured, but managed to escape as his Fulani captors argued over his clothing. Oudney died in 1823. Clapperton and Denham regrouped near the Mandara Mountains and returned to England in 1825. They published their adventures in 1826 as
Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, 1822, 1823, 1824.
James Richardson led a British expedition to the Chad Basin in 1851. He was accompanied by Germans
Heinrich Barth and
Herman Overweg. Their goal was to explore the land south of Lake Chad. Richardson died at Lake Chad in 1851. The others arrived at the Mandara Mountains and then explored Uba, the northernmost Fulani settlement in the Adamawa Emirate then continued on to Yola. Overweg died in 1852, but by 1855, Barth was back in England, where he published
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa. In 1865 to 1867, two German expeditions under
Gerhard Rolfs and
Gustav Nachtigal explored the Chad Basin and the Mandara Mountains. They noted the potential commercial benefits of the area to Germany. In 1868, Nachtigal returned, reaching Lake Chad basin in June 1870. He stayed three years as a guest of the Sultan of Bornu, noting the groups around and their relations to one another. He returned to Europe in 1875 and published a three-volume
Sahara and Sudan in 1879.
Colonial administration In 1884, Germany took nominal control over the territory. They sent an army north and met with Fulani resistance. With the fall of
Tibati in 1899 under Captain
Von Kamptz and Lieutenant
Hans Dominik, the area was subdued. The region became part of the administrative units ruled from Garoua and Mora. Much of the local administration was left in the hands of the lamidos. The Germans placed the Wandala and the Kirdi under the jurisdiction of these Fulani rulers. The area was otherwise largely ignored, as the crops available were not as lucrative as the rubber and ivory found in the jungles to the south. The only real way to get in or out was along the Benue River, which travelled through British-controlled Nigeria. In
World War I, the French under
General Aymerich attacked the German outpost at Kousséri. On 25 August 1914, Colonel
C. H. P. Carter attacked Germans at Mora, but was repulsed after a two-day fight. Captain Von Reuben continued the resistance, but he succumbed to the Anglo-French allies eventually. In February 1916, France became the colonial head of the area. The territory was placed in the Mora-Garoua administrative unit, headed at Garoua. France allowed the lamidos to keep their power, but it also overthrew any who refused to comply with French mandates. They set up independent Kirdi chiefdoms to discourage animosity between the Islamic and non-Islamic peoples in the territory.
Missionaries began to arrive, setting up a Bible school at Yagoua and a printing press for religious literature in Kaélé. The French improved the roads and built an airstrip at Maroua. In 1931, they introduced a higher-yielding form of cotton. They also began SEMRY, a rice-growing project in the Logone-Chari swamplands. The first Cameroonian premier of Cameroon,
André-Marie Mbida, startled the Fulani of the area when he announced his
Abong-Mbang Resolutions in 1957. One of these stated that northern French Cameroon was to be "democratised", which the lamidos read to mean that their power would be curtailed. The northern territories threatened to
secede and join with Chad. Northerner
Ahmadou Ahidjo and his
Union Camerounaise party rejected the resolutions, and Ahidjo used the issue to gain leverage and replace Mbida as prime minister.
Post-independence Cameroon was granted independence on 1 January 1960 with Ahmadou Ahidjo its president. Under his rule, SODECOTON was set up, as was the Société de Développement et d'Exploitation des Production Animales (SODEPA) set up to improve ranching in 1974. Another was SEMRY in 1971. Upon
Paul Biya's accession to the presidency, Moussa Yaya was accused of stirring up the lamidos against him. The UNDP is a Fulani-based party, but the CPDM is careful to support their interests. In 1983, the Grand North was split into three provinces. Border areas of the Far North have been affected by the
Boko Haram insurgency spilling into Cameroon from neighboring
Nigeria, resulting in the
December 2014 Cameroon clashes. In January 2015, many schools in the Far North did not re-open after the Christmas vacation, and it was reported that "Thousands of teachers, students and pupils have fled schools located along the border due to bloody confrontations between the Cameroon military and suspected
Boko Haram militants." In December 2021, dwindling of water resources around Lake Chad led to clash between Arab Choa herders and Mousgoum and Massa farmers. The clash was started in border village of Ouloumsa and then spread to other part of the region. At least 44 people are dead, 111 injured, and 112 villages burned down with more than 100.000 people are displaced with at least 85.000 people fled to
Chad.
UNHCR,
Médecins Sans Frontières, and Chadian Red Cross are deployed to assist the refugee. The situation are subsided after intervention from Cameroonian forces, but isolated incident have remained in the region. ==Culture==