Early history (1814–1846) Kukawa was founded under the name
Kuka in 1814 by
Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, a military leader and religious scholar in service of the
Kanem–Bornu Empire. Al-Kanemi was one of the empire's most powerful feudal lords, having secured great wealth and many fiefs through his military efforts against the
Fula jihads. His move from his former seat (
Ngurno) to the new Kuka coincided with adopting a more independent attitude to the empire's monarch (
mai),
Dunama IX Lefiami. Kuka was the end of one of the main
trans-Saharan trade routes to
Tripoli on the
Mediterranean coast. The name Kuka (or Kaoukaou) is the
Kanuri name for the
African baobab, The use of the name for the modern settlement has caused some confusion, since both
Muhammad al-Idrisi (12th century) and
Ibn Khaldun (14th century) mention two prominent towns by the name of
Kaou Kaou, one of which was located very close to modern-day Kukawa. The
shehu and "other important persons" lived in the eastern town. The town grew wealthy as a center for caravans and a stopping place for pilgrims from the west and south on their way to
Mecca. and again in 1892 by the French explorer
Parfait-Louis Monteil, who was checking the borders between areas of
West Africa assigned to the
French and the British by the Treaty of Berlin. In 1892/1893, the Kanem–Bornu Empire was invaded by the Sudanese warlord
Rabih az-Zubayr. Rabih defeated the Kanem–Bornu forces and captured and destroyed Kukawa in May 1893; and its people were killed, enslaved, or dispersed. Rabih spent some time in Kukawa but then settled on
Dikwa as his new capital due to Dikwa's better communications and water supply. In 1903, Abubakar Garbai took up residence in the ruins of Kukawa, and was invested as
shehu there by Frederick Lugard in 1904. Efforts by the Nigerian military and international organizations have aimed at restoring peace and resettling displaced persons. On 16 January 2015, the "caretaker chairman of Kukawa Local Government Area, Musa Alhaji Bukar Kukawa", speaking on behalf of the Kukawa residents who were displaced to
Maiduguri following the
2015 Baga massacre, "called on the federal government to
intensify military operations so that they can return to their homes." A
massacre occurred in Kukawa in July 2015. Hundreds of Kukawa citizens were held hostage by the Islamic State West Africa Province (
ISWAP) in August
2020. Two million people in Borno have been displaced from their homes over the past ten years; many live in squalid conditions in
Maiduguri. ==Local Government Area==