Muhammad III of Bornu

Muhammad III
Mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire
Reign	1449–1450
Predecessor	Dunama V Ahmad
Successor	Amarma
Dynasty	Sayfawa dynasty (?)
Mother	Matala

Muhammad III^[a] (Muḥammad^[2]) was the mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in 1449–1450,^[2] ruling during a century-long chaotic period of internal and external conflict.

Life

Muhammad was the son of a woman named Matala.^[3][4] The name of Muhammad's father, and his connection to the ruling Sayfawa dynasty of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, is unknown. The German researcher Dierk Lange believes on unclear grounds that Muhammad III's father was Bir III Othman.^[5]

Muhammad became mai in 1449, succeeding Dunama V Ahmad. He ruled very briefly, being succeeded by Amarma in 1450.^[2] Nothing is recorded of Muhammad's reign.^[4]

Notes

1. Some chronologies of Kanem–Bornu rulers omit the 14th-century Muhammad II, lowering the regnal numbers of later rulers of this name. This ruler is then considered Muhammad II.^[1]

References

1. Stewart, John (1989). African States and Rulers: An Encyclopedia of Native, Colonial and Independent States and Rulers Past and Present. McFarland & Company. pp. 34–35, 146.
2. Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2012) [1996]. The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-0-7486-2137-8.
3. Cohen, Ronald (1966). "The Bornu King Lists". Boston University Papers on Africa: Volume II: African History. Boston University Press. p. 81.
4. Barth, Heinrich (1857). Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken... 1849-1855. Longmans. pp. 641–643.
5. Lange, Dierk (1984). "The kingdoms and peoples of Chad". In Niane, Djibril Tamsir (ed.). General history of Africa, IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. University of California. p. 261. ISBN 978-92-3-101710-0.