Kanem kingdom embraces Islam at Lake Chad

1008

Rulers of the Kanem kingdom on the shores of Lake Chad began adopting Islam through contact with trans-Saharan traders from North Africa. The conversion, gradual and syncretic, positioned Kanem as a crucial link between the Mediterranean commercial world and the gold and slave networks of the central African interior. The royal dynasty, the Sayfawa, would rule continuously for over seven hundred years, one of the longest reigns in world history.