Muhammad VIII Ergama

Muhammad VIII, called Muhammad Ergama, Muhammad Hajimite, and Muhammad Fannami, was mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the first half of the 18th century, ruling approximately 1731–1747.

Life

Muhammad was a son of mai Hamdan Dunamami, who he succeeded as mai during the first half of the 18th century. Muhammad's mother was named Fanna. Little is recorded of Muhammad's reign. A two-year famine is recorded in his time; later chronicles named this famine Ali Shuwa. The German explorer Heinrich Barth, who visited Bornu in the 1850s, assessed Muhammad and his immediate predecessors and successors negatively:
A girgam translated by Richmond Palmer exaggerates the size of the empire by Muhammad's time, claiming that "in the East his domains were bounded by the Nile, in the West by the setting sun." Muhammad ruled for over a decade, between 13 and 16 years. He died at Ngazargamu and was succeeded as mai by his son Dunama VIII Gana.