Sultanate of Agadez
The Sultanate of Agadez was a Berber kingdom centered first in the city of Agadez in the Aïr Mountains, located at the southern edge of the Sahara desert in north-central Niger. It was founded in 1405 by the Tuareg. The Agadez Sultanate was later conquered by the Songhai Empire in 1500. After the defeat of the Songhai kingdom in 1591, the Agadez Sultanate regained its independence. It experienced a steep decline in population and economic activity during the 17th century. The sultanate came under French suzerainty in 1906. In the present day it is a non-sovereign monarchy in Niger.
History
Origins
There are various accounts on the origins of the sultanate, dependent on the relationships among the drum-groups and confederations. Most traditions agree on there being a crisis among the Tuareg in the 14th century. The Itesen were the most powerful group, however their leader was not recognised by other groups. Oral history of the Aïr describes the foundation of the sultanate around 1405 by local Tuareg tribes seeking an inter-tribal organisation for mediation between different clans to settle disputes. For this, the first Sultan, Yunǝs or Yunus, was chosen for being the son of a distant Tuareg from Targa and a local taklit or female slave, which made him politically neutral between the factions involved in the founding. From then on, every Sultan had to be married to a taklit, as to prevent tribal rivalries.Yunǝs' successor and tegăze Ălxăsăn transferred the seat of the Sultanate to the then recently founded Agadez, inhabited by Kel Gubǝr, Ibǝrkorăyăn and Igdalăn Tuareg, as well as Katsināwa Hausa merchants, who established the first indigo dyeing facilities. Every tribe had a district or quarter in the city where idǝrfan resided, although the tribes only visited occasionally since they retained their nomadic lifestyle. The region was initially inhabited by the Hausa of Gobir who were displaced south, and the document Kitab Asi Sultanati Ahyar I mentions the Gobirawa as having migrated out of Agadez.
Originally, the seat of the Sultanate was Tadaliza, and then Tin Chaman, which are now archaeological sites in the Air Mountains. Traditions state that the first sultan to be seated down in Agadez was Sultan Yusuf, who had moved there seeking more security following conflict with other groups. This occurred amidst various developments in the region in the 15th century as the Bornu Empire underwent a wave of expansionism and Katsina came under the dynasty of Muhammad Korau. Agadez served as a crucial trading centre in the trans-Saharan trade between the Hausa Kingdoms and North Africa.
16th century onwards
Circa 1516-7 the Songhai Empire successfully campaigned against Agadez, led by a Hausa captain named Muhammadu Kanta. After not receiving his share, Kanta revolted against Songhai. Agadez was occupied by Kanta's Kebbi empire during their conflicts with the Songhai, which saw Kanta victorious. In the late 16th century after Kanta's death, Agadez broke away from Kebbi as Kano and Katsina supported a claimant.In the 18th century, Tuareg confederacies from the north migrated south into the Air region, which led to unrest between the existing Tuareg confederacies in the Air region. By the end of the century, the Kel Geres were pushed south after being outnumbered by the Kel Owey.
German explorer Heinrich Barth visited Agadez in 1850 and described it as a ghost town, which was confirmed by French explorer Amédée-François Lamy at the time of his expedition.
The Sultanate fell under French administration in 1906.
Colonial rule and post-independence
At the time of the Kaocen Revolt, Sultan Tegama awaited the arrival of Kaocen, and after he was defeated by the French, the Sultan and many other conspirators fled the region. In 1917, the Sultan who had preceded Sultan Tegama was recalled by the French to Agadez to act as a mediator between the French administration and the people.The sultan became involved in the Tuareg rebellion which was from 1990 to 1995. Modern traditions sometimes attribute the sultan's lineage to the sultan of Constantinople, however scholars have expressed scepticism. Regardless, it serves as a metaphor that allows the sultan to mediate disputes as an actor outside the local descent-based or alliance system.