emirate · West Africa
Dikwa Emirate
Origins
Dikwa had been the capital of Rabih az-Zubayr, the Sudanese warlord who conquered Bornu in 1893. After the French killed Rabih in 1900, the European powers restored the al-Kanemi dynasty, but the old lands of the Kanem-Bornu Empire were split by the borders of Nigeria, Kamerun and Chad. The part around Dikwa fell to Germany, where a separate shehu was installed.
Rule and society
The emirate kept the Kanuri institutions of Bornu: a shehu with titled officials, district heads and Islamic courts. Under the Germans, and after 1916 under British rule in the Northern Cameroons, it was administered through the shehu, with little development. Most people were Kanuri, Shuwa Arab and other farmers and herders.
Decline and legacy
In the 1961 plebiscite the Northern Cameroons voted to join Nigeria, and Dikwa became part of Nigeria's Northern Region, joining its Kanuri kin in the Borno Emirate. The emirate survives as a traditional institution in Borno State.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Dikwa Emirate was a protectorate of Kamerun1902 CE – 1916 CE
- Dikwa Emirate was part of British Cameroons1922 CE – 1961 CE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Dikwa Emirate. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dikwa-emirate
- MLA
- “Dikwa Emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dikwa-emirate. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Dikwa Emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dikwa-emirate.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Dikwa Emirate’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dikwa-emirate (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻