Wadai Empire

Wadai (French Ouaddaï ) was the realm of Maba ( Wadai ) in eastern Sudan region in Wadai region of Chad which was formed in the 15th or 16th century and in the 18th century became independent.

The official language of the empire was Maba.

Wadai lay on the eastern trans-Saharan route and produced copper as a commodity. In the 16th century a dynasty of Tunjur conquered the territory of Daju ( Dar Sila ) in Wadai and in the east bordering Darfur. A group of Daju fled west, the other remained.

Wadai was located between the neighboring kingdoms of Kanem -Bornu and the Fur Sultanate, which it was temporarily tribute. From 1635 to 1653, the Islamic preacher Abdel Karim led a jihad against the Tunjur, came to power and successfully fought for the independence of the kingdom. Around 1640, he founded Ouara ( Wara ) as its capital. The main building of the city within a 10 acre walled area was a massive construction of fired bricks with 7 meters high and 2.5 meters thick walls. Through the zeal of the Arab Abd el Karim and missionary Sufi saint from the Funj Sultanate of Islam during the 17th century in Wadai from. 1846 used the Kolak ( ruler title) Wadai the internal conflicts in Kanem -Bornu, captured with a force of about 7,000 cavalry belonging to Bornu Kanem province, burned down the city Kukawa and gained supremacy over Baguirmi. For a considerable amount of silver in the Wadai then withdrew from the Kanem -Bornu Empire.

Wadai missing craftsmen, and so it came over in 1806 and 1870 the city Massenya to coerce, etc. living there blacksmiths, leather workers to move to their capital and take their own craft production with them. The several thousand craftsmen were there special privileges at the royal court. The capital was moved in 1850 from Ouara after Abeche. Under the Kolak Al -Sharif, the Sufi brotherhood of Sanussiya received extraordinary influence on the kingdom. 1874 Sanussiya were asked to settle a dispute heir to the throne. They chose their own candidate Kolak Yussuf. Wadai thus became a vassal state of religious trading empire of the Brotherhood. The trans-Saharan route from Benghazi on Wadai was thanks to the political stability Wadais in the late 19th century to the most profitable route from the Mediterranean to sub-Saharan Africa. 1909 Wadai was conquered by the French, and as well as the adjacent small sultanates of Dar Sila and Dar Masalit the French colony of French Equatorial Africa affiliated.