ABSTRACT
The emergence of the Kanemi polity often has been attributed to the sole initiative of Saharan herders. Arabic documents concerning the history of Kanem can thus hardly be regarded as neutral. In contrast, among the Kanembu, there prevailed a ritual and political alliance between groups of smith and hunter origin with far wider implications. After the French conquest of 1899, the goals of the Kanembu aristocracy evolved until they were, by and large, compatible with the objectives of the occupiers. The subordinate Aza category grouped together both hunters and artisans, who were "discouraged" from forming herds. Smiths tended to remain close to their pastoralist patrons whereas hunters often formed autonomous, mobile communities. In South Kanem, successive droughts and deforestation have even come to affect the riverain groves and inlets of Lake Chad, threatening at times to reduce what was once an inland "sea" to no more than a squalid marsh.
