BORKU, or

See also:

• BORGU, or BARBA

BORGU  , a region of Central Africa between 17° and 19° N. and 18° and 210 E., forming part of the transitional zone between the arid wastes of the Sahara and the fertile lands of the central Sudan . It is bounded N. by the Tibesti Mountains, and is in great measure occupied by lesser elevations belonging to the same system . These hills to the south and east merge into the plains of Wadai and Darfur . South-west, in the direction of Lake Chad, is the Bodele basin . The drainage of the country is to the lake, but the numerous khors with which its surface is scored are mostly dry or contain water for brief periods only . A considerable part of the soil is light sand drifted about by the wind . The irrigated and fertile portions consist mainly of a number of valleys separated from each other by low and irregular limestone rocks . They furnish excellent dates . Barley is also cultivated . The northern valleys are inhabited by a settled population of Tibbu stock, known as the Daza, and by colonies of negroes; the others are mainly visited by nomadic Berber and Arab tribes . The inhabitants own large numbers of goats and asses . A caravan route from Barca and the Kufra oasis passes through Borku to Lake Chad .

The country

long remained unknown to Europeans . Gustav Nachtigal spent some time in it in the year 1871, and gave a valuable account of the region and its inhabitants in his book, Sahara and Sudan (Berlin, 1879–1889) . In 1899 Borku, by agreement with Great Britain, was assigned to the French sphere of influence . The country, which had formerly been periodically raided by the Walad Sliman Arabs, was then governed by the Senussi (q.v.), who had placed garrisons in the chief centres of population . From it raids were made on French territory . In 1907 a French column from Kanem entered Borku, but after capturing Ain Galakka, the principal Senussi station, retired . Borku is also called Borgu, but must not be confounded with the Borgu (q.v.) west of the Niger . A summary of Nachtigal's writing on Borku will be found in section 28 of Gustav Nachtigal's Reisen in der Sahara and im Sudan (1 vol.), arranged by Albert Frankel (Leipzig, 1887) . See also an article (with map) by Commdt . Bordeaux in LaGeographie, Oct . 1908 .