Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine the historical and political discourse on the borders of Borno in modern-day Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will analyse how British imperialism did not always destroy African polities but, as in the case of Borno, favoured the reconstruction of a nineteenth-century territory within the Nigerian colony. It will be argued that the British manipulated the concept of the territory of Borno as the colonial administration recycled the late nineteenth-century kingdom of Borno within the Nigerian framework. The quest for territorial legitimacy led the British to constantly adapt their colonial administration to the previous nineteenth-century space.

Moreover, Borno a geographic cornerstone of colonial Nigeria, never ceased to count in the geopolitical balance of postcolonial Nigeria. Indeed, the post-1960 fragmentation of the federation led to the creation of Borno State in 1976 but also led to its division in 1991 between Yobe and Borno. If at first glance it would seem that the territory and borders of Borno were disappearing within Nigeria, a strong sense of belonging still exists.