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Sao civilisation

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Terracotta Sao statuette

The Sao civilisation flourished in Middle Africa from ca. the sixth century BC to as late as the sixteenth century AD. The Sao lived by the Chari River Around Lake Chad in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon.[1] Sometime around the 16th century, conversion to Islam changed the cultural identity of the former Sao. Today, several ethnic groups of northern Cameroon and southern Chad, but particularly the Sara, Kotoko, claim descent from the civilization of the Sao.


Origins and declineEdit

The Sao civilisation may have begun as early as the sixth century BC, and by the end of the first millennium BC, their presence was well established Around Lake Chad and near the Chari River.[2] The city states of the Sao reached their apex sometime between the ninth and fifteenth centuries AD.[2]

Although some scholars estimate that the Sao civilization south of Lake Chad lasted until the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the majority opinion is that it ceased to exist as a separate culture sometime in the 16th century subsequently to the expansion of the Bornu Empire.[3] The Kotoko are the inheritors of the former city states of the Sao.[4]


Little is known about the Sao's culture or political organisation: But historians have shown that they may have originated from the Nile valley. Historians outline three major origins for the Sao based on oral tradition and archaeological evidence. One theory holds that they were the descendants of the Hyksos who conquered Ancient Egypt. They moved south from the Nile valley into middle Africa in several waves under pressure from invaders.[5] Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, and iron.[6] Finds include bronze sculptures and terra cotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry, highly decorated pottery, and spears.[7] The largest Sao archaeological finds have been made south of Lake Chad.



  1. ^ Hudgens and Trillo 1051.
  2. ^ a b DeLancey and DeLancey 237.
  3. ^ Insoll, Archaeology, 281; Fanso, History, 18.
  4. ^ Lebeuf, Principautés, 53-120.
  5. ^ a b Fanso 18.
  6. ^ Fanso 19.
  7. ^ Fanso 19; Hudgens and Trillo 1051.
  8. ^ Lebeuf, Principautés, 137-173; Fanso, History, 19.


  • Hudgens, Jim, and Richard Trillo (1999). West Africa: The Rough Guide. 3rd ed. London: Rough Guides Ltd.
  • Insoll, Timothy (2003: The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa, Cambridge.
  • Lebeuf, Annie: Les principautés kotoko, Paris 1969.
  • Lebeuf, Jean-Paul,and Annie Masson Detourbet (1950). La civilization du Tchad, Paris.
  • Levtzion, Nehemia, and John Hopkins (1981). Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, Cambridge.
  • Palmer, Herbert R. (1928): Sudanese Memoirs, 3 vols., Lagos.