Idris Alooma
By the conclusion of his rule, he had successfully expanded Bornu's influence over vast territories, including the majority of Hausaland, the Tuareg of Aïr, the Tebu of Bilma, Tibesti, and even the Bulala of Kanem.
This development significantly contributed to the prosperity of Idris Alooma and his successors, enabling them to foster improved diplomatic relations with North African powers, notably Tripoli.
Alooma sought negotiations with Istanbul to regain control of Fezzan which Sultan Murad III declined, but urged amicable relations with Bornu.
[12][13] Shortly after Bornu's final envoy to Morocco, between 1582–1583 and 1585, the entire Ottoman garrison in Fezzan was slaughtered, leading to the return of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty.
Historian Dr. Rémi Dewière (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) suggests that Alooma strategically exploited the rivalry between Morocco and the Ottoman Empire to reclaim Fezzan.
In order to hide his existence from the Mais, Aisa constructed a brick palace for him near the River Yo in Gambaru (in modern-day Yunusari), which was located away from Bornu's capital, N'gazargamu.
[7]: 269–270 [17] Edris Alawoma (Idris Alauma) appears to have been an excellent prince, uniting in himself the most opposite qualities: warlike energy combined with mildness and intelligence; courage, with circumspection and patience, severity with pious feelings.
Many products were sent north, including natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, kola nuts, ivory, ostrich feathers, perfume, wax, and hides, but the most profitable trade was in slaves.
He was credited with having cleared the roads, designed better boats for Lake Chad, introduced standard units of measure for grain, and moving farmers into new lands.
In addition, he improved the ease and security of transit through the empire with the goal of making it so safe that "a lone woman clad in gold might walk with none to fear but God.
His armies were meticulously organised and he coordinated the movements of large formations, concentrating them at crucial points, and dispersing them to prevent the strain on the limited food resources of semi-arid regions.
He embarked on a mission to restore Bornu's authority over the territories the empire had lost due to the bloody dynastic conflict it had suffered for a century.
According to Ibn Fartua, Amsaka was a formidable city with a diverse non-Muslim population (in modern-day Kaza near the border of Dikwa and Kala Balge in Borno state).
"[16]: 38 [28][23] (The people of Amsaka) in their pride and self sufficiency they said to the Muslims:— “You are as you were before, and we are as we were “at first—and neither side will change—and none save the “birds will see the inside of our stockade and town.” Mai Idris admired the town for its "stubbornness and exclusiveness and presumption."
In 1575, he, alongside Yamtarawalla, the chief of the Babur of Biu, made an initial attempt to invade and sack Amsaka, but he faced a fierce resistance and was repelled.
However, instead of directly assaulting the city, he ordered his eager army to encamp just outside the town's east gate and to begin filling the deep trench that surrounded it.
The people of Amsaka responded by hurling spears, rocks, burning thatch, and pots of boiling human waste at Alooma's men filling the trench, but these efforts proved ineffective.
In response, Mai Idris ordered that all the arrows fired at his army be collected, which caused the town's supply of arrowheads to start running low.
Once the trench was successfully filled, Mai Idris commanded that the wooden stockade surrounding the city be chopped down, ultimately leading to the dismantling of Amsaka's defenses.
[16]: 38–39 [23] On the last day of the Islamic month Sha'aban, which fell just before the start of Ramadan, specifically on 4 December 1575, Mai Idris led the siege of Amsaka and sacked it.
In response, Alooma dispatched his envoy, al-hajj Yusuf, to Istanbul, asking the Ottomans to relinquish the fortress known as Fezzān or Qal'at Q.rân (according to B. G. Martin, it was likely located in Bilma in modern-day Niger Republic).
While Sultan Murad III refused to cede the conquered territory to Mai Idris, he gave strict orders to Mahmut and the beylerbeyi of Tripoli to maintain amicable relations with Bornu and its subjects.
In response, Mai Idris dispatched al-hajj Yusuf to seek assistance from Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco, who harbored a rivalry with Sultan Murad III.
Shortly after the final envoy from Mai Idris to al-Mansur, between 1582–3 and 1585, the entire Ottoman garrison in Fezzan was slaughtered, leading to the return of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty from Katsina to resume their governance of the region.
Dewiere further argues that the bay'ah pledge by Alooma was 'purely symbolic' and that he exploited the rivalry between al-Mansur and Murad III "in order to resolve a local issue."
