Until the beginning of the 1900s and the French conquest of this area, the Kanem-Bornu Empire was the major power in the heart of central North Africa.

[citation needed] By the end of the fourteenth century, however, internal division had severely weakened the Kanem empire, forcing the Sayfawa dynasty to relocate to Borno on the western shore of Lake Chad.

[2] Today the Kanembu people are one group of the descendants of this once highly successful empire, and their sultans and traditional rulers are still more influential than government authorities.

Along with the related language group Kanuri, they make up the majority population found in a band between the Northern shores of Lake Chad and the Sahara Desert.

Wheat, millet and corn are raised near the lake, but as the country is landlocked and has a poor road system, little agricultural trade has developed.