{{Infobox monarch| | name = Fasama | title = Regent of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | spouse = Dunama I Umemi | issue = Biri I Uthman | house = Sayfawa dynasty (by marriage) | house-type = Dynasty }} '''Fasama'''{{efn|The name is also spelled ''Fasamé''.<ref name=":122" />}} was a consort{{efn|name="consort"|The ''mai'' could have several wives. The senior wife bore the title ''gumsu''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Waziri |first=Ibrahim Maina |date=2023 |title=The ''Chima'' Fiefdom System in Kanem-Bornu and its Transformation into District Head Administration in British Borno, Northern Nigeria (19th and 20th Centuries) |url=https://www.buchgestaltung-online.de/OPENACCESS/OA_9783868934465.pdf |journal=Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture Series |volume=16 |page=10 |doi=10.53179/9783868934465}}</ref> but it is not clear if Fasama occupied that position. Later chroniclers mistakenly referred to Fasama as a ''gumsu'' in the reign of her son.<ref name=":0" /> This mistake might indicate that she was the ''gumsu'' of Dunama, which could have resulted in the confusion.<ref name=":0" />}} of Dunama I Umemi, a ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the late 11th to mid-12th century. After Dunama's death {{Circa|1151}},{{efn|name="dates"|Various alternate dates have been suggested, see the articles of Dunama I Umemi and Biri I Uthman.}} Fasama ruled the empire as regent for their son, Biri I Uthman. Fasama commanded great power as regent and appears to have had greater authority than her son, demonstrated by an incident when she had him imprisoned for a year after he meted out an unjust punishment.
== Life == Fasama originally hailed from the Kay (Koyam) tribe of Dirkou.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Le_d%C4%ABw%C4%81n_des_sultans_du_K%C4%81nem_Born%C5%AB/D00BAAAAMAAJ |title=Le dīwān des sultans du (Kānem-)Bornū: chronologie et histoire d'un royaume africain (de la fin du Xe siècle jusqu'à 1808) |date=1977 |publisher=F. Steiner |isbn=978-3-515-02392-4 |pages=68–70 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000184287 |title=General history of Africa, IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century |date= |website= |publisher=University of California |year=1984 |isbn=978-92-3-101710-0 |editor-last=Niane |editor-first=Djibril Tamsir |pages=244 |language=en |chapter=The kingdoms and peoples of Chad}}</ref> In the late 11th century or early 12th century, Fasama became a consort{{efn|name="consort"}} of ''mai'' Dunama I Umemi, a ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/bostonuniversity02bost |title=Boston University Papers on Africa: Volume II: African History |date=1966 |publisher=Boston University Press |pages=80 |chapter=The Bornu King Lists}}</ref> Her marriage to ''mai'' Dunama may have served to re-strengthen the ties between the Kay and Kanem; the mother of Dunama's father Hummay had also been of Kay origin.<ref name=":0" /> Fasama was the mother of Dunama's heir, Biri I Uthman.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Barth |first=Heinrich |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Travels_and_Discoveries_in_North_and_Cen/la_zIUj0oiwC |title=Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849–1855 |date=1857 |publisher=Longmans |pages=635 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" />
After Dunama's death {{Circa|1151}},{{efn|name="dates"}} Fasama took power in the empire as regent.<ref name=":122" /> Biri's reign lasted for over twenty years, until his death {{Circa|1177}},{{efn|name="dates"}} and it is unclear for how long Fasama held power. Biri may have been young at the beginning of his reign, necessitating the regency. Biri eventually had children of his own<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> and the later Bornuan chronicler Ibn Furtu remembered Biri as a learned ruler, meaning that he was a capable and adult ruler for at least part of his reign.<ref name=":122" /> Fasama commanded great power as regent and her authority apparently eclipsed that of Biri himself. The ''girgam'' (the royal chronicle of the empire) records an incident when Biri had a thief executed, violating Islamic law. As punishment for this, Fasama had Biri imprisoned for an entire year.<ref name=":0" />
Fasama was still an important figure in the empire in the childhood of Biri's sons. The ''girgam'' records that Biri's son Abdullah I Bikur and his brother Bitku visited Fasama in their youth. Fasama gifted Abdullah and Bitku a hundred camels each, indicating that she possessed great wealth. The camels gifted to Abdullah were apparently called ''Bikoru'', perhaps the source of his name, and those given to Bitku were called ''Bitku''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">Palmer, H. R. (1926). History Of The First Twelve Years Of The Reign Of Mai Idris Alooma Of Bornu (1571–1583) (Fartua, Ahmed Ibn). p. 111.</ref>
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == <references />{{Kanem–Bornu rulers}} Category:History of women in Chad Category:History of women in Nigeria Category:Rulers of the Kanem Empire Category:12th-century Nigerian women Category:12th-century women monarchs