Kinship and Succession to the Throne of Bussa

Before the colonial era, the Kingdom of Bussa was one of three kingdoms constituting the Borgu State, the other two being Nikki and Illo. Borgu territory lies just north of the rain forest and falls within the savannah tone of the Western Sudan. In the past, the Borgu State extended as far west as the Alibory Mountains and thus encompassed the area now known as Haut Dahomey. Bussa itself is situated on the west bank of the River Niger to the north of Yorubaland and across the river from Nupe. Each of the three kingdoms possessed somewhat distinctive characteristics. Whereas the chiefdoms subordinatc to Nikki were numerous, Bussa had only three such chiefdoms even when the territory under its control was at its most extensive, and Illo had no subordtnate chiefdoms whatever. Bussa was the spiritual center of the Borgu State. It was believed that Kisra, who founded the Kingdom of Bussa and whose descendants later established themselves at Nikki and Illo, had settled at Bussa after migrating from Arabia. Nikki, the second most important kingdom, was politically the most powerful of the three because of it-s greater land area and population. Illo, the third kingdom, may be characterized as the emporium of the Borgu State, deriving its importance from the trade that passed through its territorial domain on its way from Gonja to the

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