Lake Fitri is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Chad , in the Sahel region of Africa, lying about 300 km east of N’Djamena . It has been designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention .
6-720: The Bilala or Bulala are a Muslim people that live around Lake Fitri , in the Batha Prefecture , in central Chad . The last Chadian census in 1993 stated that they numbered 136,629 people. Their language, Naba , is divided in four dialects and is a part of the Central Sudanic language family ; it is shared by two of their neighbours, the Kuka and the Medogo . These three peoples are collectively known as Lisi and are believed to be descendants of main ethnic groups of
12-530: Is not as large as it once was. The normally permanent lake may dry out during severe drought periods, such as occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century and again in 1984–1985. The lake has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of white-faced and fulvous whistling-ducks , ferruginous ducks , garganeys , northern pintails , black crowned cranes , African spoonbills and squacco herons . This Chad location article
18-641: The Kanem Empire , in today's Chad , they shattered the empire's power, killing five of six of Kanem's mais (kings) between 1376 and 1400. At the end the Bulala conquered Kanem and forced the Kanem mais to migrate to Bornu . As a result, the Bulala put their hands on Kanem, founding in the 15th century the Muslim sultanate of Yao. The Kanem–Bornu Empire counter-attacked a century later under Ali Gazi . Kanem
24-760: The Sultanate of Yao . They first appeared in the 14th century near lake Fitri as a nomadic clan led by scions of the Sayfawa dynasty . They were originally a political entity that came about as a result of fusion of the Kayi (old Zaghawa = current Kanembu, the clan exist even today in Kanem) and Ngizimis Kanembu clan, which exists even today in Dibbinintchi, Lake Chad inhabitants of the Fittri region. Settled east of
30-532: The French. Lake Fitri The normal size of the lake is about 50,000 ha (120,000 acres), though this can triple in wetter years. It is fed by seasonal rainfall and run-off from a catchment area estimated at 70,000 km (27,000 sq mi). The principal river feed is the seasonal Batha River which carries water from the Ouaddai massif to the west. Similarly to Chad's other lake, Lake Chad , it
36-439: Was retaken by Ali's son after a great battle at Garni Kiyala, forcing the Bulala to move east, where they were to remain a menace for centuries to Kanem-Bornu. It continued also to be a flourishing kingdom: the traveller Leo Africanus even thought that the Bulala's reign was richer than Kanem–Bornu for its prosperous trade with Egypt . Their power survived in diminished forms until the onset of colonialism, when they submitted to
#224775