Kanem-Bornu was an empire in Africa.
It controlled trade around Lake Chad
from the 800s to the 1800s. Its territories
included parts of what are now
Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, and
Libya.
Kanem-Bornu handled trade between
North Africa and lands to the south.
The empire sold such products as salt,
elephant tusks, ostrich feathers, and live
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Kanem-Bornu Empire 45
animals. The empire also traded slaves to
people in North Africa in exchange for
horses. The Kanem-Bornu people raised
crops and livestock for their own use.
The Kanem-Bornu Empire was originally
known as Kanem. It was probably
founded around the mid-800s. Kanem’s
rulers were members of the Sef family.
Kanem got stronger in the 1100s and
1200s. Then it shrank until little of it
was left except for a southern province
called Bornu. In the early 1500s Bornu
recaptured the rest of Kanem and
became Kanem-Bornu. The empire
reached its height during the reign of
King Idris Alawma. He ruled from
about 1571 to 1603.
In 1846 the Sef dynasty died out.Other
people then took power for brief periods.
By the late 1800s the French, British, and
Germans were making their own empires
in Africa. They soon divided
Kanem-Bornu among themselves.
#More to explore
Chad
Kangaroo
Kangaroos belong to a group of animals
called marsupials. These animals carry
their young in a pouch. There are more
than 50 species, or types, of kangaroo.
Some of the smaller species are called
wallabies.
Kangaroos live in Australia and nearby
areas. Most live in grasslands, but one
species lives in trees.
Kangaroos generally have soft, woolly
fur. It can be gray, brown, red, or bluegray.
Some species have stripes on the
head, back, or upper limbs.
Kangaroos can be 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall
and weigh 200 pounds (90 kilograms),
though some are much smaller. They
have long, powerful back legs that are
good for jumping. Their long, thick tails
help them balance while jumping. Kangaroos
use their short front legs almost
like human arms.
A female kangaroo usually has one
young, called a joey, each year. Just after
birth it crawls into a pouch on the
mother’s stomach. It feeds on its mother’s
milk as it grows. Gradually, it learns
to hop out and look for food. When it is
7 to 10 months old, the joey leaves the
pouch for good.
#More to explore
Marsupial
Some people
in Australia
hunt kangaroos
for their
meat.
A female kangaroo carries her
baby in a pouch.
46 Kangaroo BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Kansas
The U.S. state of Kansas is named for
the Kansa (or Kaw) tribe of Native
Americans who lived along the Kansas
River. Because so many wild sunflowers
grow in the state, Kansas is nicknamed
the Sunflower State. Kansas has been the
site of many tornadoes, leading to
another nickname—the Cyclone State.
The capital is Topeka.
Geography
Kansas sits at the geographical center of
the 48 states that lie between the Canadian
border and Mexico. Osborne
County in Kansas is the center of North
America. Kansas is bordered on the
north by Nebraska, on the west by
Colorado, on the south by Oklahoma,
and on the east by Missouri.
All of Kansas is made up of generally
level plains. The land rises slowly and
steadily from 700 feet (210 meters)
above sea level in the southeast to more
than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)
near the Colorado border in the
west. The main rivers are the Kansas in
the north and the Arkansas in the south.
Kansas has warm summers and cold
winters.
People
Whites of European heritage make up
the majority of the Kansas population.
Hispanic Americans represent about 7
percent of the population, African
Americans about 6 percent, and Asians
about 2 percent. Almost 25,000 Native
Americans live in the state.
The largest city in Kansas is Wichita,
located on the Arkansas River in the
south-central part of the state. Kansas
City sits where the Kansas and Missouri
rivers meet. The main public institutions
of higher education are the University of
Kansas, at Lawrence, with its Medical
Center at Kansas City; Kansas State
Farmers in Kansas grow sunflowers as a
crop. Sunflower seeds are used as food.
They also contain oil that is used in cooking.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Kansas 47
University, at Manhattan; andWichita
State University, atWichita.
Economy
The state’s leading manufacturing product
is transportation equipment, including
aircraft and motor vehicles. Kansas
farm products have made the processing
of foodstuffs another important manufacturing
industry. The most valuable
farm products are cattle, wheat, and
corn. Telecommunications and service
industries such as finance, commercial
sales, the transportation of goods, and
health care are also large parts of the
state’s economy.
History
The Cheyenne, Pawnee, Kaw, and other
Native American groups lived in what is
now Kansas before Europeans settled on
the land. Spanish explorer Francisco
Coronado visited the area in 1541. In
1682 the French explorer Sieur de La
Salle claimed the region for his country.
The United States acquired the region
from France in the Louisiana Purchase
of 1803. Kansas was thoroughly
explored in the following decades.
