Vast plain, northeastern Nigeria.
Prominent physical features include the plain, a volcanic plateau, and swamps south of Lake Chad . Now inhabited chiefly by the Kanuri people, it constituted a Muslim kingdom from about the 11th century. Together with Kanem it later formed an empire (see Kanem-Bornu ), which reached the height of its power с 1570–1600. Visited by Europeans in the 19th century, in 1902 it became part of Nigeria, which was then under British rule. In 1967 it became the state of Borno, Nigeria's largest, covering 70,898 sq mi (183,555 sq km).