Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Kuka
KUKA, or Kukawa, the capital of the kingdom of Bornu in Central Africa, is situated in 12° 55′ N. lat. and 13° 25′ E. long., 412 miles from the western shores of Lake Tsad or Chad,[1] in the midst of an extensive and for the most part uncultivated plain. The soil of the whole district consists of a layer of sand resting on clay, beneath which are found sand and lime. At a depth of 40 or 50 feet water is reached, usually sweet, but sometimes brackish. From a distance Kuka presents a very dead and monotonous appearance, there being no minarets or lofty buildings of any sort. The walls, built of earth, are about 20 feet in height. There are two distinct towns, separated by more than half a mile. The western town or Billa Futebe is the larger of the two, measuring from west to east about a mile and a half, and rather less from north to south. The plan is rectangular, and there is a gate in each of the four sides. From west to east runs the main thoroughfare known as the Dendal, which widens out to the west into the market place. About the middle of the Dendal stands the sheikh’s secondary palace. The eastern town or Billa Gedibe is somewhat longer and narrower than the western. The Dendal continues from its western gate till closed at the east end of the town by the great palace of the sheikh, gradually widening out into a large open square. The larger dwelling-houses of Kuka are of mud or earth, with windowless walls and flat roofs; the poorer houses are mere huts of straw or reeds, varying in shape from that of a bell to that of a sugar-loaf. In almost every courtyard there is at least one large shady tree, whose branches are tenanted by storks, herons, or a variety of lesser birds; and the whole place is vocal with song. Kuka is a wealthy town. It always contains a large number of strangers—merchants, pilgrims, and adventurers—attracted even from Mecca, Medina, Morocco, Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli, by the fame of the sheikh’s liberality. The town enjoys the rare advantage of being absolutely free from all taxation of trade or industry. In the Monday market, which is held outside the western gate, there are often more than 10,000 buyers and sellers. It is at once a fair for horses, cattle, camels, and other livestock, a fruit, grain, and vegetable market, a meat market, and a slave market. The currency consists mainly of Maria Theresa dollars and cowries. For the Mohammedans, not only of Bornu but of the neighbouring countries, Kuka serves as a kind of university town. In its streets are to be seen bands of mendicant students, who spend the day in collecting alms from the people, and after supper gather round the fires which they kindle in the public squares, and noisily and mechanically recite the verses of the Koran far into the night. A less cheerful feature of the street life is the unusual number of blind beggars. The population is estimated at 60,000.
Kuka was founded by Sheikh Mohammed al Amin el Kanemi. It received its name from a kuka or monkey bread tree (Adansonia digitata), which attracted the attention of the settlers as a rare thing in the district. In 1840 the town was laid waste by King Mohammed Sherif of Wadai; and when it was restored by Sheikh Omar he gave it the present double form. It is probably from this feature of the place that the plural Kukawa has become the ordinary designation of the town in Kano and throughout the Sudan; though the local inhabitants generally use the singular Kuka. Kuka has been visited by Denham and Clapperton, Beurmann, Vogel, Barth, Rohlfs, and Nachtigal.
For further details see Barth, Travels in Central Africa, London, 1858; Rohlfs, Quer durch Afrika, Leipsic, 1874; Nachtigal, Sahará und Súdán, Berlin, 1879, vol. i. p. 581–748. The last is the most elaborate account.