The Borno sultanate in present-day Nigeria was an early modern Islamic state at the crossroads of regional, transregional, and global networks. Sahelian pilgrims, North African scholars, European slaves, Saharan nomads, and Turkish mercenaries would travel to its capital, connecting it with West Africa, the Mediterranean World, and the Middle East. How do we assess Borno’s integration in the global early modern world from a plural perspective, both from the inside and the outside? Using the narratives of Aḥmad b. Furṭū, a sixteenth century Borno scholar living in the sultan’s court, and of Pierre Girard, a French slave in seventeenth century Tripoli, Libya, I will interrogate the idea of globality from a Borno-centered representation of the world. The mental mapping of these narratives raises a yet unanswered question in the field of early modern history: How can we conceive global history from an African point of view?

位于当今尼日利亚的博尔诺苏丹国是处于区域、跨区域和全球网络十字路口的早期现代伊斯兰国家。萨赫勒朝圣者、北非学者、欧洲奴隶、撒哈拉游牧民和土耳其雇佣兵将前往其首都，将其与西非、地中海世界和中东连接起来。我们如何从内部和外部的多元角度评估博尔诺在全球早期现代世界中的融入？使用 Aḥmad b 的叙述。住在苏丹宫廷的 16 世纪博尔诺学者 Furṭū 和 17 世纪利比亚的黎波里的法国奴隶皮埃尔吉拉德，我将从以博尔诺为中心的世界表征中审视全球性的概念。