The Kanem Empire (ca. 600 BCE - 1380 CE) was located in the present countries of Chad, Nigeria and Libya. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only much of Chad, but also parts of southern Libya (Fezzan), northern Cameroon, eastern Niger and north-eastern Nigeria. The history of the Empire is mainly known from the Royal Chronicle or Dīwān discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth.

There are two views concerning the foundation of Kanem. The accepted view based on the vast bulk of scholarship is that the state was founded by local Zaghawa. According to a single piece of research by historian Dierk Lange, the Kanem state was claimed to have been founded by immigrants from the Near East, however, due to its novelty, lack of historical, genetic and linguistic evidence, and contradictions within these claims, this view is not widely accepted.

According to the majority scholarly opinion, the empire of Kanem began forming around 700 CE under the nomadic Tebu-speaking Zaghawa. Comparison of the information provided by the Dīwān and by Arab geographers shows that the Zaghawa were forced southwest towards the fertile lands around Lake Chad by political pressure and desertification in their former territory. The area already possessed independent, walled city-states belonging to the Sao culture. Under the leadership of the Duguwa dynasty, the Zaghawa would eventually dominate the Sao, but not before adopting many of their customs. War between the ruling establishment and the Sao continued in Bornu up to the late 16th century.