For a number of decades the history of Kanem-Bornu received little attention, but currently there is renewed interest mainly due to archaeological research. The unexpectedly early date of the emergence of proto-urban structures in the middle of the first millennium BC is particularly striking. In the Western Sudan the emergence of the city of Jenne-Jeno along the eastern arm of the Inner Niger Delta in the third century BC has given rise to the idea that Ghana, supposedly the oldest state in West Africa, was founded at the same period. On account of a connection between urbanism and state-building, the foundation of Kanem in the region of Lake Chad, the early nucleus of Kanem-Bornu, may likewise have been much earlier than hitherto supposed.