Daouada of the Fezzan

Daouada peoples of the Fazzan included in J. Despois's Géographie humaine. III in  Mémoires de la Mission scientifique du Fezzân.

One of the intriguing groups of the Fezzan region of Libya, said to be endogamous, are the Daouada. Described briefly in J. Despois's "human geography" of the region for the Mission scientifique du Fezzan project in the 1940s, they were said to live along the small lakes near the sandy dunes north of the Wadi al-Ajal. The group was also said to have worked the natron deposits. One of the specific areas said to have included Daouada residents, Brak ez Zaouiya, is in the Chati section of the Fazzan. Other settlements that included some Daouada were Tmessan, Edris, El Bouanis, Mandara, Gabr Oun,  and Trouna. Despois was careful to distinguish them from the descendants of slaves, suggesting this group was of distinct origin in the Fazzan and probably not of any "recent" slave origin. If so, one cannot help but wonder if they are the descendants of the "town" of Dawud mentioned by al-Idrisi in the 12th century. To al-Idrisi, who mistakenly wrote of Dawud as a "town" or city rather than an ethnic group spread out over a larger region, Dawud was south of Zawila. Clearly, al-Idrisi made some mistakes or misinterpreted his sources when writing about the Fezzan. Nonetheless, he contextualizes the people of Dawud with the pre-Islamic past of the region. According to him, the Dawud were the remnants of the pre-Islamic Fazzan population who did not flee when the Islamic conquests began. Is this possibly the origin of the contempt for the Daouada, their pagan ancestry? 

If the connection between the "Dawud" of al-Idrisi and the Daouada endogamous group of the colonial-era Fazzan is legitimate, then the Daouada may represent the autochthonous peoples who resisted the Islamic invasions and stayed in the land. Perhaps their ancestors were the Qazan, Fazzan, and Qaramatiyyun of early Islamic sources. Indeed, if the Daouada were actively involved in natron production and trade in medieval times, they may be the Qaramatiyyun mentioned by al-Muqaddasi who transacted with salt. Was their specialization in natron production part of the origin for the contempt in which they were held by later groups of the Fazzan? The problem with this narrative, however, is al-Idrisi's summary of the history of the region suggests Waddan was the political center rather than Garama. The earlier, 9th century description of the region by al-Ya'qubi, on the other hand, pointed to conflict between Waddan and the old Garamantian heartland. His sources indicated frequent conflict between the Mazata Berbers in Waddan against the people of the Fazzan, probably referring to the area around the Wadi al-Ajal. Perhaps this was another area in which al-Idrisi erred. 

The Survival of the Garamantes

Image from the World History Encyclopedia

We have been perusing the Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West Africa History and the reports and studies by archaeologists and wonder if the Garamantian state, in some form, persisted well into the Islamic era. We know from John of Biclar's chronicle that the Garamantes sent an envoy to the Byzantines in 568, which is after the Vandal Wars and after Justinian, according to Procopius, had built churches and promoted Christianity at Ghadames and among the Berbers in Tropolitania. Even though there is no evidence of conversion to Christianity in the 6th century Fazzan, we know the Byzantines at least reached some of their neighbors. This seems to imply survival of a Garamantian polity to the end of the 500s.

Then we have a period where we know little about the Fazzan until the 660s, when Uqba b. Nafi arrived and imposed tribute on the Fazzan and Kawar. Just using Arabic sources from the medieval period, one finds references to Qaramantiyyun, Qazan, and Fazzani people as "Sudan" ("blacks") who were described as non-Muslims. Reading al-Tabari on the Zanj Revolt in 9th century Iraq, one finds references to people from the Fazzan among the Zanj (black) slaves. Sahnun, in the 800s, also quoted the opinion of Malik ibn Anas on the Fazzanis, implying that they were still non-Muslim blacks in the late 700s (see the fascinating article by Brunschevig on this). Then, al-Ya'qubi referred to the Fazzan region as ruled by a powerful chief who was always at war with the Mazata Berbers in Wadan.

The Mazata were Ibadites, and probably among the slave-traders described by the same author as operating in Zawila and Kawar. My guess is that Waddan and Germa were the centers of two different polities that dominated the region, and in Waddan and Zawila, the Ibadites and their trading network were powerful enough to be the victim of a raid from the Abbasids in c.762-763. Yet, over a century later, another part of the Fazzan region is described as independent. The polity controlling the section of the Fazzan in opposition to the Mazata at Waddan were possibly the Garamantes, whose wars with the Ibadi Mazata would have led to some of them becoming captives sold into slavery abroad.

Further evidence of this Garamantian state surviving longer can be seen in the remnant populations living at Germa and Tassawa described by al-Idrisi. Al-Idrisi seems to have been confused about the political layout of the land in the pre-Islamic era, but he described the people at these two towns using an irrigation system (perhaps the foggara in a far less intensive manner). Perhaps this remnant of the Garamantes engaged in trans-Saharan salt trade, since al-Muqaddasi described the Qaramatiyyun transact with salt. Maybe the Garamantes (or their possible desendants) focused on the salt trade in the southern Fazzan and perhaps Kawar while the Mazata and other Berbers engaged in the slave trade with their Ibadi partners and Kanem and beyond? 

We can state with some degree of certainty that al-Muqqadasi was the last writer to refer to a population called Garamantes (or something approximate). The Garamantes, at least in some form, may have survived as a distinct people until the end of the 10th or early 11th century, and were likely a heterogeneous Berber population. Islamization of Garama and its surroundings appears to have been complete by this time, too, with archaeologists like Mattingly reporting findings of a central mosque in the ancient Garamante capital. 

Garamantes and Christianity

One topic we hope archaeologists could potentially answer is the possible conversion of the Garamantes to Christianity in the 6th century. We know of at least 4 or 5 6th century sources that refer to Christianity among the Garamantes or with their neighbors, although the most direct source is John of Biclar. John of Biclar, whose chronicle mentioned Garamantian envoys to the Byzantines requesting peace and to become questions, gives a date of 568 or so. However, earlier references in the 6th century hint at a Christian presence among the Garamantes or their neighbors. For instance, Cosmas Indicopleustes, the famous 6th century traveler who is an important source on Aksum during this period, alluded to the land of the Garamantes as one that included churches. 

While Cosmas Indicopleustes may have writing rhetorically to suggest how universal Christianity was, it is interesting that he wrote around 550, several years before the Garamantes sent a delegation to the Byzantine Empire (to the coast or Constantinople?). In addition to these aforementioned writers, Procopius, whose Buildings includes a section on churches and construction in Libya and North Africa during the reign of Justinian. Like the others, Procopius  was writing around the middle of the 6th century, and according to him, the Byzantine Empire promoted Christianity in Ghadames, Augila (including a church for the Mother of God), and among various Berber peoples like the Gadabitani. He rebuilt and refortified cities like Leptis Magna, where he also constructed a chapel in honor of Mary. 

One more 6th century writer of the Roman Empire also alluded, indirectly, to the Garamantes. In his epic on the campaigns of John against the Berbers, Corripus wrote that neighbors of the Garamantes (Nasamonians) were part of the Berber alliance that attacked John. The genre and type of reference used by Corripus here is probably exaggerating the number and diversity of Berber foes John Troglita fought to portray him as a more heroic figure. Nonetheless, we know from earlier incidents that the Garamantes did occasionally participate or join in raids against the Romans on the coast of Libya in earlier centuries. If the Garamantes or their neighbors were involved in the conflict with John Troglita, perhaps it helps explain why they were seeking peace with the Byzantines by 568?

Additional references to the Garamantes in relation to Vandal North Africa (epigrams of Luxorius which reference Garamantes and their dark skin) and the Mediterranean can be found. And The Archaeology of the Fazzan series found evidence of ongoing trade and exchange with the Mediterranean at Garamante sites. However, no evidence of a church has been found at the capital of the Garamantes or any other site. In fact, archaeologists found evidence for the persistence of use of pagan temples. Indeed, Islam itself does not appear to have spread in the capital of the Garamantes for a few centuries after Uqba b. Nafi attacked Garama. Brunschevig also cited evidence that suggests the Fazzanis were pagans in the late 700s. So, what happened? Was Christianization of the Garamantes real or did the distance and realities of Byzantine rule in coastal Libya make it an ineffective mission? Or was the Fazzan already fragmented with a state or chiefdom based at Waddan and, perhaps, Zawila, the real centers of the Fazzan who were more likely to have received an actual church? Was Knut Vikor's theory correct about Qasr Umm Isa in Kawar being Jado (Djado)? If so, perhaps the place name is a testament to that era of 6th century Christian expansion, though we lack any evidence that the Kawar site ever hosted Christians. Besides this speculative theory, references in the early Arabic sources to Egyptians and Rum on an oasis route that connected Egypt to areas of the western Sudan may hint at contacts with Copts and Byzantines in the desert via Fazzan and Kawar. 

On the Garamantes

Charles Daniels wrote, in 1970, a short but summative work on the Garamantes. Of course, archaeologists and historians of today have access to more data, surveys, and excavations, including work at other sites across the Sahara. Nonetheless, Daniels, limited as he was by the state of archaeological research of his time and the handful of references to the Garamantes from Roman sources or Herodotus, was able to carefully wade through the confused or biased external sources and make some sense of the data from archaeology. Clearly, the Garamantes were not tent dwelling nomads or barbarians who lived only through brigandage. And while their material culture and architecture did seem to improve with the increase in imported goods from the Mediterranean, one wonders if craftsmen from the north were always responsible for the finer monuments and buildings. The Garamantes, as a civilization with roots in the last millennium before our era, and with ties to various advanced cultures, was perhaps capable of adapting and mastering other construction techniques besides mudbrick. That said, one wonders if the Garamantes were, as indicated by Daniels, more of a confederation. Therefore, their kingdom, despite most of its population probably being sedentary and living in the Fazzan oases, may have included Saharan pastoralists who did, occasionally, engage in banditry and attacks on Roman North Africa. This might explain part of the reason the Roman sources portrayed the Garamantes as Saharan bandits, if some of the allied Berber populations did attack coastal areas. 

In addition, Daniels draws from the general ancient literature on various Berber peoples across Libya and the Sahara to speculate about specific Garamantian customs and beliefs. He is likely correct about certain things, like the use of the Berber language, the Ammon cult, the practice of divination, and "looser" gender roles and polygamy among the Garamantes being shared with other Berber cultures. However, despite his acknowledgement of the racially mixed character of the Garamantes, he did not address the sub-Saharan and perhaps Tubu influences in Garamantian civilization. Surely, if the Garamantes were sometimes lumped into the "black" category by ancient Roman sources and were lumped into the "Sudan" category by medieval Arabic sources, the Garamantes likely exhibited many cultural traits of non-Berber origin, too. 

Gobir and the Copts

A list of Gobir rulers contained in the Agadez manuscripts translated and published by Yves Urvoy.

Although we lack firm evidence of any connection, one of the interesting traditions of Coptic or Egyptian or eastern origins in West Africa is that of the Gobirawa Hausa peoples. Although the Gobirawa, according to their own traditions and that of others, were the original inhabitants of Ayar or Air, to the North, they claim ultimate roots in Egypt. Indeed, when Landeroin collected oral traditions from the Gobirawa in the early colonial period, they reported that their ancestors were Copts who survived the splitting of the Red Sea. Undoubtedly, their claim of Coptic origin was influenced by the Islamic and Biblical stories, and perhaps the prestige attached to the ancient pharaohs. Islamic traditions of an ancient Pharaoh of the time of Joseph who conquered the Maghrib and Sudan may have also influenced West African traditions of ancient Egypt. Other West African peoples similarly claimed roots in the East, but few with any Christian population. The Songhay, further west, recorded a tradition in the Timbuktu Chronicles of Kukiya once providing sorcerers to the Pharaohs of Egypt, but that tradition is quite different from claiming actual descent from the Egyptians. Nonetheless, our medieval Arabic sources suggest Maranda and neighboring polities were under the influence of Kawkaw, whose rulers may have originally came from Kukiya and could have represented an early influence from the Songhay regions on Gobir traditions.

But was it just an invented tradition or legend? Was it invented and promulgated by Gobir kings who wished to separate themselves from the Bayajidda legends and traditions of the other powerful Hausa states? Malam Issoufou seems to think so, although he lacks direct evidence for his proposition. However, he believes that Bawa Jan Gwarzo (r.1771-1789), a powerful Gobir king, was the one who started the tradition of Coptic or Egyptian origin to deny descent from Bawo and the tribute payments to Borno partly based on that tradition. Unfortunately, we lack direct evidence for this tradition being a late 18th century invention, although it is documented a few decades later by Muhammad Bello and Shaykh dan Tafa of the Sokoto Caliphate. Both authors referred to the Gobir tradition of free, Coptic origin, with the latter specifically linking it to Bawa Jan Gwarzo's refusal to send tribute to Borno (and mentioning their previous sojourn in Air before moving south). For Bello, on the other hand, he merely reports that what he could find out about Gobir was their alleged Coptic descent, perhaps based on informants from Gobir and other Hausa lands. 

While it certainly does seem plausible that the Copt tradition was a late 18th century invention, we are surprised that it would be seemingly accepted by Sokoto-era writers like Bello. Indeed, after the enmity and hostilities between Gobir and Uthman dan Fodio, one would expect more resistance or skepticism from Bello and Shaykh dan Tafa. Indeed, it makes one wonder if the tradition is actually far older and reaches back to distant memories of a Coptic and/or Nubian Christian presence in Air. In fact, one of the sites remembered by the Gobirawa as a former center before they left Air, Maranda (or Marandet), happens to mean henna in the Hausa tongue. Gobir, the name for the people, also resembles the Coptic word for henna. The first Gobir capital outside of Air, Birnin Lalle, also referred to henna, according to Djibo Hamani. While this may be a coincidence, it is interesting how the connection to henna was important for the Gobirawa in two separate capitals and it just so happens that Gobir almost sounds like the Coptic word for the same plant. Archaeologists have also found evidence of copper mining and proof that Maranda was a settlement by the 7th century if not earlier. While more work remains to be done about possible trans-Saharan trade goods or signs of cultural exchange, Maranda was known as an important trade center in the early Arabic sources on West Africa. For instance, Maranda was a major stop on the route that connected Egypt to Kawkaw (Gao) and Ghana. 

Our Arabic sources also suggest Egyptians and Nubians used to travel through the Oases route west of the Nile to reach the Maghrib and Sudan until the late 9th century, and that before the Islamic conquest, Rum (Greeks) were found in the oases. These Arabic sources likewise report that Egyptians and Nubians used to travel to the Fazzan and Barqa by another route. While Maranda itself appears, at least in al-Ya'qubi's 872 reference, to be a tributary state of Kawkaw (Gao), it was still around in the 12th century when al-Idrisi described it as a populous town attracting nomads. From Djibo Hamani's reconstruction of the region in the late 9th century, one can already see it was polyethnic with Berbers to the north, probably Zarma to the west, and the ancestors of the Gobirawa and Azna in Air. Groups related to the Zaghawa or Toubou were likely also present to the east and northeast, while Fazzanis, North Africans, and Egyptians would have traversed the region through this Central Saharan route. 

Is it possible that this early Hausa, ancient Gobirawa state or polity with a trading center, one which included copper and almost certainly textiles, leather products, beads, gold, salt, slaves (reported in Zawila in the Fezzan by al-Ya'qubi) was engaged in pre-Islamic trans-Saharan exchange? Is that the origin of the claim of Coptic descent? Christianity was said to have penetrated the Fazzan by the 6th century, when the Garamantes sent an envoy to Byzantium requesting peace and conversion to Christianity in 569 (according to John of Biclar). In addition, Procopius recorded churches built by Emperor Justinian in Augila and Ghadames in the mid-6th century. This would match Justinian's interest in spreading Christianity in Nubia to the 3 kingdoms there, Nobadia, Makuria and Alodia. In the case of the Fezzan and the Central Sahara, our sources are too few to give us any sense of Justinian's success there. However, Cosmas Indicopleustes did include the land of the Garamantes as one including churches when he wrote in the 6th century. Furthermore, the town of Qasr Umm Isa (possibly Djado) in Kawar, a region south of the Fazzan that was known to be in communication with the Garamantes by the 7th century (if not far earlier), may have had a Christian presence. Perhaps Garamantes who converted to Christianity or their trading partners from North Africa or Egypt influenced some of the toponyms in the region, as perhaps was the case for Gobir. Certainly, we know from Roman sources the Garamantes had southern contacts that included the mysterious Agisymba and probably other locations. Considering the early signs of pre-Islamic trans-Saharan trade at Kissi, and the importance of a northeasterly route from West Africa to Egypt, perhaps the Garamantes and Christian traders from the Nile Valley made it to Air and, despite the absence of churches, bequeathed aspects of their Christian heritage to the residents. This might explain why some of the Tuareg, for instance, use words of Latin or Greek origin to express concepts like sin or why the Gobirawa, whose ruling elites in ancient times may have welcomed these traders, incorporated them into their myth of origin.

I'm now more convinced that Christians from Egypt, Nubia and the Garamantes were engaged in trans-Saharan trade by the 6th century. We have Procopius's On the Buildings, describing Emperor Justinian constructing churches in Augila, Ghadames and promoting Christianity in Nubia. In addition, Cosmas Indicopleustes included the land of the Garamantes as an area that included churches (although this might have been more rhetorical). Last, but certainly not least, John of Biclar recorded a Garamantian delegation to Emperor Justin II of the Byzantines, requesting conversion to Christianity. The Garamantes by the mid-6th century may have not been a unified, powerful kingdom by this era, but since they were already engaged in trans-Saharan trade prior to their conversion in the 6th century, one can assume that some Christian Garamantes likely trekked into Kawar and southern lands. After all, the Garamantes were already experienced traders in the Sahara, and if the ruling elite converted to Christianity, it is possible some of its traders also converted.

The Egyptian and Nubian and Byzantine connection is important since we know that Justinian's attempt to convert Nubia was taking place not long after the Vandal Wars in North Africa. According to Procopius, Justinian was eager to convert pagans to Christianity while also strengthening and defending the borders. In Byzantine North Africa, we know Berbers from the Sahara were an occasional problem for the Empire, but perhaps the spread of Christianity in Ghadames and Garama was linked to this idea. Later Arabic sources also attest to an old trans-Saharan route used by Nubians and Egyptians to travel to the Maghrib and the Sudan. It is possible that at least one of these routes was used in Christian times, since the Arabic sources mention the Wahat route was once full of people (including Rum, or Greeks). So, if Egyptians and Nubians (the latter Christianized by the 6th century) were using this route to the west through the deserts, and probably trading with Garamantes or people further south, one can suspect that the Qasr Umm Isa in Kawar might actually have been named due to this early Christian presence.

Of course, one must admit that Christianity's influence was probably only slight upon the populations south of the Fazzan. And even the Fazzan itself may not have been deeply Christian since Uqba b. Nafi would conquer (or at least raid) it in the 660s, about 1 century after their conversion. A 9th century source, Sahnun, also records Malik ibn Anas (died in 795) responding to a question about the people of the Fezzan, declaring them blacks and implying they were pagans. If accurate, then perhaps the population had already lost the faith or were never deeply evangelized to begin with. If the Garamantes themselves were not deeply Christian, and the period of Christian evangelization among the Garamantes and their neighbors was brief, then it is no wonder that the Christian presence in trans-Saharan trade was quicky forgotten. The Gobirawa themselves, who were still not Muslim when described by Ibn Battuta as pagans of Kubar, may have welcomed Christians from the north as trading partners and possibly intermarried with them but little evidence of other influences can be seen. We imagine the situation to have been analogous with the Islamic era of trans-Saharan trading, with local rulers only gradually, sometimes over centuries, adopting Islam. Christianity, which was not in the region long enough for this, thereby never having the chance, although it may have influenced local beliefs and arts in ways overlooked by scholars.

So, was Gobir influenced by Christians and Copts who participated in the pre-Islamic trans-Saharan trade? The evidence, weak as it is, suggests yes. As a Hausa people with a more recent history in the far north, and in an area under the influence of Kawkaw in the 9th century and part of an important route that led to Egypt, Maranda and the neighboring polities were likely interacting with the Fazzan and beyond. By the 600s if not earlier, Maranda, one of the sites remembered in Gobirawa tradition, was already engaged in long-distance trade to places like Kissi and, probably, the Fazzan and Kawar. The Maranda polity, never one of the great kingdoms, nonetheless existed for centuries before the Gobirawa finally left Air by the 1400s if not earlier in the 14th century or so. That Gobirawa traditions even claim their ancestors were in Kawar for a long time before migrating into Air, one wonders if the claim to Coptic ancestry might, indeed, reflect the pre-Islamic trade in this part of the Sahara and Sahel. 

Golden Age of the Garamantes

 

This week's episode from the History of Africa Podcast is a fascinating one on the Golden Age of the Garamantes. And yes, it would be "cool" if the language of the Garamantes was a Nilo-Saharan one written with proto-tifinagh. The theory of a Garamantes connection with populations in the Tibetsi, Kawar, and later Kanem is certainly an intriguing one, as is the worship of Amun by the Garamantes possibly finding an echo in later customs of the Zaghawa and Kanem states.