Speculating on Early Daju History with Sultans Dadjo du Sila (Tchad)

 

Although mostly focused on Sila during the French colonial period, Henri Berre's Sultans Dadjo du Sila (Tchad) is still of use for those interested in the precolonial period. Relying on documents written by court-affiliated persons with a degree of Islamic education, the genealogies and reigns summarized by Berre were supposedly updated by subsequent rulers. To a certain extent, the genealogies are part of the fabricated Arab origin claimed by the Daju sultan, perhaps as part of the standard way to connect the ruling family's lineage back to the Arabian peninsula and important people related to the Prophet. But if one focuses on the key period from c. 1486-1916, the list may be usable. Undoubtedly, it probably omits some rulers, but a few of the kings who reigned since the establishment of the state in Sila were remembered for their relations with Wadai, Darfur, or Dar Runga. For instance, an attack from Wadai during the reign of (Yusuf) Kharifein against Sila may lend some credence to the chronology used by Berre.

Where things become messier is Nachtigal's research in this area during the 19th century. Nachtigal's list appears to have been rather different from what was supplied to the French colonial officers or administrators. For example, there is no one clearly named Gitar in Berre's list. Yet someone of that name was, in one king list, the first Daju ruler in Darfur. As if things were not already confusing, another informant indicated that the earliest Daju king was named Kosber. The apparent absence of these names in the list shared by Berre may be the result of a difference in using Daju or Arabic names for the same people. Alternatively, the list shared in the 20th century colonial era may have wished to omit "pagan" ancestors. After all, Nachtigal's list given to him by a Sila prince indicated 6 of the Daju kings based at Jebel Marra were pagans. Perhaps the rulers in the 19th century were less concerned with claiming ancestry through Yemen and the uncle of Muhammad?

Fortunately, Nachtigal and Berre's lists do provide some context for the enigmatic references to the Daju in medieval Arabic sources. While Berre's list presents the rulers as being of Arab descent and migrating to the north of Darfur, sometime from 892-1212 in the reckoning of Berre, he also places them at "Djebel Morrah" from 1212-1417. This period of the Daju sultans at Jebel Marra fits the medieval Arabic references mentioning the "Taju" or "Tajuwa" in this general area from the 1100s-1400s. If Uri was a Daju royal town or settlement, perhaps that represents the time in the north of Darfur reported by Berre? Keeping in mind that the amount of time Berre assigns to the time spent in the north of Darfur is not exact, one may surmise that the early Daju kings were based at Uri and perhaps the settlement of Samna by the late 12th century. 

For reasons not entirely clear, although perhaps related to a desire to find a more secure base, away from possible interference from Kanem or the medieval Nubian states, the Daju kings moved to Jebel Marra in central Darfur. Evidence for an interest in this region from medieval Kanem is detected in the writing of Ibn Sa'id. According to him, the "Zaghawa" and "Tajuwa" were subjects of Kanem. To Ibn Sa'id, a 'town' or region called Tajuwa represented the capital of the "Zaghawa" where Islam had started to spread. Later on, however, Ibn Sa'id's work seems to acknowledge that another group of "Tajuwa" (Daju?) were pagans residing in mountainous and desert terrains. This "Tajuwa" group was said to be refractory to the sultan of Kanem. Although Ibn Sa'id's description of the region is contradictory and must be used cautiously, there seems to be some overlap with the Daju based in Jebel Marra in the 1200s. Conflating them with the Zaghawa could have been due to the Zaghawa being better known in external Arabic sources, or possibly an alliance between some Zaghawa groups and the Daju against Kanem's expansion. 

Once established in Jebel Marra, presumably by the late 1200s, the other Arabic references are enigmatic on this polity or state. To Ibn Khaldun, the Tajuwa were simply a sort of "Zaghawa." For al-Maqrizi, however, more information is reported on them. They were apparently known for working in stone, which correlates with archaeological ruins of stone constructions in Darfur. Supposedly, their land or territory began at a place called Tukama, perhaps a locality near their base in Jebel Marra. Assuming al-Maqrizi's information was contemporaneous with his times, the Daju polity had also engaged in a number of wars against a people called Wathku. One is tempted to read this as perhaps a rival polity or an area frequently raided by the Daju rulers, perhaps located in Darfur or a neighboring region. If the list provided by one Sila prince is accurate, six pagan Daju kings ruled from Jebel Marra. These kings could easily have reigned from Jebel Marra for much of the period when the Daju kings were based there by the late 1200s. According to Tunjur oral traditions in Kanem, these Daju kings subsisted on the plundering of their neighbors. Yet knowledge of it from as far away as the Mamluk Sultanate suggests it was involved in wider trade networks.

Ultimately, the earlier history of the Daju in Darfur is not remembered in great detail in the Sila of Berre's time. Indeed, one could even question the existence of a continuous dynastic line across time and space from their period in Darfur to the sultans of Dar Sila. But some of Berre's data and regnal years could easily fit the general timeline of the Daju sultans in Darfur. Perhaps Uri became the commercial city or center whilst Jebel Marra became a political capital by the end of the 13th century. By the 16th century, however, Darfur had fallen under the suzerainty of a Tunjur, Ahmed el-Maqur. Apparently, for much of this period, the Daju kings were based in a region south of Geneina, Djebel Kadjano. This was likely the period when the "Dagio" were counted among the subjects of Uri, identified by Anania in the late 1500s. An earlier, smaller Daju presence in Sila to the west is hinted at by Berre, and claimed by Tunjur tradition in Kanem. 

In summation, the data provided by Berre is intriguing and provocative. It raises questions about a tighter chronology through the genealogies provided by the royal court in the colonial era. On the other hand, the names seem difficult to reconcile with what Nachtigal reported. Unfortunately, Nachtigal did not provide complete lists from the data he collected. But from what he reported, it would appear to enumerate different Daju dynasts than the one produced in the 20th century. Further, one Daju prince's list recognized pagan rulers from their Jebel Marra period. When juxtaposed with the medieval Arabic sources, the traditions nonetheless corroborate a possible Daju presence at Uri as well as their base in Jebel Marra. Relations with Kanem in the 13th century, particularly during and after the reign of Dunama Dibalemi, were potentially a source of friction in which the Daju rulers moved further away, building a new political center in Jebel Marra. 

Faras Gallery

We came across a fascinating video showing some of the beautiful works of art recovered from Faras (in Nubia) on Youtube. In the Women of 1000 AD project, the list of sources for Queen Martha included a link to a related video.

Kanem's Eastward Expansion (1200s)

A map of Kanem at its apogee based on a problematic map by Waziri.

One topic in the annals of medieval Kanem that remains poorly understood is the eastward expansion of the 13th century. The eastward expansion likely began during the reign of Dunama Dibalemi (1210-1248, according to the chronology of Lange). Kanem's influence spread as far east as the land of the Tajuwa and Zaghawa. However, the nature of this control or influence is not clear. Nor can one easily determine its longevity or the reasons for why the Sayfawa maiwa believed extending this far was a worthwhile endeavor. Fortunately, some clues to the nature of this eastward expansion have been possibly revealed through chemical analysis of beads at the site of Njimi in Kanem. Data from stone ruins in Darfur dated to the era of Daju rule as well as evidence from Christian Nubian provide additional clues.

First, let us begin with the early written sources. The most detailed account from the 13th century, by Ibn Sa'id, draws from the earlier writings of Ibn Fatima. Ibn Fatima traveled to Kanem during the reign of Dunama Dibalemi. Writing later in the 13th century, Ibn Sa'id included the "Zaghawa" and "Tajuwa" as subjects of Kanem's Muslim ruler. Ibn Sa'id's brief description of this vast region is unfortunately limited, one can make some sense of it. The Zaghawa, who lived east of Manan (in Kanem) were said to be mostly subjects of Kanem. Tajuwa, said to be the capital of the Zaghawa, adopted Islam and accepted Kanem's suzerainty. Yet, later on, Ibn Sa'id wrote that the Tajuwiyyin were pagans who were refractory to the sultan of Kanem and kept to the deserts and mountainous terrain (Hopkins & Levtzion 189). This confusing account suggests that the land between Kanem and Nubia included Zaghawa and Tajuwiyyin peoples. The latter had a capital where Islam was accepted and the ruler recognized the authority of Kanem's sultan. It is very likely that Ibn Sa'id was also using the 12th century work of al-Idrisi here, particularly in his account of a town called Tajuwa. For al-Idrisi, however, the Tajuwin were pagans who kept camels and were raided by their neighbors (124). One of their towns was Samna, which was raided by the ruler of Bilaq (in Nubia). The news of this attack reached travelers to Kawar, who later related it to al-Idrisi (114). If Ibn Sa'id's muddled narrative is reliable, the town of Tajuwa (the capital of the Daju polity?) included Muslims and recognized Kanem's rule, yet other groups living in the region of Darfur (or its surroundings) were largely autonomous of Kanem or sought to maintain their autonomy.

Besides Ibn Sa'id, other sources merely reemphasize the Tajuwa as a type of "Zaghawa" (Ibn Khaldun) or, in the case of al-Maqrizi, add a few details. The latter wrote of a place called Tukama at the beginning of Taju land. Word of the Taju's penchant for working in stone and their wars against the enigmatic Wathku also reached al-Maqrizi in Egypt (354). Putting together all the aforementioned external Arabic sources, one can surmise that medieval Islamic geographers from the north saw the Taju as a branch of the Zaghawa. In addition, they lived between Kanem and Nubia and included Muslims among their pagan population. In the 13th century, some recognized the authority of Kanem while those living near deserts or the mountainous, rugged terrain, were able to at least resist Kanem's oversight. When one considers the vast distance between Darfur and Kanem and the rough terrain, outright military conquest was unlikely. Thus, it is perhaps more logical to see Kanem's interests in this region as one of securing an eastern trade route. Besides this trade route, occasional raiding outside of a small tributary zone may have been a common feature. Consequently, the "town of Tajuwa" with its Muslims may have been linked to the trade route while the rest of the area was very loosely controlled by Tajuwa.

A map of Africa based on Ibn Sa'id in Cuoq, Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale du VIIIe au XVIe siècle).

In the absence of internal written sources from the 13th century, one must look to oral traditions and archaeology for further detail. Gustav Nachtigal, who traveled to Darfur and Wadai in the 19th century, collected oral traditions everywhere he visited. In the Sula kingdom ruled by a Daju dynasty, Nachtigal saw a list given by a prince which enumerated 21 rulers (Nachtigal 81). Another list of kings that Nachtigal saw included 13 Daju kings, 13 Tunjur kings and 22 Keira (Fur) sultans. Yet another list gave 5 Daju kings and 25 Tunjur and Keira rulers. The first Daju king was called Gitar (272). This early Daju kingdom in the Darfur region was based in Jebel Marra (273). On the other hand, Nachtigal was also told that the first Daju ruler was named Kosber, who lived in Debba. And in the first list of 21 Daju sultans Nachtigal received from a Sula prince, 6 were said to have been pagans based at Jebel Marra. These Daju kings were said to have controlled Darfur until the Tunjur, Ahmed el-Maqur, seized power (274). Based on Nachtigal and subsequent authors, O'Fahey's study of the Darfur Sultanate endeavored to use all known traditions on the Daju and Tunjur kings of Darfur to reconstruct a more coherent chronology. O'Fahey was able to locate written sources that allude to a Tunjur dynasty in Darfur by the 16th century (O'Fahey 31). Furthermore, the Daju title for a chief, shartay, survived in Darfur among the Keira sultans (37). This roughly suggests that the Daju kings in Darfur rose to power sometime before the 1500s, probably in the 1100s or 1200s.

In terms of archaeological evidence from Darfur, Andrew James McGregor has produced the detailed work to date. According to McGregor, the Daju rose to power in the 12th or 13th century (McGregor 34). The Daju were the Taju pagans of al-Idrisi, with only 2 towns. Moreover, al-Tunisi apparently believed the Daju were one of the 5 aboriginal Wadai groups 40). Yet as a polity, the Daju kingdom was remembered in Tunjur tradition for primarily subsisting on raiding its neighbors (47). Intriguingly, McGregor found a manuscript source that assigned the arrival of the Daju to Sila to 1692 (39). This date, however, must be too late since Tunjur oral traditions in Kanem contradict it. According to Gros, who studied Tunjur oral tradition in Kanem, the father of the Tunjur ruler, Daoud el Mireim, Omar, had subdued the Daju of Sila (Gros 274). If so, and Daoud el Mireim was the last Tunjur ruler of Wadai, then the Tunjur dynasty there would have conquered the Daju of Sila (Sula) by the early 1600s if not late 16th century. In other words, a Daju presence in Sila (Sula) likely predates the 17th century. Anania's late 16th century description of a polity in Darfur called Uri, presumably the Tunjur dynasty's capital or commercial town, included Dagio (Daju) among its subjects (Anania 343). 

So, based on oral traditions and written sources, we know there was a Daju polity in the Darfur region by the 13th century. It was said to have been based on Jebel Marra and likely raided neighboring groups in Darfur and perhaps further afield. Although the early rulers were said to be pagans, Ibn Sa'id believed that Tajuwa, the capital or principal town, was a Muslim city. Since the kingdom of Makuria allegedly raided one of the Daju towns in the 12th century, it is possible the polity had also disrupted a trade route or attacked parts of Kordofan closer to the Christian kingdom. Overall, sadly, it is difficult to reconcile the sources on this enigmatic polity. Yet it's rather loose administrative structure and reliance on raiding may be clues for a weak polity. If this was the case, why was Kanem interested in conquering this region?

Recent archaeological evidence and chemical analysis of artifacts found at the probable site of Njimi may provide the answer. The article "LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Tié (12th–14th centuries), Kanem, Chad: Evidence of trans-Sudanic exchanges" noted that the chemical composition of beads at Njimi were more similar to medieval beads found in eastern African sites than those of West Africa. While not the best smoking gun, this pecularity for medieval Kanem suggests that most of its beads were ultimately derived from the same sources of Eurasian beads that arrived in places along the Swahili Coast, southeastern Africa or the Red Sea coasts of Africa. This pattern, so different from sites in West Africa in the 10th-15th centuries, implies that Kanem was ultimately part of the Indian Ocean network that brought high alumina soda glass beads to eastern African sites. Since these types of beads were not common west of Kanem, despite trade routes through the Fazzan connecting western Africa to the Mediterranean, one must wonder if Kanem accessed the beads through a separate route to Egypt or Nubia. While further confirmation of the analysis of glass bead chemical composition in Makuria and Alwa is necessary, it is possible this eastward route from Kanem connected to the Red Sea/Indian Ocean networks through Nubia (or Egypt). Possible indications of a route to Nubia may be found in the analysis of beads at Soba, the capital of Alwa. In Soba, 20 high alumina beads of Indian origin were part of a study of 23 glass beads.

Besides the data from chemical analysis of glass beads, studies of cattle remains suggest Makuria imported cattle from the west. According to "The cattle factor. Faunal evidence for the study of social and economic processes in the medieval Middle Nile Valley. Sudan" by Marta Osypińska and Mariusz Drzewiecki, Makuria imported long-horned cattle from the west, probably the Central Sahel or Kordofan. Their analysis of faunal remains suggests that Alwa practiced a more conservative livestock farming based on ancient Kush while Makuria may have imported as much as 1/4 of its cattle from the west. While there is no evidence for Kanem playing any role in supplying cattle from the Central Sahel to Nubia (Makuria), it is possible that both Kanem and Makuria had an interest in secure trade routes through Kordofan and Darfur. This facilitated access to Egypt (and Nubia) for Kanem while the Christian Nubian kingdoms could be guaranteed of some security for trade routes through Darfur to Kawar and North Africa. Evidence from Nubian graffito writings or inscriptions found in Kordofan, such as one attesting to King Siti and likely from the 1330s, likewise demonstrate Makuria's interests in Kordofan and perhaps Darfur to the west. 

In summation, Kanem's eastward expansion in the 13th century was likely related to economic interests that likely included access to Indian Ocean networks via Nubia (and/or Egypt). While the northern, trans-Saharan route through Kawar and the Fazzan to the Maghreb and Egypt was still very important, the unique chemical composition of beads found at medieval Njimi suggest the use of an alternative route for at least beads. Since the Daju polity of the 13th century was possibly decentralized and divided, Kanem may have been able to expand its influence and promote an Islamic community of traders at the town of Tajuwa, likely somewhere near the Daju polity's base in Jebel Marra. Direct control or tribute-raising on much of the region would have been difficult due to the Zaghawa and Daju "pagans" who used the deserts and mountains to resist Kanem. Nonetheless, for the region to retain its significance to Kanem's rulers, Kanem may have engaged with the Daju polity for more security of the trade routes that led to Nubia (or Egypt). The possible evidence of a Nubian use of this trade route, or at least use by Muslim traders from Makuria and Alwa who also traded with the lands west of the Nile, can be seen in the cattle imports from the Sahel in Makuria. Furthermore, Makuria's rulers raiding a Daju town in the 12th century may be due to their raiders disrupting trade passing through the region. Lastly, the chemical composition of several beads at Soba, the capital of Alwa, resemble those of Njimi in Kanem. This may be due to interest in Makuria and Alwa in maintaining the trade routes to the west. Although any evidence for direct engagement between Kanem and the Christian Nubian states is lacking, Muslim traders active in all three kingdoms may have been the link.

Bibliography

Courtecuisse, L (editor). Les Arabes du Tchad. Paris: Centre de hautes études administratives sur l’Afrique et l’Asie modernes, 1971.

Hopkins, J. F. P., and Nehemia Levtzion (editors). Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2000.

Lange, Dierk, and Silvio Berthoud.  "L'intérieur de l'Afrique occidentale d'après Giovanni Lorenzo Anania (XVIe siècle)". Cahiers d'histoire mondiale, 14, no. 2 (1972): 299-351.

Magnavita, S., MacDonald, B. L., Magnavita, C., & Oga, A. (2024). LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Tié (12th–14th centuries), Kanem, Chad: Evidence of trans-Sudanic exchanges. Archaeometry, 66(1), 100–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12898

McGregor, Andrew James. The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan (dissertation). University of Toronto, 2000.

Nachtigal, Gustav, Allan G. B. Fisher, and Humphrey J (trans.). Fisher. Sahara and Sudan, Vol. 4. Berkeley and; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971.

O’Fahey, R. S. 2008. The Darfur Sultanate : A History. New York: Columbia University Press.

Osypińska, Marta, and Mariusz Drzewiecki. 2024. “The Cattle Factor. Faunal Evidence for the Study of Social and Economic Processes in the Medieval Middle Nile Valley. Sudan.” Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 55 (April): 104513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104513.

Then-Obłuska, J., & Dussubieux, L. (2023). Overseas imports on the Blue Nile: Chemical compositional analysis of glass beads from Soba, Nubia. Archaeometry, 65(5), 1018–1031. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12863

Christianity in the Sudan

Giovanni Vantini's Christianity in the Sudan is a dated work which, by and large, is mainly about Christian Nubia. Heavily based on the corpus of "Oriental" sources (plus some European ones) Vantini published, much of the text is like reading that compilation with some narrative commentary. It was a refresher for certain points in the history of medieval Nubia that we have forgotten about, but without any deeper investigation of the source materials, rather limited. Fortunately, advances by archaeologists and studies of Old Nubian and other textual sources has shed more light on the nature of the Nubian political system, economic structure, and religion. For instance, Dotawo is now more widely accepted as being the same state as Makuria. Sadly, Alwa, in Upper Nubia, remains a mystery in Vantini's text, but that is no surprise given the year this work was published (1980). More intriguingly for those interested in the later centuries of medieval Nubia, one can find here useful Western sources on Nubia and some important references to the Vatican's attempts to replant the Christian seed in Nubia. Some of this correspondence even touches upon the Kwararafa south of Borno, confusingly believed by some Europeans in Tripoli to have been Christians. Last, but certainly not least, some European sources also alluding to the survival of Christianity in pockets of Nubia as late as the 1740s suggest fruitful areas of research for scholars interested in Christian traces in Nubian culture. Some observations noted here on possible areas of Christian Nubian influence in Kordofan and Darfur also suggest medieval Nubian kingdoms really did exert some degree of influence to the west of the Nile...Indeed, the place name in the Dilling area mentioned in the famous Tabaqat may be further evidence of this.

Tabaqat and Sudanic Africa

MacMichael's abridged translation of the Tabaqat in A History of the Arabs in the Sudan and Some Account of the People who Preceded Them and of the Tribes Inhabiting Dárfūr, Volume 2 is outdated and probably riddled with errors. That said, it is, to our knowledge, the most complete English translation of a major source on the history of the Islamic holymen of the Funj Sultanate. Written in the early 1800s by Muhammad wad Dayf Allah, it contains rich biographies loaded with anecdotes, stories, miracles, and portraits of the lives of major figures in Sudanese Islam since the 16th century. Moreover, some of the biographies illustrate the Islamic ties to Kordofan, Darfur, Borno, Wadai, Hausaland, the Maghreb, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and more. Let us take a closer look at some of these ties to Sudanic Africa

First of all, it is interesting to note that one of the major founding figures associated with Sufism in Sudan was Tag El Din Bahari, a native of Baghdad (in the translation of MacMichael, his full name is given as Muhammad El Bahari Tag El Din El Baghdadi). He arrived in the Sudan after completing the pilgrimage and is frequently mentioned in the text for his students and acolytes. There is no evidence of contacts for this Sufi teacher and al-Baghdadi of Air, yet one cannot help but notice the presence of two Iraqi Sufis of major import in both the Air region and in the Funj Sultanate in the 16th century. Given the evidence of later contacts by the 1600s between the Eastern Sudan and Central Sudan, one should delve deeper into the history of Sufism and Eastern influences on its practices in Air, Hausaland, and Borno, possibly tracing signs of influence or exchange with the domain of the Funj rulers. 

Additional signs of contact with the Central Sudan can be seen in the case of Muhammad ibn Adlan el Shaf'ai El Hoshabi, said to have done missionary work in Borno and Hausaland (256). Alas, there is no precise date given to make sense of the chronology of his time in the Central Sudan. Yet we know from Krump's account of his travels in the Sudan, that caravans including Borno and Fezzan Sufis and travelers were going to the Funj Sultanate. Thus, by the early 18th century, it was at least not unheard of for Sufis to travel between the Fezzan and Borno and the Sinnar Sultanate in caravans. Indeed, one of the holymen included in the Tabaqat was allegedly from the Fezzan, Abdulla el Sherif (227). In fact, some of the holymen of Funj kingdom even studied under West Africans in eastern lands. For instance, Khogali ibn Abd el Rahman ibn Ibrahim studied in Medina under Sheikh Ahmad el Tabankatawi el Fellati (250). The latter, whose precise origins are unclear in MacMichael's translation, was probably from the Western or Central Sudan but established in Medina, where he was an influential scholar of Islamic studies. Amusingly, MacMichael translates the anecdote of Khogali ibn Abd el Rahman ibn Ibrahim stopping Bukr of Darfur from attacking Sennar by striking him with his rod (251).

Additional holymen from the Funj sultanate who traveled to western lands included Abu Surur El Fadli, who taught in Darfur and was murdered in Wadai by his concubines (229). Likewise, Abu Zayd ibn el Sheikh Abd el Kadir traveled to Darfur and Borku during the reign of Sultan Ya'akub, said to have ruled in Wadai from 1681-1701 and to have lost a war with Ahmad Bukr of Darfur (281). Last, but certainly not least, Hasan ibn Hasuna ibn El Haj Musa, who died in 1664, was a wealthy holyman who owned many slaves and livestock. He was said to have traded many horses to Tekali, Borku and Darfur (244). This last individual's trading ventures establishes the tie between commerce and religion as well as the significance of the horse trade with areas far to the west of the Nile. Undoubtedly, the expansion of Muslim-ruled states in Darfur and Wadai favored this economic, cultural, and religious exchange with both the Funj Sultanate and Borno. Alas, the absence of a Tabaqat for Borno, Kanem, Wadai and Darfur makes it harder to explore these connections and movements that entailed commerce, Sufism, and Islamic scholarship. 

Modern Analogies and Medieval Nubia

Ali Osman's Economy and trade of medieval Nubia is premised on the notion of continuity across Nubian history. With this probably fair assumption, his thesis proceeds to explore possible mechanisms and systems of economics and exchange in Nubia based on analogous practices in modern Nubia. This can be justified by the, again, probably fair, conclusion that relations with their environment, technology, and rural/village systems of land proprietorship and lineages have not changed drastically until the 20th century. While Osman is undoubtedly correct to point to the necessity of using contemporary Nubian ethnographic and linguistic evidence to make sense of Christian Nubia, his analogous model does veer a little too far by attempting to compare Nubia's river trade of the early 20th century to the organization of trade 1000 years ago. Again, the environment hasn't changed that much and there undoubtedly was much continuity at the village level (at least) from the Christian period through post-Christian kingdoms. But, one suspects that the impact of religion and the gradual shift to Islam may have introduced more changes in social, economic, spiritual, and political features than we think. Despite some similarities between the state of Kokka, for instance, and medieval Nubia, the practice of Islam and changes in the "superstructure" of society may have introduced or led to other changes on the micro-level. Despite our own hesitations about some of the study's conclusions, it was fascinating to read Osman's personal, autobiographic details. Indeed, oral traditions of his own lineage identify a Christian ancestor who lived several centuries ago! And the author's comments about official versus popular trade seem reasonable. 

Nubia Under the Pharaohs

Bruce Trigger's Nubia Under the Pharaohs is a brief study of the relations between Egypt and its southern neighbor from the Early Dynastic Period to the rise of the Napatan Kushite kingdom. As one can expect, a study such as this relies heavily on archaeological surveys, excavations and inscriptions to make sense of Pharaonic Egypt's interests and subjugation of Nubia. However, Trigger's publication is rather outdated by now, and reflects older scholarship's occasionally problematic racial framework. For instance, Egyptian attitudes about the southerners during the period of the New Kingdom empire are compared to the attitudes of Europeans about black Africans during the period of European colonial rule in Africa. Sure, Egyptian inscriptions recorded during the zenith of their empire in Nubia reflected their self-serving narrative but one wonders to what extent it was any different from Egyptian attitudes about their Levantine subjects. In addition, "brown" populations in Lower Nubian are distinguished from the "negroid" populations further south in a way that racializes the population history of Nubia. This does not seem particularly helpful, especially given the wide-ranging ties between Lower Nubia and Upper Nubia since prehistoric times. Indeed, the widely-shared C-Group characteristics as well as the presence of Pan-Grave burials (in addition to Egyptian imports and Egyptian-styled graves) point to a heterogeneous population in which "race" as we see it today should not be imposed. 

Despite these aforementioned "issues" and being somewhat dated, Trigger's study does suggest some ideas about how and why "Egyptianization" in Nubia became so influential and enduring. While influences from predynastic Upper Egypt appear already in the A-Group culture of Lower Nubia, the less favorable agricultural conditions in that section of Nubia may have limited the development of states or stratified societies. Nonetheless, populations in Lower Nubia were able to enjoy imported manufactured products from Egypt in exchange for African products desired by the Egyptian royal court and luxury markets in the Near East. Acting as middlemen between the powerful Egyptian state to the north and southern territories like Yam (Iam, assuming it was indeed in the area that later became known as Kerma), Lower Nubian groups appear to have enjoyed a degree of prosperity in the Old Kingdom period. However, Middle Kingdom Egyptian expansion, which included fortifications at key sites along the Nile to protect trade routes and access to gold, removed the need for Nubian middlemen in this next phase of Egyptian relations with Nubia. Nonetheless, a powerful state centered at Kerma, Kush, was able to prosper and during the Second Intermediate Period, even trade with the Hyksos in Lower Egypt profitably. Kerma expansion to the Egyptian frontier made them a potent state whose rulers were interred in large burials featuring human sacrifice on an impressive scale. Undoubtedly, Kerma was a power with access to Egyptian and Near Eastern products as well as some of the amenities and features of pharaonic civilization (the adoption or use of hieroglyphics is inferred from an Upper Egyptian ruler intercepting a letter from the Hyksos ruler to the Kerma king). 

The New Kingdom era, however, ushered in the most extensive period of Egyptian rule. Extending to at least the 4th Cataract, the New Kingdom pharaohs sponsored more fortifications, Egyptian settlements, gold mining operations, trade expeditions with the south, and Egyptian settlements. Egyptianization took on a new dimension as local elites (which included some descendants of the Kerma rulers as well as local headmen who had probably enjoyed a degree of status and power under Kerman rule) were sometimes sent to Egypt for education and adopted Egyptian burial styles, ritual worship and other traits. To what extent the population of Nubia was reduced to serving as peasant labor for estates of temples or serving the Pharaohs for mining or military service is unclear. According to Trigger, Egyptianization here was so heavily promoted because the Egyptians had little respect for local institutions and cultures in Nubia while also eager to fill the void left by the fall of Kush with more "advanced" Egyptian administrative, economic, and religious features. We find it hard to imagine the kingdom at Kerma was so lacking in establishing an administrative framework but perhaps the Egyptians wanted to efface the old system of Kush, especially since occasional rebellions in Upper Nubia continued to arise that may have preferred the Kushite state system. Regardless of the extent to which Egyptianization was more heavily promoted in Nubia than in the Levant, after 500 years, one can see why the Napatan-Meroitic civilization that emerged after Egyptian colonial occupation may have borrowed heavily from pharaonic civilization as a framework for the administration of an state that encompassed all of Nubia.

Meroe as a Sudanic State

The Archaeology of the Meroitic State: New perspectives on its social and political organisation by David N. Edwards is an interesting, yet short read. Arguing in favor of the Meroitic state (and perhaps during its Napatan phase and even the state of Kerma) as a Sudanic one resembling medieval and early modern states like the Darfur Sultanate, Borno, and the Funj or Sinnar Sultanate, Edwards believes the Meroitic state must be reconceived. Although the impact of Egyptian civilization and influences is undeniable in Kush, the role of the environment and archaeological evidence suggests the Meroitic state was founded upon different principles than that of Egypt. 

Instead of the control of production with ample surpluses, Nubia, especially Lower Nubia before the adoption of the waterwheel or saqia by the 300s, the kingdom was likely a segmentary state with the power of the rulers based on "trade" and warfare. In this case, the Meroitic rulers controlled "trade" or exchange with the North and through a redistribution network to provincial elites, controlled other provinces (loosely). The state's military capacity was likely also significant since military force and raiding could ensure a supply of locally valuable commodities (like livestock) and, through subjugated territories, access to gold, ivory, slaves, and other valuable exports to the north. 

Much of the book tries to fit Lower Nubia into this model, based on analyses of settlement patterns and data from cemeteries or burials. While much work remains to be done, if Lower Nubia's population truly was so low during this period of Meroitic "resettlement," then the theory of Edwards that these settlements were likely oriented to continue or ensure central government control of the routes to trade with Egypt for Mediterranean or Near Eastern prestige goods (later redistributed through the royally-controlled distribution network across the state). Thus, Meroe's "fall" in the 4th century may have had more to do with the loss of control of northern trade from the royal court, eventually leading to provincial elites severing ties while Blemmyes and Nobadaes settled in Lower Nubia in larger numbers. Since we don't know enough about the Meroitic state in relation to its core area (where it presumably exerted far more direct control and was better able to tap into local production and control access to water sources), one wonders about the core of the state's productive capacity for locally produced prestige goods. Despite the limited evidence from archaeology and our inability to read Meroitic inscriptions, the idea of the Meroitic state being "Sudanic" is an interesting hypothesis.

Playing With Languages

Although linguistics is an area of study we hardly understand, perusing the works of Claude Rilly on Meroitic and Nubian Languages, as well as the chapter by Murray Last in Becoming Hausa that includes the notion of a Coptic influence on Hausa suggestive of an early Copt presence or traders in that region, sparked our own amateurish attempts to find links between distant African languages. Using English or French bilingual dictionaries for Hausa, Coptic, Old Nubian, Kanuri, and the Zaghawa languages, we pretended we could discover possible links that connect the Middle Nile with the Central Sudanic regions of Hausaland and Kanem-Borno. Of course, since we don't really know what we're doing, most of this is difficult to say and rather difficult to prove without a much deeper understanding of Egyptian, Kanuri, Hausa, Meroitic and Zaghawa languages. 

First, the fascinating notion of Rilly that the Meroitic qore title for the king, being adopted by several other societies in Sudan. Well, this very title, sometimes presented as qere in other studies of the Meroitic language, bears a close resemblance to the archaic Zaghawa or Beria word for king, kire (or kireh) While we need further research on the Zaghawa and related Saharan languages of the the Nilo-Saharan family, the Zaghawa associated with the early state of Kanem called their kings KAKRH in the unvocalized Arabic rendering of al-Ya'qu'bi in the late 9th century. While several centuries separate early Kanem from the Napatan-Meroitic civilization, perhaps the Zaghawa, who were mobile and probably interacted in some fashion or another with the Nubian civilizations, borrowed the term from the Meroitic language because of the prestige and influence of Meroe on other Sudanic peoples. In addition, the etymology of the Meroitic word for king, according to Rilly's research, is traced to what he considers the Meroitic term for head. Well, the Zaghawa kire has no link to their word for head, although kire can be used for an older sibling. Ultimately, in our opinion, a possible Meroitic origin for the titles of early Kanem kings is suggestive, perhaps linking, in some fashion, the Meroitic civilization with the rise of other kingdoms in western Sudan and Chad. If early Kanem and its Zaghawa rulers adopted the Meroitic title, what else was possibly influenced by ancient Nubia in Kanem-Borno?

Besides the possible Meroitic origin of the early titles of Kanem rulers, Hausa and Coptic is another interesting relationship. While we failed to find, in our amateurish attempt, significant connections between Coptic and Hausa, it is a little easier to understand how Hausa (and Chadic) are classified as Afro-Asiatic languages. For instance, the Hausa word for palace, fada, is similar to the Egyptian pharaoh. We believe this connection is due to both words being rooted in the following two words: "big house."  The Hausa term for sin, zunubi, almost looks like the Coptic term for sin, too (ⲛⲟⲃⲉ). Indeed, the Hausa term for king, or sarki, which almost resembles the Egyptian špsj and srḫ or serekh. Other speculative and or possible links between Hausa and Egyptian or Coptic can be seen in their respective words for moon, weave, some numbers, and, perhaps, the Hausa and Egyptian words for towns (birni and dmj. It is likely that most of these similarities stretch back deeper in time to the Afroasiatic roots of Hausa and Ancient Egyptian, instead of influences from the Coptic on Hausa in medieval times. Who knows, perhaps the famous bori cult of the Hausa has a common origin with the term ba in Egyptian.  

It is also likely that the Kanuri influences on Hausa, which could be the origin of the term birni, included other words of Nilo-Saharan languages as well as Berber via the Sahara. Intriguingly, the Kanuri equivalent to write, borrowed by Hausa, may be of Berber origin instead of Egyptian or Nubian, yet not from the Tuareg Berbers. What this means is unclear, but we think it very likely that the Zaghawa were possibly influenced by or interacted with speakers of the ancient Meroitic language. Murray's theory of a Coptic influence on Hausa or a traceable Coptic linguistic presence in Hausaland seems unlikely, though. Indeed, most of the similarities were probably due to both languages sharing a common root as Afroasiatic tongues. Nonetheless, we are fascinated by a possible Meroitic linguistic influence in western Sudan and Chad, although far more work needs to be done on the various languages spoken in the region. 

The Miracle of Saint Mena

A nice overview of a medieval Old Nubian text, The Miracle of St. Mena. Although the text is short, the message of the work must have meant something to a medieval Nubian audience and readers. One thing that stood out to us was the failure of the boatman or sailor to do his part by taking the egg to the church of St. Mena. By not doing what he promised, he made it harder for the woman to accept Christianity and convert. One can see the relationship between fertility or having children and Christian devotion was also relevant here, bringing to mind a Coptic custom which involved using a relic of a saint's body in the Nile to ensure it will flood. So, the unnamed woman here, eager to have children, turns to the St. Mena and Christianity and finds herself, her servants, and her livestock producing many children. The other intriguing thing about this short the depiction of St. Mena as a warrior, possibly a sign of the appeal of such saints to Medieval Nubia. 

Fazughli Ramblings

While perusing the sources on the Wikipedia page for the Kingdom of Fazughli, I saw some interesting things. If Fazughili really was founded by people from Alodia who left during its decline or after the Funj conquest, I wonder if some of the observations from 19th century travelers or ethnographers could be useful. For instance, Alfred Peney, who visited Fazughli in the 19th century, contrasted the Hamaj of the plains with the mountaineers. However, none of the area seems particularly Muslim or devout, since they ate pork and did not pray or fast for Ramadan. In terms of religion, they appear to have possessed animal cults with special ceremonies for elephants, cows, dogs and other species. Indeed, Peney described on specific ritual involving the king and a dog during the sowing season. This ceremony involved the sacrifice of the dog at the end. Yet, according to Peney and Pierre Tremaux, the Fazughli meks were descendants of Alwa. 

Spaulding and other scholars still believe that the Fazughli rulers were, at least initially, Christians. They even endeavored to receive Catholic priests from the Franciscans in Sennar and prior to that, had Ethiopian priests. Spaulding also cited Bruce for a reference to a Christian polity that survived until the late 1700s in the area, but the short list of kings written by Frédéric Cailliaud seems to indicate meks with Muslim names by the end of the 1600s. That makes sense and is in accord with the c.1685 date for Sennar's conquest of Fazughli. The rest of listed meks often had short reigns and some were killed by successors or came to power long after their fathers died. 

To what extent can Fazughli really be seen as the successor of Alodia? Perhaps in its gold and the trade between Ethiopia and Nubia. If they traded gold for food and other goods from Sennar (and probably Alodia before the Funj Sultanate) also traded with Ethiopia (and hints of this can be seen in the Portuguese reports of Nubians who were once Christian and having much gold) then Fazughli probably played a similar role before the fall of Alodia. The Nubians who were the target of a planned campaign by the Bahr Negash, who were only 5-6 days travel away from his domains, were possibly Nubians living in the Fazughli region already in the early decades of the 1500s. These same Nubians may have also been the ones who requested priests from the Ethiopian emperor, as detailed in the narrative of Francisco Alvares. Nubian Christians were probably already living or trading with the Fazughli region for centuries and, once a group of them did establish a kingdom there, they were a minority who lacked the necessary clergy (and perhaps force) to spread Christianity. Thus, they relied on the Ethiopians, although Krump saw their priests as ineffective. By the end of the 17th century, the Funj conquered Fazughli by c.1685, making Christianity even less likely to persist. But that would have made little difference to most of the population, who became nominal Muslims or were never Christian to begin with. 

The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia

Derek Welsby's The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia: Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile is a great synthesis of archaeology and historical studies on a period of over 1000 years in Nubia. Beginning with the late Meroitic period and post-Meroitic period, better represented in northern Nubia, Welsby outlines the entire history of Medieval Nubia from the emergence of Nobadia, Alwa and Makuria to the spread of Christianity and their eventual decline in the late Christian period by the end of the 15th century. Sadly, Lower Nubia is better represented by archaeological surveys and excavations and northern Nubian towns like Qasr Ibrim possessed more favorable conditions for the preservation of records. Thus, most of the book is really on the kingdoms of Nobadia and Makuria (both as independent states in the post-Meroitic period and as a unified kingdom). Alwa, the lesser known southern kingdom said to have been wealthier in some of the medieval Arabic sources, remains a mysterious entity but one that may, with future archaeological excavations at Soba and other sites, potentially elucidate the relationship of medieval Christian Nubia with African societies to the east, west and south. 

The main theme, if one can be selected for this detailed work, is that of continuity. Viewing Nubia through the lens of continuity beginning with the Kushite kingdom does suggest that Nubia, despite experiencing obvious historical changes and transformations, remains a civilizational unit defined by geography and culture. Indeed, even the Christian states which emerged by the 6th century were, during phases of the post-Meroitic period, preserving the Meroitic script and continuing to use and worship at Kushite temples or the temple of Isis at Philae. That said, the spread of the waterwheel and the adoption of Christianity changed the nature of worship while also continuing Nubia's ties to Coptic, Byzantine and Eastern Christian influences. But even that development can be partly traced to the Meroitic era, when Kush was closely connected to the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. Indeed, Greek became an important language for inscriptions of Nobadian and Blemmye rulers in the 5th and 6th centuries  as these peoples became federates of the Roman Empire in the turbulent 5th century. Intriguingly, the archaeological evidence does not support a large-scale migration along the Middle Nile of Blemmyes or Noubades, suggesting that the bulk of the population in medieval Nubia were likely descendants of the population already living in the region for millennia. In fact, Welsby even finds evidence of this development in the post-Christian period, when Makuria and Alwa fragmented and the formal Church disappeared. Even then, after centuries, some Christian-derived traits persisted in Nubia.

Viewed through the lens of continuity, one begins to wonder if the political fragmentation of Nubia into 3 then later 2 kingdoms mirrored the political fragmentation of the declining Meroitic phase. Can one see similarities in terms of the Meroitic state's northern officials and those of Makuria with regard to the eparchs in Qasr Ibrim? And to what extent was the Kushite kingdom's relations with societies to the east, west and south similar to arrangements which characterized the medieval Nubian kingdoms? Certainly, the medieval Nubians were interested in trade through the oases to the north and west, but was this actually a major route connecting the Nubian states to societies in Darfur or further west? And what to make of the Beja polities to the east, which, according to some Arabic sources, were Christians and aligned with the Nubians? One wonders if Nubia may have had access to goods from the west and south by acting as a middleman between the Red Sea ports of Aidhab and Suakin to the kingdoms further west, like Kanem. And what, if any, were the connections between medieval Nubia and Ethiopia? The Coptic sources suggest Nubia on at least one occasion (Makuria's ruler?) intervened to request the Patriarch to send another metropolitan to Ethiopia. Were the kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia also serving as routes for Ethiopian pilgrims traveling to Egypt and the Holy Land, as suggested by Ge'ez texts in medieval Egyptian sites? And to what extent were the peoples south of Alwa, despite not being Christianized, participating in trans-Sudanic trade like the Shilluk of later centuries?

Medieval Nubia Timeline (Work in Progress)

Important dates and events in the history of Medieval Nubia, drawn largely from Vantini’s Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia and Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Welsby’s work was also of pivotal importance. We may add additional dates for the Funj period and for what can be dated in Ethiopia, Egypt and Darfur.

-c. 739–656 BCE: Kushites rule as 25th dynasty of Egypt

-342 BCE: Nectanebo flees to Nubia after Persian conquest of Egypt

-200s BCE: Nubai lived to west of the Nile in separate kingdoms, not under the Meroites

-285-246 BCE: Reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Egypt, contemporary of Arkamani (Ergamenes in Diodorus Siculus), Kushite king said to have been Hellenized and centered in Meroe

-274 BCE: Aithiopian Expedition of Ptolemy II of Egypt

-205-186 BCE: Revolt in Upper Egypt of Horwennefer and his successor

-30 BCE: Revolt in Upper Egypt

-25-22 BCE: Meroe and Rome at war, conflict ends with a treaty between Queen Amanirenas and -Roman Empire establishing the border between Roman Egypt and the Kushite state for centuries

-c.61-63: Roman reconnaissance expedition to Meroe sent by Emperor Nero, possibly during the coregency of Natakamani and Amanitore

-80-90: Acts of the Apostles possibly written, including the tale of the Ethiopian eunuch of the Candace of Meroe who became a Christian 

-Roman conflict with Troglodytes, Aithiopians, in c.82

-c.200: Pestilence in Nubia prevented entry of Septimus Severus 

-c.240 Meroitic rule in Dodecaschoenus around AD 240

-250-253: spread of a pestilence that began in Nubia

-253: Teqorideamani was reigning in Meroe

-Late 200s: According to Procopius ,the Noba lived in the oases to the west of the Nile before entering Lower Nubia

-280: Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus liberates Coptos and Ptolemais from barbarian servitude to the Blemmyes, bringing some Blemmyes to Rome as captives

-291: Roman source mentions war between Meroe and the Blemmyes

-297: Revolt of Lucius Domitius Domitianus in Egypt

-297/298: Roman victory over Blemmyes and Meroe

-298: Emperor Diocletian cedes territory south of First Cataract

-320s-360: Reign of Ezana of Axum; Aksumite ruler left inscriptions recording battles with the Noba

-336: Eusebius mentions Aithiopians and Blemmyes in Constantinople

-337-338: Flavius Abbineus recorded his interaction with Blemmye federates

-360: Aksum's Nubia campaign (according to Hatke)

-373/374: Blemmyes said to have attacked a monastery in Sinai 

-392-394: Blemmyes had occupied the emerald mines in the Eastern Desert near Kalabsha, according to Epiphanius (monk from Palestine)

-395: Aithiopians attack Syene (Aswan) 

-400s: Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History includes mention of 4th century saint, Moses the Black

-c.410-450: Last known Meroitic inscription (Kharamadoye)

-c.420: Palladius's Lausiac History includes stories of St. Moses the Black

-423: According to Olympiodorus, the Blemmyes occupied five towns in Nile Valley 

-c.425-450: Appion, bishop of Syene region, bemoaned to the Roman emperors the attacks by Blemmyes and Anoubades

-c.450: Tantanti, phylarch of the Anouba, received letters in Coptic, one of which suggests he may have been Christian

-451: Council of Chalcedon

-452: Romans retaliate and defeat the Nubians and Blemmyes 

-480-490: Latest royal burial of a Nobadian king at Ballana 

-Early 500s: King Silko in Nobadia

-c.520: Kaleb of Aksum invades Himyar

-524: Emperor Justin of Rome (Byzantium) proposed to the Aksumite ruler sending Blemmyes and Noubades to assist him against Himyar

-531: Emperor Justinian sought to make the Aithiopians and Homeritae (Himyarites) his allies 

-537: Graffito in Greek carved on the wall of the Temple of Isis at Philae by Theodosios, a Nubian (Nouba)

-c. 543: Mission sent by Empress Theodora reached Nobadia

-550s: Longinus appointed first bishop of Nubia

-559: Eirpanome, king of Nobadia (inscription in Coptic commemorated conversion of the Temple at Dendur into a church in this year, or in 574)

-568: Chronicler John of Biclar noted that the Maccurritae became Christians

-573: Arrival of delegation from Makuria in Constantinople with gifts for the emperor, including elephant tusks and a giraffe

-580: Aksumites in the capital of Alwa

-600s: Monastery of Ghazali in Wadi Abu Dom built

-619: Persians invade Egypt

-628/9: End of Sassanian rule in Egypt

-c.632-34: ‘Aydhâb established

-641/642: Arab invasion of Nubia

-652: According to al-Maqrizi, Nubians raided Upper Egypt and held Aswan and Philae until 652, leading to the baqt; king in Dongola was Qalidurut

-666/667: Uqba b. Nafi allegedly conquers Fazzan and Kawar, imposing tribute payments in slaves

-686-689: Patriarch Isaac of Alexandria wrote letters to the rulers of Abyssinia and Nubia to help resolve a dispute between the two

-c.700: King Mercurios of Makuria named the New Constantine in the Annals of the Coptic Patriarchs

-707: Union of Nobadia and Makuria by this year confirmed by epigraphic evidence; construction of cathedral in Faras 

-710: King Mercurios mentioned on foundation stone of a church in Taifa

-711: Justinian II of Byzantium executes the children of Helias and forces his wife to wed her "Indian" cook (possibly a Nubian or African)

-723-745: Muslim raids on Makuria

-725: Coptic revolt in Egypt

-before 732/33: Wahb b. Munabbih mentioned Nuba, Zanj, Qazan (Fazzan?), Zaghawa, Habasha, Qibt and Barbar as the race of Sudan

-739: Coptic revolt in Egypt

-748: King Cyriacus of Nubia intervened in Egypt after Patriarch Abba Michael was imprisoned by the emir, invaded Egypt with a huge army demanding the release of the patriarch

-mid-700s: King Cyriacus was “Great King” in Makuria, under whom served 13 kinglets

-c.750: death of Eparch Paulos-Kolla

-750: Coptic revolt in Egypt

-758: Letter in Arabic to king of Makuria (probably Cyriacus) about Makuria’s failure to uphold the baqt (accuses Nubian ruler of sending poor quality slaves, and giving refuge to runaway slaves from Egypt)

-762-770: Raids by Muslims against Nubia

-798: Death of Petros, eparch of Nobadia

-796: Birth of Sufi saint of Nubian descent, Dhul-Nun al-Misri

-798: Death of Eparch Petros (tombstone at Old Dongola)

-830-849: Joseph's tenure as Patriarch of Alexandria; Joseph said to have appointed bishops in the Five Cities, Tripoli, and Kairouan

-835: Prince Giorgios of Nubia sent by his son, Zachararias I, to Baghdad to negotiate with the caliph’s court a remittance of the baqt payment (which was now to be paid every three years); Coptic sources indicate that Zacharias had trouble with rebels during this time before sending his son to Baghdad

-835-836: Nubian agent of Makuria who collected taxes on Nubians living in Egypt rebelled against King Giorgios

-c.850: King Johannes said to have reigned from Tilimauara until Philae

-853: Sack of Damietta in Egypt by the Byzantine Empire's navy

-854-855: Beja raid in Upper Egypt; possible around this time that el-Omari fought with the Nubians and Makurian king Giorgios appointed his nephew, Nyuti, to defeat him

-855: al-Qummi sent by the caliph in Baghdad to subdue the Beja

-866-902: First metropolitan of see of Faras was Abba Kyros

-c.868-884: Oases route through Sahara to “Sudan” and “Maghrib” discontinued; route through oases west of Nile once prosperous, with “Rum” (Greeks) and Egyptians and Nubians traveling to the west/Northwest and another route to the Fazzan

-883: Death of Eparch Johannes, eparch of Gaderon and son of the king of Makuria, Zacharias (Zacharias given title Augustus)

-900s: Alwa reported to be more powerful and prosperous than Makuria 

-903: Ibn al-Faqih mentions route used by traders to travel from Egypt to Ghana, which passed through the Wahat Misr (Oases of Egypt) to Marawa, Maranda, Kawkaw (Gao), and Ghana)

-907: Flight of Byzantine Andronikos Doukas, domestikos of the scholai, to Baghdad

-910-915: Abu Mansur Makin raided Nubia

-917: Byzantine embassy arrives in Baghdad

-c.938-955: reign of Asabiyus (Eusebios), son of Juti, in Alwa

-943: el-Masudi reported that Kubra Ibn Surur, king of Dongola, ruled Alwa while Ibn Hawqal reported that the king of Makuria was king of Alwa

-950: Makurian ruler raided oases in Egypt

-c.955: Ibn Hawqal visited Nubia; Astabanus (Stephanos) son of Giorgios king in Alwa

-956: Makuria raided the Oases and attacked Aswan

-960-966: Nubian vizier Kafur ruled Egypt

-962: Nubian raid into Upper Egypt, region said to be tributary to Makuria for several years (W.Y. Adams)

-964: Nubian king marched on Aswan

-969-1171: Fatimid Caliphate based in Egypt

-972: John Tzimiskes's invasion of the Upper Tigris sparked riots in Baghdad, where residents feared a Byzantine invasion of Iraq

-980-1003: During tenure of Patriarch Philotheus, contacts recorded between Ethiopia and the King of the Nubians (King George of Nubia received a letter from Ethiopian ruler, asking for his aid to receive a metropolitan from the Patriarch of Alexandria)

-985: Ibn Selim traveled through Nubia

-Late 900s-early 1000s: Akhbar al-zaman mentions the kingdom of Zaghawa as vast, large and at war with Nubia

-993: Arrival of slaves, an elephant, a giraffe and emissaries in Egypt (part of the baqt with Nubia)

-994: Michael Bourtzes, Byzantine doux of Antioch, defeated by Fatimids

-997: Arabic chronicle mentioned Nubians and Copts among the pilgrims at Santiago de Compostela in Spain

-998: Fatimids defeat Byzantines led by Dalassenos at the Battle of Apamea

-c.999-1015: reign of David in Alwa

-c.1000-1006: Raphael and David reigned as kings of Makuria and Alwa

-1001: Fatimid Caliphate begins truce for ten years with Byantine Empire

1002: King Raphael said to have introduced novelty of brick domes to the buildings of Dongola

-1004-1033: Patriarch John Abdun of Antioch humbled himself to a Nubian monk, Shishi or Sawsana.

-1006: Abu Rakwa, member of Spanish Umayyads, fled to Nubia but given back by the king of Makuria

-1008: Decree of al-Hakim in Egypt allowing Copts who wish to leave the right to go to Byzantine, Nubian, Abyssinian or other territories

-c.1009: Fatimid caliph al-Hakim destroyed Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

-1020s: Basil II's trade embargo prevented trade between the Byzantine Empire and Egypt

-1024: Arrival in Egypt of a "gift" from the Nubian king, consisting of slaves, giraffes, and elephants.

-1029: Jacobite patriarch Yuhannan VIII bar Abdun, pressed in Constantinople to join the Orthodox fold and exiled to Mt. Ganos 

-c.1032/-33: Byzantine raid on the port of Alexandria led by Tekneas

-1036/1037: Death of Bishop Marianos of Pachoras (Faras), buried at Ibrim

-1036-1094: Reign of Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah, the son of a Nubian slave

-1051-52: Fatimid expedition to Nubia that led to doubling of the baqt payments

-1053: Fatimid ruler of Egypt sent a giraffe and an elephant to Constantine IX in Constantinople, possibly as a gift after grain shipments from Byzantium were sent to Egypt during a famine

-1056: Byzantine Empire retakes from the Fatimids the coast south of Antioch and Laodikeia

-1062: Struggle between black and Turkish slaves of the Fatimids reported

-1066: Nasir ed-Dawla raided Nubia but was defeated; clashes between Black and Turk soldiers in Fatimid Egypt

-1069: Inscription at Debeira mentioned the title “admiral supreme”

-1078-1092: Cyril II Patriarch of Alexandria; during his tenure, king Solomon of Nubia (who had abdicated in favor of his nephew, George, to lead a life of asceticism) dies in Cairo 

-1092: Muslim merchant in Soba writes a letter, was there to sell arms to the king of Alodia

-1089: A king Basil attested on the throne of Makuria

-1095: Byzantium's Church declared shared faith with Alexandria

-1106: Birth of future Makuria king Giogios

-1107: Nubian raid on Upper Egypt but then a brother of the king rebels

-1113: Death of Giorgios, archbishop of Old Dongola for 50 years

-1130-1158: Reign of Giorgios in Makuria

-c.1130: Nubia appears in a world map by Hugh of St. Victor

-1132: Giorgios's reign began

-c.1138-1145: Codex Calixtinus includes Nubians among the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela

-c.1149: Venetians dress up a black African in imperial regalia to mock Manuel Komnenos for his dark skin

-c.1150-1200: Byzantine novel Hysmine and Hysminias written, which includes black pirates

-1154: Vizier of Fatimids felt the Nubian threat so strongly that he asked a prominent warrior to take Aswan as a fief and defend it

-1155: Royal Proclamation indicates Moses George was on throne

-c.1155-1190: Reign of Moses George, said to have ruled Alwa and Makuria

-1155: King Moses Giorgios, king of Dotawo, was also Eparch of Palagi

-1161: King of Nubia marched against Aswan with 12,000 horsemen

-Before 1170: al-Idrisi repeated report from travelers to Kawar that Nubia (Makuria) had attacked town of Samnah, of the Taju kingdom bordering Nubia.

-1169: Manuel Komnenos's of Byzantium's failed expedition against Egypt.

-c.1170: Sermon by Samuel Mavropous of Byzantium mentions "Ethiopian" trumpeters alongside Latins performing on the occasion of the birth of Manuel Komnenos's son.

-1172: Makuria attacked Aswan and Upper Egypt; Richard of Poitiers recorded that the king of Nubia makes war on pagan neighbors. Nubians also reported in Jerusalem

-1173: Shams ed-Dawla Turanshah, brother of Saladin, takes Qasr Ibrim

-1173/1174: "Ethiopians" reported to be present at the court of Manuel I of Byzantium

-1177: Aborted campaign on Egypt by Manuel Komnenos of Byzantium and Baldwin IV

-1181-1221: Reign of Lalibela of Zagwe dynasty in Ethiopia

-1182/83: Reynald of Châtillon’s said to have raided Aidhab

-1186: Coptic document from Qasr Ibrim demonstrates that the Nubian king requested a new archbishop of "Aksum" from the Coptic Church authority

-1199: Reign of a Basil in Makuria attested locally

-1203/1204: Nubian ruler on pilgrimage to Holy Land visited Constantinople

-1235: Patriarch of Alexandria refused to send bishops to Nubia due to troubled political situation

-1242: Madrasat in Cairo built by Kanem for pilgrims

-1253: Revolt of the Arabs in Upper Egypt

-1270: Beginning of Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia

-1272: Makuria raids Red Sea port of Aidhab 

-1275: Shekanda, nephew of King David of Nubia, appeals to the Sultan of Egypt for help and replaces David on the throne of Nubia after an invasion from Egypt (after King Dawud had raided area near Aswan)

-1276: Treaty between Mamluks in Egypt and Makuria giving northern part of Maris to Muslim control

-1280: Nubian pilgrims in Holy Land mentioned by Burchard of Mount Sion

-before 1286: Ibn Sa’id al-Maghribi’s Book of Geography, borrowing from lost work, describes Kanem in great detail: King Muhammad, capital of Njimi, old capital was Manan, Kanem ruled over Fezzan, Tajuwa, Kawar, “Zaghawa” east of Manan

-1285/86: Invasion of Nubia from Egypt, ultimately leading to defeat of King Semamun of Nubia and his replacement by a nephew appointed by the invading army from Egypt

-1286: Adur, king of el-Abwab, sent an embassy to the Mamluk sultan

-1289-1290: Muslim invasion of Makuria, king fled Old Dongola (Semamun)

-1291: King Semamun kills king installed by Egypt, restores the baqt agreement with Egypt

-1292: Nubian king gave excuses to sultan of Egypt for nonpayment of baqt

-1298: Sultan al-Malik an-Nāṣir Muḥammad ordered closing of churches in Fustat and Cairo

-1301: Mamluk Sultan passes edict introducing more discrimination against Christians and Jews, extending it as far as Dongola

-1304: Lord of Dongola (King Ayay) brought tribute to the court of the Sultan in Egypt, asks and receives an army to support him in a struggle with unnamed enemies 

-1312: Nuba king brings gifts to the court of Mamluk Egypt (1311 king Kerenbes, who was said to have killed his brother?)

-1314 to 1344: Reign of Amda Seyon in Ethiopia

-1316: Dominican mission to "Ethiopia" (Nubia), Sultan of Egypt sends Abdalla Barshanbo (a nephew of King David) with support of an army to become king of Dongola, replacing Kerenbes but Kenz ad-Dawla eventually becomes King

-1317: Throne Hall in Old Dongola converted into a mosque

-1322: Nubian King in an inscription has the title of Caesar

-1323: Kerenbes seizes throne from Kanz ad-Dawla but is eventually defeated by him 

-1324: Mansa Musa of Mali goes on pilgrimage

-1326: Ruler of Ethiopia sends a threatening message to Mamluk rulers about their persecution of the Copts

-1327-1339: Benjamin patriarch of Alexandria; Ethiopian Ewostatewos met him in Cairo after traveling through Nubia, where he left a favorable impression on the Nubian king

-1330: Bishop Tavoli appointed to Dongola by the Latins

-1331: King Siti attested in Dotawo; Siti's name appeared in an inscription in Kordfan during his reign

-1332: Death of Yaqut al-Habashi in Egypt, a prominent Sufi in the Shadhiliyya brotherhood

-1365: Gebel Adda became capital of Makuria (or Dotawo), no longer Dongola

-1385: El libro del conosçimiento de todos los reinos referred to Genoese merchants traveling to Dongola

-1391-1392: Letter of Sultan Uthman (Bir) b. Idris of Kanem-Borno to Mamluk Sultan Barquq, complaining of depredations of Judham Arabs and asking the Mamluk ruler to free any Kanem-Borno Muslims sold into slavery in Egypt, Syria. Judham Arabs are said to have killed the previous Borno king, Amr the Martyr b. Idris, son of al-Hajj Idris, son of al-Hajj Ibrahim

-1397: Regent of Nubia fled to Egypt, escaping his cousin 

-1426: Many residents of Aidhab fled to Dongola after Mamluk attack

-1434-1468: Reign of Zara Yaeqob

-1442: Black slaves in Egypt plot to revolt, appointing their own sultan, vizier, etc. and plundering cereals until put down by the Mamluk government

-1447: Antonio Malfante’s Latin letter mentions "Indian" merchants who were Christian at Tawat

-1480-1483: Felix Fabri met Nubian Christians in Jerusalem during his pilgrimage

-1484: King Joel of Dotawo reigning

-1486: Janim el-Ajrud el-Ainani, Kashif of Manfalut, fled to Nubia 

-c.1504: Establishment of Funj kingdom

-1517: Ottoman conquest of Egypt

-1518: Emir 'Alī b. 'Umar went out on a raid against the Lord (ṣāḥib) of Nubia

-c.1520-1527: Nubian emissaries visit Ethiopia, asking Lebna Dengel for priests. Nubia reported to be divided into captaincies; possible the emissaries were sent by a queen Gaua, last ruler of Dotawo

-1523: David Reubeni visited Soba, describing it as a place of ruins

-1525: Ottoman report of Selman Reis refers to Sinnar, the Amara Dunqas and the Funj, also claiming close ties between the Funj and Ethiopia (Amara Dunqas paying tribute to Ethiopia)

-c.1526: According to Leo Africanus, the king of Nubia is always at war, sometimes with the people of Gorhan and sometimes with those to the east of the Nile

-1560s: Ottoman garrison established at Qasr Ibrim

-1568-1585/6: Reign of Dawra b. Dakin of Sinnar, whose father was said to have been close with Emperor Sarsa Dengel of Ethiopia

-1607: Deposed Abd al-Qadir II of Sennar fled to Ethiopia, performed obeisance to Susenyos

-c.1611: Wadai state founded by Abd al-Karim

1618-1619: Ethiopian Emperor Susenyos campaigned against Sennar

-c.1630: Possible community of Nubian Christians reported at Esna in Upper Egypt (Werner?)

1637: Gondar established as capita

-1644/5-1681: Reign of Badi II of Sennar (Funj Sultanate)

-1650-1750: Apogee of the Funj Sultanate

-c.1654: Funj involved in killing of Ottoman governor of Suakin

-c.1660-1680: Reign of Sulayman in Darfur

-Late 1660s: Shaykh Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Yamani, from the Nile Valley, visited Kulumbardo

-1672: Plan to send Catholic mission to Nubia through the Fezzan aborted due to fall of Pasha Osman in Tripoli

--1672-1680: Evliya Celebi was in Egypt

-c.1685: Sinnar or Funj conquest of Fazughli

-1699: Ethiopian noble serving under Badi III received a sister of his as a wife

-1700-1702: Theodor Krump traveling from Sennar to Egypt with people from Borno and the Fezzan, reports caravans from Darfur, Borno, Fezzan reach Sennar

-1701: Funj ruler complains to the Ottomans about the treatment of Sudan merchants in Egypt

-1703: Fra Damiano da Rivoli tried to reach Borno from Sennar but didn’t pursue caravan route; a Borno caravan leader in Sennar told him the journey would take 60 days

-1705-1708: Revolt in the Funj Sultanate

-1714: French Jesuit, Sicard, noted the Coptic bishop of Neqada had Qift and Ibrim under his jurisdiction

-c.1718: Unsab dynasty of Funj overthrown in coup

-1724-1762: Reign of Badi IV as Funj sultan

-1742: Letter by Fr. Giacomo Rzimarz to Cardinal Belluga mentioned Christians in village of Tangasi

-1744: Ethiopia-Funj Sultanate War during reign of Badi IV

--c.1752/3-1785/6: Sultan Muhammad Tayrab ruled Darfur

-1762: Coup leading to Hamaj Regency of Funj Sultanate

-1787-1803: Reign of Abd al-Rahman of Darfur

--1810s: Burckhardt's travels in Nubia, met Borno native Hadji Aly el Bornawy, who had traveled as a slave trader in Turkey, Constantinople, and Syria and was now based in Kordofan as a trader

-1820-1821: Turco-Egyptian Invasion that leads to fall of Funj Sultanate