In Muslim Sudan
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Downloaded from Nile Basin Research Programme www.nile.uib.no through Bergen Open Research Archive http://bora.uib.no Trade and Wadis System(s) in Muslim Sudan Intisar Soghayroun Elzein Soghayroun FOUNTAIN PUBLISHERS Kampala Fountain Publishers P. O. Box 488 Kampala - Uganda E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Website: www.fountainpublishers.co.ug © Intisar Soghayroun Elzein Soghayroun 2010 First published 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-9970-25-005-9 Dedication This book is dedicated to my father: Soghayroun Elzein Soghayroun, with a tremendous debt of gratitude. iii Contents Dedication..................................................................................................... iiv List.of .Maps..................................................................................................vi List.of .plates..................................................................................................vii Preface.......................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgement.........................................................................................xiii 1 The Land, its People and History ...................................... 1 The Physiographic Features of the Country ......................................1 The People ............................................................................................. 14 The History ............................................................................................ 17 The Islamisation of the Sudan ........................................................... 19 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 21 2 The Wadis and Hinterland System(s)............................... 23 Paradigms ............................................................................................... 27 Other Sources of Water ....................................................................... 35 The Hinterland Systems ..................................................................... 40 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 45 3 Trade and Traders in Muslim Sudan ................................ 46 Types of Trade ..................................................................................... 47 Imports and Exports Through History ............................................ 48 Trade in Muslim Sudan ........................................................................ 51 Means of Transaction ......................................................................... 60 The Traders ............................................................................................ 61 Manpower and Services ...................................................................... 62 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 65 4 Trade Routes, Towns and Forts ........................................ 67 The Trade Routes ................................................................................ 67 Means of Transport ............................................................................. 78 Towns, Cities and Forts ....................................................................... 81 iv 5 Conclusions ....................................................................... 98 Archaeological Sites .............................................................................. 98 The Trade Routes .............................................................................. 100 Trade as Socio-economic Agent ....................................................... 102 What is Necessary for the Future? ................................................... 104 Bibliography.................................................................................................108 In.Arabic.References................................................................................ 116 Reports..................................................................................................... 116 Appendix.1................................................................................................117 Trees.&.Shrubs....................................................................................... 117 Appendix.2................................................................................................118 Slaves.and.slavery..................................................................................... 118 Uses.of .slaves.......................................................................................... 119 Areas.where.slaves.collected....................................................................... 119 Slavery.and.the.Baqt.Treaty..................................................................... 120 Index...........................................................................................................123 v List of Maps Map 1.1: The Sudan and Neighboring Countries .............................2 Map 1.2: The Topography of the Sudan ............................................4 Map 1.3: The Nile Basin .......................................................................7 Map 1.4: Arab Immigrant Tribes in the Sudan Adopted from Adams (1984) .......................................................................16 Map 2.1: The Main Wadis of the Sudan ...........................................26 Map 2.2: Middle and Lower Wadi Howar (Adopted from Kroplin 1987) .......................................................................28 Map 2.3: Drainage Area of Wadi Azum, after Barbour 1954 .......32 Map 2.4: Wadis of the 3rd Cataract Region After Edwards and Osman 1992 .........................................................................43 Map 4.1: Darb Al-Arba’in (adopted from Shaw 1929) ..................69 Map 4.2: The Bayuda Desert Route ..................................................72 Map 4.3: Main Trade Routes During the Funj and the Keira Sultanates ..............................................................................75 Map 4.4: The Main Towns of the Medieva, Post Medieval and Modern Sudan ......................................................................83 vi List of plates Plate 1.1: Acacia Trees ...........................................................................5 Plate 1.2: Dom Palm Trees ....................................................................6 Plate 1.3: The Six Cataract ...................................................................9 Plate 1.4: The 2nd Cataract Before it was Drowned by the High Dam .......................................................................................10 Plate 1.5: Desert Encroachment, Old Dongola ...............................12 Plate 1.6: Desertification in Process North of the 6th Cataract Region ...................................................................................12 Plate 2.1: Southern Margin of Wadi Howar (Sandford 1935) .......30 Plate 2.2: Dry Wadi Howar bed about 64 km North of Kutum (Sandford 1935) ...................................................................30 Plate 2.4: A Trench Dug to Erect Wireless Tower at Wadi al ga’ab Shows Water at 3 Meters Deep .........................................37 Plate 2.5: A well in the Butana Region ..............................................39 Plate 3.1: Basket for Carrying Food ...................................................49 Plate 3.2: Food Cover (tabaq) .............................................................49 Plate 3.3: Ablution Pitcher (rakwa) ....................................................49 Plate 3.4: Remains of Indigo Factory, Saqadi ..................................58 Plate 3.5: The Basins of the Indigo Factory ....................................59 Plate 3.6: A basket made of palm branches and leaves ..................65 Plate 3.7: Palm leaves hangings ...........................................................65 Plate 4.1: Boat Drawing on Walls of a Funerary Chapel, Kerma, (K11)......................................................................................77 Plate 4.2: A Boat Rock Drawing, 3rd Cataract Region ...................78 Plate 4.3: Donkeys Being led to Markets ..........................................79 Plate 4.4: Camel Caravan to Egypt ....................................................79 Plate 4.5: Sennar Town in Ruins (after Bellfonds) ...........................85 Plate 4.6: Remains of the Turkish Police HQ, Berber ....................90 Plate 4.7: Remains of the Islamic Town, Old Dongola ..................91 Plate 4.8: Al-Khandaq ..........................................................................92 Plate 4.9: Remains of Three Storey-House in Suakin .....................94 vii Preface The Sudan belt that stretches from the east to west across Africa south of the Sahara includes sections of several political units, mainly the Sudan, Chad, Mali and Nigeria. These, in turn, include the regions formerly occupied by famous African Kingdoms, such as the Fung, Darfur, Wadai, Kanem, Bornu, Sokoto, Timbuktu, and Songhay. Despite these divisions and the rivalries that caused them, there seems to have long been a remarkably