PRELUDE TO THE MAHDIYYA AFRICAN STUDIES SERIES 62 GENERAL EDITOR J. M. Lonsdale, Lecturer in History and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ADVISORY EDITORS J. D. Y. Peel, Charles Booth Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool John Sender, Faculty of Economics and Fellow of Wolf son College, Cambridge Published in collaboration with THE AFRICAN STUDIES CENTRE, CAMBRIDGE For a list of other books in this series see page 193 PRELUDE TO THE MAHDIYYA Peasants and Traders in the Shendi Region, 1821-1885 ANDERS BJ0RKELO The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE MELBOURNE SYDNEY PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http ://www. Cambridge. org © Cambridge University Press 1989 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1989 First paperback edition 2003 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Bjerkelo, Anders J. Prelude to the Mahdiyya: peasants and traders in the Shendi region, 1821-1885 /Anders Bjerkelo. p. cm. — (African studies series: 62) Revision of thesis (doctoral — University of Bergen, 1983) presented under the title: From king to Kashif: Shendi in the nineteenth century. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 521 35336 X Hardback 1. Shendi Region (Sudan) — Economic conditions. 2. Agriculture — Economic aspects - Sudan - Shendi Region - History - 19th century. 3. Shendi Region (Sudan) - Commerce - History - 19th century. 4. Sudan - History - 1820-. 5. Ja'aliyym (Arab tribe). I. Title. II. Series. HC835.Z7S543 1988 330.9625'03 - dc 19 88-10234 CIP ISBN 0 521 35336 X Hardback ISBN 0 521 53444 5 Paperback To my family, in gratitude Contents Figures page viii List of maps viii List of tables viii Preface ix Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xiii Weights and measures xiii Introduction 1 1 The Ja'all Kingdom of Shendi and its destruction 7 2 Shendi's economy on the eve of the Turkiyya 15 3 The Ja'aliyyln under Turkish administration 34 4 The transformation of agriculture 53 5 Taxation 82 6 The transformation of commerce 104 7 Conclusion: dispersion and return 137 Appendix: Three contracts from the archive of 148 *Abd Allah Bey Hamza Notes 152 Sources and bibliography 169 Index 184 vn Figure The flow of commodities to and from Shendi in 1814 24 Maps The Sudan in the nineteenth century xv The Shendi Reach 2 Berber Province, administrative divisions 42 Tables 1 The governors of Berber Province, 1822-84 38 2 The qisms and khutfs of Berber Province 41 3 The annual agricultural output in Berber and Dongola, 1871-2 76 4 Tax rates in 1883 100 5 Some currencies, their local names and approximate official exchange rate 108 6 Maintenance assigned to Fatima 112 7 Wages and prices in the early 1870s 113 vin Figure The flow of commodities to and from Shendi in 1814 24 Maps The Sudan in the nineteenth century xv The Shendi Reach 2 Berber Province, administrative divisions 42 Tables 1 The governors of Berber Province, 1822-84 38 2 The qisms and khutfs of Berber Province 41 3 The annual agricultural output in Berber and Dongola, 1871-2 76 4 Tax rates in 1883 100 5 Some currencies, their local names and approximate official exchange rate 108 6 Maintenance assigned to Fatima 112 7 Wages and prices in the early 1870s 113 vin Figure The flow of commodities to and from Shendi in 1814 24 Maps The Sudan in the nineteenth century xv The Shendi Reach 2 Berber Province, administrative divisions 42 Tables 1 The governors of Berber Province, 1822-84 38 2 The qisms and khutfs of Berber Province 41 3 The annual agricultural output in Berber and Dongola, 1871-2 76 4 Tax rates in 1883 100 5 Some currencies, their local names and approximate official exchange rate 108 6 Maintenance assigned to Fatima 112 7 Wages and prices in the early 1870s 113 vin Preface This is a history of a region and its people during a period of profound change. It seeks to describe and analyse the impact of Turco-Egyptian colonial rule (1821-85) on the Northern Sudan with particular reference to the peasants and traders among the Ja'aliyyin people of the Shendi region. It will also to some extent be concerned with other groups such as the Shayqiyya and the Danagla, who were both neighbours of and settlers among the Ja'aliyyin, and with whom the latter both cooperated and competed at home or in the diaspora. According to the 1956 census, this region (roughly between I6V20 and 18° latitude in the Nile Valley, i.e. between the Sixth Cataract and the Atbara River) contained about 300,000 people, including the population of Shendi town (11,031). By the early 1980s the population of the town had grown to around 20,000. Emigration from the rural areas is wide- spread and tends to keep the population growth in these areas down. The region's population figures from the early nineteenth century can only be guessed at, but it seems reasonable to assume a population figure of 40,000 to 50,000. This book is a revised and concentrated version of my doctoral disser- tation 'From King to Kashif. Shendi in the Nineteenth Century', at the Faculty of Arts, University of Bergen, 1983.1 have profited from the critical comments offered by the evaluation committee, consisting of Dr O. K. Grimnes, Oslo, Dr J. L. Spaulding, New Jersey and East Lansing, and Dr R. S. O'Fahey, Bergen. The present study is not a tribal history; the Ja'ali nomads for example are largely left out, and no attempt has been made to include all aspects of Ja'all society. It is mainly concerned with the transformation of agriculture and trade during the Turkiyya, as the period of the Turco-Egyptian occupation is called. The reasons for concentrating on the Ja'aliyyin are simple and obvious: their history has not yet been studied, they constitute a convenient entity for research, their society and economy resemble those of the northern riverain peoples in general, and their fate under Turco-Egyptian rule has had profound consequences for modern Sudanese history. However, since the Ja'aliyyin cannot be studied in isolation from their rulers and neighbours, and since numerous Ja'aliyyin emigrated to other parts of the Sudan in this ix Preface period, the present study has a much wider geographical and historical perspective than just the Shendi region. The Ja'aliyyin referred to above constitute one part of a greater so-called Ja'aliyyln Group, to whom most of the Arabic-speaking northern riverain tribes belong and who trace their desent back to an Arab of * Abbasid origin by the name of Ibrahim Ja'al. They number today nearly 10 per cent of the total Sudanese population, and can be found all over the country as merchants, farmers, military men, public officials, holymen, and teachers. The first really big wave of emigration from the north took place during the Turkiyya and the aim of this book is also to uncover the factors of emigration by examining political, economic, and social change at the local level. This perspective will also enable us to throw new light on how the colonial regime sowed the seeds of the Mahdist Revolution. Hence the title of the book. Acknowledgements The present study would not have materialised without the support of many individuals and institutions, to whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude. The preparations for the study started in 1977 when I was granted a scholarship by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture to study Arabic in Cairo. In the period 1978-82 I received a research fellowship from the University of Bergen. In the autumn of 1978 grants from Nansenfondet and Meltzers H0yskolefond enabled me to spend three months in the National Records Office (NRO), Khartoum, and in the Sudan Collection of the Khartoum University Library. Field work was carried out in January-May 1980, thanks to a grant from the Norwegian Research Council (NAVF). A trip to the Public Record Office, Kew, and the Sudan Archive, Durham, in May-June 1979 was paid for by the University of Bergen. Finally a grant from Nansenfondet enabled me to return to Shendi in 1984 in connection with a follow-up study on the sale of land. As for individuals, my thanks go first of all to R. S. O'Fahey who introduced me to Sudanese history and supervised my doctoral work, and who has been a source of encouragement to the present day. Thanks are also due to J. L. Spaulding for commenting on earlier drafts and for his many thought provoking ideas. Special thanks go to R. Hill, a veteran in Sudanese history, for his comments and encouragements. P. M. Holt has also been helpful in the early stages. I have also profited from discussions with H. R. Pierce (who also introduced me to the world of word processing), L. Kapteijns, P.Doornbos, L.