A History of the Sudan

From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day

P. M. Holt, M. W. Daly, P.M. Holt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317863656
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

A History of the Sudan by Martin Daly and PM Holt, sixth edition, has been fully revised and updated and covers the most recent developments that have occurred in Sudan over the last nine years, including the crisis in Darfur.

The most notable developments that this text covers includes the decades-long civil war in the South (with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005); the emergence of the Sudan as an oil-producer and exporter, and its resulting higher profile in global economic affairs, notably as a partner of China; the emergence of al-Qaeda, the relations of Sudanese authorities with Osama bin Laden (whose headquarters were in the Sudan in the 1990s), and the Sudanese government's complicated relations with the West.

This text is key introductory reading for any student of North Africa.

Part One

Before the Turco–Egyptian Conquest

At Bujarâs [Faras], the capital of the province of Al-Marîs, which is a well-populated city, there is the dwelling-place of Jausâr, who wore the turban and the two horns and the golden bracelet.

Abu Salih, History

(early thirteenth century),

translated B.T.A. Evetts

The Sultan of the Muslims, the Caliph of the Lord of the Worlds; who undertakes the affairs of the world and the Faith; who is raised up for the interests of the Muslims; who supports the Holy Law of the Lord of the Prophets; who spreads the banner of justice and grace over all the worlds; he by whom God corrects His servants and gives light to the land; the repressor of the race of unbelief and deception and rebellion, and the race of oppression and corruption; the mercy of God (praised and exalted be He!) to the townsman and the nomad; he who trusts in the King, the Guide: the sultan, son of the sultan, the victorious, the divinely aided Sultan Badi, son of the deceased Dakin, son of the Sultan Badi.

May God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, grant him victory by the influence of the great Qur’an and the noble Prophet. Amen. Amen. O Lord of the Worlds.

From a charter of

Sultan Badi VI (1791)

Chapter One

The Eastern Bilad al–Sudan in the Middle Ages

At the time of the coming of Islam in the early seventh century, there were three territories on the main Nile, south of the Byzantine province of Egypt. The first of these, the land of the Nobadae or Nubians proper, extended upstream from the First Cataract. Beyond it lay the country of the Makoritae with its capital at Old Dongola. Still further south was the kingdom of the Alodaei, the capital of which, Soba, lay on the Blue Nile, not far from the modern Khartoum. Christian missionaries had made converts, including the ruling families; and at an uncertain date before 891 the two northern territories were combined into one kingdom, usually called by its Arabic name, al-Muqurra (i.e. the Makoritae). The term al-Nuba (the Nubians), although properly restricted to the people of the more northerly of the two territories, was generally applied to the combined kingdom, and even extended to the inhabitants of its southern neighbour, known in the Arabic sources as ‘Alwa.

The conquest of Egypt by the Muslim Arabs between 639 and 641 brought to the border of Nubia a militant power whose control over Upper Egypt was still precarious. Frontier raiding by both sides took place, and in 651–52, the governor of Egypt, ‘Abdallah b. Sa‘d b. Abi Sarh, besieged Dongola. The campaign is known to us only from later Arabic accounts, which represent the Nubians as suing for peace, but it is clear that ‘Abdallah was unable either to inflict a decisive defeat or to extend Muslim territory south of the frontiertown of Aswan. As the history of the following centuries was to show, invaders from the north were checked both by the resistance of the Nubians and by the long and difficult lines of communications from advanced bases in Egypt. In the end Christian Nubia succumbed to gradual erosion and infiltration rather than to organized military invasion.

Medieval Arabic writers attach to ‘Abdallah’s expedition the conclusion of a formal treaty of peace, which, we are given to understand, henceforward regulated the relations between Muslim Egypt and al-Muqurra. The story presents some anomalies. In the first place, the alleged instrument is known as the baqt – a word unique in Arabic diplomatic terminology, and derived from the Latin pactum by way of Graecized pakton, in Hellenistic usage ‘a compact of mutual obligations and its connected payments’. In the second place, the stipulations of the baqt are curious. They are described with increasing elaboration as time goes on, until al-Maqrizi, writing eight hundred years after the event, gives what purports to be the authentic text, signed, sealed and delivered. Since it includes the provision that the Nubians shall maintain in good order the mosque the Muslims have built in the city of Dongola, we may stigmatize this as a medieval forgery. Earlier accounts, however, which go back to the ninth century, indicate that the essence of the baqt was an annual exchange of slaves from Nubia for provisions from Egypt. The number of slaves is given (with some variation), and in one source the kind and qualities of provisions are specified. One writer’s assertion that supply of these provisions originated as an act of grace may be disregarded as a face-saving presentation of state-controlled barter. Survival of the Hellenistic term suggests that ‘Abdallah’s invasion re-established, after interruption, a trade of long standing. In the first three centuries of Islam, Muslim jurists had difficulty accommodating within their categories this anomalous relationship with a Christian state; al-Maqrizi’s ‘treaty’ may represent such an adaptation of historical fact to legal fiction.

To the east of Lower Nubia lay barren and mountainous territory, the source of gold and emeralds, known to medieval geographers as bilad al-ma‘din, ‘the land of the mines’. This was a region outside the effective control of Egyptian and Nubian rulers alike, inhabited by sparse and fragmented groups of Beja, and by its nature attractive to adventurers. Clashes between Beja and immigrant Arab miners were inevitable, and led in 854 to a full-scale military expedition from Qus, supported by a supply-fleet in the Red Sea. The Beja chief, ‘Ali Baba, was defeated, and taken to the caliph in Baghdad. He was honourably received, and sent home with gifts. Such campaigns, and resultant undertakings to pay tribute, were of transient effect; more significant was continued Arab immigration to the land of the mines.

The career of one Arab adventurer in the mid-ninth century illustrates the state of frontier society. ‘Abdallah al-‘Umari claimed to be a descendant of the third caliph, ‘Umar b. al-Khattab. A man of family and education, he bought a gang of slaves and went off to make his fortune in the gold mines. He built up a following among the miners by exploiting the tribal rivalries of the Arabs. His presence disturbed the Nubians, and hostilities ensued. Finally Ahmad b. Tulun, the governor of Egypt, alarmed at the unrest on his southern frontier, sent to Aswan an expeditionary force, which al-‘Umari defeated. His prestige in the land of the mines was now, in 869, at its height, but his authority rested on the unstable Arab grouping in the region. In the end he fell victim to tribal assassins. His head was carried to Ahmad b. Tulun, who was, no doubt, as gratified as the Nubian king to learn of his death.

Al-‘Umari’s régime died with him, but his career indicates the increasing arabization of the region. One of the leading tribal groups in the land of the mines was Rabi‘a, which in the time of al-‘Umari had allied with the Beja against him, and suffered from his reprisals. By the middle of the tenth century, Rabi‘a, who had intermarried with the Beja, were paramount throughout the region, and their chief was styled Sahib al-Ma‘din, ‘the Lord of the Mines’.

In 969 Egypt was conquered on behalf of a dynasty, the Fatimids, who had set up a caliphate in North Africa in opposition to the ‘Abbasids of Baghdad. Shortly afterwards an envoy was sent to the court of Dongola. His name, Ibn Sulaym al-Aswani, suggests that he was a native of Aswan, and hence familiar with the Nubians. The object of his mission was twofold: to re-establish trade, which had been interrupted by the change of régime in Egypt; and to seek the Nubian king’s conversion to Islam. Ibn Sulaym returned to Egypt to write an account of the Nubians. Extant portions, transmitted by later authors, are the most important single literary source concerning medieval Nubia.¹

Ibn Sulaym describes the country through which he passed on the way to Dongola. Five miles upstream of Aswan was the frontier-post of al-Qasr (‘the fortress’), the gateway to Nubia. Beyond lay the great province of Maris, the old land of the Nobadae, extending along the Nile to a village above the Fourth Cataract, which marked the boundary between Maris and al-Muqurra. The most northerly part of Maris was open to the Muslims, who held land in the vicinity of the frontier and traded upstream. Intermarriage and conversion to Islam are suggested by Ibn Sulaym’s comment that some of the Muslim inhabitants did not speak good Arabic. A narrow strip of land by the river was irrigated by water-wheels turned by oxen, and was cultivated in small patches of one to three acres. The land gave several crops in the year: wheat was uncommon, but barley, millet, sorghum, sesame and beans were grown. There were palm-trees, and upstream, where the cultivated area broadened out, vineyards.

In this northern district of Maris were two fortresses, Ibrim and Bajrash (now known as Faras, the residence of the governor who was styled ‘the Lord of the Mountain’). Stationed at the approach to the Second Cataract, he controlled the transit-trade and passage upstream. Muslim merchants bartered goods (sometimes termed ‘presents’) for the slaves he provided. Taqwi at the foot of the Second Cataract marked the limit for boats coming from al-Qasr, and no one could go further into Nubia without the Lord of the Mountain’s leave. Beyond the Second Cataract lay the narrow and barren reach of the Nile later known as Batn al-Hajar, ‘the Belly of Stone’, which is vividly described by Ibn Sulaym. This region was in effect the military frontier of Nubia. Six stages beyond the commercial frontier at Taqwi was the garrison of the Upper Maqs. Although the district formed part of Maris and was within the jurisdiction of the Lord of the Mountain, the commandant held authority from the king himself; the death penalty awaited those who penetrated further into Nubia without permission. Here no Muslim currency circulated, for there were no Muslim merchants, and trade was carried on by the barter of slaves, cattle, camels, iron and grain. This closed military zone enabled the Nubians to launch surprise raids on their neighbours.

The garrison of the Upper Maqs was separated by another cataract from the town of Say, an episcopal see. The next district, Saqluda, resembled that lying south of Aswan, and produced date palms, vines, olives and cotton, which was woven locally. The governor apparently held office by direct royal appointment, and had authority over a number of sub-governors – Ibn Sulaym tells us that Saqluda means ‘the Seven Governors’. Passing beyond this last part of Maris, Ibn Sulaym came to the district of Baqum, ‘the Marvel’, where the Nile spread out among a number of islands. A succession of villages with cultivation, cattle and dovecots lined the banks, for this was the granary of the capital, and the king’s favourite holiday resort. Parrots and other birds abounded in the trees, and crocodiles swam in the streams. A further district, Safad Baqal, was equally fertile and well-populated – the churches and monasteries are particularly mentioned – and equally favoured by the king, whose capital, Dongola, lay at its southern extremity, fifty days’ journey from Aswan.

As far as his mission was concerned, Ibn Sulaym had only limited success. A disputation with King George of Muqurra over the rival merits of Christianity and Islam was fruitless, as might have been expected. While Ibn Sulaym was in Dongola, the celebration of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice fell due, and he organized public prayers for his co-religionists, who were about sixty in number, outside the city, with the king’s permission. The incident is evidence that the number of Muslim residents in Dongola was very small, and that there was no mosque in the city, despite the alleged provisions of the baqt treaty.

Ibn Sulaym must, however, have been more successful in restoring the slave trade between Nubia and Egypt, since black troops formed an important part of the Fatimid army and played a political role in the history of the dynasty. Earlier régimes in Egypt had similarly recruited black slave-soldiers. In the early Islamic period, the country had been garrisoned by Arab tribal warriors, descendants of the conquerors. But the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mu‘tasim (833–42) ended this system. Henceforward the standing armies of Egypt were recruited from a variety of sources, chief among them white slaves of Turkish origin known as Mamluks, and black slaves brought from (or through) Nubia, called Sudan – a term which is sometimes rendered ‘Sudanese’ but simply meant ‘Blacks’. Ahmad b. Tulun, the first autonomous governor of Egypt, himself of Turkish Mamluk descent, reportedly had 24,000 Turkish Mamluks and 40,000 Blacks. The founder of the second gubernatorial dynasty, the Ikhshid (also of Turkish origin), likewise had black slave troops. Under the Fatimids, Berber tribal warriors, Turks and Sudan formed the forces of the caliphate, and Sudan attained particular importance in the reign of al-Mustansir (1035–94), whose mother was a black slave. During the last century of Fatimid rule the Sudan underwent various changes of fortune. In 1169 Saladin, as military governor of Egypt, put down a desperate revolt of the black troops and expelled their remnants from Cairo to Upper Egypt. For several years their risings there necessitated expeditions to suppress them. During one of these, in 1173, Saladin’s brother, Turan Shah, penetrated into Nubia and captured Ibrim, which, however, was evacuated by the Ayyubid garrison two years later. An ambassador was sent to Dongola, ostensibly on a mission to the Nubian king, but actually to spy out the country in case Saladin and his brothers needed to retreat there.

Since the tenth or early eleventh century, the chief power in the vicinity of Aswan and the northern part of Maris had been a clan originating from the Arab tribe of Rabi‘a, linked with the group dominating the Land of the Mines. Its chief performed in 1007 a notable service to the Fatimid caliph of Egypt, al-Hakim, by capturing a rebel known as Abu Rakwa. He was rewarded with the honorific Kanz al-Dawla, ‘the Treasure of the State’, which later chiefs inherited, and from which his clan was called Banu’l-Kanz. In 1174 an alliance between the rebel Sudan and the reigning Kanz al-Dawla was suppressed by another of Saladin’s brothers. Banu’l-Kanz were driven out of the Aswan region southwards into Nubia.

The period of the Fatimid caliphate saw the rise of an important port on the Red Sea coast. This was ‘Aydhab, near the northern frontier of the modern Sudan, and from it routes ran across the desert to the river ports of Qus and Aswan. ‘Aydhab shared in the trade between Egypt and the Indian Ocean, and in the pilgrimage traffic to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The older route, passing by way of Lower Egypt and Sinai, presented increasing difficulties in the later eleventh century, particularly after establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Although ‘Aydhab had obvious disadvantages – lack of a fertile hinterland to supply provisions, the hazardous journey to the Nile, remoteness from Cairo, so that revenues and administration were shared with the Beja – the port enjoyed a busy commerce and much prosperity until the late fourteenth century.

Apart from the campaigns of Saladin’s brothers, the period of Ayyubid rule in Egypt seems to have been one of peaceful relations with Nubia. The situation began to change in the second half of the thirteenth century, when Mamluk rulers displaced the Ayyubids. Two of the early Mamluk sultans, Baybars (1260–77) and Qalawun (1279–90), began their careers as military slaves. As warrior-kings and converts to Islam, they saw their principal duty as protection of Muslim territory against the infidel – the Mongols, the Crusaders and the Nubian Christians. The Mamluk period saw adoption of an aggressive policy towards Nubia, designed to bring al-Muqurra under the Mamluk sultanate’s control. Contributing to this policy was Upper Egypt’s long role as refuge of insubordinate Arab tribes and the reappearance of the Banu’l-Kanz who sought to regain their former seat at Aswan. The decline of al-Muqurra was accelerated also by quarrels and rivalry within the ruling family.

In 1268 King David, who had usurped the throne from his maternal uncle, sent a letter to Baybars informing him of his succession. Baybars replied by demanding the baqt, presumably trade had again lapsed with the change of regimes in Egypt. That Nubia might still be a dangerous neighbour was demonstrated in 1272, when David’s forces carried out a damaging raid on ‘Aydhab, Egypt’s principal Red Sea port. In 1275 the governor of Qus sent a full-scale expedition including both Mamluks and Arab tribesmen, to install Shakanda, another Nubian prince, in place of David. A battle was fought in 1276 near Dongola, in which the Mamluk force was victorious. This was the first Muslim army to penetrate so far into Nubia since ‘Abdallah b. Sa‘d, over six centuries before. Shakanda was...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Maps
• Preface to the First Edition
• Preface to the Sixth Edition
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Publisher's Acknowledgement
• Introduction: The Land and the People
• Part One Before the Turco–Egyptian Conquest
• Part Two The Turco-Egyptian Period: 1820–81
• Part Three The Mahdist State: 1881–98
• Part Four The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium: 1899–1955
• Part Five The Independent Sudan
• Notes
• Illustration
• Select Bibliography
• Index