The Magyarab are a small community living within

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

, along the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

.Géza Balázs
The Story of Hungarian: A Guide to the Language
Corvina Books, 1997,p. 20 They have distant Hungarian ancestors who intermarried with locals and probably date back to the late 16th century, when portions of both Hungary and Egypt were part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Name

The name "Magyarab" is not a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the words "Magyar" and "Arab", as is commonly assumed. Rather, it is a concatenation of "Magyar" ( Hungarian) and "Ab", which in Nubian means simply "tribe". Magyarab combined thus translates to "Tribe of the Magyars". Google translation

/ref> In fact, to the Magyarab people, their Hungarian identity specifically sets them apart from the surrounding

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

History

According to legend,

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Hungarians who had only recently been brought under the control of the

formed a part of the

Ottoman army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...

that was fighting in southern Egypt. Supposedly, a portion or the entirety of the fighting unit remained there and intermarried with the local Nubian women. According to local Magyarabs, their ancestor was ''Ibrahim el-Magyar'', a general who came from

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

(present-day

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) in 1517, he married with a local Nubian woman, they had a son called Ali. Ali had five sons (Selami, Mustafa, Djelal Eddin, Musa and Iksa), and Ali's five sons were the ancestor of all Magyarabs. Magyarabs have been members of the World Federation of Hungarians (''Magyarok Világszövetsége'') since 1992 and still consider themselves as

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

. They were not documented by Europeans until 1935 when

László Almásy László Adolf Ede György Mária Almásy de Zsadány et Törökszentmiklós (; ; 22 August/3 November 1895 – 22 March 1951) was a Hungarian Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, motorist, desert exploration, desert explorer, aviator, Scouting, ...

, who was himself Hungarian, and his co-worker, the German engineer and explorer Hansjoachim von der Esch, happened upon a tribe in the region of

. Representatives of the tribes later attempted to make contact with Hungarian officials but failed to do so because of the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. These people now have a mixed-race appearance because the intermarriage with the local Nubian population, and they do not speak Hungarian. Around 1934, however, Esch, who spent several weeks with the population of the Magyarab island at

Wadi Halfa (, , ":wikt:esparto, Esparto Valley") is a city in the Northern (state), Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nasser, Lake Nubia near the Egypt–Sudan border, border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail transport in Sudan, rail lin ...

, put together a list of non-

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

words that were used only on that island and, according to him, were recognized by Almásy as similar to Hungarian words. His notes showed that all Magyarab in

were convinced that their ancestors came from "Nemsa" (the Arabic word for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

), which might refer to any region of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. He was told by the leader of the Magyarab island village that their ancestors had arrived in Egypt/Sudan as a group of "Austrian" soldiers, led by a man called Shenghal Sendjer, which Esch assumed to have been originally ''General'' Sendjer or Senger.Hansjoachim von der Esch, Weenak - die Karawane ruft (Brockhaus, Leipzig 1941)

Magyarab communities

Magyarabs live along the

, in

around

, in

around

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city ha ...

in the villages of and about 400 Magyarabs live in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

References

Sources

Detailed report about a Hungarian expedition: :
Islands on the Nile - The Csángós of Africa, the Magyarabs (1), Magyar Nemzet, Budapest, 10 03 2007
:
Islands on the Nile - The Csángós of Africa, the Magyarabs (2), Magyar Nemzet, Budapest, 17 03 2007
:
Islands on the Nile - The Csángós of Africa, the Magyarabs (3), Magyar Nemzet, Budapest, 24 03 2007
Other references: :* Google translation

/small> :* Google translation

/small> :* Google translation

/small> :* :* An excerpt from

's 1935 description of his visit to the Magyarabs Google translation

/small> :* :*

External links

Topographic map
of the Wadi Halfa region in 1958 (prior to the filling of Lake Nasser/Nubia) which shows "Magarab I." (i.e., Magyarab Island) near the top. Published by the British

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

and

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

in 1960. {{authority control Ethnic groups in Egypt Ethnic groups in Sudan Ottoman period in Hungary