Sultanate of Darfur

The Sultanate of Darfur () was a pre-colonial state in present-day Sudan. It existed from the 17th century to 24 October 1874, when it fell to the Sudanese warlord Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur, and was reestablished again from 1898 to 1916, until it was conquered by the British. At its peak in the late 18th and early 19th century it stretched all the way from Darfur in the west to Kordofan and the western banks of the White Nile in the east, giving it the size of present-day Nigeria.

History

Origins

Darfur is composed mostly of semi-arid plains and small seasonal rivers that cannot support a dense population. The one exception is the area in and around the Jebal Marra mountains. It was from bases in these mountains that a series of groups expanded to control the region. According to written records the Daju and the 14th century migrants the Tunjur were the earliest powers in Darfur. The transition of power from the Daju to the Tunjur was facilitated through marriage. The Fur people had long interacted with the Fazara nomads and the Toubou.

Eventually the Tunjur began marrying amongst the Fur people producing Sultan Dali, a celebrated figure in traditional Darfur histories, said to be a Fur on his mother's side, and thus brought the dynasty closer to the people it ruled. Accordingly Dali divided the country into provinces and established a penal code which, under the title of ''Kitab Dali'' or "Dali's Book", is still preserved, and differs in some respects from Sharia law.

Suleiman, traditionally Dali's grandson (possibly an Arab immigrant from the east who married into the Fur royal family, owing to the application of the Fur epithet "''Solon''" meaning "the Arab/red"), reigned during the mid-17th century, and was a great warrior and a devoted Muslim. Suleiman Solon is considered the founder of the Keira dynasty and the Sultanate of Darfur. During the 17th century, the Keira sultans introduced the feudal ''hakura'' system into Darfur.

It was common for the Keira dynasty to intermarry with other ethnic groups as the region was very ethnically diverse, and the royal family was open to integrating strangers into the elite. Over the course of its existence, the expansion of the state was often done via integration and assimilation rather than by war.

While the Keira dynasty claimed an Arab lineage (in the Sudan the concept of "Arabism" was more fluid and could be applied to any who were culturally Arabised and spoke Arabic regardless of skin colour), it was likely intermarriages with Arabs from the Nile Valley and interactions with their holy men and merchants from the east and north which brought about the conversion of the royal court to Islam. Muslims making the ''hajj'' (pilgrimage to Mecca) often passed through Darfur, and settlement by West Africans could have also played a role. Soleiman's grandson, Ahmed Bukr (c.1682 – c.1722), made Islam the religion of the state, and increased the prosperity of the country by encouraging immigration from Bornu and Bagirmi. The sultanate benefited from incorporating outsiders who were literate and educated in Islamic law. Most Fur commoners continued to follow their traditional religion.

From the 17th century, the trans-Saharan trade route Darb al-Arba’in ("Forty Days Road") became busier, linking Kobbei to Asyut. The prosperity the sultanate enjoyed was largely down to the extensive trading relations and contacts they cultivated over the centuries. The sultan himself commissioned slave raids due to only the national army being strong enough, particularly into the land of the Baggara Arabs to the south, and profited greatly. While the state expanded north beyond the Jebal Marra mountains, they struggled to conquer the Baggara Arabs, and instead forged socio-economic relations with them. Wadai was a tributary of Darfur throughout the 17th century, however towards the end of the century they ceased paying tribute.

Civil war (1722–1786)

Succession struggles were common in the Keira dynasty. The death of Bukr initiated a long-running conflict over the succession. On his deathbed, Bukr stated that each of his many sons should rule in turn. Once on the throne, each of his sons instead hoped to make their own son heir, leading to an intermittent civil war that lasted until 1785/1786 ( AH 1200). The sultans launched various campaigns against Wadai to their west in an attempt to reduce them to a tributary again, however were unsuccessful. The enlistment of slave soldiers from the south as an imperial guard proved unpopular. By the 18th century, Islam became more influential in state and society, owing to the Sultanate recruiting holy men by granting them privileges and status. Holy men were also given land inhabited by the Fur from which they could receive income, furthering the economic, legal, and political complexity of the state. Also in the 18th century, trade with Egypt dramatically increased, as the sultanate began to pivot away from the west and towards the east.

Apogee

One of the most capable of the monarchs during this period was Sultan Mohammed Terab, one of Ahmad Bukr's sons, and a descendant of the Zaghawa. He led a number of successful campaigns. Frustrated by lack of progress in the west, in 1785/1786 (AH 1200), he led an army east against the Funj Sultanate, defeating them in successive battles, and conquered Kordofan, stopping at Omdurman on the Nile. Ready to conquer the Funj capital, Terab suddenly died. According to some stories, he had no way of leading cavalry across the river, and Terab was poisoned by his wife at the instigation of disaffected chiefs, resulting in the army returning to Darfur to potentially participate in the succession struggle. While Terab had tried to have his son succeed him, the throne instead went to his brother Abd al-Rahman.

Sultan Abd-er-Rahman oversaw the sultanate's apogee and established a new capital at al-Fashir, meaning "the capital", in 1792. The capital had formerly been moved from place to place then at another location called Kobb. During his reign, Napoleon Bonaparte was campaigning in Egypt. In 1799 Abd-er-Rahman wrote to congratulate the French general on his defeat of the Mamluks. Bonaparte replied by asking the sultan to send him 2,000 strong and vigorous black slaves who were upwards of sixteen years old in the next caravan. By the end of the 18th century, most of the population had syncretised Islam with their traditional beliefs.

Muhammad al-Fadl, his son, was for some time under the control of an energetic eunuch, Mohammed Kurra, but he ultimately made himself independent, and his reign lasted till 1838, when he died of leprosy. He devoted himself largely to the subjection of the semi-independent Arab tribes who lived in the country, notably the Rizeigat, thousands of whom he slew.

An account of life and the geography in Darfur was written in the early 19th century by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī (d. 1857), who spent ten years as a merchant from Cairo in the sultanate and described the kingdom in detail and with his own drawings in the book translated as ''In Darfur''.

Decline

In 1821, the Turco-Egyptians under Mehemet Ali, who planned to conquer the Sudan and compile a large slave army, conquered the Funj and the province of Kordofan from el-Fahl. The Keira dispatched another army but it was routed by the Egyptians near Bara on 19 August 1821. The Turco-Egyptians had intended to conquer all of Darfur, but their difficulties consolidating their hold on the Nile region forced them to abandon these plans.

The emergence of a more powerful eastern neighbour threatened the sultanate's political dominance over the region, and its greater military strength inhibited their procurement of slaves, crucial to the sultanate's economy. North-south trade routes began to bypass Darfur via Egypt, causing the sultanate to enter a recession.

Al-Fadl died in 1838 and of his forty sons, the third, Muhammad al-Husayn, was appointed his successor. Al-Husayn is described as a religious but avaricious man. In 1856 he went blind and for the rest of his reign Zamzam Umm al-Nasr, the sultan's eldest sister or ''ayabasi'', was the de facto ruler of the sultanate. Zamzam and other members of the sultan's inner circle exploited his weakness to repossess and pillage large tracts of land, terrorizing the citizens and weakening the sultanate.

In 1856, a Khartoum businessman, al-Zubayr Rahma, began operations in the land south of Darfur. He set up a network of trading posts defended by well-armed forces and soon had a sprawling state under his rule. This area, known as the Bahr el Ghazal, had long been the source of the goods that Darfur would trade to Egypt and North Africa, especially slaves and ivory. The natives of Bahr el Ghazal paid tribute to Darfur, and these were the chief articles of merchandise sold by the Darfurians to the Egyptian traders along the road to Asyut. Al-Zubayr redirected this flow of goods to Khartoum and the Nile.

Turco-Egyptian rule

Sultan al-Husayn died in 1873 and the succession passed to his youngest son Ibrahim, who soon found himself engaged in a conflict with al-Zubayr. After earlier conflicts with the Turco-Egyptians, Al-Zubayr had become their ally and in cooperation with them agreed to conquer Darfur. The war resulted in the destruction of the kingdom. Ibrahim was slain in the Battle of al-Manawashi in the autumn of 1874, and his uncle Hassab Alla, who sought to maintain the independence of his country, was captured in 1875 by the troops of the khedive, and brought to Cairo with his family. Al-Zubayr was shortly recalled by the Turco-Egyptians, and Darfur was administered as a province. Numerous rebellions sought to restore the sultanate, which enjoyed popular support, however they were unsuccessful.

Mahdists, Ali Dinar, and colonisation

In the 1880s, the Mahdists launched a ''jihad'' against the Turco-Egyptians. In 1885 they conquered Darfur and destroyed Khartoum, ending Turco-Egyptian rule. Although the regime change was initially popular, the Fur soon fiercely resisted Mahdist rule, and in 1887 a rebellion by the son of Sultan Ibrahim was narrowly put down. Another rebellion commenced soon after led by Abu Jammayza, a '' faki'', and was only put down after his death from smallpox in 1889. Rebellions sought to expel foreign occupiers and return the traditional sultans.

In 1898, when the Mahdists were conquered by the Anglo-Egyptians, sultan Ali Dinar managed to re-establish Darfur's self-rule. Ali Dinar's rule was recognised and tolerated by the British, and he rebuilt the sultanate's institutions. Dinar interfered in Wadai's succession struggle and placed his candidate on the throne, however he was assassinated and replaced by Dud Murra, the Senussi's candidate. Dinar contested the French conquests of his western tributaries, and the French and British convened to compose borders, however this was halted by the outbreak of World War 1. Dinar reassured the British he wouldn't ally with the Islamic Ottomans, however the British began to see the status quo as untenable. The British campaign in Turkey ended and troops became available in Egypt. Amid the possibility of French expansion and rumours of Dinar preparing an attack, the British conquered Darfur in 1916 and Dinar was killed in battle. The kingdom was incorporated into the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in 1917.

Colonial histories often portrayed the region as chaotic and barbaric, necessitating colonial rule to keep order, in contrast to the reality. Recent histories stress the co-operative and largely peaceful nature of coexistence in the region, however the colonial narrative has seen a resurgence due to the Darfur War.

Warfare

The armies of Darfur underwent a three-staged evolution. Before the 18th century they consisted entirely of levy warbands, youths armed with spears, hide shields and occasionally throwing knives. They were commanded by an older man titled ''ornang'' or aqid''. By the 18th century, a new type of warrior developed, the heavily armoured ''fursan''. They would form the small core of the armies of Darfur. These ''fursan'' were armed with long swords imported from Solingen in Germany, lances, maces and sometimes firearms. Body armour consisted of locally made gambesons, German-made mail armour, silk coats, greaves and helmets. The horses were a Nubian breed imported from the Dongola Reach and were purchased with slaves. Like the riders they were armoured with gambesons and mail armour as well as additional armour for the head. All this equipment had to be organized and maintained by the chiefs responsible for the ''fursan''. By the 1850s and 1860s, Darfur entered the third stage, when it attempted to build an army based on muskets. While firearms were already used in Darfur before it was only then when they were used tactically and in large numbers. These experiments were, however, ended with the invasion of al-Zubayr in 1874. Sultan Ibrahim died in a cavalry charge. The regular army of the revived state of Ali Dinar reportedly numbered 7,700 men in 1903 and 5,000 in 1916 and wielded a wide array of weapons, ranging from spears and shields to muzzle loaders, shotguns and Remington rifles.M. Daly (2007). "Darfur's Sorrow: The Forgotten History of a Humanitarian Disaster". Cambridge University. p. 107

Sultans and nobles were guarded by the ''korkwa'', armed pages wielding spears and hide shields.

List of rulers

Notes

References

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Further reading

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{{Sahelian kingdoms

Former monarchies of Africa
Sahelian kingdoms
History of Darfur
States and territories established in 1603
States and territories disestablished in 1874
States and territories established in 1898
States and territories disestablished in 1916
ja:ダルフール・スルターン国