Colonial Conquest and Resistance: The Case of Ebiraland 1886-1917 AD (original) (raw)
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Trade and Wadis System(s) in Muslim Sudan
2010
Despite these divisions and the rivalries that caused them, there seems to have long been a remarkably free flow of people and ideas along the Sudan belt, which still continues today (Barbour 1954:174). This book deals with one unit of this stretch, namely the present Republic of Sudan, the largest country in Africa in terms of area, at almost 2.6 million square kilometres. This big region has a varied climate that is expressed in different ecological zones, vegetation and adaptations. The Sahara in the far north gives way to poor savanna, rich savanna and equatorial forests. The high mountains and the eastern desert are three different ecological zones, offering different ranges for exploitation. The terrain is generally flat plain, broken by several mountain ranges which make prominent landmarks; in the west the Jebel Marra, which rises to 3,042 m, the highest area in western Sudan and Jebel Meidob. Another upstanding area is the Nuba Mountains in Kordofan, which rises 600 m above the plain. In the south the highest mountain is Mount Immatong near the border with Uganda. These mountains are invariably associated with rock types geologically different from the surrounding country side. This part of the Middle Nile is characterised by the presence of cataracts, the great bend, islands, big Wadis (seasonal and/or dry water courses) and the Sudd. The Blue, White Niles and Wadi Howar (which was so extensive that it might well be known as Yellow River), the Atbra, Wadi. al-Preface. ix Muqqadam and Wadi al Melik offer water, food and settlement to travellers, and facilitate trade and human movement. Recent field work has shown that, even today, in the Wadi Howar, water and pasture are available seasonally and a well fortified site controlling access to the Nile suggests that it was known and used in the past. Darfur can be approached either from the west through the savanna or Sahel from Alwa (medieval Christian kingdom) or by the Wadi Howar, from Mukurra (medieval Christian Kingdom). The hills and mountains in Darfur, culminating in Jebel Marra 3088m are the watershed between the Nile and Chad basins. These features will be discussed in detail in the first part of Chapter 1. The Sudan, with its vast area, varied geographical zones and peoples presents a unique pattern of the archaeology of Islam in Africa. The people of Sudan accepted Islam during the 7 th century CE through influences from both the north and the east and responded to the changes which have taken place in the Dar al-Islam. From the north, these influences, through Egypt, have been largely from Sufi sources and from the east, through the Red Sea coast from Sunni sources. This has affected the spiritual life of both the immigrant Muslims and the indigenous population who converted to Islam profoundly. The territory of the Sudan, as we know it, was never part of an Islamic Caliphate except during the period 1550-1821 CE, when the Sanjak (province) of Ibrim (the strip of the Nile Valley north of the 3 rd Cataract to the 1 st Cataract) and part of the Sanjak of Habesh (Suakin) were parts of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. South of the Sanjak of Ibrim was the Fung Kingdom, which preserved its independence until 1821 CE.Thus the architecture and other features we have come to associate with Islamic countries are not found in the Sudan. The rise of the al-Umari Emirates in the eastern desert, the Tunjur and then the Keira Sultanates in the west and the Fung King in the central part was the culmination of this slow process of Arab/Muslim migration.
Muslim Societies in African History
The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 2004
This page intentionally left blank Muslim Societies in African History Examining a series of processes (e.g., islamization, arabization, and africanization) and case studies from North, West, and East Africa, this book gives snapshots of Muslim societies in Africa over the past 1,000+ years. In contrast to traditions that suggest that Africa is not Muslim or that Islam did not take root in Africa, author David Robinson shows the complex struggles of Muslims in the Muslim state of Morocco and in the Hausaland region of Nigeria. He portrays the ways in which Islam was practiced in the "pagan" societies of Ashanti (Ghana) and Buganda (Uganda) and in the ostensibly Christian state of Ethiopia-beginning with the first emigration of Muslims from Mecca in 615 C.E., well before the foundational hijra to Medina in 622. He concludes with chapters on the Mahdi and Khalifa of the Sudan and the Murid Sufi movement that originated in Senegal. Finally, Robinson offers reflections in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. The Further Reading sections suggest how undergraduate readers may follow up on the themes of this volume, and illustrations and maps make the processes and case studies concrete.
2013
The point of my research is to reassess themes and notions of cultural imperialism and African perceptions and responses to foreign influences, while at the same time explore traditional cultural patterns, cultural identity, and continuity within the context of an ethno-history. It further brings together and subsumes scholars and Muslim intellectuals of nineteenth and twentieth-century African history from a variety of backgrounds and their learned and unique perspectives on the self-perceptions of African Muslims in the Senegambia. My initial project is to construct a historical and cultural account regarding how Murids in the Senegambia distinguish themselves as a particular group of African Muslims in West Africa based on identity and religious practices. It is The Myth of African Culture in Islam: A Critical Analysis of Cultural Retentions in The Western Sudan "I find it strange that people write the history of people by ignoring what those people actually think about themselves."
2009
The origin and early development of the Sudanese ports [AD 632-969] has been obscured by a fixation with the medieval ‘India trade’ and Hâjj traffic. It can alternatively be shown that ‘Aidhâb and Bâdi‘ were established to further the Muslim conquests and contain Aksumite Ethiopia. Trade was slow to develop. An African slave trade emerged in the mid eighth century. Gold mining thereafter assumed central importance, with Souakin established in a ninth-century ‘gold rush.’ Key Words: Early Islamic; Red Sea; Aksum; Egypt; Muslim conquests; slave trade; gold mining.