posted
And just mentioning this, but China, who was already busy getting in good with Sudan's government (as opposed to the U.S. who sided with the rebels) is making moves in Southern Sudan.
My opinion is i liked to see them secede but how much could the secession in any way benefit Africans (of any kind, no particular ethnic bias intent in this thread)? I'm just wondering.
posted
It would allow Christianity to again grow in that region. Remember, the Nubians were a Christian people but became Arabized over time which lead to the Aksumites taking over. Aksumites declined due to Islam's control over the Red Sea. So now a Christian Southern Sudan may be a reversal.
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most nubians became arabized,that true,some there are some that are not.axum was not around when most became arabized,so you got you time period wrong.axum did not take over anything. most nubians did not become arabized until the 1600 -1800's. a.d.,but the process started with a few,but only in lower nubia first. it became more more widespread after the last christian nubian kingdom fell after 1500 a.d., when the funj took over . After 1550,parts of nubia were free until 1823.
remember this too, there are nubians in other parts of sudan and other parts of africa.
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^Wow, i did not have it they were Islamicized that late / recent in history.
And i assumed he meant Aksum's taking over of Christianity in Africa, but yeah his comment put ??? in my head too at first.
I mainly meant other than religious.
Also, i want posts hearkening to things other than doomsday pictures. I say this with Doug M's monotone dialogue about how destroyed Africa's anus has gotten at the hands of Europeans in mind. There have been doomsday forecasts for Africa for 50 years and they've always been completely wrong and are finally starting to die down.
I like how Doug M sheds light on the facts including real events that took and take place even evidencing raw written articles and speech painting the picture clear as day though. I like when he talks about what should happen (other than obvious redundancy) even when i don't agree with it.
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quote:Originally posted by kenndo: most nubians became arabized,that true,some there are some that are not.axum was not around when most became arabized,so you got you time period wrong.axum did not take over anything. most nubians did not become arabized until the 1600 -1800's. a.d.,but the process started with a few,but only in lower nubia first. it became more more widespread after the last christian nubian kingdom fell after 1500 a.d., when the funj took over . After 1550,parts of nubia were free until 1823.
remember this too, there are nubians in other parts of sudan and other parts of africa.
Actually Axum invaded Meroe in the 4th century. By this time, Meroe's Christian culture had started to weaken due to inter-marriage with Arabic people from the North and possibly due to pagan invasion from the South. Islam did not take a hold until the fall of Axum and the rise of Saladin and the end of the crusades.
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posted
Christian Nubia and the Black Knights of the Crusades is a really interesting time in Christian Black African history.
I for one look forward to a free Southern Sudan that is open to missionaries.
-------------------- Across the sea of time, there can only be one of you. Make you the best one you can be. Posts: 4028 | From: NW USA | Registered: May 2005
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The reason why South Sudan is seceding is because the U.S. as the hegemonic leader of the West prefers to have a trincated Sudan than otherwise. John Garang began the Civil War with blessings and funds from the U.S. Remember he was trained at the well-known military School of the Americas.
Sudan is/was the biggest country in Africa which allowed the scope for travel, business and trade throughout a large area. The advantage is that you get economies of scale and free movement of peoples and goods. Contrary to what people think, the South is not mainly Christian. The Dinkas, Shilluk and Nuer all have their traditional belief systems. Though the missionaries have been making big inroads recently.
Sorry to say but it looks like smallness is what Africans seem to like. The Europeans have created and control the biggest countries in the world and they would not tolerate secession of any group for any reason. Think of Russia, Australia, U.S., Canada, Brazil, Argentina, etc.
China is also huge; so too India in terms of population, etc.
But for whatever reasons the average black country--counting the African diaspora--has only about 3 million people. The result is that mosquitoes offer a bigger threat to Europeans than any African country! Even Nigeria with its 160 million people is just a collection of bickering, fighting, regionally xenophobic people.
OK, a lot of people are saying that it's a good thing that the South Sudanese are going to separate from the North. I wonder if the blacks of Brazil or the U.S. push for secession whether the same smiley faces will light up.
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It would be a good thing if the South overwhelmed the North and made the entire Sudan a country where people had true freedom of religion.
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And I one look fwd to a time when Sudan and all Africans kick all type of religious missionaries out and either return to their own stories about deity(updated off-course) or better yet take a more scientific approach for the explanation of the universe.
Osirion
I for one look forward to a free Southern Sudan that is open to missionaries.Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
If I'm not mistaken, the present borders of Sudan were drawn by European imperialists. What then does it matter if these borders are redrawn again?
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posted
is not the size of the country that matters or the ethnic mix what matters most is the kind of regime the European colonizers left behind to continue their policies and oppress their own people that led to wars and made easy outsiders to exploit weak and diveded africans.
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quote:Originally posted by Brada-Anansi: And I one look fwd to a time when Sudan and all Africans kick all type of religious missionaries out and either return to their own stories about deity(updated off-course) or better yet take a more scientific approach for the explanation of the universe.
Osirion
I for one look forward to a free Southern Sudan that is open to missionaries.
Yes, scientific explainations for the Universe. You mean like Dark Matter. Dark matter is a substance that is needed in order for the Universe to exist in the state it is in. You cannot see it, measure or detect it but scientist say it must be there. I don't see how that is any different than religion except concepts like modern day racist Darwinistic philosophies only futher justify the marginalization of our people. But with that said, I am for freedom of religion and humanism (modern day scientific teachings) should be allowed as well.
In fact I would say Dark Matter fits into my Christian belief just fine. There can be beings made of dark matter and thus a consciousness that exists outside of the world that we can see. Essentially our soul could be made of Dark matter and thus science has only helped to improve our understanding of the metaphysical realm since the physical realm is not enough.
But the fact that you would take your far fetched scientific arrogance and force it on others says a lot about how narrow minded and foolish you are. Why not allow people the choice. Missionaries are a form of information medium and should be allowed to move about freely. Why should the entire world be forced only to hear the arrogant philosophies of the intellectural elites who have been wrong countless times. So what is the flavor of evolutionary theories now? Punctual equillibrium? Twisting evidence to fit theories rather than letting evidence speak for itself. There is more intelligence in the mechanism of evolution than random mutation events and the theories we have now are just grasping at straws but will not allow for heresy such as intelligent design. Its religion not science. Since it is religion it should be treated equally with all other forms of religious beliefs but instead it sits on a pedestal of arrogant elitism.
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quote:Originally posted by kenndo: most nubians became arabized,that true,some there are some that are not.axum was not around when most became arabized,so you got you time period wrong.axum did not take over anything. most nubians did not become arabized until the 1600 -1800's. a.d.,but the process started with a few,but only in lower nubia first. it became more more widespread after the last christian nubian kingdom fell after 1500 a.d., when the funj took over . After 1550,parts of nubia were free until 1823.
remember this too, there are nubians in other parts of sudan and other parts of africa.
Actually Axum invaded Meroe in the 4th century. By this time, Meroe's Christian culture had started to weaken due to inter-marriage with Arabic people from the North and possibly due to pagan invasion from the South. Islam did not take a hold until the fall of Axum and the rise of Saladin and the end of the crusades.
like i said you got your facts wrong.this basic facts are on the web,why make it so hard?it's not hard to look up,just tpe in alwa or christian,because if you did you would not say these in correct facts.
meroe was not christian.there was no intermarriage with arabs at this time.a few nubians in northern nubia only intermarry with arabs only in late early middle ages.
it became only abit more widespread the the christian nubian kingdom of markuria in the late middle ages.
the southern nubian christian kingdom nubian never intermarry with arabs,they just adopted arab culture to a point to protect themselves from the arabs.
hill nubian are not arabized,nubians of chad and nigeria and darfur or not arabized.most language nubian speakers today are not arabized.they still speak nubian.overall most nubians speakers in egypt do have arab admixture,most in the sudan do not.
most arabized nubians in sudan are really nubians and do not have any arab background in them.
anyway below i will give the basic history of later nubia. a refresher course.i guess i will have to post it for you.
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posted
here is a short history of nubia and sudan.
Nubia is a region along the Nile, in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.
There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization of much of the Nubian population. Nubia was again united within Ottoman Egypt in the 19th century, and within Anglo-Egyptian Sudan from 1899 to 1956.
The name Nubia is derived from that of the Noba people, nomads who settled the area in the 4th century, with the collapse of the kingdom of Meroë. The Noba spoke a Nilo-Saharan language, ancestral to Old Nubian. Old Nubian was used in mostly religious texts dating from the 8th and 15th centuries AD. Before the 4th century, and throughout classical antiquity, Nubia was known as Kush, or, in Classical Greek usage, included under the name Ethiopia.
Historically, the people of Nubia spoke at least two varieties of the Nubian language group, a subfamily which includes Nobiin (the descendant of Old Nibian), Kenuzi-Dongola, Midob and several related varieties in the northern part of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan. A variety (Birgid) was spoken (at least until 1970) north of Nyala in Darfur but is now extinct.
Meroë (800 BC – c. AD 350) in southern Nubia lay on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, ca. 200 km north-east of Khartoum. The people there preserved many ancient Egyptian customs but were unique in many respects. They developed their own form of writing, first utilizing Egyptian hieroglyphs, and later using an alphabetic script with 23 signs. Many pyramids were built in Meroë during this period and the kingdom consisted of an impressive standing military force. A famous legend in the history of Meroë relays the coming of Alexander the Great with his forces. According to legend, confronted with the brilliant military formation of the army led by Candace of Meroë, he concluded it would be best to withdraw his forces.Historical accounts however, show that Alexander never invaded Nubia and did not attempt to move further south than the Oasis of Siwa in Egypt. Strabo also describes a clash with the Romans in which the Romans were defeated by Nubian archers under the leadership of a "one-eyed" (blind in one eye) queen. During this time, the different parts of the region divided into smaller groups with individual leaders, or generals, each commanding small armies of mercenaries. They fought for control of what is now Nubia and its surrounding territories, leaving the entire region weak and vulnerable to attack. Meroë would eventually meet defeat by a new rising kingdom to their south, Aksum, under King Ezana.
At some point during the 4th century, the region was conquered by the Noba people, from which the name Nubia may derive (another possibility is that it comes from Nub, the Egyptian word for gold). From then on, the Romans referred to the area as the Nobatae.
Christian Nubia Around AD 350 the area was invaded by the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum and the kingdom collapsed. Eventually three smaller kingdoms replaced it: northernmost was Nobatia between the first and second cataract of the Nile River, with its capital at Pachoras (modern day Faras); in the middle was Makuria, with its capital at Old Dongola; and southernmost was Alodia, with its capital at Soba (near Khartoum). King Silky of Nobatia crushed the Blemmyes, and recorded his victory in a Greek inscription carved in the wall of the temple of Talmis (modern Kalabsha) around AD 500.
While bishop Athanasius of Alexandria consecrated one Marcus as bishop of Philae before his death in 373, showing that Christianity had penetrated the region by the 4th century, John of Ephesus records that a Monophysite priest named Julian converted the king and his nobles of Nobatia around 545. John of Ephesus also writes that the kingdom of Alodia was converted around 569. However, John of Biclarum records that the kingdom of Makuria was converted to Roman Catholicism the same year, suggesting that John of Ephesus might be mistaken. Further doubt is cast on John's testimony by an entry in the chronicle of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria Eutychius, which states that in 719 the church of Nubia transferred its allegiance from the Greek Orthodox to the Coptic Church.
By the 7th century Makuria expanded becoming the dominant power in the region. It was strong enough to halt the southern expansion of Islam after the Arabs had taken Egypt. After several failed invasions the new rulers agreed to a treaty with Dongola allowing for peaceful coexistence and trade. This treaty held for six hundred years. Over time the influx of Arab traders introduced Islam to Nubia and it gradually supplanted Christianity. While there are records of a bishop at Qasr Ibrim in 1372, his see had come to include that located at Faras. It is also clear that the "Royal" church at Dongola had been converted to a mosque around 1350.
The influx of Arabs and Nubians to Egypt and Sudan had contributed to the suppression of the Nubian identity following the collapse of the last Nubian kingdom around 1504. A major part of the modern Nubian population became totally Arabized and some claimed to be Arabs (Jaa'leen – the majority of Northern Sudanese – and some Donglawes in Sudan).[28] A vast majority of the Nubian population is currently Muslim, and the Arabic language is their main medium of communication in addition to their indigenous old Nubian language. The unique characteristic of Nubian is shown in their culture (dress, dances, traditions, and music).
Islamic Nubia In the 14th century the Dongolan government collapsed and the region became divided and dominated by Egypt. The next centuries would see several invasions of the region, as well as the establishment of a number of smaller kingdoms. Northern Nubia was brought under Egyptian control while the south came under the control of the Kingdom of Sennar in the 16th century. The entire region would come under Egyptian control during the rule of Mehemet Ali in the early 19th century, and later became a joint Anglo-Egyptian condominium.
Funj people The Funj are an ethnic group in present day Sudan. Their origins are not clearly known, but they are recorded as moving into Nubia from the Sudd to the south in the early 16th century, fleeing the pressure of the Shilluk. Arriving in Nubia, they absorbed the empire built up by Abdallah Jamma and set up the Funj Sultanate of Sinnar that ruled the area for several centuries.
Sennar (sultanate) The Funj Sultanate of Sennar (sometimes spelled Sinnar), known in Sudanese traditions as the Blue Sultanate (Arabic: السلطنة الزرقاء; As-Saltana az-Zarqa),[9] was a sultanate in the north of Sudan, named Funj after the ethnic group of its dynasty or Sinnar (or Sennar) after its capital, which ruled a substantial area of northeast Africa between 1504 and 1821.
In the 15th century the part of Nubia formerly controlled by Makuria was home to a number of small states and subject to frequent incursions by desert nomads. The situation in Alodia is less well known, but it also seems as though that state had collapsed. The area was reunified under Abdallah Jamma, the gatherer, who came from the eastern regions that had grown wealthy and powerful from the trade on the Red Sea. Abdallah's empire was short lived as in the early 16th century the Funj people under Amara Dunqas arrived from the south, having been driven north by the Shilluk. The Funj defeated Abdallah and set up their own kingdom based at Sennar.[10]
Religion The Funj had originally practiced a religious mix of Animism and Christianity. Islam also had an important influence, and in 1523 the Sennar monarchy officially converted to that religion, though many elements of the previous beliefs continued.
Conflilcts Sennar expanded rapidly at the expense of neighboring states. Its power was extended over the Gezira, the Butana, the Bayuda, and southern Kordofan. This caused immediate tensions with its neighbours. Ethiopia felt much threatened but its internal problems prevented intervention. Newly Ottoman Egypt also saw the new state as a threat and invaded in force, but then failed to conquer the area, so the Ottoman forces fortified the border and consolidated their hold on northern Nubia. This border would hold until 1821. Relations with Ethiopia were more strained as both states competed over lowlands between their two states. Eventually the Ethiopians moved their capital to nearby Gondar and secured their influence over these areas. Conflicts with the Shilluk to the south continued, but later the two were forced into an uneasy alliance to combat the growing might of the Dinka. Under Sultan Badi II, Sennar defeated the Kingdom of Taqali to the west and made its ruler (styled Woster or Makk) its vassal.
Civil Society The sultanate was heavily divided along geographic and racial/ethnic lines. The society was divided into six racial groups. There was a sharp division between those who were the heirs of the ancient kingdom of Alodia and the rest of Sennar. The Alodians adopted the mantle of the defeated Abdallah Jamma and came to be known as the Abdallab. In the late 16th century they rose in revolt under Ajib the Great. Ajib routed the Kings of Sennar, first making them his vassals and then seizing almost the entire kingdom in 1606. The Sennar monarchy regrouped under Adlan I, defeating Ajib in a pair of decisive battles. Eventually a compromise was reached whereby Ajib and his successors would rule the Sennar province of Dongola with a great deal of autonomy.
In 1821, Ismail bin Muhammad Ali the general and son of the nominally Ottoman khedive of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, led an army into Sennar; he encountered no resistance from the last king, whose realm was promptly absorbed into Ottoman Egypt. The region was subsequently absorbed into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the independent Republic of Sudan on that country's independence in 1956.
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christian nubia The Kingdom of Makuria (Old Nubian: Ⲙⲁⲕⲟⲩⲣⲓⲁ, Makouria; Arabic: مقرة, al-Muqurra) was a kingdom located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. It was one of a group of Nubian kingdoms that emerged during the decline of the Aksumite Empire, which it had been part of from approximately 4BC to AD 950. Makuria originally covered the area along the Nile River from the Third Cataract to somewhere between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts. It also had control over the trade routes, mines, and oases to the east and west. Its capital was Dongola (Arabic: Dunqulah), and the kingdom is sometimes known by the name of its capital.
By the end of the 6th century it had converted to Christianity, but in the 7th century Egypt was conquered by the Islamic armies, and Nubia was cut off from the rest of Christendom. In 651 an Arab army invaded, but it was repulsed and a treaty known as the baqt was signed creating a relative peace between the two sides that lasted until the 13th century. Makuria expanded, annexing its northern neighbour Nobatia either at the time of the Arab invasion or during the reign of King Merkurios. The period from roughly 750 to 1150 saw the kingdom stable and prosperous, in what has been called the "Golden Age".[1] Increased aggression from Egypt, and internal discord led to the state's collapse in the 14th century.
Origins The origins of Makuria are uncertain. Ptolemy mentions a Nubian people known as the Makkourae, who might be ancestors to the Makurians.[5] The kingdom is believed to have formed in the 4th or 5th century. The first recorded mention of it is in a work by the 6th-century John of Ephesus, who decries its hostility to Monophysite missionaries traveling to Alodia. Soon after John of Biclarum wrote approvingly of the "Makurritae"'s[1] adoption of the rival Melkite faith.
Resistance to Muslim Expansion Makuria was one of the few states in the world to effectively resist Muslim conquests led by the Rashidun Caliphate. They defeated an Arab army at the First Battle of Dongola in 642. The Arabs had taken Egypt in 641, and the jihad soon turned south.They repeated this feat again in 652 at the Second Battle of Dongola. In both battles, Arab writers noted the Makurians skill with the bow. This was one of the few major defeats suffered by an Arab army in the first century of Islamic expansion, and it led to an unprecedented agreement, the bakt, which guaranteed peaceful relations between the two sides. In this treaty the Nubians agreed to send several hundred slaves each year to Egypt, while the Egyptians may have been obliged to send food and manufactured goods south.
Zenith Makuria seems to have been stable and prosperous during the eighth and ninth centuries. During this period Egypt was weakened by frequent civil wars, and there was thus little threat of invasion from the north. Instead it was the Nubians who intervened in the affairs of their neighbour. Much of Upper Egypt was still Christian, and it looked to the Nubian kingdoms for protection. One report has a Nubian army sacking Cairo in the eighth century to defend the Christians, but this is probably apocryphal.
Egypt and Makuria developed close and peaceful relations when Egypt was ruled by the Fatimids. The Shi'ite Fatimids had few allies in the Muslim world, and they turned to the southern Christians as allies.[11] Fatimid power also depended upon the slaves provided by Makuria, who were used to man the Fatimid army. Trade between the two states flourished: Egypt sent wheat, wine, and linen south while Makuria exported ivory, cattle, ostrich feathers, and slaves. Relations with Egypt soured when the Ayyubids came to power in 1171. Early in the Ayyubid period the Nubians invaded Egypt, perhaps in support of their Fatimid allies.[12] The Ayyubids repulsed their invasion and in response Salah-ed-din dispatched his brother Turan Shah to invade Nubia. He defeated the Nubians, and for several years occupied Qasr Ibrim before retreating north. The Ayyubids dispatched an emissary to Makuria to see if it was worth conquering, but he reported that the land was too poor. The Ayyubids seem to have thus largely ignored their southern neighbour for the next century.
Civil War and Collapse After a period of peace King Karanbas defaulted on these payments, and the Mamluks again invaded and occupied the kingdom in 1312. This time a Muslim member of the Makurian dynasty was placed on the throne. Sayf al-Din Abdullah Barshambu began converting the nation to Islam and in 1317 the Dongola cathedral was turned into a mosque. This was not accepted by other Makurian leaders and the nation fell into civil war and anarchy that very year. The countryside came under the control of the raiding tribes from the desert, and the monarchy was left with effective control over little more than the capital. This effectively ended Makuria as a unified state. There is some evidence the Makurian dynasty survived until the end of the 14th century, including a Makurian call for aid in 1397. It has been suggested that the change of African trade routes and the Black Death did play a major role in the collapse.
The Awlad Kenz In 1412, the Awlad Kenz took control of Nubia and part of Egypt above the Thebaid. The Awlad Kenz remained the de facto rulers of Nubia until 1517, when the area was conquered and amalgamated into Egypt by the armies of the Ottoman Sultan Selim.
note- southern nubia was still free.
Alodia or Alwa was the southernmost of the three kingdoms of Christian Nubia; the other two were Nobatia and Makuria to the north. The origins of the kingdom are little known. The first reference to the Alodia might be a Meroitic stela from the reign of Nastasen, that mention a region known as Alut that might be a reference to Alodia.[1] The first concrete reference is made Pliny the Elder who includes Alwa on his list of towns in Nubia. How Alodia is related to the ancient kingdom of Meroe is one of the most important questions. Alodia was centered on what was the heart of the Meroitic empire. By the time of Ezana of Axum it seems that Alwa was controlled by the Noba rather than the Kushites. Alodia was converted to Christianity in the 6th century by missionaries sent by Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. Monophysite Christianity flourished in Alodia, more so than other Christian sects. Alodia was centered south of the great bend in the Nile river and south into the Gezira with its capital at Soba. P.L. Shennie mentions that the name of a king David, who died in 1015, was learned from a recently recovered tombstone.[2] At some points in time it seems as though Alodia and Makuria merged into one state, perhaps as a result of the close dynastic links between the two. If the two states did merge at certain times, Alodia regained its independence.
Ibn Hawqal is the most important external source on the country, being one of the only detailed first hand accounts of a traveller to the country. He describes Alodia as being larger, wealthier, and more powerful than Makuria, with the country covering a large region stretching from Ethiopia to the Kordofan.
Alodia was the furthest of the Nubian states from the influences of Egypt and thus the last of the Nubian states to be converted to Islam. The conventional date for the final destruction of Alodia is the Funj conquest of the region in the early sixteenth century. Archaeological evidence seems to show that the kingdom was in decline as early as the thirteenth century. Near the end of this century al-Harrani reports that the capital had been moved to Wayula. Later Mamluk emissaries reported that the region was divided among nine rulers.
Alodia seems to have preserved its identity after the Funj conquest and its incorporation into the Kingdom of Sennar. The Alodians, who became known as the Abdallab, revolted under Ajib the Great and formed the semi-autonomous Kingdom of Dongola that persisted for several centuries.
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Derek A. Welsby, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. London: The British Museum Press, ...
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.01.16 Derek A. Welsby, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. London: The British Museum Press, 2002. Pp. 296. ISBN 0-7141-1947-4. £29.99.
Reviewed by Peter C. Nadig, RWTH-Aachen (cvr@rwth-aachen.de) Word count: 2338 words
There has been a renewed interest in the ancient cultures of Sudan in recent years.1 A very informative and well received introduction to this subject was published in 1996 by Derek A. Welsby, an experienced field archaeologist who has been excavating in the Sudan for the past two decades. He is Assistant Keeper in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, where he is in charge of the Sudanese collections. In his The Kingdom of Kush,2 he outlines the history and culture of the Napatan and Meroitic empires. The early rulers of these people even controlled Egypt and therefore formed the XXVth dynasty (ca. 747-656 BC). These kingdoms dated from the eighth century BC to the fourth century AD. Now W. has produced a sequel about the subsequent history and archaeology of medieval of Nubia until the 16th century. In the introduction (pp. 7-14) W. explains the term Nubia and the Nubians. The latter occupied the area that once stretched from the north of Aswan to ed-Debba beyond the Third Cataract. Medieval Nubia basically consisted of three kingdoms: Makuria, Alwa and Nobadia, the last becoming a part of Makuria not later than the eight century. After an interesting summary of how the Arab authors viewed this region, the author gives a description of the geography and environment and then proceeds to the relevant sources, ranging from archaeological finds (graffiti and inscriptions) to Roman, Byzantine, and Arab writers to modern explorers, and to questions of chronology (cf. table 1, p. 13 from the ninth century BC till the early sixteenth century).
Chapter 2 deals with "The emergence of the Nubian kingdoms" (pp. 14-30) after the end of the Kushite state. The people mentioned in Greek, Roman, Aksumite, Byzantine, and Arab sources as Nubae, Nobades, Nobates, Annoubades, Noba, Nouba, and Red Noba may loosely refer to the same people, sub-groups or different peoples altogether. W. concludes that the Nubians may largely have come originally from the Gezira, the land between the White and Blue Nile, and infiltrated the Kushite state, thus weakening it and eventually bringing its end. He also points to the problems posed by numerous sources for northern Nubia since almost none of the literary, epigraphic, and textual material can be precisely dated. In contrast, the early development of the southern kingdoms of Makuria and Alwa cannot fully be explained due to a total lack of sources. This is exacerbated by the fluid situation of the border region between Egypt and Lower Nubia and also the loose nature of the tribal confederacies of the Blemmyes, who controlled the eastern deserts. In this case one part of them might have been aligned with Rome while other parts of their people might have been at war. The following subchapters cover the relationship of the Blemmyes and the Nobadae and their ties with Rome, the upcoming Nubian hegemony, and the kingdoms in the sixth century. Very helpful are the three maps that depict the territory of Nobadia (later the Makurian province of Maris), Makuria and Alwa.
The arrival and impact of Christianity is the theme of chapter three (pp. 31-67). W. starts with the literary evidence from the accounts of numerous church historians. According to them Melkite (= Chalcedonian = orthodox) and Monophysite (= anti-Chalcedonian) missionaries were sent to Nubia by Justinian (= Melkite) and Theodora (= Monophysite). Therefore two creeds were originally established in the Middle Nile region, yet archaeologically they are difficult to distinguish. An extensive treatment is given of the funerary culture in those kingdoms ranging from Kushite to Christian burial. Interesting is an example from Esebi of Pagan-Christian tumulus and Christian mastaba tombs side by side (pp. 39 f. + fig. 13), which may indicate the respect of the later Christian population for their pagan ancestors. Additional sections deal with Pagan Nubian and Christian Nubian graves, tomb monuments, respect for the dead, tombstones, and popular religion, pagan traditions and magic.
The relationship of the Nubians and their neighbors from the seventh to the early thirteenth century comprise chapter four (pp. 68-82). It deals with the Arab invasions following the rise of Islam and the subsequent conquest of Egypt. The first intrusion occurred in 641 or 642 when the Emir Amru b. El-As sent an army of 20,000 men into Makuria. The Nubian resistance was so massive that the Muslims gained very little by their expedition and had to sign a peace treaty (baqt) according to some Arab writers. The peace did not last, however, and after a second campaign in 652 another treaty between the Muslims in Egypt and Nubia was concluded which marked the independence of Makuria. The subsequent conflicts with the Tulunids and Ayyubids, as well as the Nubian (= Makurian) relations with the Christian Kingdoms of Alwa and Ethiopia, are also summarized here. A very interesting subchapter concerns the army of the Nubians (pp. 78-82) and its weaponry. The sources on this topic are sparse and the author basically has to draw his conclusions from archaeological finds in some tombs.
The treaty of 652 established a peace between Islamic Egypt and Nubia which remained nearly unbroken till the Ayyubid aggression in the twelfth century. These peaceful centuries mark "The heyday of the Nubian kingdoms" (chapter 5, pp. 83-111). This period brought considerable prosperity and a rich Christian culture for the people from the First Cataract down to Soba East. This chapter introduces the relevant aspects of the society. After outlining the topography and borders W. gives a detailed description of royalty and regalia, as well as the administrative structures (king, kinglets, eparch and other officials). The royal succession was matrilineal. It was normally the kings nephew (= his sister's son) who inherited the throne. If this was not possible, the king's son, other members of the royal family or even outsiders could become king. Another extensive portion is devoted to the church -- the second most important state institution -- with sections on the history of Melkite and Monophysite Christianity, the church's role in the administration, monasticism, and anchorites. W. further explains that it is difficult to establish the fate of the Kushite population. The only certain fact is that the Nubian culture was homogenous when Christianity arrived along the Middle Nile. After the emergence of Islam in Egypt the racial and cultural composition was gradually altered, when Muslim communities settled along the river south of Aswan and as far as the kingdom of Alwa. The chapter continues with summaries on longevity and disease, coiffure (as found on buried bodies and wall paintings), and pastimes.
The relevant settlements in Nubia are presented in the sixth chapter (pp. 112-136). After discussing the state of archaeological research W. introduces the metropolises Faras, Old Dongola and Soba East, and the other major centers Qasr Ibrim and Jebel Adda, before he goes on to lower ranking settlements in Nobadia and in the Makurian Province of Maris (Arminna West, Debeira West, Abdullah Nirqi, Meinarti, Serra West, and Hambukol). Special attention is given to fortified sites in the early and late medieval period.
The longest section of this book (chapter seven, pp. 137-182) concerns the architecture of Nubia. The preservation of medieval monuments has been upset by the building of the Aswan high dam. The state of preservation also depends on differing climates: in the dry north buildings were protected by wind-blown sand while in the southern areas that are affected by seasonal rainfall many more buildings were erected in red brick, which can easily be reused for new constructions, but they fared much worse in those rainy parts, however. W. makes it clear that given these factors, the discussion on architecture must basically be focussed on Nobadia and Makuria, while there is little to include from Alwa. Since the impressive fortresses have been already dealt with in the previous chapter, W. can elaborate here on the church architecture at great length. He begins with the impact of Christianity, which demanded a different solution for a place of worship than the old Egyptian-Nubian religion. Unlike the temple, which as the house of the god had normally been entered by the priesthood only, the church was a public building largely occupied by the congregation. Here only a small sanctuary at the western end marked the area preserved for the priest. After a general introdution about the specifics W. comments on the various types of churches: converted temples, the development of freestanding churches, and the churches in Upper Nubia, Makuria and Alwa. Further attention is given to different functional church types such as community churches, cathedrals, monastic churches, memorial churches, double cathedrals and churches, chapels, and baptisteries. Also mentioned are palatial buildings, monasteries, and domestic architecture, followed by a detailed analysis of building construction itself. W. includes numerous illustrative floor plans.
The next main chapter (pp. 183-215) is about the various aspects of the Nubian economy, such as agriculture, manufacturing, and trade. The author provides an extra section on the literary and archaeological sources for the trade of medieval Nubia with the outside world. It is interesting to note that nearly all literary references on this topic come from Egyptian Byzantine or Islamic sources. On the other hand there is very little if any evidence about Nubian trade with Southern Sudan, Kordofan, Darfur, and the Ethiopian highlands.
Chapter nine (pp. 216-241) is a very informative section about "Art, language and literacy". W. points out the marked contrast of Nubian art in the medieval period with the preceding Kushite era. There is an almost total absence of sculpture in the round while decorative relief sculpture is rare and narrative figurative reliefs are totally absent. But commemorative art found its expression in wall painting. After a brief outline of the question regarding continuity of artistic expression a lengthy discussion on the various elements of architectural sculpture is added (bases, columns, capitals, lintels, arches, jambs, balustrades, screens, window grills, friezes, tombstones, mosaics). An extensive section analyses the wall paintings, which are first mentioned by Abu Salih in the twelfth century. Descriptions by early travelers, drawings, and photographs become extremely useful in this field as many paintings have been destroyed even in modern times -- "sometimes by the overzealous activities of archaeologists, particularly in the case of converted temples" (p. 224) as W. states. A drawing made in 1818-19 of St. Peter (p. 225; figure 92) in the converted temple of Wadi-es Sebua serves to illustrate this point. A lengthy summary on pottery decorations covers the portable objects of art. This chapter closes with an introduction to the languages of Nubia, where Greek, Coptic, and a written form known as Old Nubian were used for inscriptions. Prompted by settlers from the north, Arabic was the latest language to arrive in the region.
Chapter ten (pp. 242-255) chronicles the decline and collapse of the Nubian kingdoms. After a brief summary of the relevant authors for the late thirteenth century W. gives a table (pp. 242 f.) of the relations between Makurians and Muslims from 1265 to 1365. A more detailed account follows in various subsections. Following a Muslim invasion in 1276 the Christian king Shekanda was installed on the Makurian throne in Old Dongola. This marked the first major Muslim influx in the region, since the invaders demanded from the Makurians the choice of converting to Islam, paying the infidel-tax (jiza) or being killed. The people chose the second option and their kings became the representative of the Sultan. By 1323 Kanz ed-Dawla became the first Muslim ruler of Makuria. Old Dongola was abandoned in 1365-6 as the capital of northern Nubia and the court moved to Daw (probably Jebel Adda some 55 km south of Qasr Ibrim). W. discusses the possibility of Daw being the capital of the ephemeral kingdom of Dotawo, which is only mentioned in some contemporary documents and inscriptions, and concludes this chapter with summaries on the disappearance of Dotawo and the little known fate of Alwa. A brief postscript (pp. 256-258) outlines the aspects of continuity. So some religious site retained their sanctity in the Muslim period. While only a few churches were converted to mosques, cemeteries remained in use; some Christian tombs were even attributed to Muslim saints. The most significant heritage from medieval Nubia, however, is the language. Its still widely spoken though no longer written.
An appendix lists all the known Blemmyan and Nubian kings. It is apparent that in many instances exact dates are not known or sometimes simply estimated. Numerous endnotes with references to sources and literature, a very helpful glossary (pp. 274-276) and an extensive bibliography enrich this study. Like The Kingdom of Kush many of the photos are by author himself or have been contributed by his colleagues. A section of color plates is in the center of the book. The various tables, maps, and drawings cannot be commented on here in detail.
Welsby has written a very thorough and fascinating book, and he can be congratulated for drawing this poorly known topic to the attention of a wider audience. He shows profound expertise in bringing the various complex literary and archaeological sources together. His familiarity with the various classical and medieval authors is a highlight. The same can be said about his insights on archaeological matters. His study also makes known how much information has been lost with the passage of time or might perhaps be retrieved by future research (i.e. excavations).
There are some minimal objections which might perhaps be considered for a paperback edition -- which seems likely -- as was the case with The Kingdom of Kush. The section on p. 232 on portable works of art and manuscript illustrations is very brief and without any photographs. Some sample pictures of manuscripts or icons would be helpful. Even though the book is richly illustrated one might wish for more pictures alongside the text. The bibliography would also benefit if the ancient and medieval writers were listed separately after the abbreviations. Still, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia is a very valuable book for the general reader as well as the scholar. Notes:
1. This is made evident f.e. by the splendid exhibition which toured several countries beginning in 1996; Cf. D. Wildung (Ed.) Sudan. Antike Königreiche am Nil. Katalogbuch zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung in München, Paris, Amsterdam, Toulouse. Berlin: Wasmuth, 1996; and (English) Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile. Paris: Flammarion, 1997). 2. Derek A. Welsby, The Kingdom of Kush. The Napatan and Meroitic Empires. London: The British Museum Press, 1996, 2002 (pb.). Read Latest
What was happening during this period that allowed the Aksumites the ability to overrun Meroe?
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yes they did,but it was only for 6 months then the noba nubians kick them out.axumtites are NOT arabs by the way if you are trying to SAY that. PARTS OF nubia was not even conqured by axum REALLY. second there is some question if the axumites conqured MEROE it or not or it was just a raid.
a good book about it is derek a welsby The kingdom of Kush: the Napatan and Meroitic empires -
the last pages talks about it When Rome was a small village, and the Greek city-states held sway over minuscule territories, the Kushites ruled an empire stretching from central Sudan to the ...
anyway i posted alot above,so take your time and read it,and get the books.you could google it in google books too. thank you.
BY THE WAY the nubian written script called old nubian is back.
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^ no, Axumites were certainly not Arabs. I wasn't saying that at all. I was saying that Arabs had already started the process of Arabization of the Sudan when the Aumites conquered Meroe.
Admixture of Nubians and its impact on their craniometrics is an ongoing debate.
A good book: The Nubians of West Aswan: village women in the midst of change By Anne M. Jennings
This is an interesting topic and probably should be in a separate thread.
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arabs did not live in sudan when meroe was conqured,there was no arabization in the sudan in ancient times,not even first half of early middle ages. the point is,for modern nubians,some have some admixture,and some do not,but most arabized nubians do not.arabization of the nubians only became more widespread in early modern times after the fall of alwa in 1504 a.d. but i was slow process,it began earlier in lower nubia in the later early middle ages and spread in upper nubia in the late middle ages.some did not become arabized and remain nubian,southern nubians did became arabized after 1504,but remain nubian,they did not intermarry with arabs,they still marry within thier famliy.
nubians outside of nubia in the sudan and other areas of africa remain nubian with no admixture.
the black arabs of today in sudan were nubian,but not anymore.they are the most extreme arabized nubians to a point they thye just call themselves arabs,not many of them have admixture,but they are different from arabixed nubian in the sudan they still are nubian all the way by blood,well most of them anyway,but they are not extremely arab influence in culture like the black arabs in the sudan.
this is the confusion. you have to types of black arabs in the sudan today.one is the the more extreme arabs,former nubians in culture,the other is called arabized nubians,these arabs are not arabs,they are nubian.they were called arabs awhile ago,because of the brainwashing overtime,so they wanted to became arabs,now many are waking up and they realized they are really nubians,but still speak arabic.
so you have two types of nubians today.arabized nubians and nubian speakers.
most nubian speakers of egypt do have admixture with arabs today,most do not in the sudan.
remember a large chunk of nubians in the sudan do not live in nubia anymore.
these nubians remain purely nubian.
many still are in the nile valley in sudan has well,but there is more arab influence culture with them on average then nubian outside of the nile.
rememeber to get and read updated an correct works
read those books,and the history i posted above.it should make thing more clear for you.
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do mean to change to topic here but here is just a few more info.
PostPosted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:41 pm Post subject: Nubian Languages Nobiin (previously know by the geographic terms Mahas or Fadicca/Fiadicca).
Kenzi-Dongolawi. Kenzi (or Kenuzi) is spoken north of Mahas in Egypt while Dongolawi is spoken south of Mahas around Dongola; they are generally considered two varieties of one language. With population displacement due to the Aswan High Dam there are communities of Nubian speakers in Lower Egypt and in Eastern Sudan (Khashm el-Girba). Apart from these two distinct varieties spoken along the Nile, three other varieties existed.
Midob (Meidob) in and around the Malha volcanic crater in North Darfur.
Birgid - originally spoken north of Nyala around Menawashei until the 1970s. The last surviving aged speakers were interviewed by Thelwall at this time. Some equally aged speakers on Gezira Aba just north of Kosti on the Nile south of Khartoum were interviewed by Thelwall in 1980.
Hill Nubian - a group of closely related dialects spoken in various villages in the northern Nuba Mountains - in particular Dilling, Debri, and Kadaru.
Old Nubian is preserved in at least a hundred pages of documents, mostly of a Christian religious nature, written with a uncial variety of the Greek alphabet, extended with three Coptic letters and three unique to Old Nubian, apparently derived from Meroitic. These documents range in date from the 8th to the 15th century A.D.. Old Nubian is currently considered ancestral to modern Nobiin.
Synchronic research on the Nubian languages began in the last decades of the nineteenth century, first focusing on the Nile Nubian languages Nobiin and Dongolawi/Kenzi. Several well-known Africanists have occupied themselves with Nubian, most notably Lepsius (1880), Reinisch (1879), and Meinhof (1918); other early Nubian scholars include Almkvist and Schäfer. Important comparative work on the Nubian languages has been carried out by Thelwall and Bechhaus-Gerst in the second half of the twentieth century.
Nubian is considered to be a subfamily within Eastern Sudanic, and ultimately within Nilo-Saharan. Within Eastern Sudanic, it is thought to be most closely related to the Taban languages.
Of all the Nubian languages, the ones spoken along the Nile traditionally have received the most attention. Many manuscripts have been unearthed in the Nile Valley, mainly between the first and fifth cataracts, testifying to a firm Nubian presence in the area during the first millennium. Nobiin and a dialect cluster related to it, Kenzi-Dongolawi, are found in the same area. These languages were the languages of the Christian Nubian kingdoms. Historical comparative research has shown that the Nile-Nubian languages do not form a genetic unit; the speakers of Nobiin arrived first in the area, followed later by the speakers of the Kenzi and Dongolawi varieties. The other Nubian languages are found hundreds of kilometers to the southwest, in Darfur and in the Nuba Mountains of Kordofan. In the past, there has been debate as to whether the Nubian languages spread to the Nile valley from Kordofan and Darfur or moved in the opposite direction. For a long time it was assumed that the Nubian peoples dispersed from the Nile Valley to the south, probably at the time of the downfall of the Christian kingdoms. However, comparative lexicostatistic research in the second half of the twentieth century has shown that the spread must have been in the opposite direction (Thelwall 1982, Adams 1982, among others). Greenberg (as cited in Thelwall 1982) calculated that a split between Hill Nubian and the Nile-Nubian languages occurred at least 2,500 years ago. This account is corroborated by non-linguistic evidence — for example, the oral tradition of the Shaiqiya tribe of the Jaali group of arabized Nile-Nubians tells of coming from the southwest long ago.
There are three currently active proposals for the script of Nubian: Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet, and Old Nubian alphabet. Since the 1950's, Latin has been used by 4 authors, Arabic by 2, and Old Nubian by 1, in the publication of various books of proverbs, dictionaries, and textbooks. For Arabic, the extended SESCO system may be used to indicate vowels and consonants not found in Arabic itself.
There are three currently active proposals for the script of Nubian: Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet, and Old Nubian alphabet. Since the 1950's, Latin has been used by 4 authors, Arabic by 2, and Old Nubian by 1, in the publication of various books of proverbs, dictionaries, and textbooks. For Arabic, the extended SESCO system may be used to indicate vowels and consonants not found in Arabic itself.
refencences
Adams, W.Y. (1982) 'The coming of Nubian speakers to the Nile Valley', in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, M. (eds.) The Archeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 11–38.
Asmaa M. I. Ahmed, "Suggestions for Writing Modern Nubian Languages", and Muhammad J. A. Hashim, "Competing Orthographies for Writing Nobiin Nubian", in Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages No. 9, SIL/Sudan, Entebbe 2004.
Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne (1989) 'Nile-Nubian Reconsidered', in M. Lionel Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics, Hamburg: Heinrich Buske.
Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne (1996) Sprachwandel durch Sprachkontakt am Beispiel des Nubischen im Niltal. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer diachronen Soziolinguistik. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Jakobi, Angelika & Tanja Kummerle (1993) The Nubian Languages. A Annotated Bibliography. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Thelwall, Robin (1982) 'Linguistic Aspects of Greater Nubian History', in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, M. (eds.) The Archeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 39–56. online version
MY COMMENTS
more written documents have been discovered since in recent time from the medieval period and ancient period in both southern and upper nubia up too the 16th cen. and even after before the 1900's.
It seems that the nubian language is from the southwest and nile vally nubians have ther origin there and the central sahara. __________________________________- There are two type of arabized nubians,the afro-arab who has varied admixture but mostly half arab and half african. the other arabized nubian, is nubian. most of these arabs are not arabs,they are nubians who were arabized. they did this to protect themselves from arab raid in th 1700's and 1800's.most of these arabized nubians have no arab blood at all,and most have no admixture since they marry in their families.they made up a arab forefather just like some african who became muslim but have not arabs in there family background. there story was fiction and not fact and the arabs never ruled the sudan.
the last nubian kingdom in the nile fell in 1898. the nubian in the noba hill were never really conqured even by the british. these were the hill nubians that live next to the noba.
_______________ THESE FOLKS ARE REALLY NUBIAN- The Jaaliyin of Sudan The Jaaliyin are the direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed, the messenger of the Islamic faith. It seems more likely, however, that their original ancestors are the Nubians and that the Jaaliyin gradually adopted the Arab culture. The Jaaliyin are easily recognized by their facial scars, many of which are in the form of a T or H. The scars are a sign of tribal pride and are even more common on the women than on the men, for they are considered a sign of beauty. The Jaaliyin are a very close tribe and quickly identify with each other, coming to another’s aid in the event of trouble or during times of celebration.
Their Lifestyle Some Jaaliyin still farm and raise livestock along the banks of the Nile River, but today they more commonly consist of the bulk of the Sudanese urban population, forming a large part of the merchant class. Although many have moved to cities, such as the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, they still maintain their tribal identity and solidarity. In some cities they live in quarters inhabited solely by Jaaliyin, and they oppose marriages to people outside their tribe. Famous for maintaining ties with their homeland, they keep in contact with their original home and return for frequent visits, especially for marriages, funerals and Muslim festivals.
posted
SkyscraperCity > Continental Forums > Africa > General Forums > The Oasis > THE SUDAN PDA
View Full Version : THE SUDAN kenndo January 30th, 2010, 12:19 PM I READ some of the things in the other thread and now it's closed,but i have to correct something here.
quote- kitayabi
QUOTE-
The two largest of the supratribal categories in the early 1990s were the Juhayna and the Jaali (or Jaalayin). The Juhayna category consisted of tribes considered nomadic, although many had become fully settled. The Jaali encompassed the riverine, sedentary peoples from Dunqulah to just north of Khartoum and members of this group who had moved elsewhere. Some of its groups had become sedentary only in the twentieth century. Sudanese saw the Jaali as primarily indigenous peoples who were gradually arabized. Sudanese thought the Juhayna were less mixed, although some Juhayna groups had become more diverse by absorbing indigenous peoples. The Baqqara, for example, who moved south and west and encountered the Negroid peoples of those areas were scarcely to be distinguished from them. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
There are two type of arabized nubians,the afro-arab who has varied admixture but mostly half arab and half african. the other arabized nubian, is nubian. most of these arabs are not arabs,they are nubians who were arabized. they did this to protect themselves from arab raid in th 1700's and 1800's.most of these arabized nubians have no arab blood at all,and most have no admixture since they marry in their families.they mad up a arab forefather just like some african who became muslim but have not arabs in there family background. there story was fiction and not fact and the arabs never ruled the sudan.
the last nubian kingdom in the nile fell in 1898. the nubian in the noba hill were never really conqured even by the british. these were the hill nubians that live next to the noba.
ANYWAY if arabized nubians are really nubians than maybe 25% are arabs and the rest is really nubians,and out of that 25% the rest are afro-arabs with varied admixture but mostly half arab and the rest will be the real arabs
There really is no 40% arabs in the sudan,THAT'S MY POINT.
HERE IS SOME MORE INFO ABOUT THEM
THESE FOLKS ARE REALLY NUBIAN-
QUOTE- The Jaaliyin of Sudan
The Jaaliyin are the direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed, the messenger of the Islamic faith. It seems more likely, however, that their original ancestors are the Nubians and that the Jaaliyin gradually adopted the Arab culture. The Jaaliyin are easily recognized by their facial scars, many of which are in the form of a T or H. The scars are a sign of tribal pride and are even more common on the women than on the men, for they are considered a sign of beauty. The Jaaliyin are a very close tribe and quickly identify with each other, coming to another’s aid in the event of trouble or during times of celebration.
Their Lifestyle Some Jaaliyin still farm and raise livestock along the banks of the Nile River, but today they more commonly consist of the bulk of the Sudanese urban population, forming a large part of the merchant class. Although many have moved to cities, such as the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, they still maintain their tribal identity and solidarity. In some cities they live in quarters inhabited solely by Jaaliyin, and they oppose marriages to people outside their tribe. Famous for maintaining ties with their homeland, they keep in contact with their original home and return for frequent visits, especially for marriages, funerals and Muslim festivals.
many Afro-Arab tribes have retained a lot of African traditions and have not been fully Arabized. the same thing with the arabized nubians who do not not a have arab background.
Originally posted by kenndo: Current Events
Posted by Megalommatis (Wednesday, September 01, 2004)
The Last Chance for Sudan to Exist: Get Out of the Arab League Now! An inquisitive approach to the chances of the multi-ailing, yet great, African country to survive through an innovative political concept at the antipodes of the prevailing, disastrous Arabic nationalism. Part I
By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
These last days Khartoum resembles Istanbul or Vienna 1919!
Yet, a World War did not take place, and there is no royal dynasty in the city called ‘Tusk” in Arabic! Why such a similarity?
However, the circumstances are very much alike in 2004 and 1919! Old structures that survived due to the indifference of many simply cannot be sustained anymore. Old-fashioned governments, unable to see the world through genuinely different viewpoints, have to or will be replaced by the natural forces of change and improvement. Links that existed have disappeared, interconnections that were in place have been doomed, and other forces seem ready to appear in the forefront of the political life. Before the old ultimately ‘dies’, a last effort for survival is usually expressed. This is mostly a stressed attempt to reassert the old values, a kind of late moment Habsburg royalists or the pan-Ottoman movement at the Twilight of the Caliphate. In our brutal times, in Sudan it takes the hideous and criminal form of the hyena-like Pan-Arabist militias. Can the speedy way of this useless and perilous country running towards final and complete dismemberment be challenged by a constructive and groundbreaking commitment to national reconciliation and complete integration?
Despite the impressively fast deterioration of the overall situation in Sudan, one may still have the desire of being optimistic. Positive appreciations are usually based on the good willingness and the firm belief that the human being, even at the moment of a precipitation to disaster, has the potentialities, the capabilities and the capacities to reconsider and to change ideas, attitude, behaviour and options. This approach belongs to specialists who constantly avoid examining whether things have already gone beyond the point of no return. It is rather in this way that we will go through this historical – political analysis.
1. Sudan’s true identity is 100% African – Sudan was never Arabic.
More than Egypt and Carthage, it is Sudan, ancient Kush - the famous and real Ethiopia of the Ancient Greek and Latin sources (that has nothing to do with present day Abyssinia) - that represents Ancient Africa in its most authentic cultural expression. Carthaginians are Phoenicians, Semites, who found their New City (in Phoenician: Qart Hadasht) around the year 800 BCE, at a moment a Sudanese dynasty was ruling Sudan and Upper (southern) Egypt!
Ancient Abyssinians, centered at Axum, are Yemenites, so also Semites, who just crossed the Bal al Mandeb straits of the Red Sea, and their first rise to significant state and civilization does not antedate the beginning of the Christian Era, which means very late for what happened in Sudan.
Only Egypt developed an earlier and therefore longer civilization on African soil, going back to 3000 BCE, but for long – and due to false colonial concepts of History – Egypt was thought as ‘Egypt’, not Africa. Quite strangely, despite some early intermingling with Semitic emigrants from Canaan, Egypt was always a predominantly Khammitic country with population not very different from that of Ancient Sudan, since the Kushites belong to the great Khammitic group of peoples and languages along with present day Berbers (in Algeria) and Oromos (in Abyssinia). This important dimension of the Ancient Egyptian is undermined, passed under silence, or even opposed by the three best political allies and – at the same time – true global curses of the 21st century, namely the French Colonialism, the Arab Nationalism and the Islamic Terrorism.
my comments-it is known now that nubian civilization is older than egypt and is still here.NUBIANS CIVILIZATION STARTED IN UPPER NUBIA in a city call pre-kerma that dates back to 5000 b.c. but nubian culture is even older than this.
2. The Great African Civilization: Kushitic and Meroitic Ethiopia in Sudan
Starting with Kerma, in the area of the 3rd Nile cataract (350 km in the south of the present day Sudanese – Egyptian borders), at the very end of the 3rd millennium, civilization expanded further to the south during the next millennia. Yet, the unearthed monuments at Kerma Defufa show an advance in civilization similar to if not higher than that in Proto-Helladic Greece and in Early Hatti Anatolia (Turkey)!
One of the most authentic moments of African History finds Taharqa ‘Qore’ at Napata (today’s Karima, 750 km in the south of the present day Sudanese – Egyptian border) and ‘Pharaoh’ at Thebes of Egypt (present day Luqsor, 500 km in the north of the present day Sudanese – Egyptian border), since the Theban priests of Amun supported him at the throne of a divided Egypt in order to face the Libyan princes raised up to the throne of the Delta capital Sais by the Heliopolitan priesthood. Top person of the 25th Kushitic, ‘Ethiopian’ - according to Manetho - dynasty of Egypt, successor to Piankhi, Shabaka, and Shabataka, and predecessor to unfortunate Tanutamon, Taharqa was buried under his pyramid at Napata (today’s El Kurru village nearby Karima) prolonging therefore for about 1000 years in Sudan an Egyptian mortuary architecture that had already been terminated in Egypt.
With the Assyrians controlling Egypt (following the three successive Assyrian invasions of Egypt, 671 BCE under Assarhaddon, and 669 and 666 under Assurbanipal) and expelling Tanutamon and the Kushites, the ‘Ethiopians’ (in Greek it means the ‘black faced people’) of Sudan were limited in the natural and traditional limits of Ancient Sudan, from the second Nile cataract (at the area of present day Sudanese – Egyptian borders) to the fifth cataract and the area where affluent Atbara (in Ancient Greek Astabaras) joins the united Nile. But facing twice within 70 years attacks from the North and twofold destruction of Napata (in 595 by Egyptians led by Psammetichus II along with Jewish, Greek, Aramaean, Carian and Phoenician mercenaries, and in 525 by Persians led by Kambudjiya – Cambyses, the Achaemenidian invader of Egypt), they transferred their capital much in the south, 650 km in the south of Karima alongside the Nile, at present day Bagrawiyah. The Ancient Greek name of that place, Meroe, gives the modern favourite term of the world academia for the third great period of pre-Christian Sudanese history: Meroitic (450 BCE – 370 CE), as differentiated from Kushitic (850 – 500 BCE) and from the 3rd – 2nd mill. Kerma.
We have splendid monuments from Sudan, dating back to that period, which corresponds to what we call as Classic and Roman Antiquity in the Western Mediterranean. Practically speaking, at the times of Pericles, Alexander, Ptolemy II and Caesar, Ancient Sudanese, Ethiopians as they were called within the Ancient Greek and Latin texts, kept building pyramids. Except a forest of pyramids we find at Bagrawiyah (Meroe), great temples and impressive palaces, sumptuous baths, breadth taking water reservoirs, and massive fortresses have been unearthed in Meroe, Mussawarat as Sufrah, Naqah, Wad ben Naqah, and Basa, thanks to the pioneering work of Shinnie, Torok and many other scholars.
An impressive and powerful country at the southern border of Egypt was of greater interest for all ancient times historians, travelers, researchers, and authors. Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Strabo were concerned by Meroitic ‘Ethiopia’, and of course Heliodorus’ ‘Aithiopica’ is a supreme source of related information mixed however with mythological interpretations and imaginative narratives. Who was not fascinated with the famous ‘Table of the Sun’ said to be the epicenter of Solar Cult at Meroe, the capital of Ethiopia?
Having relative easiness in reading the texts of the earlier, Kushitic phase, since at those days Egyptian Hieroglyphic was extensively employed as religious, official and administrative language at Napata, we are still in need of an answer to both, the Meroitic Hieroglyphic (established out of use of Egyptian Hieroglyphic alphabet’s signs) and the Meroitic Cursive (derived from the previous), writings that were introduced in the Meroitic period but have not yet been deciphered. This is the reason we still rely very much on Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Demotic, Coptic, Ancient Greek and Latin sources, as far as Meroitic Ethiopia is concerned. We have a plethora of historical sources that document the bilateral relations that were mostly very good either between Ptolemaic Egypt and Meroitic Ethiopia, or between the Roman Empire (as successor state form to the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt) and Meroitic Ethiopia.
3. Abundant historical evidence from the three Sudanese Christian states
Following a millennium of commercial and cultural interaction with Egypt and Africa, Sudanese Ethiopia collapsed under the attack of the Axumite Abyssinian Christian king Ezana at 370 CE. After a brief Abyssinian occupation of part of the Meroitic Ethiopian kingdom, which helped Ezana justify the christening of his country through usurpation of the name Ethiopia and through a specific interpretation of a Biblical verse, the entire area of today’s Northern Sudan adhered to Christianity. This was not accepted easily however, and depopulated areas and archeological strata suggest that large part of the Ancient Sudanese Meroites left and emigrated (via Blue Nile and Banishangul province of Abyssinia) to the south of present day Abyssinia, where they constituted the ancestors of the modern Kushitic Oromo people, the oppressed majority of that unfortunate country.
Three Christian states have been formed around the middle of the 5th century CE, namely Nobatia in the north with capital at Faras, at the area of present day Sudanese – Egyptian border, Makkuria in the center, between the 3rd and the 6th cataracts of the Nile, having Donngola Agouza as capital at 550 km in the south of Faras, and Alodia in the south, centered around today’s Khartoum.
One has to bear in mind that in the Antiquity the jungle was extended further in the north and at the Meroitic times it was almost reaching the area of Khartoum. Present day Butana desert land was mostly green, and delimited by Atbara river, Blue Nile river (both rivers’ sources are located at the Tana lake area, and are not far one from another), and the united Nile’s part from Khartoum (where the White joins the Blue Nile) to the point Atbara river joins the united Nile, gave good reason to ancient Greek and Latin geographers to call the entire area Nesos / Insula (island) Meroe.
Various alliances characterized the three Christian Sudanese states that lasted more than a millennium! Nobatia was exposed to Coptic Monophysitic influences coming from Egypt; it imposed therefore Coptic as holy, religious and administrative language. As an early opponent to the state of Nobatia, Makkouria had to find a strong supporter and ally in the sense that ‘the enemy of my enemy becomes my friend’. The Orthodox Greeks living in Egypt and the Patriarch of Constantinople, the top religious authority in the Eastern Roman Empire, were constantly engaged in long disputes and longer fights with the Copts of Egypt. So, Makkouria adopted Greek as holy, religious and administrative language, and the Makkourian priests of Jesus, imitating the Meroitic priests of Amun, wrote down their language in Greek characters, but because of lack of many bilingual documents Makkourian, like Meroitic, has not yet been deciphered. Alodia seemed always in good terms with its great northern neighbor, Makkouria. We have actually very poor documentation about this state, contrarily to the other two, and almost all evidence originates from Soba, its capital, excavated at 15 km distance from Khartoum.
In the very beginning Nobatia was the stronger state, especially because after the middle of the 7th century and the Islamic occupation of Egypt, the south of Egypt escaped totally from the Caliphate’s authority and was therefore annexed by and ruled from Faras. The good times lasted about 200 years, since the mounting pressure from the Toulounid state of Egypt could not be faced by Nobatia that first lost its territories in Egypt, and second compromised with Makkouria, and even merged with its Christian southern rival. Makkouria controlled for several centuries the south of Egypt and the north of Sudan from the area of Aswan to Khartoum. After its collapse in the 13th – 14th c., Alodia was expanded over the southern provinces of Makkouria, and finally in the 16th century succumbed to the African Muslim state of Funj.
one correction - makuria never controlled alwa,alwa was the stronger state by the way. the axumites were mostly from africa.
4. The non-Arabic Islamization of Sudan
Through all the aforementioned it becomes clear that Islam was diffused in Sudan first through Egypt in the North, and second through Saharan Africa in the central area of Sudan. As far as the Red Sea coast is concerned, it had actually been detached and become part of the Caliphate, but the traditional Yemenite navigation was attested in this case, as well as in the areas of the present day Eritrea and Somalia. It is out of the question to think of an ‘Arabic’ occupation, since the Arabs were not skillful in navigation, and had no tradition in seafaring. And of course, last but not least, Yemenites may be Semitic but they are very different from Arabs.
It is also clear that Islam through Egypt and the southern Mediterranean coast expanded in Sahara, at a moment the Christian states of Sudan were still there. Great monuments of Christian Sudan, like the monastery Al Ghazali, nearby Nuri on the Nile bank opposite to Karima, consist in great gems of the Cultural Heritage of the entire Mankind, not only of the Sudanese and not only of the Christians.
Islam controlled the area of northern and central Sudan, as far in the south as the 18th century Ottoman advance, but this is a matter of 400 years, and in very limited area in the north of 600 to 700 years. But certainly the Nobatian, Makkourian and Alodian kingdoms disappeared totally and all the descendants of their population got islamized or emigrated to Egypt and other countries.
5. Nubians throughout Sudan and Egypt
Focusing on the Kushitic – Meroitic majority that formed the backbone of the Culture and the Civilization in the area Ancient Greeks and Romans called ‘Ethiopia’, i.e. present day Sudan, we must always bear in mind that this people has been one – not the only – factor of development and progress in the area. It would be definitely erroneous to take the central role they played in Politics, Religion, Culture, Scripture, Architecture and Art as an exclusive one, as far as Ancient Sudan is concerned. But, of course, admittedly they were the great builders of the outright majority of the monuments we have found and/or unearthed until now in the south of Egypt and in the north of the juncture between the Blue and the White Niles.
Credit to these monuments, as well as to several monuments in Egypt itself, has to be given also to another, equally old, people, who almost never excelled in Politics and in Administration, but were omnipresent and ubiquitous at the banks of the Nile over so many millennia.
my comments to make it clear -nubians excelled at politics and administration.the noba(nubians) did it later.
We refer to the famous ‘golden’ ones, as their name suggests; was it - by the way - theirs? As long as Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic documentation goes back, so do early references we have to this people, who was named after the Ancient Egyptian word for ‘gold’, Nub. The most common interpretation has it that the Nubians were living at the edge of the desert, and in areas where gold mines, like those of Wadi Allaki, attracted the interest of the early pharaonic administration. Since they were living in that area, the Egyptians called them in this way. We have plenty of references of all sorts, textual, epigraphic, pictorial and sculptural to this people, and within Egyptian hieroglyphic texts several ancient Nubian words have been preserved, mostly personal names. But we will certainly never come to know whether they used that name to denominate themselves.
Nubians were living among ancient Egyptians, but they were ostensible mostly in Upper Egypt. They were also at home in the area of Kush, ‘Ethiopia’, i.e. present day Sudan. Modern scholars, having collected Nubian linguistic material even among the not yet deciphered Meroitic scriptures, are classifying ancient Nubian as Nilo-Saharan language, which means totally different from either the Semitic or the Khammitic languages, unrelated to both, the Ancient Egyptian and the Kushitic – Meroitic. The prevailing opinion is to consider the link between the Ancient Nubians and the modern Nubians as strong. Modern Nubians live from Luqsor in Egypt to Atbara in Sudan, and this means that their land is no less than 1750 km long! In Egypt Nubians speak Kinzi and Fudjeki (also called Fidjikawi), whereas in Sudan one of the major dialects is Halfawi, which is spoken around Wadi Halfa, and after the erection of the Aswan High Dam, also in the area of Halfa Guedida, not far from Kessala and the Eritrean border, since large part of the Halfawi population did not like to reside in the re-located in the desert Wadi Halfa that is only a shadow of the original African beauty of the old times Wadi Halfa at the banks of the Nile! Going further to the south, one crosses respectively the areas of Soukkot and Mahas (both between Wadi Halfa and Dongola, and delimitated from each other between Sadinga and Sulb/Soleb), and then the realm of Danglawi.
6. Pan-Arabic Anti-Nubian Racism is worse than Hitler’s Anti-Semitism.
Nobatia, the northern Christian kingdom of Sudan, consists in the only real Nubian state in the World History, and at the same time it is the only time that a state bore the ethnic and national name of the Nubians. Nubians are terribly oppressed in present day Egypt and Sudan, because of the imposed Arabic nationalism that undermines the historical importance of the Nubian as language, and consists in a massively expressed racism against Nubian. Practices have been numerous and sophisticated to instigate among Nubians a feeling of linguistic inferiority – in comparison with Arabic –, and as such these efforts are more perilous and more anti-human than the current Pan-Arabic anti-Semitism, or the 20th century ‘classical’ Nazi anti-Semitism, in the sense that the perverted work takes the form of Nubian self-intoxication and self-indoctrination with anti-Nubian ideologies towards which the self-intoxicated Nubians cannot express any criticism. This method that employs Islam for hideous and anti-human plans is a most sulphurous and vicious tactics in the sense of victimizing an entire nation and engulfing millions of people into cultural, linguistic and national self-extermination. Compared to this, the worst ethnic cleansing in this regard is just an innocent act!
If one compares the percentage of the ethnic minority (around 7%) and the percentage of Nubian graduates of universities (inferior to 0.1%) in Egypt, one is appalled and feels indignation to an unprecedented extent because of this unique case of criminal act of national extinction. The situation in Sudan is certainly not better!
As a consequence to this barbaric situation, Nubians, although they still have a great feeling of pride for their remarkable time trajectory throughout the last 40 – 45 centuries of Human History, are criminally deprived from the correct Nubian national education that would reveal to them the greatness of the Ancient Nubian religion, culture and civilization, the keys to their self-knowledge, and to the monuments that are particular to them, like the temple of the Nubian god Maluli (in Ancient Greek Mandulis) at Kalabsha (Ancient Greek Talmis), etc.
7. Beja – Blemmyes, and many other peoples and tribes.
One should bear in mind that the Eastern and the Western deserts in both, Egypt and the Sudan, were not empty areas, but they consisted in cradle of particular cultures and peoples whose achievements we have every reason to admire. Desert tribes and peoples have been constantly interacting with Egyptians, Kushites and Nubians in the valley of the Nile. What is amazing with peoples like the Beja, who are known through Egyptian Hieroglyphic, Ancient Greek and Latin sources, is that although for millennia they had continuous contacts with the valley of the Nile, and were involved in all sorts of activities there, from trade to cult and from occasional work to committed worship, they did not take the decision to settle in the Nile valley but created an eternal coming and going of exchanges, contacts and - at unfortunate times - wars. They were probably sharing more things with the Nubians, and at the times of Late Antiquity they proved to be the strongest supporters of Isis, Horus, Hathor, and the other paragons of Late Egyptian Religion and Cult. We find them intervening to drive pigs out of the holy place, the temple of Maluli at Talmis / Kalabsha, and we know very well that they arrived up to the point of obtaining the concession of the priests of Isis at Philae (Pa Irek, the Island of the End, in Ancient Egyptian, 5 km in the south of Aswan in the area of the first cataract that actually has been transformed into a lake between the two dams, al Khazzan built 1902 and High Dam built 1964, of Aswan) to take the holy statue of the goddess in the desert, in their places, once per year, when a holy occasion was occurring to them, in order to worship her there and then have her return to her ‘home’ at Philae!
In ancient times, the Blemmyes seem to have moved from an earlier location in the Western Desert (certainly always at the area of southern Egypt around Aswan and further in the south in Sudan until the third cataract area) to the Eastern Desert, and currently we find them in the Eastern Desert and closer to the Red Sea coast than to the Nile valley in both Egypt and the Sudan. Their name, rather pronounced Biga in the modern Egyptian Arabic language, is permanently close to the island of Philae, since it became the modern name of an island next to the Isis temple island, namely the so-called Abaton in Ancient Greek, i.e. the island where nobody is allowed to set foot, the place of which the Ancient Egyptians had mythologized as the burial place of the dead body of Osiris, husband and brother to Isis. Certainly, the bulk of the present day Bega people is to be found in Sudan, not in Egypt.
8. The collapse of real Islam, the diffusion of religious fanaticism and barbarism in the Middle East, and the colonial interference and involvement
Equally deprived from their rights to a linguistically, culturally, educationally, socially, financially and nationally respectable life, the Beja have been another victim of the imposition of the false ideology of Pan-Arabism.
In this regard, it is essential to recall that there is no prescription in Islam according to which every new adherent to that religion should ‘forget’, ‘abandon’ or ‘delete’ his mother tongue, if it happens to be other than Arabic. There is no prescription that the Coran should not be translated in other languages, or that education must be offered in Arabic. Then, where this problematic situation has been based on?
As is known, the Islamic world perceived the Crusades in a very negative way. Although Islam was victorious at the end, the shock led many people accept irrelevant approaches and ill-conceived ideas of a few low-level philosophers, who under other circumstances would have been rejected by the cultured and educated people of Baghdad, Kufa, Shiraz, Konya, Tabriz, Sivas, Balkh, Granada, Kairwan, and Cairo. One among them was Ibn Taimiya, who irrevocably opted for a low-level and, properly speaking, anti-Islamic introspection and for persistence on traditional thought and on rigidly perceived behavioural system. Literary interpretation of the Coran and the Hadith, rejection of the inquisitive spirit of the exploration, self-limitation to an erroneously estimated orthopraxy (as a guarantee to the long desired orthodoxy) and blind opposition to any innovative thinking characterized this system that found many followers among poorly educated religious leaders (sheikhs), who saw in it an easy way to maintain spiritual and (through spiritual) social – economic – political power.
Speaking very briefly and schematically, the system got gradually momentum because the political establishments of the Islamic World, and mostly the Ottoman Empire and Iran, were involved in wars that were justifying the aforementioned philosophical system that was later incorporated into many theological subsystems and theoretical subdivisions. The political power was dedicated to ferocious wars with many rising Western, Christian, countries, and the educated elite was focused on its intellectual endeavours, having always greater difficulties in recruiting disciples to serve the Knowledge and the Search within Islam.
At the end of a span of 300 years (schematically 1300 – 1600), the situation started becoming extremely preoccupying, and analphabetic masses, besotted and conducted by – literarily speaking – Satanic sheikhs, were demanding from the Sultan the execution of brilliant worldwide top scientists (whose works were translated in the West, like those of Ulugh Beg) because they ‘were practicing Black Magic’!
Just 350 years ago the Christian World could not face the Islamic World in terms of either science and knowledge or political power and financial wealth. But the Ottoman Empire, Safevid Iran and the Mughal Empire of India were hit in a way that would soon become visible to their external enemies. All the sperm of ignorance, barbarism and idiocy was there, and it was already impossible to uproot it.
Two major events, political and intellectual, worsened the case. The diffusion of Wahhabism, a supposedly orthodox but purely Satanist ideology, if viewed and evaluated through the eyes of earlier great Islamic philosophers, brought about a speedier way to collapse. It was not accepted by the ruling elite, quite contrarily it was combated, but its diffusion among the masses was spectacular in the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
The rise of the Colonial Powers put an early end to the Muslim Empire of India, and placed the Sultan and the Shah among five formidable enemies. They both had to face: a. the Colonial countries’ pressure (first felt by the Ottoman Empire in the cases of Egypt, Greece, Algeria, and first perceived by Safevid Iran in the Indian Ocean, India and Oman) b. the supported by the Colonial powers rise of Russia in the North, namely the northern Black Sea coast, the Caucasus area and the entire Central Asia. c. each other, in cases of many smartly and diplomatically instigated disputes that led repeatedly the two Islamic Superpowers to fratricide wars. d. the selected among minorities (Armenians, Copts, Aramaeans of Syria, Lebanese Christians, Greeks, Arabic speaking people in Palestine, Mesopotamia and Arabia) and besotted in Western universities ‘elite’ under formation, since these people were getting erroneous education along with a great dose of anti-Ottoman or anti-Iranian poison (before being always abandoned and betrayed by treacherous France and distant England), and e. the always stronger perverted sheikhs and their Wahhabi followers. In this last case, the Colonial involvement took its most malicious character, since the Western scholars who took note of the situation did their best to make it even worse and more difficult for the Sultan, although ideologically they were closer to him than to the obscurantist Wahhabis! The help offered by the Colonial powers to the extremist and barbaric movement was of course not direct of character. It was an indirect attempt of creating situations in which the Wahhabis would gain more ground, and the central Ottoman authority would loose more ground. At the end, in 1916-7, the Palestinians were deserting the ranks of the Ottoman army, permitting British to reach (coming from Egypt) Jerusalem, and prepare the final, ultimate death of Palestine.
The entire situation reached a culminating point with the diffusion of Arabic nationalism, a bogus ideological fabrication that engulfed Arabic speaking Muslims to absolute confusion and paranoia. This situation brings us to the first half of the 20th century, from where all the problematic issues that characterize present day Middle East emanate.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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note-
a few word in meritioc could be read and understood.in fact meriotic could be read but most of it not understood yet.
the article is a good one but some of the facts are not correct.there was one correction the author said and that was that the nubian language is nilo-saharan and not afro-asian [/QUOTE]
this book was written in the 1980's
The destruction of black civilization by chancellor williams
page 154-155 quote-
and the same ethnic phenomenon that that accelaterated the process of racial disintegration in egypt also operated in the sudan. This was simply stated,the widespread sexual acttvities on the part of arab and black slave girls,the outcome of which was a new breed of afro-arabs,the same sexual process that produced "Egyptians" as a nationality group neither asian nor african .
In the sudan and islamization had another outcome:not only did afro-arabs consider themselves arabs and bitterly resented being called sudanese(black),but thousands of jet-black unmixed africans insisted on being classed as arabs.
They still do(this fact was settled beyound question during my field studies in the sudan in 1964). This fact also confuses and frustrates the black world both in and outside africa.For who,now are our african brothers?
my comment- When mr. williams mentions egyptians as a afro-asian group,the is using th term white use for mixed raced types in egypt and not including blacks and whites as egyptians.we know blacks of ancient egypt never call themselves egyptain anyway.they were known as kemeties and there land was call kemit.
Anyway since 1964 in the sudan these unmixed arabized nubians have grown in numbers in the sudan.population maybe around 4 to 5 million by now and they are really known as arabized nubian.they were never arabs to begin with. mr williams was talking about these blacks on page 155 in his book.
In the sudan there is about 15 million of those that called themselves arabs,but now that that will change and really has change.arabized nubians a whole today do not really call them selves arabs any more. they are known has arabized nubians but the west and some other kept calling them arabs but they themselves say they are not arab.it was the brits who started calling them arab. so there are two groups of nubians, arabized nubians and nubians speakers.
to break down a bit more there are three types of nubian speakers-nile nubians,hill nubians of the noba hills in central sudan and nubians of darfur.the hill nubians live side by side with other african group in the noba hills like the noba for an example.the noba hills is in central sudan but the southern sudan wants this area. darfur nubians live side by side with other africans in darfur.
only 10 million could call themselves arabs.abot 2 million and half are brown arabs,two million in half are basically white and the afro-arabs-about 5 million.the afro arabs are part arab.these arabized nubians are part arab and more arab in culture.
the other 5 million are arabized nubians are not arab at all.these are really nubians that got some of that arab culture to stop the raids.they do not marry arabs.they marry within there families,so most do not have arab blood and the few that do have little of it to varied degrees.
see how much confusion is out there. this needs to be clear and much of the media has not clear it up like i just did and real african historians .
one - note
The destruction of black civilization book is not what it seems. most african civilizations like nubia,mali etc still exist,but it's egypt that has lost most of it's culture,but if you want to study egypt and nubia of the past,nubian culture was the closer culture to egypt to get a good idea how egypt was before the arabs.
every concern person should contact rescuenubia.org kenndo January 30th, 2010, 01:36 PM Subject: there were many free nubian kingdoms after the fall of alwa in 1504 a.d.
it sems that nubian freedom lasted after the last christian nubian kingdom after all. there were other later nubia kindgoms after alwa like the nubians in the noba hills,there was one after the fall of alwa in 1504 a.d.,ther were arabized nubian kingdoms,there were nubian rulers in the funj kingdom and ther were one around the region of shendi and there was one that last up too 1899 and ther may be a few more i have over looked that is why it is good to get book on what happen during the medieval period of nubia and early modern and modern history of nubia/sudan and africa.here is some short info.
the nubian kingdom of alwa-
Alodia was converted to Christianity in the 6th century by missionaries sent by Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. Monophysite Christianity flourished in Alodia, more so than other Christian sects. Alodia was centered south of the great bend in the Nile river and south into the Gezira with its capital at Soba. P.L. Shennie mentions that the name of a king David, who died in 1015, was learned from a recently recovered tombstone.[2] At some points in time it seems as though Alodia and Makuria merged into one state, perhaps as a result of the close dynastic links between the two. If the two states did merge at certain times, Alodia regained its independence. Ibn Hawqal is the most important external source on the country, being one of the only detailed first hand accounts of a traveller to the country. He describes Alodia as being larger, wealthier, and more powerful than Makuria, with the country covering a large region stretching
The conventional date for the final destruction of Alodia is the Funj conquest of the region in the early sixteenth century. Archaeological evidence seems to show that the kingdom was in decline as early as the thirteenth century. Near the end of this century al-Harrani reports that the capital had been moved to Wayula. Later Mamluk emissaries reported that the region was divided among nine rulers. Alodia seems to have preserved its identity after the Funj conquest and its incorporation into the Kingdom of Sennar. The Alodians, who became known as the Abdallab, revolted under Ajib the Great and formed the semi-autonomous Kingdom of Dongola that persisted for several centuries.
Notes
^ P.L. Shinnie, Ancient Nubia (London: Kegan Paul International, 1996), p. 133.
posted
Well yeah, i myself though tend to be not that interested in how many consider themselves Arab for whatever reasons vs what minority percentage of Arab non-African Sudanese htere are.
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