Jump to content

Zaghawa people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zaghawa people
Total population
384,150[1]
Regions with significant populations
West DarfurandOuaddaï Region
Chad203,754[2]
Sudan171,000[3]
Libya9,400[4]
Languages
Zaghawa
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Kanembu,Kanuri,Fur,Tubu,Masalit,Nilo-Saharans[5]

TheZaghawa people,also calledBeriorZakhawa,are an ethnic group primarily residing in southwesternLibya,northeasternChad,and westernSudan,includingDarfur.[6]

Zaghawas speak theZaghawa language,which is an easternSaharan language.[7][8]They are pastoralists, and a breed of sheep that they herd is called Zaghawa by the Arabs. They are nomadic and obtain much of their livelihood through herding cattle, camels and sheep and harvesting wild grains. It has been estimated that there are 384,150 people who belong to the Zaghawa ethnicity.[9]

Names

[edit]

The royal history of theKanem–Bornu Empire,theGirgam,refers to the Zaghawa people as theDuguwa.Today, Zaghawa refer to themselves as theBeri,while Arabic speakers and literature refer to them as "Zaghawa". In literature related to African ethnic groups, the termBeri(sometimesKegi) includes Zaghawas, Bideyat, and Bertis peoples, each clustered in different parts of Chad, Sudan and Libya.[5]

History

[edit]

The earliest recorded mention of the Zaghawa comes from the9th centuryArab geographerYa'qubi,who wrote of them as the “Zaghawa who live in a place called Kanem”, and proceeded to list a string of other kingdoms under Zaghawa rule.[6]Historically, the Zaghawa people held a sort of hegemony over most of the smaller societies that stretched along theSahelbetween Lake Chad to the Nile valley kingdoms ofNubia,MakuriaandAlwa.

Zaghawa people's distribution in Chad and Sudan.

The Zaghawa people were trading with the Nile region and the Maghreb regions by the1st millennium.The earliest references to them in 8th-century texts are made jointly with theToubou peopleof northern Chad and southern Libya,[10]and scholars believe the two are related ethnic groups. The 11th century texts mention that the kings of the Zaghawa kingdom had accepted Islam, and were at least nominally Muslims.[6]

Early Arabic accounts describe the Zaghawa to be "black nomads".[10]The 12th-century geographerMuhammad al-Idrisiand the 13th-centuryYaqut al-Hamawidescribe the Zaghawa influence around an oasis-centered system and mention the towns of Kanem, Manan and Anjimi.[10]

However,ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi,writing in 1270. states that Manan was the capital of Kanem kingdom until theSayfawa dynastyrulers converted to Islam, conquered the region, and thereafter the capital shifted toNjimi.The Zaghawa continued to live in Manan, wrote ibn Said.[10]The records of Kanem do not mention Zaghawa, and they were likely displaced and they then moved into the region they are currently found.[11]This region is calledDar Zaghawa,or the "land of the Zaghawa".[12]

Although Zaghawa power was broken by the rise of Kanem in the Lake Chad region, Zaghawa retained control over a considerable portion of the lands lying east of Kanem, and it is only in the late14th centurythatDarfuris mentioned as an independent state by theMamluk Sultanatehistorian and geographeral-Maqrizi.Following the rise ofDarfurand the Kanem-Bornu Empire, the Zaghawa appear to have controlled only desert areas and ceased to be a major regional power.[citation needed]

Society and culture

[edit]
The flag used by some Zaghawa nationalists.

The traditional Zaghawa society has led a predominantly pastoral life, made up of nomadic clans with horse, donkeys, goat and sheep herd keeping focus.[6][8]At their peak strength before theSayfawa dynastydisplaced and disbanded them, they were noted merchants and traders with camels and horses, controlling some of theTrans-Saharan trade routes.[6][13]

They accepted theMaliki schoolofSunni Islambut retained some of their pre-Islamic rites such askarama,a ritual sacrifice of animals to ward off evil spirits.[5]The century in which they converted has been a subject of debate and little consensus, with estimates ranging from the 13th to the early 17th century.[8]In contemporary times, they lead a sedentary lifestyle, growing staples such as millet and sorghum, and other foods such as sesame, melons, pumpkins, peanuts andokra.[6][5]

Roger Blenchnotes that the appearance of Nilo-Saharan speakers is associated with thegreen Sahara.[14]

Social stratification

[edit]
Main article:Caste systems in Africa

Zaghawa society has been socially stratified and has included castes. The upper strata has been of nobles and warriors, below them have been the traders and merchants, below whom have been the artisan castes called theHadaheed(orHadahid).[12][15][16]These castes have beenendogamousand their inherited occupations have includedironwork,hunters, pottery, leatherwork, and musicians such as drummers. The artisan work has traditionally been viewed within the Zaghawa society as dirty and of inferior status, being people from different pagan and Jewish roots who slowly assimilated into the Islamic society.[12][17]Some of the early Arab texts refer to the Zaghawa royalty as "blacksmith kings with inconceivable arrogance".[18]

The term "blacksmith" has been derogatory in Zaghawa culture, statesAnne Haour,a professor of African Studies and Medieval Archaeology, and "if born a blacksmith one will always be a blacksmith".[19]Non-blacksmith castes of Zaghawa neither eat nor associate with the blacksmith castes.[20]The lowest strata has been the slaves. The social stratification and castes such as for the leatherworker strata within the Zaghawa people is similar to those found in nearbyFur people.[20][21]

Contemporary influence

[edit]

While they are not very powerful in Sudan, they politically dominate Chad. The former president,Idriss Débyand several former prime ministers of Chad are Zaghawa, as well as many other members of the government.[22]Thus the Chadian Zaghawa have been influential people in the regional politics.[23]In contemporary wars in Chad, Libya and Sudan, the Zaghawa ethnic group has been deeply involved, particularly through strategic alliances with other ethnic groups such as theFur people.[6][5][22]

However, in Sudan, the Zaghawa are caught up in the Darfur crisis, and have suffered much loss from the troubles there. The Zaghawa of Sudan are among the peoples living in the refugee camps in Darfur and eastern Chad where the recruitment of child soldiers into rebel movements is an ongoing problem.[24]

The Zaghawa have been among the tribes in Darfur who have been referred to as "African" even as other tribes that have fought with them have been called "Arab".[25]

As a result ofTijani Muslimmissionaries from West Africa traveling through their area to make theHajj,the Zaghawa leadership converted toIslam.In the 1940s, the Zaghawa began to turn to Islam from their traditional religionen masse.In Darfur, the Zaghawa are well-known[25]for their piety. Due to the fighting in theWar in Darfur,where they are targeted by theJanjaweedArab militias due to their ethnic heritage, 100,000 have become refugees across the border in Chad.[26][27]A Zaghawa tribesman namedDaoud Hariwrote a memoir aboutDarfurcalledThe Translatorand a Zaghawa woman namedHalima Bashirco-authored a memoir with Damien Lewis calledTears of the Desert,which both spread knowledge about the atrocities in Darfur.

Among Sudan's ethnic minorities, Zaghawas Islamists were also one of the most active within the al-Bashir regime at its beginning, participating in security, police and thePopular Defense Forces.After the1989 coup,Khalil Ibrahim,a Zaghawa from Tina, was placed at the head of the tanzim in Darfur. Other Zaghawas, such asAdam Tahir Hamdoun,Yusuf Libis,Sulieman Jammousor Khalil's brother,Gibril Ibrahim,will also play key roles in the new regime. However, afteral-Turabi's break with al-Bashir and the crisis of '98, most of the Islamist Zaghawas will defect from theNCPand become anti-regime activists, with many of them aligning themselves with the al-Turabi'sPopular Congress Party,participating in the publication of The Black Book or leading theal-Fashirprotests in September 2000.[28]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^"Chad".29 August 2023.
  2. ^"Chad".29 August 2023.
  3. ^"Sudan – Researched and compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland"(PDF).2013-01-07.Retrieved2023-08-21.
  4. ^"Zaghawa".Ethnologue.Retrieved3 October2023.User Population: 9,400 in Libya (2020).
  5. ^abcdeJames Stuart Olson (1996).The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary.Greenwood. pp. 91–92, 608.ISBN978-0-313-27918-8.
  6. ^abcdefgJohn A. Shoup III (2011).Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO. pp. 333–334.ISBN978-1-59884-363-7.
  7. ^Zaghawa,Ethnologue
  8. ^abcPaul R. Bartrop; Steven Leonard Jacobs (2014).Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection.ABC-CLIO. pp. 737–738.ISBN978-1-61069-364-6.
  9. ^"Chad".29 August 2023.
  10. ^abcdJ. D. Fage; Roland Oliver (1975).The Cambridge History of Africa.Cambridge University Press. pp.287–289.ISBN978-0-521-20981-6.
  11. ^J. D. Fage; Roland Oliver (1975).The Cambridge History of Africa.Cambridge University Press. pp.288–290.ISBN978-0-521-20981-6.
  12. ^abcPhilip M. Peek; Kwesi Yankah (2004).African Folklore: An Encyclopedia.Routledge. pp. 59–61.ISBN978-1-135-94873-3.
  13. ^J. D. Fage; Roland Oliver (1975).The Cambridge History of Africa.Cambridge University Press. pp.306–308.ISBN978-0-521-20981-6.
  14. ^Blench, Roger(2014). "The Linguistic Prehistory of the Sahara".The Trans-Sahara project: State Formation, Migration and Trade in the Central Sahara (1000 BC - AD 1500) Burials, migration, identity.University of Leicester.The date of the Berber presence in the Sahara is debated, but in terms of the overall peopling of the region, it is relatively recent. [...] The present-day linguistic situation of the Sahara is a highly misleading guide to its past. The pre-Holocene language situation is probably unrecoverable, but once the humid period began, the so-called 'green Sahara', the desert must have been rich with languages, Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan in the south-centre, but unidentified forager languages in the centre-north. Residual forager populations which still survive give some indication of the possible interlocking subsistence specialties at this period. Prior to the expansion of Berber and then Arabic, unknown but distinct languages would have been spoken in both the Sahara and along the North African coast. It is generally assumed the Herodotos' 2500 BP listing of the Maghrebin tribes and their varied customs reflects something of the ethnic diversity at this period.
  15. ^F. D. Klingender (1942), Gericault as Seen in 1848, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 81, No. 475 (Oct., 1942), pages 254-256
  16. ^Samer Abdelnour (2011), Forging Through Adversity: The Blacksmiths of North Darfur and Practical Action, United Nations Development Programme, pages 1-2, Quote: "Although the blacksmiths refer to themselves as ‘Zaghawa’ – a dominant group in Darfur – the blacksmiths are from a traditionally neglected and marginalized group associated with Darfur’s lower castes. They form a sub-group of the Zaghawa known as ‘Hadaheed’ (plural of ‘Hadadi’, which means ‘blacksmith’, and derived from ‘Hadeed’ which means ‘iron’).3 Within the Hadaheed, men practice traditional forms of iron work and women pottery. They have done so as long as their history recalls, inheriting their knowledge and skills from generation to generation. Centuries ago, this group is thought to have been thralled by the Zaghawa, who had entered and settled into their territory. As slaves they were dispersed among Zaghawa families to perform primarily their iron and pottery work."
  17. ^James H Vaughan (1970), Caste systems in the Western Sudan, inSocial stratification in Africa,Editors: A Tunde and L Plotnicov, New Africa Press, pages 59-92
  18. ^Elizabeth Isichei (1997).A History of African Societies to 1870.Cambridge University Press. pp.230–232.ISBN978-0-521-45599-2.
  19. ^Anne Haour (2013).Outsiders and Strangers: An Archaeology of Liminality in West Africa.Oxford University Press. pp. 100–101.ISBN978-0-19-166779-4.
  20. ^abH.A. MacMichael (1988).A History of the Arabs in the Sudan.Cambridge University Press. pp. 89–90 with footnotes.,Quote: "HADAHID. (...) As is usual in north-central Africa from east to west they are held in general contempt and the rest of the population do not intermarry with them. This feeling of aversion towards the workers in iron is strongest among the Zaghawa, who so far from intermarrying with them would not eat or associate with them. They are a hereditary caste and are called Miro by theFur."
  21. ^Paul R. Bartrop; Steven Leonard Jacobs (2014).Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection.ABC-CLIO. p. 681.ISBN978-1-61069-364-6.
  22. ^abMarchal, Roland (2006). "Chad/Darfur: How two crises merge".Review of African Political Economy.33(109). Routledge: 467–482.doi:10.1080/03056240601000879.hdl:10.1080/03056240601000879.S2CID153336668.
  23. ^Paul R. Bartrop; Steven Leonard Jacobs (2014).Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection.ABC-CLIO. pp. 641–645.ISBN978-1-61069-364-6.
  24. ^"Chad refugee camps foster Darfur rebels".Aljazeera English. 16 April 2009.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-12.
  25. ^abde Waal, Alex (July 25, 2004)."Darfur's deep grievances defy all hopes for an easy solution".The Observer.RetrievedSeptember 4,2007.
  26. ^Polgreen, Lydia (February 28, 2006)."Refugee Crisis Grows as Darfur War Crosses a Border".The New York Times.
  27. ^Survivances préislamiques parmi les zaghawa by Marie-José Tubiana
  28. ^Roessler, Philip G. (2016).Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa: The Logic of the Coup-Civil War Trap.Cambridge University Press. pp. 169–170.ISBN9781316809877.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zaghawa_people&oldid=1237819105"