Although mostly focused on Sila during the French colonial period, Henri Berre's Sultans Dadjo du Sila (Tchad) is still of use for those interested in the precolonial period. Relying on documents written by court-affiliated persons with a degree of Islamic education, the genealogies and reigns summarized by Berre were supposedly updated by subsequent rulers. To a certain extent, the genealogies are part of the fabricated Arab origin claimed by the Daju sultan, perhaps as part of the standard way to connect the ruling family's lineage back to the Arabian peninsula and important people related to the Prophet. But if one focuses on the key period from c. 1486-1916, the list may be usable. Undoubtedly, it probably omits some rulers, but a few of the kings who reigned since the establishment of the state in Sila were remembered for their relations with Wadai, Darfur, or Dar Runga. For instance, an attack from Wadai during the reign of (Yusuf) Kharifein against Sila may lend some credence to the chronology used by Berre.
Where things become messier is Nachtigal's research in this area during the 19th century. Nachtigal's list appears to have been rather different from what was supplied to the French colonial officers or administrators. For example, there is no one clearly named Gitar in Berre's list. Yet someone of that name was, in one king list, the first Daju ruler in Darfur. As if things were not already confusing, another informant indicated that the earliest Daju king was named Kosber. The apparent absence of these names in the list shared by Berre may be the result of a difference in using Daju or Arabic names for the same people. Alternatively, the list shared in the 20th century colonial era may have wished to omit "pagan" ancestors. After all, Nachtigal's list given to him by a Sila prince indicated 6 of the Daju kings based at Jebel Marra were pagans. Perhaps the rulers in the 19th century were less concerned with claiming ancestry through Yemen and the uncle of Muhammad?
Fortunately, Nachtigal and Berre's lists do provide some context for the enigmatic references to the Daju in medieval Arabic sources. While Berre's list presents the rulers as being of Arab descent and migrating to the north of Darfur, sometime from 892-1212 in the reckoning of Berre, he also places them at "Djebel Morrah" from 1212-1417. This period of the Daju sultans at Jebel Marra fits the medieval Arabic references mentioning the "Taju" or "Tajuwa" in this general area from the 1100s-1400s. If Uri was a Daju royal town or settlement, perhaps that represents the time in the north of Darfur reported by Berre? Keeping in mind that the amount of time Berre assigns to the time spent in the north of Darfur is not exact, one may surmise that the early Daju kings were based at Uri and perhaps the settlement of Samna by the late 12th century.
For reasons not entirely clear, although perhaps related to a desire to find a more secure base, away from possible interference from Kanem or the medieval Nubian states, the Daju kings moved to Jebel Marra in central Darfur. Evidence for an interest in this region from medieval Kanem is detected in the writing of Ibn Sa'id. According to him, the "Zaghawa" and "Tajuwa" were subjects of Kanem. To Ibn Sa'id, a 'town' or region called Tajuwa represented the capital of the "Zaghawa" where Islam had started to spread. Later on, however, Ibn Sa'id's work seems to acknowledge that another group of "Tajuwa" (Daju?) were pagans residing in mountainous and desert terrains. This "Tajuwa" group was said to be refractory to the sultan of Kanem. Although Ibn Sa'id's description of the region is contradictory and must be used cautiously, there seems to be some overlap with the Daju based in Jebel Marra in the 1200s. Conflating them with the Zaghawa could have been due to the Zaghawa being better known in external Arabic sources, or possibly an alliance between some Zaghawa groups and the Daju against Kanem's expansion.
Once established in Jebel Marra, presumably by the late 1200s, the other Arabic references are enigmatic on this polity or state. To Ibn Khaldun, the Tajuwa were simply a sort of "Zaghawa." For al-Maqrizi, however, more information is reported on them. They were apparently known for working in stone, which correlates with archaeological ruins of stone constructions in Darfur. Supposedly, their land or territory began at a place called Tukama, perhaps a locality near their base in Jebel Marra. Assuming al-Maqrizi's information was contemporaneous with his times, the Daju polity had also engaged in a number of wars against a people called Wathku. One is tempted to read this as perhaps a rival polity or an area frequently raided by the Daju rulers, perhaps located in Darfur or a neighboring region. If the list provided by one Sila prince is accurate, six pagan Daju kings ruled from Jebel Marra. These kings could easily have reigned from Jebel Marra for much of the period when the Daju kings were based there by the late 1200s. According to Tunjur oral traditions in Kanem, these Daju kings subsisted on the plundering of their neighbors. Yet knowledge of it from as far away as the Mamluk Sultanate suggests it was involved in wider trade networks.
Ultimately, the earlier history of the Daju in Darfur is not remembered in great detail in the Sila of Berre's time. Indeed, one could even question the existence of a continuous dynastic line across time and space from their period in Darfur to the sultans of Dar Sila. But some of Berre's data and regnal years could easily fit the general timeline of the Daju sultans in Darfur. Perhaps Uri became the commercial city or center whilst Jebel Marra became a political capital by the end of the 13th century. By the 16th century, however, Darfur had fallen under the suzerainty of a Tunjur, Ahmed el-Maqur. Apparently, for much of this period, the Daju kings were based in a region south of Geneina, Djebel Kadjano. This was likely the period when the "Dagio" were counted among the subjects of Uri, identified by Anania in the late 1500s. An earlier, smaller Daju presence in Sila to the west is hinted at by Berre, and claimed by Tunjur tradition in Kanem.
In summation, the data provided by Berre is intriguing and provocative. It raises questions about a tighter chronology through the genealogies provided by the royal court in the colonial era. On the other hand, the names seem difficult to reconcile with what Nachtigal reported. Unfortunately, Nachtigal did not provide complete lists from the data he collected. But from what he reported, it would appear to enumerate different Daju dynasts than the one produced in the 20th century. Further, one Daju prince's list recognized pagan rulers from their Jebel Marra period. When juxtaposed with the medieval Arabic sources, the traditions nonetheless corroborate a possible Daju presence at Uri as well as their base in Jebel Marra. Relations with Kanem in the 13th century, particularly during and after the reign of Dunama Dibalemi, were potentially a source of friction in which the Daju rulers moved further away, building a new political center in Jebel Marra.