Fazughil Ramblings

While perusing the sources on the Wikipedia page for the Kingdom of Fazughli, I saw some interesting things. If Fazughili really was founded by people from Alodia who left during its decline or after the Funj conquest, I wonder if some of the observations from 19th century travelers or ethnographers could be useful. For instance, Alfred Peney, who visited Fazughli in the 19th century, contrasted the Hamaj of the plains with the mountaineers. However, none of the area seems particularly Muslim or devout, since they ate pork and did not pray or fast for Ramadan. In terms of religion, they appear to have possessed animal cults with special ceremonies for elephants, cows, dogs and other species. Indeed, Peney described on specific ritual involving the king and a dog during the sowing season. This ceremony involved the sacrifice of the dog at the end. Yet, according to Peney and Pierre Tremaux, the Fazughli meks were descendants of Alwa. 

Spaulding and other scholars still believe that the Fazughli rulers were, at least initially, Christians. They even endeavored to receive Catholic priests from the Franciscans in Sennar and prior to that, had Ethiopian priests. Spaulding also cited Bruce for a reference to a Christian polity that survived until the late 1700s in the area, but the short list of kings written by Frédéric Cailliaud seems to indicate meks with Muslim names by the end of the 1600s. That makes sense and is in accord with the c.1685 date for Sennar's conquest of Fazughli. The rest of listed meks often had short reigns and some were killed by successors or came to power long after their fathers died. 

To what extent can Fazughli really be seen as the successor of Alodia? Perhaps in its gold and the trade between Ethiopia and Nubia. If they traded gold for food and other goods from Sennar (and probably Alodia before the Funj Sultanate) also traded with Ethiopia (and hints of this can be seen in the Portuguese reports of Nubians who were once Christian and having much gold) then Fazughli probably played a similar role before the fall of Alodia. The Nubians who were the target of a planned campaign by the Bahr Negash, who were only 5-6 days travel away from his domains, were possibly Nubians living in the Fazughli region already in the early decades of the 1500s. These same Nubians may have also been the ones who requested priests from the Ethiopian emperor, as detailed in the narrative of Francisco Alvares. Nubian Christians were probably already living or trading with the Fazughli region for centuries and, once a group of them did establish a kingdom there, they were a minority who lacked the necessary clergy (and perhaps force) to spread Christianity. Thus, they relied on the Ethiopians, although Krump saw their priests as ineffective. By the end of the 17th century, the Funj conquered Fazughli by c.1685, making Christianity even less likely to persist. But that would have made little difference to most of the population, who became nominal Muslims or were never Christian to begin with. 

The Sudanese Travels of Theodor Krump

Spaulding's translation of Krump's journal, or at least the sections relevant to Sudan, translated as The Sudanese Travels of Theodoro Krump, is a short but important source on the Funj Sultanate at the beginning of the 18th century. Traveling as part of a mission to Ethiopia, some of the Jesuits and Franciscans who joined a caravan from Egypt to the south became trapped in Sinnar due to illness or, like Krump, served as a physician to the sultan of Sinnar. Although less detailed than one would like on the intricacies of the sultanate and its capital city, Krump's narrative provides the reader with a sense of the kingdom's economic purpose. Indeed, despite the frequent threat of Arab bandits and rebels against the sultanate attacking caravans traveling from Egypt, Krump considered Sinnar to be a wealthy city and one of the major trading emporiums of Africa. Goods and people arrived from Egypt, across the Red Sea, India, Ethiopia, Fezzan, and Borno, and Krump's time in the capital led him to meet Greeks, Portuguese, Turks, Abyssinians, Copts, and others in the cosmopolitan capital. This is impressive, considering what Krump saw as the insecure trade routes and the, to put it lightly, challenging or disloyal behavior of some of the vassal rulers to the Funj. 

Krump's narrative also provides the reader with a sense of the political and social conditions in the Sinnar Sultanate. For instance, Christianity, though no longer practiced, could be seen with the ruins of a monastery and churches. At one site, locals informed Krump that the population practiced Christianity as recently as 100 years ago, which is perhaps inaccurate if Christianity disappeared earlier in the 1500s. In addition, the fact that much of the population wore little clothing and already elites and vassal rulers relied on slave soldiers suggests the Sinnar Sultanate was a society in which, perhaps, adherence to Islam among the general population was not strict and it was easier for rulers to trust slaves. However, Krump did witness at least two villages of fuqara, villages or towns in which a Muslim scholar or holyman received immunity from the state. This has been proven by the land grants or charters issued by the Funj, yet one wishes Krump told us more about how these functioned. Of course, as a Catholic missionary who saw Islam as a false religion, he naturally was not interested in reporting on every detail of the Islamic society he was visiting. Nonetheless, his description of a jellab killing his sister for living an immodest life and what appears to have been a Sufi practice of chanting and prayer, particularly population with members of the caravan from Borno and the Fezzan, suggests Sufist practices were already widespread. Those from Borno and the Fezzan, however, were described as using a round bow covered with a skin under strong tension, which was then used to produce various tones of loud sounds. These are accompanied with singing and jumping in what was likely a Sufi or mystical Islamic practice? A look at the Sufist practices in Borno, the Fezzan, and Sinnar might lead one to see an early instance of Sufist practices connecting the the regions, particularly as we know that in the 17th century a native of the Funj Sultanate traveled to Borno's Sufist community at Kalumbardo.

Unfortunately, Krump is less useful for the particularities of Sinnar's relations with other Sudanic kingdoms. Ethiopia, whose conquest of Fazughli was only achieved about 15 years previously, plus frequent trade and communication between Sinnar and Gondar, made it the most frequently mentioned African kingdom in communication with Sinnar. However, the allusion to people from Borno and the Fezzan in Krump's caravan suggests that connections to lands to the west were also relevant. While the particular Fezzani and Bornoan travelers met by Krump may have come to the Sudan from Egypt, other sources suggest a route from the west, one that must have traversed Waday and Darfur, was already in use. Sadly, Krump's account tells us little about those western connections, which must have been of gradually increasing importance due to the establishment of Muslim sultanates in Darfur and Waday.

Nubian Renaissance of the Funj

Although Spaulding's coauthored Kingdoms of Sudan includes much of the analysis found in his earlier dissertation, we felt a need to read the original for more context. Ostensibly a history of the Funj Sultanate's northern Abdallab state or region from 1600-1821, in practice the dissertation is organized in two parts: political history of the Abdallab state or provincial kingdom of the Funj Sultanate and an analysis of Islam and commerce as forces undermining the Sultanate. Spaulding uses oral traditions, the Funj Chronicle, the Tabaqat and various external sources in his endeavor to reconstruct the outline of the Abdallab as well as the Funj. Funj origins and their Sultanate as a "Sudanic" state sharing many commonalities with a string of kingdoms stretching from Senegambia to Sinnar (Sennar) is a persistent theme. The Funj state as a non-tribal, non-Arab, polyethnic Nubian state with continuity from the medieval Christian kingdoms is likewise a consistent theme.

The idea of the Funj as a southern Nubian people pushed from their homeland along the White Nile by the Shilluk seems plausible enough. Linguistic evidence and Shilluk traditions do suggest it is plausible. That the Funj state retained the horned crown of medieval Nubian kingship as well as the practices of matrilineal succession and seizing vassal princes as hostages is also suggestive of continuity with Christian Nubia. The ecology and mixture of subsistence economies were additional factors of continuity from medieval to Funj Nubia. The region's mix of sedentary farmers, camel and cattle pastoralists, hill peoples probably maintained or inherited much of the same lifestyle of their medieval forebears. Indeed, according to Spaulding, the early Funj kingdom from c.1504 was barely or only superficially Islamic. In fact, the commercial factors favoring Islamic conversion were probably paramount for Amara Dunqas choosing Islam. The Beja traders and their network linked to the Red Sea plus Islamic influences from northern Nubia and Egypt made Islam attractive for serving long-distance trade. 

Nonetheless, the Funj were carriers of a more "traditional" or "African" political system based on administered commerce under royal rule. As "divine" kings associated with life, death, and sustenance through a number or rituals, accession rites, and pre-Islamic belief, the sultan was legitimate to the peasantry by looking after their interests and, ideally, defending them from merchants who abused the sheil system of advancing grains or other goods to peasants before harvest time to trap them in debt. Intriguingly, Spaulding proposes that popular Sudanese religion was neither exceptionally Christian (medieval era) nor one of orthodox Islam. Popular belief under the Funj revolved around baraka (more as a life-force), saints (fuqaha believed to possess baraka) and veneration of these saints for the transference of baraka. Noticing parallels with a number of "traditional" African religious systems from Rwanda to Haiti, Spaulding suggests this worldview was gradually undermined by Funj rulers adopting orthodox Islam to appease Muslim merchants. 

This appeasement of merchants and embrace of orthodoxy, in turn, led to a decline in the legitimacy of the kingship and nobility to the peasantry, who saw traditional rites removed from kingship. Kings also sided with the orthodox Islamic merchants, even when the latter exploited their indebted peasants or stockpiled grain during times of famine. The decline of Sinnar and Abdallab rule, especially pronounced after 1762 and the subsequent wars of the Hamaj Regency against other parties, further eroded the government through increasing control of caravans by merchants. While the state declined and fragmented with provincial rulers battling for control or domination of routes and resources, the peasantry aligned with charismatic fuqaha whose virtues and Islamic piety were respected by all. These Islamic holy men defended the exploited peasantry and challenged kings. In response, rulers bestowed land grants upon them and gifts for receiving their prayers and virtues rather than spells or threats.

On the question of the Islamic holy men and the peasantry, Spaulding's analysis is perhaps most interesting. The obvious parallel for us is Borno and mallam-peasant relations. We know, like their counterparts in the Sinnar Sultanate, Borno's Islamic holy men received land grants with tax-free rights. Some of them also criticized the government and spoke on behalf of the peasantry and downtrodden. Moreover, they too included "insider" ulama and clerics who worked with or on behalf of the Sayfawa dynasty. What we would like to know more about is the local Bornoan merchant class during the same era, from c.1500-1820. Were they also ensnaring the peasantry in debt while pressuring the local government to practice more orthodox Islam? Since so many of the Sayfawa mais had performed the hajj and were a Muslim dynasty since the 11th century, the role of Borno or Kanuri merchants in promoting (or not) Islam must have been different than conditions in Sinnar. So, was the basis of the mallam-peasant alliance in Borno due to fief-holders overtaxing cultivators? It would be fascinating to discover more on Kanuri popular religion, especially how it transformed over time to become, in part, a challenge to established authority. Sadly, the only semi-detailed account we know from before the demise of the Sayfawa dynasty occurred in the 1820s among the Manga, but explicitly against Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi. Nevertheless, the "feki" associated with that rebellion bore many of the same characteristics as "outsider" fuqaha of the Funj Sultanate.

To conclude, Spauding's work is an indispensable source on the Funj. Beginning with the fragmentation of medieval Nubia and Funj origins until the Turco-Egyptian invasion, this dissertation attempts a promising synthesis of political and social history. It is possible later scholarship has challenged his characterization of medieval Nubian states as "Sudanic." Perhaps he was wrong in his characterization of pre-Christian, pre-Islamic Nubian religion. However, he was correct about continuity as a major element in understanding the flow of Nubia's history. And the Islamization and Arabization of the region was far more complex than what modern Sudanese traditions or external Arabic sources suggest. The Funj emerge as builders of the last great Nubian state, one that promoted the forces that ultimate transformed the Nilotic Sudan whilst simultaneously bearing the flame of an ancient civilization. One cannot help but wonder how things would have developed without the Egyptian invasion in 1821. 

Video on Funj

One of the best things you can find on the Funj Sultanate on the internet. It's not Spalding or Holt, but this Youtube channel did an excellent job introducing the history of Sennar. Unfortunately, it's often accompanied by irrelevant pictures but worthwhile for an overview of a major state in Sudanic Africa. 

The Funj Sultanate and Nubia

Although originally published in the 1970s, O'Fahey and Spaulding's study of Darfur and the Funj Sultanate contains some interesting arguments about the nature of the state and Islam in the Sudan from the 16th century through 19th centuries. Part One, covering the Funj state, relies on much richer textual sources while the study of Darfur under the Keira dynasty in the second section relies, necessarily, on oral traditions. It is in the first part of the book where one finds some rather intriguing suggestions and ideas about changes in the "Sudanic state" wrought by further Islamization and commerce. 

Some of the changes noted by the authors for the Funj state, which took over lands once ruled by Christian Makuria and Alodia along the Nile (and parts of the Kordofan to the west), are particularly intriguing because they seem to follow similar patterns observed in other parts of the "Sudanic" belt of Africa, especially Borno. Here, I mean specifically, the role of Islam and Sufi brotherhoods, the weakening of central authority, and the creation of autonomous areas under the rule of spiritual leaders which further eroded centralized authority. The perception of the king as corrupt or powerless, I believe, and receiving criticism of Muslim holy men, was also occurring in other parts of the Sudanic region, especially by the the time of the jihadist movements in parts of the "Western Sudan" in the 18th century.

However, I am particularly interested in how the Funj state may have followed earlier Nubian political and social practices. While Spalding states the Funj were a southern Nubian people, I am still unsure what the scholarly consensus is about who the Funj actually were. It's possible their first king, Amara Dunqas in the early 16th century, was a Christian before the Funj kings converted to Islam. If true, then perhaps the Funj truly were a Nubian group or subject population of Christian Nubia. The description of the matrilineal descent system and rituals of kingship also bear an uncanny resemblance to earlier, perhaps deeply ancient, Nubian traditions of kingship. Even the double-horned cap worn by Funj kings and provincial rulers seem to resemble "Christian" Nubian two-horned caps. 

And if the Funj gradually came to power in most of Nubia after the political fragmentation of the region into a plethora of captaincies ruled by minor princes with associated "castles" and churches, one wonders if the breakdown of Meroitic authority was also a similar process (of course, minus the influence of Islam and Arab or Mamluk invasions) to that of the fall of Christian Nubia. One could see an analogy of sorts to the conflicts of the Nobadia and Blemmyes (Beja?) in Lower Nubia during Late Antiquity and the gradual dissolution of centralized authority over the vast Middle Nile. Similarly, perhaps, conflicts over trade routes to the east (Red Sea) and south also played a role, with "Beja" rulers asserting themselves in the Nile Valley. But Meroitic civilization lived on to a certain degree among the Nuba/Noba and Blemmyes along the Nile, who appear to have retained a knowledge of Meroitic literacy and royal symbolism.

Moving on, the Funj state may, despite already being somewhat decentralized by recognizing the autonomy of the northern area of its kingdom after the rebellion of Ajib of Qarri, have represented the last of the ancient structure of Nubian or Nubian-like kingship. It is interesting to see how peripheral Islamization was to the early Funj state, too, only becoming more significant by the 1600s and 1700s. According to Spalding, Islam led to the changes in the nature of kingship and provided an ideology for a rising class of indigenous Sudanese merchants, which further eroded the king's authority. Foreign and local merchants began to undermine the king's control of commerce and led to social conflict between peasants and merchants (the latter engaged in grain hoarding and extortion). As the king's authority dwindled and local rulers acted autonomously, the rising "bourgeoisie" turned to orthodox Islam and commerce. 

While Spaulding's theory of the decline of state-controlled commerce and rising social conflict with an indigenous merchant class in formation by the 18th century is provocative and interesting, it is not entirely clear how or why local merchants were drawn to Islam. If Islam became a "Protestant work ethic" of sorts to local traders who would resist the peasantry's lifestyle and the excesses of the nobility, why did such a dynamic not seem to weaken other states in the Sudanic belt? If the "Sudanic" state was partly based on royal control of long-distance trade, which certainly seems to be true in more than a few cases, why were other states able to persist while only securing trade routes and stability? What was the nature of trade and merchant classes prior to the Funj state? Were traders active in medieval Nubia mostly Muslim and/or state-sponsored? What about during Meroitic times or, even earlier, in the kingdom of Kush or Kerma? Was there ever any sort of "Christian" work ethic and proto-capitalist sentiment among Nubian traders and middleman during the pre-Funj "medieval" period? I have much to learn about Nubia. 

Funj Chronicle

Although far from ideal, we decided to read a public domain English translation of the Funj Chronicle. Based on a recension of the text from the personal library of a descendant of the Funj kings, Harold MacMichael included an English translation of most of the text in the second volume of A History of the Arabs in the Sudan and Some Account of the People who Preceded Them and of the Tribes Inhabiting Dárfūr. While perhaps generally accurate and reliable as a chronology of the Funj Sultanate, it's a text that is far more detailed and updated for the 19th century than earlier periods. For many Funj rulers in the 1500s and 1600s, we only read brief descriptions of their character or events that took place. Some of them are more detailed than others, of course. Badi II, Amara Dunqas, Badi IV, and certain political conflicts between different sheiks during the Hamaj Regency period receive more than the casual or limited summaries of other rulers of the Funj. 

So, it is interesting to compare the Funj Chronicle with other "Sudanic" kinglists and chronicle writings as an example of historical literature. While far from the Timbuktu Tarikhs in terms of the grand scope and level of detail, one can see overlapping traits with the chronicle writings of Agadez, Borno, Kano, and perhaps a combination of the kinglist and chronicle in a single work. The fuller entries in the Funj Chronicle probably draw on written sources that have not survived, particularly as Islamization of the Funj state grew in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the essential kernel of it probably arose from traditions like the kinglist shared with James Bruce during his travels through the region. Nonetheless, it is fascinating to observe the combination of textual and oral sources in the document, while also tracking the association of Islamic piety and Funj statecraft with proper governance. In that regard, it is probably not too distinct from the other chronicles produced by Muslim scholars extolling the Islamic virtues and support for scholarship of their respective sultans. Like the Timbuktu tarikhs, the author(s) of the Funj Chronicle seem to have continued their idealized vision of a ruler of the Nubian region well into the post-1821 era. 

But for our other purposes here at the blog, we are interested in ways to contextualize the Funj Sultanate within "Sudanic" Africa and the early modern world. Here one can find examples of this in Funj relations with Darfur, Kordofan, Teqali, Ethiopia, and, beyond Africa, the Ottoman Empire, central Muslim lands, and India. For example, Sennar clearly engaged in long-distance trade with other parts of Africa, including lands to the west like Kordofan and Darfur. Khamis, a prince of Darfur, but based in the Funj state in the 1700s, assists the sultanate in defeating an Ethiopian invasion by Iyasu II. Supposedly, if the Funj sources are not exaggerating, their Muslim victory led to various foreign embassies coming to Sennar, including those of al-Hind and al-Sind. Foreigners from as far away as Morocco were said to settle in Sennar. We also learn of Sennar's attack non Teqali under Badi II because the Teqali ruler attacked and stole the goods of a friend of his passing through their territory. The conflict resulted in Badi II imposing a fixed annual tribute. In the 18th century, the Funj state expanded into the Kordofan region and relied heavily on a man who later became an important kingmaker, Sheikh Muhammad Abu el Kaylak. 

One can see how the attempts at centralization of Funj sultans, or abuses of their power, often led to Funj nobles and provincial lords joining with the Hamaj in various coups, depositions, and civil wars which ultimately weakened the state. Thus, Badi IV favoring Nubians for political appointments instead of the Funj lords challenged the established nobility. One sees in the example of the Funj how an attempt to produce puppet kings is not a long-term strategy for success if the kingmakers are themselves feuding and relying on armed slaves and other supporters to depose kings and remove competitors. Yet in this tale of political assassinations, reliance on enslaved soldiers, growing Islamization and Arabization, and wars with neighbors, the Funj Chronicle reveals certain parallels with other parts of Sudanic Africa. We refer specifically to the tensions brought about by trade and migration across the "Sudanic" belt which threatened political fragmentation and the ways in which the Sayfawa dynasty of Borno and the kings of Sennar both became powerless by the 19th century. How is it that two Islamic dynasties of "Sudanic" Africa both declined and what does it suggest about Sudanic kingship in an age of jihads, slave raiding, and the impact of Islam?