University of Khartoum
TOWNS IN THE SUDAN IN THE EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES
Author(s): El-Sayed El-Bushra
Source: Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 52 (1971), pp. 63-70
Published by: University of Khartoum
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/42677876
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EIGHTEENTH
TOWNS
AND
IN THE
EARLY
IN THE
SUDAN
NINETEENTH
CENTURIES
by
El-Sayed el-Bushra
It is oftenassumedthaturbanlifein sub-SaharanAfricawas firstintroduced
by Europeans. Althoughthisis true of most parts of the continent,indigenous
townswere alreadyin existencein both east and west AfricabeforeEuropean
colonisation.Towns of purelySudanese, Ethiopian and Nigerian origin bear
witnessto this fact.Indeed, urban lifein the Sudan goes to as far back as the
pre-historic
period.This paper is onlyconcernedwiththe Sudan, and its purpose
is to give a short reviewof Sudanese towns duringthe eighteenthand early
centuries.
nineteenth
invasionof 1821,whatis now northand central
Priorto theTurco-Egyptian
Sudan was dominatedby two kingdoms.The Fung kingdomof Sennarruledthe
easternpart of the regionincludingthe Nile Valley; and the kingdomof Darfur,
whichwas relatedto the formerWadai kingdomof West Africa,occupied the
westernpart of the regionincludingKordofan.Informationabout population,
settlements
and commercialactivityis lacking,as a resultof whichit has become
difficult
to reconstruct
the social, economicand demographicpatterns
extremely
of the area beforethe Turco-Egyptian
invasion.The information
presentedhere
was collectedfromtravelliteraturewhichwas made available by European and
Arab travellersduringthe eighteenthand nineteenthcenturies.Travellerssuch
as J.Bruce,W. G. Browne,J.L. Burckhardt
and MuhammadIbn 'Omar al-Tūnisi,
among others,visiteddifferent
parts of the regionduringthat period.1Browne
(1793-5) was concernedwith Darfur,Burckhardt(1814) visitedNubia and the
Red Sea coast, and Brucewho set out in 1768 to discoverthe sourceof the Nile,
account of Sennar and the countryto the northin 1772-3,
gave an interesting
when followingthe Blue Nile downstreamon his way back fromGondar in
Ethiopia to Cairo in Egypt.The mostreputedArab travellerduringthatperiod
was Al-Tūnisi,who aftertenyearsof stayin Darfur(1803-13),was able to provide
the most comprehensiveinformationon administrative,
tribal and social conditionsthroughoutthe kingdom.
Comparedwithexistingstandards,agricultural
productionin the regionwas
verylow mainlybecause of primitivetechniquesand crude implementsand so
was also the volume of trade. Shiftingcultivationwas generallypractisedand
littlesurpluswas producedto enterforeigntrade. Low agriculturalproduction
togetherwith famines,diseases and tribalwars retardedpopulationgrowth,as
a resultof whichfewsettlements
werefound.
in
leftby travellers,
about twentysettlements
Accordingto the information
the regionwere activein commerceand trade,and weretherefore
referred
to as
towns.Towns were significant
forboth commerceand administration.
Of those
1J.Bruce,Travels
to Discover
theSourceof theNile, London,1806,Vol. iv; M. Poncet,
A Voyage
toEthiopia
andSyria
Travels
inAfrica
, London,
1709;W.G. Browne,
, Egypt
, London,
Travels
in Nubia
Ibn 'Omaral-Tūnisi,
1799;J. L. Burckhardt,
, London,1819;Muhammad
Tashhīdh
al-Adhhãn
biSīratBilãdal-Arabwa-l-Sūdān,
edited
andM.M.Mus'ad,
byK. M.'Asāker
TheFungKingdom
1951; A. Moorehead,
Cairo,1965;O. G. S. Crawford,
, Gloucester,
ofSennar
TheBlueNile, London,1965.
63
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64
Sudan Notes and Records
CARAVAN
ROUTES
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Sudan Towns in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries 65
the most importantin the easternarea were Sennar,the capital of the Fung
kingdom,Wad Medani, Arbagi,Shendi,Berber,Darnerand Suakin,all of which
of the
except the latterwere located along the Nile. Cobbé, to the north-west
presentsiteof El-Fasher,was the capital of the westernkingdomand was by far
the most importanttown; otherswere Ril, Sweini,Kabkabiya and Kurma.1The
sultanor monarchof eitherof thetwo kingdomsresidedin thecapitalcity,while
his delegatesto thevariouspartsofthekingdomlivedin smallertowns.Throughof the sultan and sent in
out the regiontaxes were collectedby representatives
each year. The caravan routewas of primeimportancein developingtrade,and
towns which were located along such routes gained commercialmomentum.
Caravans linkeddifferent
parts of the region,and extendedfromCobbé in the
westto Suakin on the Red Sea coast,and fromShendiand Berberin thenorthto
Sennarin the south. Major caravan routeshad also penetrateddeep beyondthe
region'sboundariesas far as Upper Egypt,Ethiopia (Map), southwardto the
negrokingdomof Dar Kulla, and westwardinto Bornuand Hausaland. Furthermore,thecaravanlinkwiththeportof Suakinbroughttheregionin contactwith
Trade
Arabia, India and China and made possibletheexchangeof commodities.2
was in factthe verylife-bloodof societyin thosetowns.
The size of settlements
Littlementionwas made by travellersabout populationand size of settlements,indicatingthat most were too small to capture any attention.In 1699
C. Poncet describedSennar as a verypopulous place having a population of
100,000,but it seems that the figurewas greatlyexaggerated.P. Trémaux,who
visitedthe town in 1860,foundthat it had a populationof 4,000 afterthe disof the Fung kingdom,and estimatedthatthe figurewas about 10,000
integration
on theeve of theEgyptianinvasion.It is probablethatat its climaxSennarmight
have had a populationof over 10,000,but was by no means as largeas 100,000.
In theearlypartof theeighteenth
centuryHalfaya,to thenorthof thepresentsite
of Khartoum,had 300 housesindicatingonce morethe small size of settlements.
In the same way Derr in Nubia consistedof 200 houses,Gerriwas a place of 140
houses,Damer had 500 houses,and Shendi,one of thelargesttowns,had between
800 and 1,000houses. Suakin,one of the major portson the Red Sea, had 600
houses and 8,000 people. Places such as Dongola, Khandak, Debba and Korti
were rather small, having only a few hundred inhabitants.It can therefore
be concludedthatthethreemajortownsin theeasternregionbeforetheEgyptian
invasionwere Sennar,Shendi and Suakin, all of whichwere importantcaravan
centresand seats of administration.
Browne estimatedthe total population in
Darfurto be not more than 200,000,and statedthat the most populous place
was Cobbé witha populationof 6,000.The remainingpopulationin Darfurlived
in small villagesof one or two hundredinhabitants.3
1Browne,
op. cit.,pp. 236-40,284-6;Burckhardt,
op. cit.,pp. 212,265,268,277-8,431;
Poncet,
op.cit.,pp.470,517,529-30,
Moorehead,
op.cit.,pp.161-73;
op.cit.,pp.16-8;Bruce,
545;Crawford,
op. cit.,pp.61,64,
op. cit.,pp. 53,55-7,61-3,65,67,72, 118-26;Al-Tūnisi,
306.
118,
2Burckhardt,
op. cit.,pp. 164-7;Crawford,
op. cit.,pp. 235,239,299,324; Moorehead,
cit.,pp. 58,62-3,72,319,321.
op.
3Poncet,
op. cit.,pp 284-5;
op. cit.,p. 18; Crawford,
op. cit.,pp. 319,322,325; Browne,
Burckhardt,
op. cit.,pp. 235,266,278,432,447.
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66
Sudan Notes and Records
Thefunctions
of towns
was one of thefunctions
sharedby most
As mentionedearlier,administration
in all the important
towns,because usually the sultan had his representatives
Trade was anotherimportantfunctionwhichwas closelyassociated
settlements.
withcaravan routesthatbroughttownsin contactwiththe outsideworld.Large
commercialcentreswerethoselocatedon majorcaravanroutes.In 1701,T. Krump
describedSennaras one of the mostimportanttradingcentresin Africa,and as
visitedby caravansfromNubia, Darfur,Cairo, Fezzan, Bornu
beingwas regularly
and Ethiopia,while the caravan route to Suakin connectedthe town with sea
itscommercial
routesto Arabia and India. The dailymarketat Sennarmanifested
to certaindays of
in othertowns,however,marketswererestricted
significance;
the week. There were also numerousvillagesin the vicinityof Sennarthat had
economicrelationswithit. The radiatingroutesfromthetownto theneighbouring
of thepoliticaland commercialleadership
habitationswereanothermanifestation
of Sennar.There weretwo marketplaces in the town,one of whichoccupied a
wide area in the centreof the city.BetweenSennarand Shendito the norththe
of Wad Medani and Arbagiwerementionedby Bruce,but they
two settlements
seemedto have been of far less commercialsignificance.
Halfáya on the east of
the main Nile was knownfor the manufactureof a coarse cotton cloth called
dammūrwhichwas wornthroughout
the region.No mentionwas made of either
Omdurmanor Khartoumwhich were then small hamlets.
to as a large town and capital
Shendito the northof Halfãya was referred
of its district,
as well as an importantentrepôtof trade,and was thethirdlargest
town afterSennarand Cobbé. It was joined by caravan to Sennar,Suakin and
Darfur.CommoditiesfromEgypt,Ethiopia,India, Arabia and Venicewerefound
in Shendimarket.Therewas a dailymarketand a largeweeklyone forthevillagers
in the neighbourhood.Therewas alwayssome new caravanarrivingand another
departingindicatingthe high commercialstandingof the town. The market
occupied the centreof the cityin a large open space wherethreerows of huts
werearrangedto supplypeople withthecommoditiestheyneeded.The people of
Shendiweretraders,and almosteverybodywas engagedin commerceor related
was carriedout in the vicinityof the town.
occupations,and so littleagriculture
It was also the nearestplace on the Nile to the Red Sea exit,and therefore
to
Arabia, India and the Far East. PilgrimsfromcentralAfricapassed through
Shendi on theirway to Mecca, while Burckhardtstatedthat about 5,000 slaves
used to pass throughthe town each year. Shendi consistedof severalquarters
separatedfromone anotherby public places or markets,probablyindicatingthe
various tribal areas withinthe town.
Anothertownon theNile, to thesouthof theconfluenceof theAtbarariver,
was Damer, a holy place witha large mosque. It was therethat studentsfrom
Sennarand Darfurcame to studythe Sharťa and the Koran. Besidesits religious
in the region,Damer was also an importantcentreof cottonmanusignificance
facture.It is probable that because of its long traditionin cottonweavingthe
townmighthave givenitsnameto thecloth.The townsof Old Dongola, Khandak,
Debba and Korti were importantnodes along the caravan route to Kordofan.
Dongola was an importantpoint of tax collectionin Nubia duringthe Fung
period.However,withthecollapseoftheChristianKingdomand theestablishment
of Fung rulein Nubia duringthe earlyyearsof the sixteenth
centurythe importanceof thelattertownwas reducedconsiderably.By themiddleof theeighteenth
destroyedbytheSha'igîyabecause
centurytheold cityof Dongola was completely
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Sudan Towns in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries 67
of disagreements
withits rulers.At present,a small villageof about a hundred
inhabitantsstands as remnantsof the once famous Christiancapital.2
Suakin startedas a tradingportas earlyas theeighthcenturya.d. Although
fromthethirteenth
theportbeganto gaincommercialmomentum
onwards,
century
its real growthcommencedwiththe beginningof the fifteenth
century,when it
startedto trade with India, Ceylon and China. From the sixteenthcentury
onwardsSuakin,whichwas controlledby the Egyptians,came to be dominated
by the Turks who were by thenin fullcontrolin Egypt.It was the Turks who
enlargedand improvedSuakin,whichwas describedby Don Juanda Castro as
one of the richesttownsin the East. The main town of Suakin was built on a
circularisland,withits suburb,the Geyf,on the mainland.The insularityof the
port manifestedits strategicposition.Those who were concernedwithshipping
operationstogetherwith governmentofficialsresided on the island, while the
majorityof people residedin thesuburbon themainland,wherethemainmarket
was located.Of the8,000inhabitants
only3,000livedon theisland.The population
The hub ofthe
ofthetownwas engagedin commerceand othershippingactivities.
townwas on theisland,whereall the shippingoperationswereexecuted,and the
busiestpart of the town was around the island shore wheretradersboats were
loaded and unloaded. In Burckhardt^time(1814), Suakin had startedto decay,
and some of thebuildingswerealreadyabandoned.The portcontinuedto decline
in importanceuntilit was finallydesertedin 1905 whena modernportwas built
at Marsa al-SheikhBarghūthwhich was referredto as Port Sudan. However,
Suakincontinuesto handlea largenumberof pilgrimsfromtheSudan and central
Africaon theirway to Mecca.2
In Darfur,on the otherhand, about ten townsexistedbeforethe Egyptian
invasion,the largestwas Cobbé, the capital of the kingdom.Othertownswere
Sweini,Kurma,Kabkabiya,Ril, Cours, Shoba, Gadid, Gellé and El Fasher,the
presentcapital of DarfurProvince.Most of those townswere located withina
shortdistanceof Cobbé and commandedtraderoutes.Ril was thekeyofthesouth
and east roads, as was Kabkabiya of the west,and Sweini of the north.Cobbé
commandedthe famousDarb al-Arba'īnor 'fortyday road' thatjoined thetown
caravanrouteacrossthe
withAssiutin Upper Egypt.This was themostimportant
Sahara that linkedthe BarbaryStates and Egyptwiththe negroidtribesin the
rainlandsof the south. One caravan mightconsistof as manycamels as 2,000
and 1,000 slaves, but that was consideredvery large compared with normal
standards.The volume of trade was relativelylarge,and Browneestimatedthe
value of the merchandisecarriedby the caravan by whichhe returnedto Egypt
in 1796 at the highfigureof £E 115,000.
The townsmentionedweremarketcentresand each was visitedby villagers
in the neighbourhoodon marketdays.Therewereno dailymarketsas in Sennar,
and in Cobbé themarketwas heldtwicea week,on Monday and Friday.Browne
statedthatat shortdistancesfromCobbé weresmallvillageswhichweredependent
on it. The dailymovementof people fromthe surrounding
villagesto the town
resultedin a temporary
increasein populationin the capitalduringthe day time.
1N. Shuquair,
andHistory
Beirut,
1967,p. 101.
oftheSudan(inArabic),
Geography
2Burckhardt,
op. cit.,pp.24,28;
op. cit.,pp.265-6,289-90,309,324,432-3,439;Poncet,
"TheRedSea Style",
Kush,i,
Crawford,
op.cit.,pp.56-63,65-8,72,77,79; D. H. Matthews,
545;Browne,
1953,
op.cit.,pp.479-80,
485,514,529-30,
op.cit.,pp.243-4,276-80.
p. 61; Bruce,
SeealsoD. Roden,"Thetwentieth
decline
ofSuakin",
S.N.R., li,1970,pp.1-22.
century
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68
Sudan Notes and Records
thetown'spopulaThis dailypulsationof people,thoughmisleadingin estimating
thedominatinginfluenceof Cobbé withinits region.No mention
tion,manifested
was made of public buildingsin the towns of Darfur,except for four or five
schools in Cobbé, where studentswere taught the Koran and theology. In
Kordofan the most importantcommercialcentrewas El Obeid.1
Cobbé and the othertowns of the kingdomwere located withinan area
direction.These mountains
surroundedby mountainsthat run in a north-south
kingdoms,such as the
gave rise to naturalprotectionagainstthe neighbouring
Fung kingdomto the east, the negrotribesto the south and the west African
kingdomsof Bornuand Bagirmito thewest.Those naturaldefencefeatureswere
of paramountimportancein those days, whenwars among tribeswereendemic.
Water,as noted by Browne,was the keynotein developingcentresof even
a few thousandpeople. The sands and clays of Darfurand Kordofan supplied
small amountsof groundwatertherebylimitingboth the size and distribution
of settlements.
However,thehillyarea in whichthosetownswerelocated did not
onlyoffernaturalprotectionagainsttheenemy,but also providedenoughsupplies
of waterfordrinkingpurposes.
Buildingmaterialsand architecture
theregionwereone storeyhigh,poorly
As a generalrule,housesthroughout
and decorationof buildings
built,withflatand conical roofs.Fine architecture
werenotto be foundanywherein theregion,and theonlybuildingmaterialin use
was clay. In the southernpartsincreasedrainfallenforcedthe erectionof straw
hutswithconical roofsto withstandthe heavydownpours.Sennar,forexample,
had two typesof houses, round huts withconical strawroofslike those in the
countrysideand rectangularmud houses followingthe Nubian and Egyptian
type.There were also a towerof
design,some of whichwere of the two-storey
fourstoreysand a mosque as remnantsof the decayedcapital. The same sort of
mud house existedalong the Nile and in Darfur.For instance,Berber,just to the
northof the confluenceof the Atbara withthe Nile, consistedof fourvillages,
and was situatedon the borderof the arable land in a sandyarea. Each village
consistedof about a dozen quartersstandingseparatelyfromeach other.They
tribalgroupsresidingin the area, as segregation
probablyindicatedthe different
withinthe residentialquarterswas purelymade accordingto ethnic or tribal
for social reasons,to live in their
affiliation.
People of the same tribepreferred,
own quartersratherthan minglewithothers.Tribal areas are, in fact,traceable
in some of the old townseven to thisday. Thus, mostof thewardswithintowns
have continuedto bear the names of the originaltribeseven thoughthe previous
tribaldivisionsare no longervalid.2
Houses were separatedfromone anotherby large courtyardswhich were
used for keepinganimals.The resultwas irregularpatternsof streets.The large
yardsownedby each familywerethendividedintoinnerand outercourts.Around
this yard were the familyrooms all of one storey.Two of the apartmentswere
1
op.cit.,pp.236,243-4,284-5.
2Browne,
op. cit.,
Browne,
op.cit.,p. 212;Bruce,
op.cit.,p. 471;Poncet,
op.cit.,p. 286;Burckhardt,
ThePre-Industrial
, Glencoe,
City:PastandPresent
op.cit.,p. 204;G. Sj0berg,
p. 14;Al-Tūnisi,
TheWorld
FreePress,1960,p. 100; X. de Planhol,
Press,
, CornellUniversity
ofIslam
Illinois,
"TheStructure
oftheMuslim
,
Town",American
Anthropologist
1959,
p.9; G. E. vonGrunebaum,
No. 81,April,
Memoir
1955,p. 147.
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Sudan Towns in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries 69
and a fourthforthereception
inhabitedbythefamily,a thirdservedas storeroom,
of visitors.Rooms seldomhad morethan one windowand a wooden door. The
innercourt was used to keep livestockand had an area for storingdura stalks
whichwereused as feedduringthe summer.The outercourtcontaineda well for
wateringanimals,and it was in thiscourtthatthe male inhabitantsof the house
togetherwithmale strangerssleep duringthe hot season. Most of whatwas said
in the region.
about Berberapplied to manyothersettlements
the
of
Suakin
were
by no means purelySudanese,as
By contrast, buildings
both Egyptianand Turkishstyleswere dominant.However,some local designs
appeared on the mainland,while the Beja tribes,who providedthe necessary
labour forceforport operations,continuedto live in tents.Houses on the island
werebuiltof stoneand wereof two and threestoreyhighwithbalconies.There
was no doubt that in its buildingSuakin belongedto the Red Sea Stylerather
than to thatof the Sudan, and its paralleloccurredin otherRed Sea portssuch
as Jedda, Hodeida and Massawa.1
In Darfurhouses were built of clay and people of high rank coveredthem
with plaster and coloured them white,red and black. Browne describedthe
apartmentsas beingof threekinds.One was called donga, whichmeasuredtwenty
and
by twelvefeet.It had a flatroofconsistingof high beams laid horizontally,
was coveredwithclay.The secondwas calledkurnuk
, whichwas largerthandonga,
had no mud walls but was supportedby rafters.This was used for receiving
visitorsand sleeping.The thirdwas a roundone of thesame kindused by women
forcooking.In most cases a rakübaor shed was added to the house to provide
shelterfromthesun,and was a place wherepeople could sitand talk in the open.
Al-Tūnisidescribedtwo typesof conical huts,namely,suktaiaand tukulti
, both
of whichwerebuiltof dukhnstalks.The formerwas tall and narrowwitha steep
roof,while the latterwas shorterand had a roundedroof.
Houses were bounded by an innerand outer fence; the innerone was in
the formof a clay wall, whereasthe outer one was made of thornybushes to
keep the cattlefromgoing astray.As mentionedearlier,in the case of Berber,
it was the hot climate,on one hand, and the habit of keepinganimalsinsidethe
house, on the other,that resultedin those large courtyards.Anotherimportant
featurewas the well whichprovidedwaterforboth man and beast. Houses were
separatedfromone anotherby wide intervals,as familiesused to cultivatethe
fieldsnext to theirhomes. The resultwas a haphazard and amorphoussprawl
of buildings.BrownestatedthatCobbé foran extentof two mileshad not more
than a hundreddistinctenclosureswhichcould properlybe termedhouses. The
of thetownwas devotedto the market.
largeopen space to the south-west
The residentsin towns were mostlymerchants,and in Kurma the whole
place was occupied by them.Very small numbersof native Fur were foundin
towns,the majoritylivingin small agriculturalvillages.Only Gadid, inhabited
by nativereligiouspeople,could be considereda religiouscentre.But even there,
merchants,
thoughnotresidingin thetown,had some houses.Populationin those
townswas diverse;beside the small numbersof Fur Fellata fromWest Africa,
Mahas and Danagla fromnorthernNile Valley, Arab tribesfromthe Sudan,
variedfrom
But thedegreeof diversity
Egyptiansand Tunisianswererepresented.
town to town,the largesthad the most cosmopolitanpopulation.2
1Matthews,
op.cit.,pp.60-1,67; Burckhardt,
op.cit.,p. 432.
2Browne,
op.cit.,pp.286-7;Al-Tūnisi,
op.cit.,pp.202-4.
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70
Sudan Notes and Records
Conclusion
Burckhardtstatedthatthewordmedinahor citycould not be appliedto any
place of thispart of the Sudan.1 ComparingthemwithEuropean towns,which
weremoreadvancedwithrespectto planning,townzonationand civicamenities,
he ought to have found them smaller,haphazardlybuilt,and poorly provided
witheventhebasic urbanservices.Althoughlackingin mostof thecharacteristics
maintainedby European towns,places such as Sennar,Cobbé, Shendi,Berber
and Suakin mighteasily be describedas towns,since theyperformedfunctions
of both trade and administration
not only forthemselves,but also for the surThe regionas a wholewas verysparselypopulatedand so
roundingcountryside.
large towns did not exist. Consequently,places of a few thousandpopulation,
whichprovidedservicesfortheirregionmight,nevertheless,
be classifiedas towns.
The commonesttypeof habitationwas the small village,and scatteredisolated
huts ratherthan the town. The powers of monarchswere concentratedin the
was able to acquire other
capital which,because of its political significance,
functionssuch as those of trade and education.Caravan routesencouragedthe
spread of marketcentresand made possible the exchangeof commodities.The
only towns of importancein Burckhardt^time (1814) were Sennar and Cobbé
which had startedas administrative
centres,and Shendi, Berber and Suakin
whichowed theirimportanceto caravan routesthattapped variouspartsof the
countryand the lands beyond.The Nile itselfbeingan importantarteryof trade
and communication,
and a sourceof lifein a desolatedesert,attractedsettlements
whichwereto growlaterinto largetowns.
On the whole,it may be said that both the numberand size of settlements
were small priorto the Turco-Egyptian
invasionof 1821, and the townswhich
existedprovideda limitednumberof servicesand functions.Some of the towns
which existed before the invasion had disappeared, others have since then
developedintominoror majorcentresprovidinga widerrangeof urbanfunctions.
Acknowledgement
Many thanks are due to Sayed O. Satti, CartographicTechnicianin the
Dept. of Geography,Universityof Khartoum,fordrawingthe map.
1Burckhardt,
op.cit.,p. 265.
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