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Daju Kingdom
The Daju kingdom was a medieval monarchy that existed in Darfur (Sudan) from possibly the 12th–15th century. Its name stems from the Daju people, the ruling ethnic group. The Daju were eventually ousted from power by the Tunjur and the last Daju king subsequently fled to present-day Chad. The sources for the Daju kingdom are almost entirely local traditions collected in the 19th and 20th century and mentions by medieval Arab historians. History According to oral traditions, the Daju arrived in Darfur from the east or south, most likely the Shendi region in Nubia. The Daju languages bear great similarity with Nobiin, matching between 10 and 25% of its vocabulary. Arkell claims that Daju pottery is virtually indistinguishable from that produced in the late Meroitic kingdom. Arriving in Darfur, the Daju probably supplanted the local Tora culture. The Daju established their kingdom in southern Jebel Marra, from where they also exercised their influence over the adjacent regions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest (at Lake Chad), and Niger to the west. Chad has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena. Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland in Africa. Chad's official languages are Arabic and French. It is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Islam (55.1%) and Christianity (41.1%) are the main religions practiced in Chad. Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tora (Darfur)
The Tora are a semi-legendary culture that existed in Jebel Marra, Darfur. In local oral traditions they appear as "white giants" who arrived in Darfur from somewhere in the north, which might be a hint to them originally being Berbers. They are credited with the introduction of monumental stone architecture, advanced stone-working techniques and agriculture techniques like terrace farming, irrigation and palm tree cultivation. By the 12th century the Tora culture had been succeeded by the Daju. Architecture While it is unknown if the Tora even existed, the pre-Daju sites ascribed to them are real. The construction methods employed appear to be a local development, different from the architecture of the Chad and Nile region, but still fundamentally African in character. Typical for Tora architecture is the massive masonry which is faced on both sides. Rubble was used to fill the walls, making the structures extremely solid. The largest type of structure are palaces, being as large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word ''oracle'' comes from the Latin verb ''ōrāre'', "to speak" and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, ''oracle'' may also refer to the ''site of the oracle'', and to the oracular utterances themselves, called ''khrēsmē'' 'tresme' (χρησμοί) in Greek. Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. In this sense, they were different from seers (''manteis'', μάντεις) who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, and other various methods.Flower, Michael Attyah. ''The Seer in Ancient Greece.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia (priestess to Apoll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deriba Caldera
Deriba is a Pleistocene or Holocene caldera in Darfur, Sudan. Part of the volcanoes of the Marra Mountains, it lies on the Darfur dome and like the Tagabo Hills and Meidob Hills volcanism may be the product of a mantle plume. After the separation of South Sudan, the highest point of Sudan is on the margin of the caldera. The caldera lies atop a shield volcano or ash cone in the southern Marra Mountains, which developed first as a pile of basaltic lava flows and later as layers of volcanic ash and tuff, including the eruptions that formed the caldera. A large eruption occurred about 3,520 ± 100 years before present, and hot springs and fumaroles are active to the present day. Deriba contains two lakes, one in the northeastern side of the main caldera and the other in a cone in the southwestern sector of the Deriba caldera. The fresher southwestern lake is smaller but considerably deeper than the saltier northeastern lake; in the late Pleistocene the caldera was filled with a la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred King
In many historical societies, the position of kingship carries a sacral meaning; that is, it is identical with that of a high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ... and judge. The concept of theocracy is related, although a sacred king need not necessarily rule through his religious authority; rather, the temporal position has a religious significance. History Sir James George Frazer used the concept of the sacred king in his study ''The Golden Bough'' (1890–1915), the title of which refers to the myth of the Rex Nemorensis. Frazer gives numerous examples, cited below, and was an inspiration for the myth and ritual school. However, "the myth and ritual, or myth-ritualist, theory" is disputed; many scholars now believe that myth and ritual share common parad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glencairn Balfour Paul
(Hugh) Glencairn Balfour Paul (23 September 1917 – 2 July 2008) was a British Arabist and diplomat. He served as the British Ambassador to Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia before becoming an academic at Exeter University. Biography The son of John William Balfour Paul, he was born in Moniaive in Dumfriesshire, educated at Lime House school near Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle, then at Sedbergh School, before going to Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1936, to read Classics. He served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during World War II before being sent east to Egypt and then on to Sudan to the Sudan Defence Force. After the war he served the Sudan Political Service as a District Commissioner in the Blue Nile Province, Blue Nile and Darfur provinces. Before leaving Sudan in 1954, he set out on a camel trek to explore the foothills of eastern Ennedi (region), Ennedi in nearby Chad. After some days alone he met up with his local guide, Ordugu, who had worked with Wilfred Thesiger on h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dar Sila
Dar Sila is the name of the wandering sultanate of the Dar Sila Daju, a multi-tribal ethnic group in Chad and Sudan. The number of the people in this group exceeds 50,000. They speak the Sila language, a Nilo-Saharan language. Most members of this ethnic group are Muslims. Location Geographically, Dar Sila is located in southeastern territory of the Republic of Chad. It borders the Salamat Region of Chad in the southwest, Ouaddaï Region in the north and Assoungha Department of Chad in the southeast, and Darfur Region of Sudan to the east. Capital Its capital is Goz Beïda which means in Arabic "the white sand dune". History Its history goes back to Darfur when Sultan Omar Kasefroge, the last sultan of Darfur during the Daju rule of this area, who ordered removal of Jabel Daju in order to join the other 99 Daju Jabels. Consequently, many adults and warriors died. According to Colonel Largeau, Commander in Chief of Goz Beida during the French invasion of Dar Sila, a manuscript ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Maqrizi
Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, known for his interest in the Fatimid dynasty and its role in Egyptian history. Life A direct student of Ibn Khaldun, Al-Maqrīzī was born in Cairo and spent most of his life in Egypt. When he presents himself in his books he usually stops at the 10th forefather although he confessed to some of his close friends that he can trace his ancestry to Al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh – first Fatimid caliph in Egypt and the founder of al-Qahirah – and even to Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was trained in the Hanafite school of law. Later, he switched to the Shafi'ite school and finally to the Zahirite school. Maqrizi studied theology under one of the primary masterminds behind the Zahiri Revolt, and his vocal support and sympathy with that revolt against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunama Dabbalemi
Dunama Dabbalemi, or Dounama Dibbalém, of the Sayfawa dynasty, was the ''mai'' (king) of the Kanem Empire, in present-day Chad, from 1210 to 1224. A fervent Muslim, Dabbalemi initiated diplomatic exchanges with sultans in North Africa and apparently arranged for the establishment of a special hostel in Cairo to facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca. In particular the historian Ibn Khaldun, who remembers him as "King of Kanem and Lord of Bornu", reports a Kanem embassy in 1257 to Tunisia. During his reign, he declared ''jihad'' against the surrounding tribes and initiated an extended period of conquest, allegedly arriving to have under his command a cavalry 40.000 strong. After consolidating their territory around Lake Chad the Fezzan region (in present-day Libya) fell under Kanem's authority, and the empire's influence extended westward to Kano (in present-day Nigeria), eastward to Ouaddaï, and southward to the Adamawa grasslands (in present-day Cameroon). Through his wars, he captured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Sa'id Al-Maghribi
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Mūsā ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī ( ar, علي بن موسى المغربي بن سعيد) (1213–1286), also known as Ibn Saʿīd al-Andalusī, was an Arab geographer, historian, poet, and the most important collector of poetry from al-Andalus in the 12th and 13th centuries. Biography Ibn Said was born at Alcalá la Real near Granada to a prominent family which was descended from the Companion of the Prophet Ammar ibn Yasir. Many of his family members were literary figures, and grew up in Marrakesh. He subsequently studied in Seville and stayed in Tunis, Alexandria, Cairo, Jerusalem and Aleppo. At the age of 30, he undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was also a close friend of the Muwallad poet Ibn Mokond Al-Lishboni (of Lisbon). His last years were spent in Tunis, and he died there in 1286. Writings Ibn Said al-Maghribi wrote or compiled 'at least forty works on various branches of knowledge'. Ibn Said's best known achievement was the completion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camel
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The Wild Bactrian camel is a separate species and is now critically endangered. The word ''camel'' is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
