![Gebel musa near wadi kirbekan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Gebel_musa_near_wadi_kirbekan.jpg)
Dar al-Manasir ( ar, دار المناصير) is the region of the
Fourth Cataract
The Cataracts of the Nile are shallow lengths (or whitewater rapids) of the Nile river, between Khartoum and Aswan, where the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders and stones jutting out of the river bed, as well as many rocky ...
, the most impassable of all rapids of the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
. It is the homeland of the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
tribe of the
Manasir
The Manasir people ( ar, المناصير) constitute one of many Sunni Arab riverine tribes of Northern Sudan. They are not to be confused with the Manasir of the Persian Gulf region in the Arabian Peninsula-based mainly in the United Arab Emira ...
and from them gets its name. Still today the water rapids cannot be crossed by any large boats making the region accessible only via a sandy and rocky desert track.
At the height of the
Island of Muqrat (N 19°30') the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
river is blocked from its northward course taking a sharp turn SSW for 280 kilometres before continuing to flow north. In the middle of this S-shape between the
Bayudah Desert to the south and the
Nubian Desert
The Nubian Desert ( ar, صحراء النوبة, ''Şaḩrā’ an Nūbyah'') is in the eastern region of the Sahara Desert, spanning approximately 400,000 km2 of northeastern Sudan and northern Eritrea, between the Nile and the Red Sea. Th ...
to the north, the Nile is forced by the
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
to split up into a multitude of
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...
forming a fertile river oasis of small rocky islands described by the traveller GRAY (1949:120) with the following words: "Whereas usually
griculturein the Nile Valley
is confined to the belt on two banks on which the river has deposited
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
, in this
cataract
A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...
area, where islands are scattered like a flock of goats, the number of silt-covered river banks in any given 10 kilometres may be up to a dozen".
Dar al-Manasir will be successively flooded by the
Merowe Dam
The Merowe Dam, also known as Merowe High Dam, Merowe Multi-Purpose Hydro Project or Hamdab Dam, is a large dam near Merowe Town in northern Sudan, about north of the capital Khartoum. Its dimensions make it the largest contemporary hydropower pr ...
project.
Extent
![Map dar almanasir shiri](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Map_dar_almanasir_shiri.JPG)
Dar al-Manasir is confined by the upstream living
Rubatab
The Rubatab people ( ar, الرباطاب, ar-rubāṭāb) constitute one of many Sunni Arab riverine tribes of Northern Sudan. They inhabit the region of the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Similar to their neighbouring tribes, the mid-stream Mana ...
tribe () in the area of ''Abu Hamed'' () (E 33.18°) and the downstream
Shaiqiyah tribe () past the village of ''Birti'' (E 32.15°), (cf. LAGNAH 2005:2). Dar al-Manasir is covering a distance of approximately 130 km along the Nile with most villages lined up along the left river bank called "Western side" (…). But the heart of Dar al-Manasir consists of 14 islands, twelve of them permanently inhabited; ''al-Qanaweit'' (), ''Shiri'' (), ''Kidir'' (), ''Sherari'' (), ''Sur'' (), ''Us'' (), ''Tibit'' (…), ''Dumag'' (), ''Buni'' (), ''Arag'' (), ''Dirbi'' () and ''Birti'' (), (cf. SALIH 1999:8, LAGNAH 2005:2).
Climate
The climate is arid with an annual rainfall of about 50 mm in good years. The exact amount and spatial distribution of the precipitation during the rainy season in the months of August until October is highly variable and therefore unpredictable. The rainy season coincides with the flood season of the Nile (cf. SALIH 1999:9).
Economy
The Manasir pursue small scale agriculture in the immediate vicinity of the Nile. Tiny pockets of alluvial sediments and the seasonally inundated riverside land are intensively irrigated and cultivated. The most important cash crops of the region are
date
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
** Group dating
*Play date, a ...
s (cf.
Date cultivation in Dar al-Manasir). During good rainy seasons, in which grazing grounds are abundant, many male Manasir join members of their tribe in the adjacent Bayudah Desert.
Administration
![Nile sunset dar almanasir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Nile_sunset_dar_almanasir.JPG)
Politically Dar al-Manasir belongs to the
River Nile state
River Nile ( ar, ولاية نهر النيل, Nahr an Nīl) is one of the 18 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 122,123 km² (47,152 mi²) and an estimated population of 1,027,534 (2006). It is made up of seven localities.
...
( ''Wilāya nahr an-Nīl''). The administrative centre with the only local run police station, branch of the Agricultural Bank and Secondary Schools for both sexes is ''Shiri'' () on Shiri Island.
Dar al-Manasir is among the most neglected areas in Northern
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
. Apart from basic educational institutions virtually no public infrastructure such as tarred roads, bridges or ferry boats and hospitals exist. But the Manasir are also aware of advantages of this situation and describe them in terms of exceptional safety and honesty (), tranquillity (), untainted beauty of their country () and cleanness of the water which they drink straight out of the Nile. The landscape, described by Innes (1931:184) as ''"most barren and the most beautiful"'' along the Nile, is rocky, picturesque and referred by the inhabitants happily as ''"our rocks"'' ().
Dar al-Manasir with all its villages and agricultural land will be successively flooded in the coming months by the
Merowe Dam
The Merowe Dam, also known as Merowe High Dam, Merowe Multi-Purpose Hydro Project or Hamdab Dam, is a large dam near Merowe Town in northern Sudan, about north of the capital Khartoum. Its dimensions make it the largest contemporary hydropower pr ...
project. Its residents are going to be moved, but the exact relocation area is still not clear and a matter of ongoing discussion.
See also
*
Date cultivation in Dar al-Manasir
References
*Gray, T. (1949): "The Fourth Cataract". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.30, p. 120-121.
*Innes, N. MCL. (1930): "The Monasir Country". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.14, p. 185-191.
*Lagnah al-Tanfidhiyah lil-Muta'thirin (2005): ''Khasan al-Hamdab wa Qissah Tahgir Ahali al-Manasir''. 20 p.
*Salih, A. M. (1999): ''The Manasir of the Northern Sudan: Land and People. A Riverain Society and Resource Scarcity''. 282 p.
Additional references
*Al-Hakem, A.M.A. (1993): "Merowe (Hamdab) High Dam and its Impacts". In: ''Kush'' XVI, 25 p.
*Beck. K. (1997): "Wer kennt schon Hamdab? Ein Staudammvorhaben im Sudan". In: Pörtge, K.-H. (ed.): ''Forschungen im Sudan''. Erfurter Geographische Studien, Bd.5, pp. 79–88.
*Beck, K. (1999): "Escaping from the Narrow Confines – Returning to Tight Communities. Manasir Labour Migration from the Area of the Fourth Nile Cataract". In: Hahn, H.P. & G. Spittler (ed.): ''Afrika und die Globalisierung'', pp. 201–211.
*Beck, K. (2001): "Die Aneignung der Maschine". In: Kohl, K.-H. & N. Schafhausen (ed.): ''New Heimat''. Katalog zur Ausstellung im Frankfurter Kunstverein, pp. 66–77.
*Cavendish, M. W. (1966): "The Custom of Placing Pebbles on Nubian Graves". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.47. pp. 151–156.
*Corkill N.L. (1948): "Weight Equivalent of Sudan Foods sold by Measures of Capacity". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.29, pp. 126–127.
*Crowfoot, J. W. (1918): "Customs of the Rubatab". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.1. pp. 119–134.
*Gray, T. (1949): "The Fourth Cataract". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.30, p. 120-121.
*Innes, N. McL. (1930): "The Monasir Country". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.14, pp. 185–191.
*Jackson, H.C. (1926): "A Trek in Abu Hamed District". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.9 No.2, pp. 1–35.
*Lagnah aL-Tanfidhiyah lil-Muta'thirin (2005): ''Khasan al-Hamdab wa Qissah Tahgir Ahali al-Manasir''. pp. 20 (اللجنة التنفيذية للمتأثرين (2005): خزان الحامداب و قصة تهجير أهالي المناصير)
*Leach, T.A. (1919): "Date-Trees in Halfa Province". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.2, pp. 98–104.
*Nicholls, W. (1918): "The Sakia in Dongola Province". In: ''Sudan Notes and Records'', Vol.1. pp. 21–24.
Related books
*Bashir, al-N. T. al-S. (ed.), (1997): Diwan 'Abqariah al-Manasir. Li-Ustadh Ibrahim 'Ali al-Sha'ir. 189 p. (النذير تاج السر البشير(جمع وإعداد), (1997): ديوان عبقرية المناصير. للأستاذ إبراهيم علي الشاعر)
*
Qasim, 'A. al-Sh. (2002): ''Qamus al-Lahgah al-'Amiya fi al-Sudan'', 3rd ed. 1076 p. (عون الشريف قاسم (2002): قاموس اللهجة العامية في السودان. الطبعة الثالثة. الدار السودانية للكتب)
*Salih, A. M. (1999): ''The Manasir of the Northern Sudan: Land and People. A Riverain Society and Resource Scarcity''. 282 p.
*Taiyeb, M. Al-T. et al. (1969): ''Al-Turath al-Sha'ibi li-Qabilah al-Manasir. Salsalah Dirasat fi al-Turath al-Sudani''. Khartoum University Faculty of Adab. 155 p. (الطيب محمد الطيب و عبد السلام سليمان و علي سعد (1969): التراث الشعبي لقبيلة المناصير. سلسلة دراسات في التراث السوداني, جامعة الخرطوم, كلية الآداب)
*Yusif, A.A. (1995): ''Al-Nakhil'' (First Part), Khartoum. 349 p. (عبدلله أحمد يوسف (1995): النخيل – الجزء الأولى الخرطوم)
External links
Homepage of Dar al-ManasirGallery of Dar al-ManasirAl-Turath al-Sha'ibi li-Qabilah al-ManasirDiwan 'Abqariah al-Manasir. Li-Ustadh Ibrahim 'Ali al-Sha'ir
{{coord, 18, 59, N, 32, 25, E, region:SD-04_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title
Regions of Sudan
Nubia
Nile
Geography of Sudan