Hadendoa (or Hadendowa) is the name of a

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

ic subdivision of the

Beja people The Beja people ( ar, البجا, Beja: Oobja, tig, በጃ) are an ethnic group native to the Eastern Desert, inhabiting a coastal area from southeastern Egypt through eastern Sudan and into northwestern Eritrea. They are descended from peop ...

, known for their support of the Mahdiyyah rebellion during the 1880s to 1890s. The area historically inhabited by the Hadendoa lies today in parts of

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 ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

Etymology

According to Roper (1930), the name ''Haɖanɖiwa'' is made up of ''haɖa'' 'lion' and ''(n)ɖiwa'' 'clan'. Other variants are ''Haɖai ɖiwa'', ''Hanɖiwa'' and ''Haɖaatʼar'' (children of lioness).

Language

The language of the Hadendoa is a dialect of Bedawi.

History

The southern Beja were part of the Christian kingdom of

Axum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole region ...

during the sixth to fourteenth centuries. In the fifteenth century, Axum fell to the

Islamization of the Sudan region The Islamization of the Sudan region (Sahel) encompasses a prolonged period of religious conversion, through military conquest and trade relations, spanning the 8th to 16th centuries. Following the 7th century Muslim conquest of Egypt and t ...

, and although the Beja were never entirely subjugated, they were absorbed into Islam via marriages and trade contracts. In the seventeenth century, some of the Beja expanded southward, conquering better pastures. These became the Hadendoa, who by the eighteenth century were the dominant people of eastern Sudan, and always at war with the

Bisharin tribe The Bishari (, or , romanized: ; Beja: ) are an ethnic group who live in parts of Northeast Africa. They are one of the major divisions of the Beja people. Apart from local dialects of Arabic, the Bishari speak the Beja language, which belongs ...

. Extensive anthropological research was done on Egyptian tribes in the late 1800s and a number of skulls of people of the Hadendoa tribe were taken to the Royal College of Surgeons to be measured and studied. The Hadendoa were traditionally a

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

people, ruled by a hereditary chief, called a Ma'ahes. One of the best-known chiefs was a Mahdist general named

Osman Digna Osman Digna ( ar, عثمان دقنة) (c.1840 – 1926) was a follower of Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi, in Sudan, who became his best known military commander during the Mahdist War. He was claimed to be a descendant from the Abb ...

. He led them in the battles, from 1883 to 1898, against the

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...

(the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

were exercising joint sovereignty in Sudan. They fought the British

infantry square An infantry square, also known as a hollow square, was a historic combat formation in which an infantry unit formed in close order, usually when it was threatened with cavalry attack. As a traditional infantry unit generally formed a line to adva ...

in many battles, such as in the

Battle of Tamai The Battle of Tamai (or Tamanieh) took place on 13 March 1884 between a British force under Sir Gerald Graham and a Mahdist Sudanese army led by Osman Digna. Despite his earlier victory at El Teb, Graham realised that Osman Digna's force was fa ...

in 1884 and in the

Battle of Tofrek The Battle of Tofrek was fought on 22 March 1885 some 5 miles inland from the port of Suakin on the Red Sea coast of Sudan. A contingent of some 3000 troops from the British and Indian "Suakin Field Force" led by Major General Sir John Carstair ...

in 1885 and earned an enviable reputation for their bravery. After the reconquest of the

Egyptian Sudan Egyptian Sudan may refer to: * Turkish Sudan (1820–1885), Sudan administered by Egypt under nominal Ottoman sovereignty * Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956), Sudan as a condominium between Egypt and the United Kingdom See also

* History of Su ...

(1896–98), the Hadendoa accepted the new order without demur.F.R. Wingate, "The True Story of Osman Dinga", ''The Graphic'', June 16, 1923. In World War II, the Hadendoa allied themselves with the British against the Italians.

In popular culture

Their elaborately styled hair gained them the name

Fuzzy-Wuzzy "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" is a poem by the English author and poet Rudyard Kipling, published in 1892 as part of '' Barrack Room Ballads''. It describes the respect of the ordinary British soldier for the bravery of the Hadendoa warriors who fought the Briti ...

among British troops during the

Mahdist War The Mahdist War ( ar, الثورة المهدية, ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided On ...

, after which

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

wrote the poem by the same name.

References

External links

* {{authority control African nomads Beja people Ethnic groups in Egypt Ethnic groups in Eritrea Ethnic groups in Sudan Cushitic-speaking peoples