Nasra bint ʿAdlan,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: نصرة بنت عدلان (fl.1800s - 1850s) was a Sudanese noblewoman, power-broker, estate manager and enslaver, whose court was visited by

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus ''Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien'' ...

Biography

Bint 'Adlan was born in the early 1800s, in or close to

Sennar Sennar ( ar, سنار ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. It remains publicly unclear whether Sennar or Singa is the capital of Sennar State. For several centuries it was the capital of the F ...

. Her mother was a princess of the Funj royal house; her father Muhammed 'Adlan was an aristocrat and military commander, descended from Muhammad Abu Likaylik. In 1821 the Turkish army conquered Funj state and her father was assassinated; bint 'Adlan survived. Her first husband was a merchant called Muhammad Sandaluba. They had a daughter named Dawwa and divided their time between Sennar and their estate at Maranjan, near

Wad Madani Wad Madani ( ar, ود مدني, Wad Madanī) or Madani is the capital of the Al Jazirah state in east-central Sudan. "Wad Madani" (population), Microsoft Encarta, Online Encyclopedia 2001. Wad Madani lies on the west bank of the Blue Nile, n ...

. After the death of Sandaluba, bint 'Adlan remarried, this time to Daf ʿ Allah Muhammad, who was a district governor at Wad Madani. In the 1830s they built a palace and a village called Suriba, which served it. During this time the couple became more involved in commercial ventures, which included agriculture and prostitution, both of which were based on the labour of

enslaved people Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. As the manager of her own estates, and connected to high-ranking officials through her family and wealth, bint 'Adlan was an influential woman in the region. She supported Nasir wad Abakr to bid for the throne of

Taqali Taqali (also spelled Tegali) was a state of Nuba peoples which existed in the Nuba Mountains, in modern-day central Sudan. It is believed to have been founded in the eighteenth century, though oral traditions suggest its formation two centuries ...

. She died between 1852 and 1860; after her death the Suriba palace became a ruin. The archaeologist

had visited bint 'Adlan and an account of her life was published in 1853 in his work ''Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of Sinai.''

References

External links

* '' Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of Sinai'' (read online) {{Authority control Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 19th-century Sudanese people Sudanese women Sudanese royalty