Nasra bint ʿAdlan (; fl.1800s – 1850s) was a Sudanese noblewoman, power-broker, estate manager and enslaver, whose court was visited by

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius (; 23 December 181010 July 1884) was a German people, Prussian Egyptology, Egyptologist, Linguistics, linguist and modern archaeology, modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his opus magnum ''Denkmäler aus Ägypten ...

Biography

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

Sennar Sennar ( ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. For several centuries it was the capital of the Funj Kingdom of Sennar and until at least 2011, Sennar was the capital of Sennar State. Histo ...

. 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 the Funj state and her father was assassinated. 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 (; also spelled Wad Medani and known simply as Madani) is a city in eastern Sudan and the capital of the Al Jazirah (state), Al Jazirah state. "Wad Madani" (population), Microsoft Encarta, Online Encyclopedia 2001. Wad Madani lies on th ...

. 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

slave labour Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. 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. 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