Tunjur kingdom

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Tunjur kingdom
1400s[1]–c. 1650s
CapitalUri (early)[2]
Common languagesArabic
Religion
Traditional African religions, Islam
GovernmentMonarchy
History 
• Established
1400s[1]
• Disestablished
c. 1650s
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Daju kingdom
Sultanate of Darfur
Wadai Empire
Today part ofChad
Sudan

The Tunjur kingdom was a Sahelian precolonial kingdom in Africa between the 15th and early 17th centuries.[1][3][4]

Establishment

Local chronicles claim that the founder of the Tunjur dynasty became a "king in the island of Sennar".[5] Origins of the Tunjur state are not well known.[6] It is known that the Tunjur kingdom replaced an earlier Daju kingdom, after the Tunjur people migrated from north to the Darfur region in the fifteenth century. Their migration represents a second known Nubians migration to the region.[1][7] The states possibly coexisted for some time, with Tunjur rule in the north and Daju rule in the south, before the Tunjur people managed to replace the earlier dynasty completely.[1] The lands ruled by the Tunjur people are within contemporary Sudan, and their influence extended into Chad.[3]

Culture

The Tunjur were probably

Arabic language. They claimed heritage from the tribe of Banu Hilal. However, they were initially Christians after the migration had finished[9]. There are some traces of their own language, which was the Old Nubians spoken through out the Kindom of Makuria [10]. All of the Tunjur oral tradition is attributed in an unusual manner to a single person called Shau Dorsid.[7]

Society in Darfur changed drastically due to the influence of the Tunjur dynasty. Corvée labor was organized for the newly-organized state, long-range trade began, and Islam was partially adopted as a religion.[7]

Tunjur architecture drew influence from Berber and Tora styles.[7] There is a stone mosque, the first Muslim building in Darfur, possibly built around the year 1200, at the city of Uri which was the first capital of the kingdom.[11][2] This may indicate that Islam was adopted as a court religion. The king however, probably, held a divine status. The city was built in Fur architecture.[11]

The role of Islam in the region ruled over by the Tunjur kingdom, and earlier the

Daju dynasty, remained insignificant until the late 16th century. No material remains for Islamization are known from the preceding Daju dynasty's period.[11]

Tunjur dynasty

By the early 16th century the Tunjur kingdom ruled Darfur and

islamized and briefly dynastically related Wadai Empire, it is unclear if the Tunjur kingdom was a Muslim state.[7][3][4][13] Slavery was common in the region, and the Tunjur also engaged in enslavement of other peoples.[14]

End of the dynasty

Central-East Africa after collapse of the Tunjur Kingdom. Lands ruled by the Tunjur dynasty were divided between states of Wadai and Darfur.

The Tunjur kingdom was succeeded by the Sultanate of Darfur (Keira Sultanate). The Fur people and their Keira dynasty superseded the Tunjur around the 1650s.[3][4] A story about a dynastic link between Keira and Tunjur dynasties involving Ahmad al-Maqur is known.[6] Tunjur rule in Wadai ended when a local dynasty of Maba people revolted, expelled and replaced them.[6] The Tunjur kingdom may have ceased to exist as early as in 1611 or 1635.[6]

A branch of the Tunjur dynasty in Wadai was also overthrown by an alliance of the Arabs and the Maba.[7]

Eventually, the Tunjur people assimilated to a large decree into other peoples of the region.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d McGregor, Andrew James (2000). "The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan c.1000–1750 AD" (PDF). University of Toronto. 0-612-53819-2. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4408-4041-8
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4798-4663-4
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-27918-8
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-136-27331-5
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-315-45111-4
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e f A. McGregor (2011). "Palaces in the Mountains: An Introduction to the Archaeological Heritage of the Sultanate of Darfur". Sudan & Nubia (15). Sudan Archaeological Research Society: 132–136. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. ^ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/The_tribes_of_northern_and_central_Kordof%C3%A1n_%28IA_tribesofnorthern00macm%29.pdf
  9. ^ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/The_tribes_of_northern_and_central_Kordof%C3%A1n_%28IA_tribesofnorthern00macm%29.pdf
  10. ^ https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers15-08/010050354.pdf
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-65702-0
    .
  12. ISBN 978-1-134-20087-0
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-8160-4472-6
    .
  14. ISBN 978-1-137-28603-1
    .

Further reading
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