made his submission to France in 1911. As for Acil, France was
constrained to depose him in 1912; he has not had a successor.
DDaarrffuurr aanndd KKuurrdduuffaann
Like Wadai, Darfur^15 its neighbour to the east, was formerly under the
authority of the idolatrous Tunjur. In the 16thcentury, the power was
usurped by a Muslim, Soloun-Sliman, who was, it is said, of Arab
origin on his brother’s side and who established his capital at Bir-
Nabak. Omar-Lele, his fourth successor, moved it to Kabkabie; it is
this Omar-Lele who was vanquished and made prisoner by the king
of the Wadai, Yakub-Arous, around 1700. After him reigned
Abubekr, Abderrahmin I, then Teherab, who conquered and
Islamised Kurdufan, then Abderrahman II, who transferred the royal
residence to Tendelty, called by the Arabs EI-Facher, and who was in
relations with Bonaparte during his campaign in Egypt (1798-1799).
Under the reign of Mohammed-Fadel (1800-1840), Kurdufan
escaped from Darfur only to be conquered and occupied by the
Egyptians. Then Hossein reigned. Under his successor Haroun,
Darfur, in its turn, was annexed to Egyptian Sudan by Zobeir-Pasha
(1874); Haroun having revolted, was vanquished and killed in Kulkul
by Slatin-Pasha, who was named governor of Darfur (1879).
Kurdufan or Kordofan separates Darfur from Sennar, from which it
is itself separated by the Nile. The inhabitants of Kurdufan are
Negroes speaking several distinct languages, of which certain
ones are similar in system to the Bantu dialects. Those of the north
are called Koldaji or Kulfan, those of the south Nuba or Dyur. The
word Nuba, from which we have made “Nubia” and “Nubians”,
is properly the name of the mountainous country which constitutes
the southern province of Kurdufan as well as of the natives of this
province, one part of whom has been converted to Islam for a
fairly long time; by extension, Nuba has become the surname
given by the Arabs to all the Muslim Negroes of eastern Sudan,
while the pagan Negroes of the same region are called, whatever
their ethnic origin, Fertit in Darfur, Jenakhera in Wadai and Kirdi
in Kanem. On the other hand, in Europe the name “Nubia” has
been given to the region situated along the Nile between Wady
Halfa and Khartoum (region of Dongola), because a certain
number of Nuba have settled there. But the real “Nubia” is located
in the south of Kurdufan and it is not useless to recall the fact here.
Governed at first by the pagan Tunjur like Wadai and Darfur,
Kurdufan was then conquered by the Muslim Nuba whose chief
was called Mussabba. We have just seen that it was annexed to
Darfur under the reign of Teherab, who succeeded in propagating
Islam among the Koldaji, establishing a magdum or governor at
Bara, and that it was taken away from the latter country under
Mohammed-Fadel by the Egyptian defterdar Mohammed-Bey,
who made El-Obeid the capital of his government.
RRaabbaahh’’ss AAddvveennttuurree
It is hardly possible in a historical picture of eastern Sudan to pass
over in silence the adventure of Rabah and the Mahdist movement
at the end of the last century.Zobier-Pasha, who belonged to the Arab tribe of the Jaaline, was
named governor of the Bahr-el-Ghazal around 1875. Called to Cairo
to confer with the Egyptian authorities, he confided his charge to his
son Suleiman. The latter, betrayed to Gordon Pasha by the Dongola
people, enemies of the Jaaline, believing in the hostility of the governor-
general of Sudan, took sides against the Egyptian government and
favoured the revolt of Haroun, the dethroned Sultan of Darfur.
Gessi-Pasha was sent against him, inflicting a bloody defeat.His principal lieutenant at the time was Rabah, son of a Negro
woman, the wetnurse of Zobier-Pasha, and in consequence he was
foster-brother of the latter. At the overthrow of Suleiman, Rabah fled
with the remnants of his master’s army and began his conquests to
the northwest of Bahr-el-Ghazal (1878) pushing towards the west,
he penetrated Banda in 1879, attacked the Kuti in 1883, installing
Senussi there as Sultan in 1890. In 1892, he attacked the Bagirmi
and in 1893 seized Bougoman, which at that time replaced
Massenya as the capital. The same year he attacked Hashem,
sultan of Burnu, vanquished and put him to death (December,
1893). Then he marched on the Gober, where Abubekr, nephew
and successor of Hashem, had taken refuge; stopped by the army
of the emperor of Sokoto, he turned against the little States to the
south of Chad, took Gulfei from Busso, Kusseri from Mandara,
Logone from Kotoko, again invaded Bagirmi in 1898, set fire to
Massenya, pursued the mbang near to Kuno, there, with 8,000
men, clashed with some thirty militiamen commanded by the admin-
istrator Bretonnet (18 July 1899) and did not finish with this handfulMask (Kwere), early 20thcentury.
Tanzania.
Wood, height: 50.5 cm.
Fred Jahn Gallery.During the pre-colonial times, among the Kwere, various intiation associations
or “secret” societies exisited. Special initiation ceremonies, which included song
and dance, indicated progression through the ranks. Masked dancers also
performed during special funeral rites for associate members. Very little is
known about the Kwere masquerade and few masks have ever been collected.
However, it appears they have been used among other types of masks, including
“war masks” and in initiation ceremonial dances.