Dār Fertit
Dār Fertit (also spelled Dar Fartit) is a historical term for the lowlands south of Darfur (Dar Fur) and east of the highlands in the east of the modern-day Central African Republic that contain tributaries of the White Nile River. This region included parts of southwestern Sudan and northwestern South Sudan. In the present era, Fertit is a catch-all word for non-Dinka, non-Arab, non-Luo, non-Fur groups and tribes in Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan.[1] Even though these groups often speak different languages and have a history of inter-tribal violence, they have become more unified over time, mostly out of opposition to the Dinka people.[2]
Today's Dar Fertit consists mostly of the western part of the former Raga County (pronounced 'raja')[3] in Western Bahr el Ghazal.
As Egypt expanded into what is now South Sudan, it granted concessions to private merchants for gathering ivory and slaves. These merchants operated out of forts they constructed, called zaribas. For a time in the mid-1800s, one of these merchant warlords, al-Zubayr, conquered Dar Fertit and made it his personal domain. His zariba, Deim Zubeir (Zubayr's Camp), was the nucleus of the modern town of the same name.
Notes
- ^ Thomas 2010, p. 160.
- ^ Blocq (2017), pp. 176, 177.
- ^ Thomas 2010.
References
- Blocq, Daniel S. (2017). "The grassroots nature of counterinsurgent tribal militia formation: the case of the Fertit in Southern Sudan, 1985–1989". In David M. Anderson; Øystein H. Rolandsen (eds.). Politics and Violence in eastern Africa. The Struggles of Emerging States. Abingdon-on-Thames, New York City: Routledge. pp. 172–186. ISBN 978-1-138-05961-0.
- Thomas, Edward (2010), The Kafia Kingi enclave: People, politics and history in the north–south boundary zone of western Sudan, London and Nairobi: Rift Valley Institute (RVI)
