Tunjur

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The Tunjur are a Muslim ethnic group and live mainly in the Darfur region in western Sudan and in the neighboring Wadai region of Chad , others as far as the area of ​​the former Bornu empire on Lake Chad . Today they speak Arabic as their mother tongue, and even in the 19th century, travelers emphasized their Arabic appearance. They previously ruled Darfur and the Wadai .

Rule in Darfur

The Tunjur are considered to be the immigrant founders of the state and bring about culture. According to a widespread tradition , already recorded by Gustav Nachtigal , the Tunjur descend from the Banu Hilal who immigrated from Arabia . Popular traditions in Darfur indicate an origin from Dongola or more generally from the area of ​​the Nile Valley. The references to immigration from the Middle East are supported by the Arabic appearance of the Tunjur, even if the Arabic they generally speak today may have replaced an older Semitic language. In Darfur, they took power from the Daju and were in turn overthrown by the Keira. The Keira dynasty ruled from the 17th century to 1916. Since the legend of the fall of the Tunjur, according to a new theory, refers to the end of the Assyrian empire at the end of the 7th century BC. Refers to the Tunjur from the subsequent escape movement.

Fall through the Keira

The change of power from the Tunjur to the Keira is generally explained by a legend. It is about the tough and unjust sow Dorsit, the last king of the Tunjur, who was devastated by Dali, the first king of the Keira, in a night battle. Thereupon the cruel ruler was abandoned by his followers and disappeared never to be seen again.

Bibliography

  • AJ Arkell: A History of Darfur. Part II: The Tunjur etc. In: Sudan Notes and Records , 32, 2, 1951, pp. 207-238.
  • Heinrich Barth : Travel and Discoveries . 5 volumes, Gotha 1857–1858.
  • Ulrich Braukämper : Migration and Ethnic Change . Stuttgart 1992.
  • Peter Fuchs : The Arab origin of the Tunjur . In: A. Rouand (ed.): Les orientalistes sont des aventuriers . Saint-Maur 1999, pp. 235-239.
  • Dierk Lange: Migration of the Assyrian “tamkāru” to Nubia, Darfur and the Lake Chad region. In: Bronislaw Nowak et al. (Ed.): Europejczycy Afrykanie Inni: Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Michalowi Tymowskiemu . Warsaw 2011, pp. 199–226.
  • Gustav Nachtigal : Sahara and Sudan. Vol. III: Wadai and Darfor . Leipzig 1889, pp. 355-385.
  • Rex S. O'Fahey: The Darfur Sultanate: A History . Hurst & Co., London 2008.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gustav Nachtigal: Sahara , II, 256; III, 358.
  2. ^ Heinrich Barth : Reisen , III, 384.
  3. ↑ Dierk Lange: Abwanderung , p. 215
  4. ^ Dierk Lange: Abwanderung , pp. 211–218.
  5. ^ Gustav Nachtigal: Sahara , III, p. 360f; Rex S. O'Fahey: Darfur , pp. 33-40.