Chapters › Christian Nubia · Sudan – Middle Nile
Ja'aliyyin kingdom (Sa'dab, Funj vassal)
1500 CE – 1821 CE Arabic under review
Approximate area of control
Research in progress No sourced map of this era's territory yet, so no area is drawn.
Dating note
'From the sixteenth century' (Holt & Daly); 1500 approximate.
Key events
- Tribal kingdom between the Atbara confluence and the Sabaluqa Gorge from the 16th c.
- Royal clan the Sa'dab; Mirafab kingdom at Berber to the north
- Shendi became the chief commercial centre of the eastern Bilad al-Sudan by early 19th c., under Makk Nimr
Capitals / sites
Shendi
Geopolitics
Tribal kingdom of the Sa'dab between the Atbara confluence and the Sabaluqa Gorge; Shendi under Makk Nimr was autonomous before 1821 (Holt & Daly).
Culture
The Ja'ali Group claim descent from an Arab ancestor, Ibrahim Ja'al, later made a descendant of al-'Abbas, so 'Ja'ali' and ''Abbasi' became virtual synonyms; Holt & Daly see a 'submerged Nubian substratum' as their common element, with Arab ancestry from intermarriage and a Muslim cultural inheritance (HD2011, intro p.3).
Economy
Shendi, where the two trade axes met, was the main commercial centre of the eastern Bilad al-Sudan by the early 19th century (Holt & Daly).
Regional power
Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.
Open data flags
- regional_power: no actors scored
- Pass 13 text: Arabic is a working translation; needs native review
Sources
- P.M. Holt & M.W. Daly (2011) A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day Routledge (Pearson/Longman) link [en]