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Shilluk Trade and Politics from the mid–seventeenth century to 1861

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Patricia Mercer
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Extract

From the mid-seventeenth century until 1861, the Shilluk, notoriously successful raiders, dominated the White Nile. Their population was largely concentrated in the riverain strip which is Shilluk-land today, yet they had undisputed control of the river down to Eleis, and raided as far north as the confluence with the Blue Nile. This ascendancy was based upon the canoe: the characteristic Shilluk tactic was the surprise mass canoe-raid upon herds or villages within striking distance of the river bank. Before the advent of Turco-Egyptian sailing ships, Shilluk canoes were the only really navigable craft on the White Nile. Another important Shilluk asset was the manpower provided by their comparatively high numbers. Most raids were carried out independently of the Shilluk king. The raiding pattern was probably established before the development of the Shilluk ‘divine’ kingship.

From 1820 the Shilluk became more closely involved with the Muslim Sudan. It seems that the beginning of the ivory boom led Kordofan djellabas to open regular trade with the Shilluk. And in ever-increasing numbers, Muslim refugees from Turkish officialdom migrated into Shilluk territory. Trade between Shilluk and Muslim was largely confined to the settlement of Kaka. Its most profitable sector, the ivory trade, was governed by a strict royal monopoly, the maintenance of which gives some proof of the Shilluk king's authority. Wealth thus gained may have led to a short-lived increase in royal power. The mass of the Shilluk were unable to develop any economic alternative to the traditional raids, which continued unabated. In a new raiding pattern, Shilluk of the Kaka region joined Muslim immigrants in raids on the Dinka. Once Kaka had become a slave-market, slave raiding was probably the essential aim of these joint expeditions. Tensions between Shilluk and immigrant traders precipitated a crisis in 1860–1.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

1 Now El-Qawa.

2 Beltrame, G., whose personal knowledge of the Shilluk was gained in the later 1850s, described this people as: ‘il popolo più turbulente, più audace, più traditore, più ladro di tutta la vallata del Bahr el-Abiadh’, Il Fiume Bianco e i Denka (Verona, 1881), 83.Google Scholar

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5 This accords with Hofmayr's estimation of Shilluk chronology which, unless stated otherwise, is the chronology followed for the period up to 1820.

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18 Holt, P. M., ‘Funj Origins: a critique and new evidence’, J. Afr. Hist. IV (1–), 1963. Bruce's published text is difficult to handle, for, even in references to the contemporary situation, he confounded ‘Shillook’ with ‘Funge’ to some extent. For he believed that a raid on the contemporary pattern, by Shilluk using ‘incredible fleets’ of canoes, had led to the foundation of Sennar. His account is puzzling, yet clearly based upon the memory of traditions learned in Sennar itself.Google Scholar

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21 Linant de Bellefonds, A., ‘Journal of a Voyage on the Bahr Abiad or White Nile’, tr. Leake, J. M., J.R.G.S. 11 (1832), 180. The reference, recorded originally in 1827, is to a recent massacre of sixty traders at this ferry.Google Scholar

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57 Djellabas were Muslim Sudanese small-scale traders who operated in small groups or even singly. They would travel hundreds of miles in search of quite modest trading opportunity.

58 This was a frequent pattern in Muslim trade with pagan tribes. When trading with the fragmented Nuba peoples, Kordofan djellabas would always attempt to seek out a local chief.

59 The earliest known record of contact between djellabas and the Shilluk heartland is set into Linant de Bellefond's account of his abortive journey up the White Nile in 1827. At Wad Shellai he learned that Sheikh Ahmed Bedaoui of El Obeid was ‘said to have frequent contact with the Shilhouks’, and was thus the man from whom to obtain a safe-conduct into Shilluk territory (op. cit. 182).

60 ‘… die Nuba keine Freunde von lange Excursionen sind. Eine Reise von zwei Tilgemarschen ist bei ihnen eine wichtige Unternehmung.’ Rüppell, W. P. E. S., Reisen in Nubien, Kordofan und dem peträischen Arabien (Frankfurt am Main, 1829), 160.Google Scholar

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75 Lejean, who reached the White Nile in 1860, alleged that even in his day no European could state with certainty that he had met the real Reth and not his counterfeit (op. cit. 67).

76 Nyidok, who died in February 1859 (Beltrame, G., Di un Viaggio sul Fiume Bianco nell'Africa Centrals (Verona, 1861), 10) seems to have been Reth of the Shilluk over most of the relevant twenty years.Google Scholar

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121 Petherick in 1853 noted that the Shilluk of Kaka possessed high-quality iron spears and were decked out in a mass of ornaments. In its riot of local colour this account lies in marked contrast to both previous and subsequent descriptions of the Shilluk, in which the keynotes are poverty, drabness and nudity (Petherick, , Egypt, the Sudan etc., 352–3).Google Scholar

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128 The Reth was allegedly paid so much per hundred on slaves the Shilluk brought into Kaka market. Beltrame, , 90.Google Scholar

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130 Kaufmann, , 62.Google Scholar