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The Zaghawa people, also called Beri or Zakhawa, are an ethnic group primarily residing in northeastern Chad and western Sudan, including Darfur.
Zaghawas speak the Zaghawa language, which is an eastern Saharan language. Zaghawa, Ethnologue They are pastoralists, and a breed of sheep that they herd is called Zaghawa by the Arabs. They are nomadic and obtain much of their livelihood through herding cattle, camels and sheep and harvesting wild grains. It has been estimated that there are 384,150 people who belong to the Zaghawa ethnicity.
The Zaghawa people were trading with the Nile region and the Maghreb regions by the 1st millennium. The earliest references to them in 8th-century texts are made jointly with the Toubou people of northern Chad and southern Libya, and scholars believe the two are related ethnic groups. The 11th century texts mention that the kings of the Zaghawa kingdom had accepted Islam, and were at least nominally Muslims.
Early Arabic accounts describe the Zaghawa to be "black nomads". The 12th-century geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi and the 13th-century Yaqut al-Hamawi describe the Zaghawa influence around an oasis-centered system and mention the towns of Kanem, Manan and Anjimi.
However, ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi, writing in 1270. states that Manan was the capital of the Kanem kingdom until the Sayfawa dynasty rulers converted to Islam, conquered the region, and thereafter the capital shifted to Njimi. The Zaghawa continued to live in Manan, wrote ibn Said. The records of Kanem do not mention Zaghawa, and they were likely displaced and they then moved into the region they are currently found. This region is called Dar Zaghawa, or the "land of the Zaghawa".
Although Zaghawa power was broken by the rise of Kanem in the Lake Chad region, Zaghawa retained control over a considerable portion of the lands lying east of Kanem, and it is only in the late 14th century that Darfur is mentioned as an independent state by the Mamluk Sultanate historian and geographer al-Maqrizi. Following the rise of Darfur and the Kanem-Bornu Empire, the Zaghawa appear to have controlled only desert areas and ceased to be a major regional power.
They accepted the Maliki school of Sunni Islam but retained some of their pre-Islamic rites such as karama, a ritual sacrifice of animals to ward off evil spirits. The century in which they converted has been a subject of debate and little consensus, with estimates ranging from the 13th to the early 17th century. In contemporary times, they lead a sedentary lifestyle, growing staples such as millet and sorghum, and other foods such as sesame, melons, pumpkins, peanuts and okra.
Roger Blench notes that the appearance of Nilo-Saharan speakers is associated with the green Sahara.
The term "blacksmith" has been derogatory in Zaghawa culture, states Anne Haour, a professor of African Studies and Medieval Archaeology, and "if born a blacksmith one will always be a blacksmith". Non-blacksmith castes of Zaghawa neither eat nor associate with the blacksmith castes., Quote: "HADAHID. (...) As is usual in north-central Africa from east to west they are held in general contempt and the rest of the population do not intermarry with them. This feeling of aversion towards the workers in iron is strongest among the Zaghawa, who so far from intermarrying with them would not eat or associate with them. They are a hereditary caste and are called Miro by the Fur people." The lowest strata has been the slaves. The social stratification and castes such as for the leatherworker strata within the Zaghawa people is similar to those found in nearby Fur people.
However, in Sudan, the Zaghawa are caught up in the Darfur crisis, and have suffered much loss from the troubles there. The Zaghawa of Sudan are among the peoples living in the refugee camps in Darfur and eastern Chad where the recruitment of child soldiers into rebel movements is an ongoing problem.
The Zaghawa have been among the tribes in Darfur who have been referred to as "African" even as other tribes that have fought with them have been called "Arab".
As a result of Tijaniyyah missionaries from West Africa traveling through their area to make the Hajj, the Zaghawa leadership converted to Islam. In the 1940s, the Zaghawa began to turn to Islam from their traditional religion en masse. In Darfur, the Zaghawa are well-known for their piety. Due to the fighting in the War in Darfur, where they are targeted by the Janjaweed Arab militias due to their ethnic heritage, 100,000 have become refugees across the border in Chad.Survivances préislamiques parmi les zaghawa by Marie-José Tubiana A Zaghawa tribesman named Daoud Hari wrote a memoir about Darfur called The Translator and a Zaghawa woman named Halima Bashir co-authored a memoir with Damien Lewis called Tears of the Desert, which both spread knowledge about the atrocities in Darfur.
Among Sudan's ethnic minorities, Zaghawa Islamists were also one of the most active within the al-Bashir regime at its beginning, participating in security, police and the Popular Defense Forces. After the 1989 coup, Khalil Ibrahim, a Zaghawa from Tina, was placed at the head of the tanzim in Darfur. Other Zaghawas, such as Adam Tahir Hamdoun, Yusuf Libis, Sulieman Jammous or Khalil's brother, Gibril Ibrahim, would also play key roles in the new regime. However, after Hassan al-Turabi's break with al-Bashir and the crisis of '98, most of the Islamist Zaghawas defected from the NCP and became anti-regime activists, with many of them aligning themselves with the al-Turabi's Popular Congress Party, participating in the publication of The Black Book or leading the al-Fashir protests in September 2000.
Contemporary influence
While they are not very powerful in Sudan, they politically dominate Chad. The former president, Idriss Déby and several former prime ministers of Chad are Zaghawa, as well as many other members of the government. Thus the Chadian Zaghawa have been influential people in the regional politics. In contemporary wars in Chad, Libya and Sudan, the Zaghawa ethnic group has been deeply involved, particularly through strategic alliances with other ethnic groups such as the Fur people.
Notable people
See also
Notes
Further reading
(2026). 9782747572163, L'Harmattan. ISBN 9782747572163
(2026). 9782747572170, L'Harmattan. ISBN 9782747572170
External links
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