The Middle East dimension in the Sudan was strengthened by the advent of Islam. The coming of Islam eventually changed the nature of Sudanese society. Islam also fostered political unity, economic growth, and cultural development in the Sudanic belt.
Traditional genealogies trace the ancestry of most of the Nile Valley’s mixed population to Arab tribes that migrated into the region during this period. Even non-Arabic-speaking groups claim descent from Arab origin. The two most important Arabic-speaking groups to emerge in Nubia were the Ja’ali and the Juhayna branches. Both showed physical continuity with the indigenous pre-Islamic population. The nomadic Juhayna comprised a family of tribes that included the Kababish, Baqqara, and Shukriyya. They descended from Arabs who migrated after the thirteenth century into an area that extended from the Savanna and semi-desert west of the Nile to the Abyssinian foothills east of the Blue Nile. In some instances, as among the Beja, the indigenous people absorbed Arab migrants who settled among them. Beja ruling families later derived their legitimacy from claims of Arab descent.
Although Nubia was linked to the Mediterranean, it was further influenced by the African environment and it nourished its interaction with Africa in trade and culture. It was superior in such a way similar to the position occupied by lower Nubia in that the Nubians were leaders of the mining civilization. It was a source of power form Meroe in Africa. In this area even the religions overlapped and flourished. This had resulted in socio-cultural intermingling.
Generally, the term Sudan refers to the Savannah belt which comprises a mixture of Sematic and Hametic groups. Actually Arab historians and geographers were the first to use precise terms designating African ethnic groups known to them. They called Bantu Negroes of east Africa (the brown colour) extending to central Africa (Burundi). To those to the north they called Habash. They include present day Abyssinians, Eritreans, and reverain Sudanese between Atbara and the Blue Nile. Further to the north come the Beja and Bishariyyin. Regions to the west of the Red Sea and south of Sahara to central Africa and westwards to West Africa and the shores of the Atlantic they call the land of the blacks (Bilad al-Sudan).
In Bilad al-Sudan, there intermingled Negroid, sematic and Hamitic elements. They established kingdoms in east, middle and West Africa particularly the Takrur. They are Hamitic but they claim that they belong to the Arab Peninsula. They seem to have relations with the Berber. The majority of the rest of Africa to the south of equatorial are Negroid.
These formations had considerable impact on the making of Sudan, and have continued to affect its indentity and position in the world.
(to be continued)
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