Meroe and the Sudanic kingdoms

Journal of African History

Volumn 39, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 175-193

  Edwards, David N ^a  

^a ST JOHN S COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GOODS EXCHANGE; POLITICAL HISTORY; POWER RELATIONS; STATE BUILDING;

SUDAN;

EID: 0031697242     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853797007172     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. G. Connah, African Civilizations (Cambridge, 1987), 24-5.
2. The poorly developed theoretical stance of much work within the Middle Nile reflects a more general situation within sub-Saharan Africa where western theoretical models have often been applied with little discrimination. With regard to problems of interpretating the development of urbanism in West Africa, see S. K. McIntosh (ed.), Excavations at Jenné-jeno, Hambouketelo and Kamana (Inland Niger Delta) : the 1981 Season (Berkeley, 1995), 397.
3. A. Southall, Alur Society (Cambridge, 1936); and 'The segmentary state in Africa and Asia", Comparative Studies in Society and History, xxx (1988), 52-82. The limited powers of central authority among most African kingdoms is, of course, a common theme apparent in many other studies of African political development, e.g. J. Vansina, Kingdoms of the Savannah (Madison, 1966); P. C. Lloyd, 'The political structure of African kingdoms', in M. Banton (ed.), Political Systems and the Distribution of Power (London, 1965), 36-112.
4. A. Southall, Alur Society (Cambridge, 1936); and 'The segmentary state in Africa and Asia", Comparative Studies in Society and History, xxx (1988), 52-82. The limited powers of central authority among most African kingdoms is, of course, a common theme apparent in many other studies of African political development, e.g. J. Vansina, Kingdoms of the Savannah (Madison, 1966); P. C. Lloyd, 'The political structure of African kingdoms', in M. Banton (ed.), Political Systems and the Distribution of Power (London, 1965), 36-112.
5. A. Southall, Alur Society (Cambridge, 1936); and 'The segmentary state in Africa and Asia", Comparative Studies in Society and History, xxx (1988), 52-82. The limited powers of central authority among most African kingdoms is, of course, a common theme apparent in many other studies of African political development, e.g. J. Vansina, Kingdoms of the Savannah (Madison, 1966); P. C. Lloyd, 'The political structure of African kingdoms', in M. Banton (ed.), Political Systems and the Distribution of Power (London, 1965), 36-112.
6. A. Southall, Alur Society (Cambridge, 1936); and 'The segmentary state in Africa and Asia", Comparative Studies in Society and History, xxx (1988), 52-82. The limited powers of central authority among most African kingdoms is, of course, a common theme apparent in many other studies of African political development, e.g. J. Vansina, Kingdoms of the Savannah (Madison, 1966); P. C. Lloyd, 'The political structure of African kingdoms', in M. Banton (ed.), Political Systems and the Distribution of Power (London, 1965), 36-112.
7. Connah, African Civilizations, 330-1.
8. J. Goody, Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa (London, 1971); and 'Population and polity in the Voltaic region', in J. Friedman and M. Rowlands (eds.), The Evolution of Social Systems (London, 1977), 535-45; C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, ' Research in an African mode of production ', in D. Seddon (ed.), Relations of Production (London, 1980), 262-88.
9. J. Goody, Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa (London, 1971); and 'Population and polity in the Voltaic region', in J. Friedman and M. Rowlands (eds.), The Evolution of Social Systems (London, 1977), 535-45; C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, ' Research in an African mode of production ', in D. Seddon (ed.), Relations of Production (London, 1980), 262-88.
10. J. Goody, Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa (London, 1971); and 'Population and polity in the Voltaic region', in J. Friedman and M. Rowlands (eds.), The Evolution of Social Systems (London, 1977), 535-45; C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, ' Research in an African mode of production ', in D. Seddon (ed.), Relations of Production (London, 1980), 262-88.
11. A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (London, 1973), 26.
12. R. J. McIntosh, 'Early urban clusters in China and Africa: the arbitration of social ambiguity", journal of Field Archaeology, XVIII (1991), 199-212; S. K. McIntosh, Excavations.
13. R. J. McIntosh, 'Early urban clusters in China and Africa: the arbitration of social ambiguity", journal of Field Archaeology, XVIII (1991), 199-212; S. K. McIntosh, Excavations.
14. T. Hakansson, 'Social and political aspects of intensive agriculture in East Africa: some models from cultural anthropology', Azania, xxiv (1989), 15.
15. C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, 'The political economy of the African peasantry and modes of production', in P. Gutkind and E. Wallerstein (eds.), The Political Economy of Contemporary Africa (London, 1976), 107.
16. R. O'Fahey and J. Spaulding, Kingdoms of the Sudan (London, 1974); R. O'Fahey, State and Society in Darfur (London, 1980); J. Spaulding, 'Farmers, herdsmen and the state in rainland Sennar', J. Afr. Hist., xx (1979), 329-47; and The Heroic Age in Sinnar (East Lansing, 1985).
17. R. O'Fahey and J. Spaulding, Kingdoms of the Sudan (London, 1974); R. O'Fahey, State and Society in Darfur (London, 1980); J. Spaulding, 'Farmers, herdsmen and the state in rainland Sennar', J. Afr. Hist., xx (1979), 329-47; and The Heroic Age in Sinnar (East Lansing, 1985).
18. R. O'Fahey and J. Spaulding, Kingdoms of the Sudan (London, 1974); R. O'Fahey, State and Society in Darfur (London, 1980); J. Spaulding, 'Farmers, herdsmen and the state in rainland Sennar', J. Afr. Hist., xx (1979), 329-47; and The Heroic Age in Sinnar (East Lansing, 1985).
19. R. O'Fahey and J. Spaulding, Kingdoms of the Sudan (London, 1974); R. O'Fahey, State and Society in Darfur (London, 1980); J. Spaulding, 'Farmers, herdsmen and the state in rainland Sennar', J. Afr. Hist., xx (1979), 329-47; and The Heroic Age in Sinnar (East Lansing, 1985).
20. G. Haaland, 'Economic determinants in ethnic processes', in F. Barth (ed.), Ethnic Group and Boundaries (Bergen, 1979), 58-73.
21. Spaulding, 'Farmers', 329.
22. Spaulding, Heroic Age, 78-82.
23. Ibid. 97-8.
24. J. Spaulding, 'The end of Nubian kingship in the Sudan', in M. W. Daly (ed.), Modernization in the Sudan (New York, 1985), 17-27.
25. A useful discussion of some of the symbolic and other roles of wild animals in this region is provided by AH Tijani El Mahi, 'Traditional wildlife conservation: a vanishing tribal lore in the Sudan', in M. M. M. Ahmed (ed.), Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Development in the Sudan (Khartoum , 1994), 81-114. Such customary restrictions which survive today bear comparisons with those recorded during the Funj period, where, for example, hunters were required to turn over leopard skins to their local lords for transmission to the king. 'Spaulding, Heroic Age, 97-98, 114, n. 39.
26. A useful discussion of some of the symbolic and other roles of wild animals in this region is provided by AH Tijani El Mahi, 'Traditional wildlife conservation: a vanishing tribal lore in the Sudan', in M. M. M. Ahmed (ed.), Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Development in the Sudan (Khartoum , 1994), 81-114. Such customary restrictions which survive today bear comparisons with those recorded during the Funj period, where, for example, hunters were required to turn over leopard skins to their local lords for transmission to the king. 'Spaulding, Heroic Age, 97-98, 114, n. 39.
27. O'Fahey, State and Society, 93-5.
28. A. Bjørkelo, 'The struggle over land and water in Berber province in the Turkiyya', in Sudan : Environment and People (2nd International Sudan Studies Conference Papers) (Durham, 1991), ii, 275-89.
29. T. Walz, Trade between Egypt and the Bilad as Sudan, 1700-1820 (Cairo, 1978), 7-8.
30. Y. F. Hasan, 'The Fur sultanate and the long-distance caravan trade', in Y. F. Hasan and P. Doornbos (eds.), The Central Bilad al Sudan (Khartoum, 1979), 204.
31. Spaulding, Heroic Age, 112-6.
32. The way in which the northern vassals of the Funj sultan were gradually able to establish independent trading networks, which ended their reliance on the sultan for the supply of luxury imports, is discussed by L. Kapteijns and J. Spaulding, 'Precolonial trade between states in the eastern Sudan, c. 1700-c, 1900', 1900', African Economic History, XI (1982), 29-62. By 1700, the gradual introduction of coin and more commercial exchanges were undermining the royal control of such exchanges. During the same period Muslim merchants, increasingly independent of royal controls, were able to usurp the power traditionally associated with long-distance trade and assume many of the powers of local rulers for themselves: O'Fahey and Spaulding, Kingdoms, 70-86.
33. The way in which the northern vassals of the Funj sultan were gradually able to establish independent trading networks, which ended their reliance on the sultan for the supply of luxury imports, is discussed by L. Kapteijns and J. Spaulding, 'Precolonial trade between states in the eastern Sudan, c. 1700-c, 1900', 1900', African Economic History, XI (1982), 29-62. By 1700, the gradual introduction of coin and more commercial exchanges were undermining the royal control of such exchanges. During the same period Muslim merchants, increasingly independent of royal controls, were able to usurp the power traditionally associated with long-distance trade and assume many of the powers of local rulers for themselves: O'Fahey and Spaulding, Kingdoms, 70-86.
34. Until recently, Meroitic Lower Nubia has been perceived to have been an especially prosperous and populous province, see W. Y. Adams, Nubia, Corridor to Africa (London, 1977). However, a critical reassessment of the archaeological evidence suggests that such an interpretation can no longer be sustained: see D. N. Edwards, The Archaeology of the Meroitic State (Oxford, 1996).
35. Until recently, Meroitic Lower Nubia has been perceived to have been an especially prosperous and populous province, see W. Y. Adams, Nubia, Corridor to Africa (London, 1977). However, a critical reassessment of the archaeological evidence suggests that such an interpretation can no longer be sustained: see D. N. Edwards, The Archaeology of the Meroitic State (Oxford, 1996).
36. K. A. Ahmed, Meroitic Settlement in Central Sudan (Oxford, 1989).
37. Adams has argued that the limited and scattered nature of agrarian resources precluded the development of a centralised economy comparable to that found within Egypt: 'Ecology and economy in the empire of Kush', Zeitschrift für Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, CVIII (1981), 8-9. But it remains an implicit assumption in many studies that major surpluses and food-supply systems must have existed to support the court and temples.
38. Adams suggests 'whatever wealth and power the Meroitic state possessed rested almost surely on a commercial rather than agrarian base', ibid. 3.
39. Adams, Nubia, 383-5.
40. The only significant studies have been undertaken at Meroe, while as yet little attempt has been made to consider what roles animals and animal products, either meat or milk, may have played in other contexts.
41. M. Hinkel, 'The water reservoirs in Ancient Sudan', in C. Bonnet (ed.), Etudes Nubiennes (Geneva, 1994), ii, 171-6.
42. L. Zabkar, Apedemak : Lion God of Meroe (Warminster, 1975).
43. I. Vincentelli, 'A discharge of clay sealings from the Natakamani palace', Kush, XVI (1993), 116-41.
44. P. Shinnie, 'Iron working at Meroe', in R. Haaland and P. Shinnie (eds.), African Iron Working (Oslo, 1985), 28-35.
45. A particular association of fine and decorated ceramics with the ceremonial and ritual use of sorghum beers, reflecting practices of alcohol consumption widespread within the Middle Nile and other regions of Sudanic Africa in more recent centuries, may also be suggested. See D. N. Edwards, 'Sorghum, beer and Kushite society ', Norwegian Archaeological Review, XXIX (1996), 65-77.
46. W. Y. Adams, The Ceramic Industries of Medieval Nubia (Lexington, 1986), 419.
47. There are some suggestions that Kushite cotton may have been exported to Egypt, where Flinty records that the finest priestly vestments were made from 'Aethiopian' cotton, Excavations have recovered many fine examples of elaborate textiles from both Meroe and Lower Nubian sites. See references in D. N. Edwards, Archaeology and Settlement in Upper Nubia in the First Millennium A.D. (Oxford, 1989), 154.
48. J. Schneider and A. Weiner (eds.), Cloth and Human Experience (Washington, 1989).
49. Adams, Nubia, 383-5.
50. A fuller discussion of the trade and the historical and archaeological evidence is presented in Edwards, Meroitic State, ch. 4.39
51. Herodotus, III, 20-1.
52. Herodotus, III, 97.
53. Diodorus, III, II, 3.
54. A. Burkhardt, Ägypter und Meroiten im Dodekaschoinos (Meroitica VIII), (Berlin, 1985), 114-7.
55. I. Hofmann, 'Der Wein und Ölimport im Meroitischen Reich', in W. V. Davies (ed.), Egypt and Africa (London, 1991), 234-45.
56. Adams, Ceramic Industries, 525-38.
57. For further discussion of ritual powers of the monarchy, see Edwards, Meroitic State, 11-12.
58. The ritual powers of Kushite kingship and the wider significance of its great temples and spiritual centres, remains just one research area still over-dominated by northern perspectives, The networks of cult centres and sacred places across the Middle Nile, some used for millennia, have yet to be studied in any coherent way, except as architectural monuments. Developing more useful interpretations of their significance as centres of religious, political and social focus, may well benefit from comparisons with, for example, Dinka and Shilluk shrines: see D. H. Johnson, ' Fixed shrines and spiritual centres in the Upper Nile', Azania, xxv (1990), 41-56.