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33-521: Prior to the 1630s, Wadai region people, also known as Bargo, was a pre-Islamic Tunjur kingdom, established around 1501. The Arab migrants to the area for trade which became Wadai claimed to be descendants of the Abbasid Caliphs , specifically from Salih ibn Abdallah ibn Abbas . Yame, a Bargo leader brought Islam to their people after he himself embraced Islam, Arab migrants settled in Debba , near

66-527: A force of 180 men and two cannons. The next day he proclaimed that Wadai was a French territory. The French installed Dud Murra's cousin Adam Asil as puppet sultan. Asil had fled from Abéché because Dud Murra meant to blind him in punishment for an attempted coup. The French began to subjugate the Wadai vassal states. The Daju Sultan of Dar Sila sent a letter to Fort Lamy offering his submission directly, in

99-537: A move to break loose from Wadai. He did this before paying homage to the puppet king Adam Asil and before being visited at his capital of Goz Beida by a French lieutenant. Despite this, the French treated Dar Sila as a Wadai dependency. Dud Murra moved north to Kapka, where he spent the next ten months gathering a force of loyal subjects and Sanusi allies. The Sanusi gave him their full support. The French made an "inspection tour" into Dar Masalit where they were opposed by

132-472: A period to rule the Wadai's regions . Under the rule of Abd al-Karim's grandson, Ya'qub Arus (1681–1707), the country suffered terrible drought that lasted for several years. After 1804, during the reign of Muhammad Sabun (r. 1804 – c. 1815), the Sultanate of Wadai began to expand its power as it profited considerably from its strategic position astride the trans-Saharan trade routes . A new trade route to

165-530: The Arabian Peninsula to central Sudan either by way of North Africa and Tunis or by way of Nubia . Thus, the 19th century German explorer Gustav Nachtigal claimed they resemble Arabs in features and behaviour, but this impression has been refuted by modern scholars. Although a minority, the Tunjur became the ruling class of Darfur and Wadai in the 13th century by peacefully taking power from

198-605: The Daju . In the 16th century, they were overthrown by an Arab group that founded the Keira dynasty , and later merged with the Fur people . According to the local legends of the Fur people, Shau Dorshid, the last ruler of the Tunjur, was “driven out by his own people because he compelled his subjects to dig wells in the high rocky regions and to undertake the ardeous and useless task of levelling

231-882: The Fur . Their own Tunjur language has become extinct, they now speak Chadian Arabic , Fur , or Bari as their first language. Following the Darfur conflict in February 2003, like the Fur and the Zaghawa , many Tunjur have been affected by fighting and persecution . A number of Tunjur have taken part in the fight against the Sudanese government under the banners of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM). Dud Murra of Wadai Muhammad Salih bin Yusuf , known as Dud Murra or Dudmurrah (the lion of Murra),

264-769: The Sanusi . However, Ahmad al-Ghazali, sponsored by Ali Dinar, gained the throne. In November 1901 Dud Murra deposed Ahmed al-Ghazali with the aid of the Sanusi. Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi , the Sanusi leader, died in January 1902, but the Sanusi remained strong in their base of Kufra , midway between Al-Fasher in Darfur and the Mediterranean. Ahmed al-Ghazali was captured in June 1902, blinded and then executed, making Dud Murra

297-519: The 1840s–50s, Wadai possessed 300 guns. The figure went upwards to 4000 flintlock muskets by the 1870s. Sultan Ali (1858–1874) hired Turkish and Egyptian mechanics to cast 12 bronze and small caliber cannons . These cannons lacked carriages and Gustav Nachtigal concluded in the 19th century that they were ineffective. Wadai could deploy about 5–6000 cavalry of which a third of the cavalry men wore quilted armor whiles several more wore steel armor. Infantry could amount up to 56–60,000. The army

330-676: The Bagirmi Sultanate and other kingdoms as far away as the Chari River . Sharif ruled between 1835 and 1858; he introduced the Sanusiyah Islamic brotherhood to the region. In Mecca , Sharif had met the founder of the Sanusiyah Islamic brotherhood Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi , his movement being strong among the inhabitants of Cyrenaica (in present-day Libya ), which became a dominant political force and source of resistance to French colonization . Europeans under

363-405: The French initiated hostilities against Wadai. The ruler of Dar Sila took advantage of the situation to encroach on the Wadai monopoly of ivory from Dar Kibet . This almost led to war between Dar Sila and Wadai. The French advanced eastward methodically, setting up fortified posts along their route, and were within 100 miles (160 km) of Abéché by 1907. In 1908 there were two battles between

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396-798: The French. However, Ali Dinar was defeated on 7 April 1910 and Dud Murra was defeated on 19 April 1910 in separate battles. Dud Murra retreated south into Dar Masalit after his defeat at Kapka, and many refugees from Wadai fled to Darfur. The French mounted punitive expeditions and put down a major rebellion in the east of Wadai. Commander Joseph Édouard Maillard , head of the Chad Territory forces, advanced with 300 men into Massalit. On 8 November 1910 5,000 of Dud Murra's cavalry and troops of Sultan Tadj ed-Din surrounded and defeated Maillard at Dorothe. The French called on Colonel Victor Emmanuel Largeau , who had commanded in Chad in 1902–04, to retrieve

429-579: The German Gustav Nachtigal first explored the area in 1873. It would eventually lose its independence from the French in 1904. However, fighting against the French still continued until 1908 when Sultan Doud Murra proclaimed jihad against the French. However, by 1912 the French managed to pacify the region and abolished the sultanate. The Wadai Sultanate was reconstituted under French suzerainty in 1935, with Muhammad Urada ibn Ibrahim becoming Kolak, or sultan. The sultanate continues under

462-842: The Mail mountain peak, on the summit of which he wanted to establish his residence." His capital was at the site of Ain Farah , where specimens of Christian iconography were found. Around the middle of the 17th century, the Tunjur people were expelled from the Islamic Wadai empire by Abd-el-Kerim of the Bargo people , and the Bargo controlled the slave supply caravans to the north. The Tunjur then migrated west to their current location. Thereafter, they converted to Maliki fiqh of Sunni Islam. The Tunjur are farmers and live closely associated with

495-692: The area by marrying the Tunjur King Daud's daughter, Meiram Aisa, and then forming other marriage pacts with local dynasties and tribes, such as the Masalit and Dajo tribes. Abd al-Karim became the first Kolak (Sultan) of a dynasty that lasted until the arrival of the French . During much of the 17th and 18th century, the history of Wadai is marked by wars between Wadai and the Sultanate of Darfur , Bagirmi , Masalit Kanem-Bornu . They fought for

528-518: The breach of Massenya's walls. Wadai forces were noted by French sources for their poor gun handling and insufficient training. In 1902, a French source from Dar Kuti states the Wadai army preferred to go on offence with cavalry and rely on firearms only for defense. Another source within that period documented that Wadai soldiers; are deployed in one or more lines.... They advance under fire in dashes, from shelter to shelter. They shoot badly and only at short range, when they come within 400 metres from

561-554: The combined followers of Sultan Taj ad-Din of Masalit and of Dud Murra. On 4 January 1910 Fiegenschuh and his force were massacred at Wadi Kadja in Dar Massalit That year Ali Dinar, Dud Murra and Sultan Taj el-Din of Dar Masalit invaded Dar Tama and Dar Gimr and replaced the French puppet rulers with their own. Ali Dinar was less than wholehearted in supporting Dud Murra, but by April 1910 Dud Murra and Ali Dinar both had powerful armies and planned to act together to defeat

594-410: The enemy. Their shooting at any rate is only effective from this point, since they do not know how to make use of gunsights. This is, however, no great disadvantage for them, for extensive fields of fire are rare in the wooded country where we did battle with them.... They fight generally on foot and in order. They employ firearms and appear not to like hand-to-hand fighting.... On the defensive they adopt

627-541: The ethnic ancestry of the Tunjur people has been argued by contemporary archaeologist Claude Rilly to go back to Christian Nubia . Thus, Rilly claims that the name Tunjur goes back to the town of Dongola (Tungul or Old Dongola, where the Tungur name is derived from Tungul, the old name of Dongola) in Nubia. According to their own oral traditions and other scholars, they are of Arab descent , whose ancestors migrated from

660-578: The forces of Wadai and the French led by Captain Jérusalemy, one on 29 May at Dokotchi and the other on 16 June at Djoua in which the governors of the Wadai provinces of Mahamid and Debaba were killed. In 1908 the French claimed the sultanates of Dar Tama and Dar Masalit as part of Wadai, and tried to establish friendly relations with the sultanate of Dar Gimr . Captain Jean-Joseph Fiegenschuh entered Abéché on 12 June 1909 with

693-564: The former Bornu Empire in the west of the Lake Chad region, in the Battle of Kousséri on 22 April 1900. The French were now advancing eastward. Their goal was to defeat the Sanusiya, powerful traders in the eastern Sahara, and to replace local rulers who opposed them with puppets. The French expanded their military camel corps and launched attacks on the Sanusi zawaya posts. In 1906

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726-491: The future capital of Ouara (Wara). In 1635, the Bargo and other small groups in the region rallied to the Islamic banner of Abd al-Karim , who was descended from the Bargo tribe noble family, led an empire from the lake of Chad to Darfur empire and overthrew the ruling Tunjur dynasty (who originated from the east in Darfur ), who at the time was led by a king named Daud. Abd al-Karim secured and centralized his power in

759-441: The north was found, via Ennedi , Kufra and Jalu - Awjila to Benghazi , and Sabun outfitted royal caravans to take advantage of it. He began minting his own coinage and imported chain mail , moukhalas , and military advisers from North Africa , along with using the wealth generated from the trade of exotic animals like giraffes, lions, antelopes and camels, with there also being the trade of elephants and their ivory to fill

792-461: The same tactic as in attack, defending the terrain step by step, retiring from shelter to shelter... Outflanking and encirclement were documented as a tactic of Wadai for the first time in 1908. Tunjur The Tunjur (or Tungur ) people are a Sunni Muslim ethnic group living in eastern Chad and western Sudan . In the 21st century, their numbers have been estimated at 175,000 people. Based on linguistic and archaeological evidence,

825-422: The situation. In January 1911 the French invaded Dar Masalit, where they won several battles and destroyed Darjil, the capital. Ali Dinar took advantage of this distraction to raid and loot Dar Tama. Dud Murra advanced towards Abéché with an escort from Masalit, but was defeated by the French at Shekoiung, two days away. He returned to Endoka's base at Mugurni. Afraid that the French would invade Dar Masalit again,

858-808: The state's treasury. Many kingdoms were either conquered or forced to become tributaries, giving horses for the cavalry and trade, servants for the Kolak along with slaves . Sabun's successors were less able than he, and Darfur took advantage of a disputed political succession in 1838 to put its own candidate in power in Ouara , the capital of Wadai. This tactic backfired, however, when Darfur's choice, Muhammad Sharif , rejected Darfur's meddling and asserted his own authority. In doing so, he gained acceptance from Wadai's various factions and went on to become Wadai's ablest ruler. Sharif conducted military campaigns as far west as Bornu and eventually established Wadai's hegemony over

891-519: The sultan Endoka, son of Abbakr, expelled Dud Murra. Dud Murra surrendered to the French in October 1911. Asil was dethroned by the French in 1911 after a major revolt in Wadai in which he was suspected of conspiracy. The French placed the region under direct colonial rule. Dud Murra was exiled. A 1924 report said that Dud Murra was then a political prisoner at large in Fort-Lamy , and was receiving

924-493: The suzerainty of the Republic of Chad and its current Kolak since 1977 is Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Urada . It became a part of the independent Republic of Chad on the day of the country's independence in 1960. The Ouaddaï Region of modern Chad covers part of the area of the old kingdom. Its major town is Abéché . Under Abd al-Karim Sabun in the early 19th century, Wadai forces were equipped with chain mail and firearms. In

957-559: The undisputed ruler. Dud Murra rewarded the Sanusiyya by letting them trade freely. It was said of him, "If a merchant is killed the Sultan is sure to revenge him, and should the merchant kill a native the Sultan himself would pay the blood money". Early in his reign Muhammad Salih Dud Murra had to deal with French aggression from the west. The French had defeated and killed the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr , who had taken control of

990-401: The use of explosives in warfare such as the siege of Massenya in 1870. Under directions from a man of Bornu , the army of Sultan Ali (1858–1874) buried a copper-coated basket full of gunpowder near the walls of Massenya. The basket was connected to the Wadai camp by gunpowder wrapped in cloth and further covered with dirt. The cloth was lit from its end leading to an explosion of the mine and

1023-576: Was a period of prosperity and stability. In 1898 a force of Anglo-Egyptian troops reconquered the Sudan and defeated the Mahdist forces at Omdurman , near Khartoum . They reestablished the sultanate of Darfur to the east of Wadai under Ali Dinar , a relatively effective ruler. When the Kolak Yusuf of Wadai died in 1898 there was a struggle for the succession in which Dud Murra was the candidate of

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1056-401: Was divided into two wings and a centre with the Sultan located behind the centre. The Sultan was protected by shield bearers who bore iron shields as well as "the troop of path makers" who cleared way for the Sultan's mobility through the bush. There existed the korayat who were mostly armed with lances . The aqid stood at the centre with royal slaves armed with muskets. Evidence exists for

1089-540: Was the last independent ruler, or kolak , of the Wadai Empire . He allied with the Sanusi , powerful traders of the eastern Sahara, and with the Sultan of Darfur to resist French aggression in the eastern Sahel , but was defeated. His sultanate was incorporated in the French military territory of Chad . Muhammad Salih bin Yusuf, Dud Murra, was the son of Yusuf ibn Muhammad Sharif, who ruled Wadai from his capital of Abéché (Abeshr) from 1874 to 1898. Yusuf's reign

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