ABSTRACT

This is a study of the emergence and development of one of the most recent Sudanic kingdoms, the sultanate of Dār Masālīt, in the period 1870–1930. The study is organized chronologically, i.e. it traces the history of Dār Masālīt from 1870 (before the foundation of the sultanate) to 1930 (after the establishment of AngloEgyptian rule). It describes the Masālīt state from the basis upwards: an analysis of the different social groups making up Masālīt society in relation to each other and to their main source of livelihood, the land, precedes a description of the new central government and ruling class which came into being in the decade 1888–1898. Although this book is primarily a history of the Masālīt Sultanate, it is regional in its approach and pays attention to developments in the other sultanates of the eastern Sudanic belt, those of Wadai, Dār Fūr, Dār Silā, Dār Tāmā and Dār Qimr, all adjoining Dār Masālīt. 1