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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Genealogical and Historical Study of the Mahas of the 'Three Towns', Sudan
Author:Lobban, Richard A.ISNI
Year:1983
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:16
Issue:2
Pages:231-262
Language:English
Geographic term:Sudan
Subjects:Nubians
genealogy
history
ethnic groups
Religion and Witchcraft
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/217787
Abstract:The Mahas (a Nubian ethnic group) in the central Sudan have made a fundamental contribution to the Islamization and urbanization of this Afro-Arab nation. Their building of the first permanent structures in the 'Three Towns' (Khartoum area) may be claimed as the start of the modern process of Sudanese urbanization. The Mahas leaders who became teachers and advisors to the Funj state were also centrally responsible for the spread of Islam along the Blue and White Niles at their confluence at the 'Three Towns' in communities which have been occupied continuously for about five centuries. This paper attempts to unify this historical study with reference to published and unpublished genealogies (nisba, sing.; nasib pl.) collected by the author during fieldwork in 1979-80. Main foci of this paper are: the examination of the Mahas and Islam in the context of Sudanese urban history in the Nile valley. This work also presents case material with which judgments may be made on the historiographic questions of using genealogy as history. Fig., notes.
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