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DONELSON, FORT

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 415 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DONELSON, FORT , an entrenched See also:camp at See also:Dover, See also:Tennessee, U.S.A., erected by the Confederates in the See also:Civil See also:War to guard the See also:lower See also:Cumberland See also:river, and taken by the Federals on the 16th of See also:February 1862. It consisted of two continuous lines of entrenchments on the See also:land See also:side, and See also:water batteries commanding the river. After the See also:capture (Feb. 6) of Fort See also:Henry on the lower Tennessee the See also:Union See also:army (three divisions) under Brigadier-See also:General U. S. See also:Grant marched overland to invest Donelson, and the gunboat flotilla (See also:Commodore A. H. See also:Foote) descended the Tennessee and ascended the Cumberland to meet him. See also:Albert See also:Sidney See also:Johnston, the Confederate See also:commander in See also:Kentucky, had thrown a large traders, and were notorious slave-dealers. See also:South of Old See also:Dongola the inhabitants are not Nubians but See also:Shagia (q.v.), and the Nubian See also:tongue is replaced by Arabic. Of the See also:nomad See also:desert tribes the See also:chief are the See also:Hawawir and See also:Kabbabish. The See also:country now forming the mudiria was once See also:part of the See also:ancient See also:empire of See also:Ethiopia (q.v.), Napata being one of its See also:capital cities.

From about the beginning of the See also:

Christian era the chief tribes in the region immediately south of See also:Egypt were the Blemmyes and the Nobatae. The last named became converted to See also:Christianity about the See also:middle of the 6th See also:century, through the instrumentality, it is stated, of the empress See also:Theodora. A chieftain of the Nobatae, named Silko, between the middle and the See also:close of that century, conquered the Blemmyes, founded a new See also:state, apparently on the ruins of that of the See also:southern Meroe (Bakarawiya), made Christianity the See also:official See also:religion of the country, and fixed his capital at (Old) Dongola. This state, now generally referred to as the Christian See also:kingdom of Dongola; lasted for eight or nine See also:hundred years. Though See also:late in reaching See also:Nubia, Christianity, after the See also:wars of Silko, spread rapidly, and when the Arab conquerors of Egypt sought to subdue Nubia also they met with stout resistance. Dongola, however, was captured by the Moslems in 652, and the country laid under See also:tribute (bakt)--400 men having to be sent yearly tc Egypt. This tribute was paid when it could be enforced; at periods the Nubians gained the upper See also:hand, as in 737 when Cyriacus, their then See also:king, marched into Egypt with a large army to redress the grievances of the See also:Copts. There is a See also:record of an See also:embassy sent by a king See also:Zacharias in the 9th century to See also:Bagdad concerning the tribute, while by the close of the See also:roth century the Nubians seem to have regained almost See also:complete See also:independence. They did not, however, possess any part of the Red See also:Sea See also:coast, which was held by the Egyptians, who, during the 9th and loth centuries, worked the See also:emerald and See also:gold mines between the See also:Nile and the Red Sea. The kingdom, according to the Armenian historian See also:Abu Salih, was in a very flourishing See also:condition in the 12th century. It then extended from See also:Assuan southward to the 4th See also:cataract, and contained several large cities. Gold and See also:copper mines were worked.

The See also:

liturgy used was in See also:Greek. In 1173 Shams addaula, a See also:brother of See also:Saladin, attacked the Nubians, captured the See also:city of Ibrim (Primis), and among other deeds destroyed 700 pigs found therein. The Egyptians then retired, and for about roo years the country was at See also:peace. In 1275 the See also:Mameluke See also:sultan Bibars aided a See also:rebel See also:prince to oust his See also:uncle from the See also:throne of Nubia; the sultans Kalaun and Nasir also sent expeditions to Dongola, which was several times captured. Though willing to pay tribute to the Moslems, the Nubians clung tenaciously to Christianity, and, despite the raids to which the country was subjected, it appears during the 12th and 13th centuries to have been fairly prosperous. No serious See also:attempt was made by the Egyptians to penetrate south of Napata, nor is it certain how far south of that See also:place the authority of the Dongola kingdom (sometimes known as Mukarra) extended. It was neighboured on the south by another Christian state, Aloa (AIwa), with its capital Soba on the See also:Blue Nile. Cut off more and more from See also:free intercourse with the Copts in Egypt, the Nubian Christians at length began to embrace Jewish and See also:Mahommedan doctrines; the decay of the state was hastened by dissensions between Mukarra and Aloa. Nevertheless, the Nubians were strong enough to invade upper Egypt during the reign of Nawaya Krestos (1342-1372), because the See also:governor of See also:Cairo had thrown the See also:patriarch of See also:Alexandria into See also:prison. The date usually assigned for the overthrow of the Christian kingdom is 1351. Only the See also:northern part of the country (as far as the 3rd cataract) came under the See also:rule of Egypt. Nevertheless, according to See also:Leo See also:Africanus, at the close of the 15th century Christianity and native states still survived in Nubia, and in the 16th century the Nubians sent messengers to See also:Abyssinia to See also:Father See also:Alvarez, begging him to appoint priests to administer the sacraments to them—a See also:request with which he was not able to comply.

Thereafter the Nubian See also:

Church is without records. The Moslems may have extinguished it in See also:blood, for the region between Dongola and See also:Shendi appears to have been depopulated. Between Assuan and Hannek the See also:Turks introduced in the 16th century See also:numbers of Bosnians, whose descendants ruled the See also:district, paying but a nominal See also:allegiance to the See also:Porte. At Ibrim, Mahass, and elsewhere along the See also:banks and in the islands of the Nile, they built castles, now in ruins. South of Hannek the See also:kings of See also:Sennar became overlords of the country. As the See also:power of the Sennari declined, the nomad Shagia (or Shaikiyeh) attained pre-See also:eminence in the Dongola district. About 1812 Mamelukes fleeing from Mehemet All, the See also:pasha of Egypt, made themselves masters of part of the country, destroying the old capital and See also:building a new one lower down the Nile. In 1820 both Mamelukes and Shagia were conquered by the Egyptians, and the Dongola See also:province annexed to Egypt. In consequence of the rising of the Dervishes Egypt evacuated Dongola in 1886. The attempt to set up an See also:independent See also:government failed, and the Dervishes held the See also:town until See also:September 1896, when it was reoccupied by an See also:Egyptian force. See J. L.

See also:

Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia (See also:London, 1819) Naum See also:Bey Shucair, The See also:History and See also:Geography of the See also:Sudan (in Arabic, 3 vols., Cairo, 1903) ; E. A. See also:Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Sudan (2 vols., London, 1907).

End of Article: DONELSON, FORT

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