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SENNAR

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 647 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SENNAR , a See also:

country of See also:north-See also:east See also:Africa, See also:part of the Anglo-See also:Egyptian See also:Sudan. Its boundaries have varied considerably, but Sennar proper is the triangular-shaped territory between the See also:White and See also:Blue See also:Niles north of lo° N. This region is called by the See also:Arabs " The See also:Island of Sennar " and by the See also:negro inhabitants " Hui." The See also:northern part, where the two Niles approach nearer one another, is also known as El Gezira, i.e. " the Island." Whilst Sennar has never been held to extend westward of the White See also:Nile, the See also:term has often been used to embrace " the Island of Meroe," i.e. the country between the Blue Nile and the See also:Atbara, and the See also:land between the Blue Nile and its most eastern tributary the Rahad, this latter See also:district being known as the " Isle of Isles." See also:South-east Sennar stretches to the Abyssinian hills. By the Sudan See also:administration this region has been divided into mudirias (provinces), one, including the central portion, retaining the name of Sennar. The See also:present See also:article deals with the country as a whole. In See also:general Sennar is a vast See also:plain, lying for the most part much higher than the See also:river-levels and about zoo() ft. above the See also:sea, its western part, towards the White Nile, being largely See also:wilderness. From the plain rise isolated granitic hills, attaining heights of woo to 2000 ft. above the general level. See also:Jebel Segadi is red See also:granite of the finest quality. The plain, sandy in its northern part, is in the south a deep See also:bed of argillaceous See also:marl, scattered over with See also:great granite boulders and fragments of greenstone. Sennar lies in the region of See also:light See also:rain, increasing in the S.E. districts to as much as 20 in. in the See also:year. The See also:rainy See also:season is from See also:July to See also:September.

The See also:

climate is generally unhealthy during that See also:period and the months following. The miasmatic exhalations caused by the See also:sun playing on stagnant See also:waters after the floods give rise to the Sennar See also:fever," which drives even the natives from the plains to the See also:southern uplands. The temperature, which rises at times to over 12o° Fahr., is also very changeable, often sinking from too° during the See also:day to under 6o° at See also:night. The See also:soil, mainly alluvial, is w turally very fertile, and wherever cultivated yields abundant crops, See also:durra being the See also:principal See also:grain grown. Many kinds of vegetables, and See also:cotton, See also:wheat and See also:barley are also grown. The See also:forest vegetation, largely confined to the " Isle of Isles " and the southern uplands, includes the Adansonia (See also:baobab), which in the See also:Fazogli district attains gigantic proportions, the See also:tamarind, of which See also:bread is made, the deleb See also:palm, several valuablegum trees (whence the term Sennari often applied in See also:Egypt to gumarabic), some dyewoods, See also:ebony, See also:ironwood and many varieties of See also:acacia. In these forests are found the two-horned See also:rhinoceros, the See also:elephant, See also:lion, See also:panther, numerous apes and antelopes, while the See also:crocodile and See also:hippopotamus frequent the See also:rivers. The See also:chief domestic animals are the See also:camel, See also:horse, See also:ass, ox, See also:buffalo (used both as a beast of See also:burden and for See also:riding), See also:sheep with a See also:short silky fleece, the See also:goat and the See also:pig, which last here reaches its southernmost limit. The country is occupied by a partly settled, partly See also:nomad See also:population of an extremely mixed See also:negroid See also:character. There is See also:evidence of the existence of a once dominant See also:fair See also:race, of which the still surviving See also:Sienetjo, a See also:people of a yellow or fair complexion, are regarded as descendants. The great plain of Sennar is mainly occupied by See also:Hassania Arabs in the north, by See also:Abu-Rof (Rufaya) Hamites of See also:Beja stock in the east as far as Fazogli, and elsewhere by the negroid See also:Funj (q.v.) and the See also:group of tribes collectively known as See also:Shangalla (the See also:Bertat, See also:Legas, Sienetjo, See also:Gumus, Kadalos, &c.; see SHANGALLA). The chief towns are on the See also:banks of the Blue Nile.

They are : See also:

Wad Medani (q.v.), 148 m. above See also:Khartum, one of the most thriving towns in the eastern Sudan; Sennar, 241 m above Khartum, the See also:capital of the Funj See also:empire and chief See also:town of the mudiria of Sennarof the See also:ancient See also:city little remains except a See also:mosque with a high See also:minaret; and Roseires, 426 M. from Khartum and the limit of See also:navigation up stream from that city. Near the Abyssinian frontier are Fazogli (See also:left See also:bank) and Famaka (right bank) on a navigable stretch of the Blue Nile above the rapids at Roseires and See also:close to the Tumat confluence and the, See also:gold district of Beni Shangul. On-the river Dinder is the town of Singa. A railway, built in 1909–1910, connects Khartum, Wad Medani and Sennar with See also:Kordofan, the White Nile being bridged near Goz Abu Guma. See also:History.—Sennar, lying between See also:Nubia and See also:Abyssinia, was in ancient times under Egyptian or Ethiopian See also:influence and its inhabitants appear to have embraced See also:Christianity at an See also:early period. The capital of Aloa, which appears to have been at one See also:time a powerful See also:Christian See also:state, was at Soba on the Blue Nile. In the 7th or 8th centuries A.D. there was a considerable See also:emigration of Arabs into the country. Christianity very gradually died out (see DONGALA, mudiria). The Funj who had meantime settled in Sennar became the dominant race by the 15th See also:century. They adopted the See also:Mahommedan See also:religion and founded an empire which in the 17th and 18th centuries ruled over a large part of the eastern Sudan. This empire was finally overthrown by the Egyptians in 1821. Since that period Sennar has had no history distinct from that of the See also:rest of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (see SUDAN, § ANGLO-EGYPTIAN, History).

The chief ambition of the people under Anglo-Egyptian See also:

rule was to own See also:cattle rather than to improve their houses, See also:food or clothing (vide Egypt, No. 1, 1910, P. 79)• The country was visited by few Europeans before the time of the Egyptian See also:conquest. In 1699 a See also:French surgeon, J. C. Poncet, passed through Sennar on his way from Egypt to Abyssinia, and an See also:account of his experiences has been published (Lettres . . . See also:des See also:missions etrangeres, See also:Paris, ed. of 1870, tome iii.). He was followed by See also:Janus de Noir, le sieur du Roule, who was sent by See also:Louis XIV. to open See also:diplomatic relations with Abyssinia, but was murdered (1703) in Sennar. The most noteworthy, however, of the earlier travellers was See also:James See also:Bruce, the explorer of the Blue Nile. He spent some time in Sennar in 1772, and in his Travels has left an interesting account of the See also:kingdom in its decadence. Various Egyptian expeditions added considerably to the knowledge of the district, which between 1854 and 1864 was explored by the Belgian scientist E. Pruyssenaere.

Later explorers included the Viennese See also:

Ernst Marno (187o) and the Dutchman J. M. Schuver, who in 1881–1882 visited the See also:sources of the Tumat. To this See also:list should be added the names of those who, like See also:Sir See also:Samuel See also:Baker, explored the Blue Nile. Since the See also:establishment of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium (1899) the country has been thoroughly surveyed. Lists of the See also:kings of Sennar, and of the tributary rulers of Halfaya, See also:Shendi, and Fazokl are given in vol. i. pp. 437-438 of A. M. N. J. Stokvis' See also:Manuel d'histoire (See also:Leiden, 1888).

End of Article: SENNAR

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