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SHAGIA (SHAIGIA, SHAIKIYEH)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 769 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SHAGIA (SHAIGIA, SHAIKIYEH) , a tribe of Africans of Semitic origin living on both See also:banks of the See also:Nile from Korti to the Third See also:Cataract, and in portions of the Bayuda See also:Desert. The Shagia are partly a See also:nomad, partly an agricultural See also:people. They claim descent from one Shayig See also:Ibn Hamaidan of the Beni Abbas, and declare that they came from See also:Arabia at the See also:time of the See also:con-quest of See also:Egypt in the 7th See also:century. They must have dispossessed and largely intermarried with a people of Nuba origin. They appear (from a statement by See also:James See also:Bruce) to have been settled originally See also:south of their See also:present See also:country and to have moved northward since 1772. Formerly subject to the See also:Funj See also:kings of See also:Sennar, they became See also:independent on the decline of that See also:state in the 18th century. They were overcome c. 1811 at See also:Dongola by the Mamelukes, but continued to dominate a considerable See also:part of See also:Nubia. To the Egyptians in 182o they offered a stout resistance, but finally submitted and served in the See also:Egyptian ranks during the suppression of the Ja'See also:alin revolt (1822). For their services they obtained lands of these latter between See also:Shendi and See also:Khartum. At that time they were far more civilized than the neighbouring tribes. Freedom-loving, brave, enlightened and hospitable, they had See also:schools in which all Moslem See also:science was taught, and were See also:rich in See also:corn and See also:cattle.

Their fighting men, mounted on horses of the famous Dongola breed, were feared throughout the eastern See also:

Sudan. Their chiefs wore coats of See also:mail and carried See also:shields of See also:hippopotamus or See also:crocodile skin. Their arms were See also:lance, See also:sword or See also:javelin. The Shagia are divided into twelve clans. Their country is the most fertile along the Nile between Egypt and Khartum. Many of their villages are well built; some of the houses are fortified. They speak Arabic and generally preserve the Semitic type, though they are obviously of very mixed See also:blood. The typical Shagia has a sloping forehead, aquiline See also:nose and receding See also:chin. They have adopted the See also:African See also:custom of gashing the chests of their See also:children. In the See also:wars of 1884-85 See also:General See also:Gordon's first fight was to See also:rescue a few Shagia besieged in a fort at Halfaya. In See also:April 1884 Saleh See also:Bey (Saleh See also:Wad el Mek), See also:head of the tribe, and 1400 men surrendered to the See also:mandi's forces. See also:Numbers of Shagia continued in the service of General Gordon and this led to the See also:outlawry of the tribe by the mandi.

When Khartum See also:

fell Saleh's sons were sought out and executed by the dervishes. On the reconquest of the Sudan by the Anglo-Egyptian See also:army (1896-98) it was found that the Shagia were reduced to a few See also:hundred families. See Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, edited by See also:Count See also:Gleichen (See also:London, 1905) ; A. H. See also:Keane, See also:Ethnology of the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1884).

End of Article: SHAGIA (SHAIGIA, SHAIKIYEH)

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