Daju people

The people of the Daju ( daju ) is the dominant tribe in the south-eastern Chad, which borders on the Sudanese region of Darfur. An alternative name for the people Bokoruge.

People

Belonging to the daju is defined by the common ancestor and the language, the daju that is attributable to the Nilo-Saharan language group. Of the estimated 65,000 speakers live about 40,000 in Chad. A further distinction according to dialects has been tried. Most children receive Quran lessons, so most daju are familiar with the Chadian Arabic.

The main settlement area extends in a westerly direction in a semicircle about 120 km around Goumbatou and across the border into Sudan. Today, there are more daju - speaking groups southwest of Kaduqli and in Ligurian in the Nuba Mountains to Nyala and the river Sopo. In the 20th century a part of the tribe wandered back towards Darfur, many fled from the fighting of the past decade back to Chad, where they mostly live in camps.

The Islamization of the region began in the 16th century with the rise of the Empire of Wadai. Islam initially remained a religion of the upper classes, the people were so far only " Muslim" than it was under an Islamic ruler. This meant that the tribesmen as " true believers " were not to be enslaved, even though they are relatively dark-skinned. Pre-Islamic traditions, remained alive until today. So the future of the rulers tried to continue using the " termite oracle " to predict by observing the run of ants. To this end, the belief in ghosts is inherent in grain, trees and water holes. The present-day sultans have no political power more but are respected and play a certain role in religious ceremonies.

History

Society

The tribe is divided into separate clans who own the land. Among elders ( malik ) representing outward, formerly moved in taxes and sat in judgment The budgets of the Free ( Masaki ) were subject to taxation ( in kind) by the Sultan. The men were obliged to bear arms. The non-Muslim slaves were referred to as Fertit and Kirdi. The slave in the household of the sultan had a social status, the zoom reached to their Lord. They were often located in their own villages. Other slaves in status among the commoners, were integrated into the households of their owners, unless they were only briefly as a commodity in the country. Distinguishable were slaves or free on their clothes.

The society is patriarchal organized. But is inherited matrilineally. The tasks of the women heard, except for the field crops, the overall financial management and sole parenting. It is common, with branches to the teeth white. Eyelids, palate and lips are tattooed with the help of acacia needles. In the family circle, they often show up barbrüstig.

Sultans

The position of the Sultan was hereditary in the male line. The principle of primogeniture was not used consistently, so it could also younger sons or paternal uncle a ruler to follow, which is usually a successor -designate. The power of the individual male members of the dynasty was based on private armies of Commons or in the use of firearms trained slaves, whose strength usually depended on the status of the leader. Even when it came to succession disputes, you stepped on closed against external enemies. The losing parties were integrated into the extended family. This practice differed from the traditions of neighboring countries: In Wadai pretenders were blinded, in Darfur in the desert sent (albeit with board).

The Sultan was theoretically responsible only to God and taught about life and death. His bon Plaisir was similar to medieval European kings, however, limited by traditions.

Economy

Dār Sīla was the southernmost of a number of sultanates, which lay between the rich Wadai and Darfur. In contrast to the more northerly sultanates Dār Sila has 600 to 800 mm annual precipitation adequate and relatively species-rich vegetation. The daju are sedentary farmers. The main crops of millet and cotton. In the 20th century, maize has become a major agricultural product. Also common is the livestock, but camels are hardly grown.

After the conquest and by 1911 the incipient Italian occupation of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, the transport of slaves was prohibited by caravans to Benghazi. Then there was the French policy of unrestricted movement of goods along the roads, which the tolls abolished. Within the next decade it came to the introduction of the cash economy and the perfect integration of the region into the capitalist colonial economic system. In 1917 were all taxes, now directed by the built-up land area, to be paid in money, which forcibly led to increased cultivation of cash crops and thus in the region in times of drought or flooding again caused famines. Many of the inhabitants had to be migrant workers hired himself to wage labor. This was done in part to the cotton plantations in the Nile Valley, but also the construction of railways and in the French army.

A lot of the local farmers has maintained a subsistence economy, which is becoming increasingly difficult due to the increasing desertification and population explosion in the region.