Eastern Libya, Wadai and the Sanūsīya: A Ṭarīqa and a Trade Route

Abstract

The caravan route linking Benghazi and Wadai was probably the most important avenue of long-distance trade between the Mediterranean and the eastern Sudan in the late nineteenth century. It remained economically viable well after 1900, after commerce on routes further west had declined.Beginning with the Mejabra trader from Jālū who first found a direct route from Cyrenaica to Wadai in 1809 or 1810, this article traces the history of the route in the nineteenth century with special reference to the effects of Wadaian policies on trans-Saharan commerce. The important role of the Mejabra and Zūwāyā merchants from Libya is also considered.Fluctuating fortunes characterized trading activity along the route between its opening and the years after 1850. Beginning in the 1860s, however, commercial prospects improved steadily. Evidence suggests that the Sanūsīya Muslim brotherhood (ṭarīqa) was largely responsible for increased trade and prosperity along the route at this time. Because the order spanned the route's entire length, it solved many of the problems connected with long-distance commerce. It assured regular communication, relatively rapid transport, the creation of bonds of trust, a system of adjudication and arbitration, and an all-embracing structure of authority to maintain order and respect for judicial rulings. It functioned as a trading diaspora, but its members were not all of the same ethnic group. Rather, adherence to a single ṭarāqa bound merchants together and fostered the security necessary for the trade. The article concludes that the relationship between the brotherhood and commerce was symbiotic. The Sanūsīya sheltered commerce; in turn, the caravan trade brought wealth to the order and united its far-flung domains.

Ravens Reconsidered: Raiding And Theft Among Tubu-Speakers In Northern Chad

“…Geographically, Tubu have always resided right next to “civilization.” One of the oldest attested trans-Saharan routes runs from Fazzān to the salt-mines of Bilma, skirting Tibesti to the west (Martin 1969), while the more recent but by the nineteenth century probably busiest route, linking Kufra to Waddaï, passed through its eastern foothills (Cordell 1977). Bornu-Kanem to the southwest of Faya is perhaps the oldest continuous state-formation on the African continent (this does not say anything about the influence it exerted on the ground, but it is a powerful claim ideologically).…”

The values of ‘anarchy’: moral autonomy among Tubu‐speakers in northern Chad

“…There can be no doubt, then, that, although, until the French colonial conquest in 1913, the Borkou and Tibesti had never been ‘governed’ in any sense by a state or state‐like construct, local populations, known for their mobility and wide‐ranging migration, knew about states, and had perhaps spent parts of their lives living close to centres of political power, and partly subject to them. Moreover, the perhaps oldest attested trans‐Saharan trade route runs from the Fazzān to the salt mines of Bilma, skirting the Tibesti to the west (Martin ); while the more recent but by the nineteenth century probably busiest route, linking Kufra to Waddaï, passed through its eastern foothills (Cordell ). Local inhabitants actively participated in the trade carried along these routes, if only through loaning their camels and services as caravaneers, demanding protection money, and raiding.…”

The Archaeology of Trading Systems, Part 1: Towards a New Trade Synthesis

“…Interestingly, between the 1970s and 1980s there was a split between Old and New World perspectives on trade exchange, with most New World and some Old World researchers favoring strong political integration of all economic activity and the structural subordination of commerce as a significant activity in the development of sociopolitical complexity Brumfiel and Earle 1987;Clark 1979;Ericson 1981;Ericson and Earle 1982;Garber 1985;Hirth 1978;Kohl 1975Kohl , 1978McDowell 1976;Ratnagar 1981;Santley 1985). Other studies on Old World trade and some New World approaches favored a dynamic state of flux between trade/commerce and political attempts to regulate, control, and dominate the economy (Alden 1982a;Coblenz 1978;Cordell 1977;Crawford 1978;Davidson and McKerrel 1976;Fulford 1989;Gledhill and Larsen 1982;Guderjan et al 1989;Gurevich 1982;Hårdh 1977Hårdh -1978Hårdh et al 1988;Hassig 1985;Irwin 1978;Leciejewicz 1978;MacReady and Thompson 1984;McKillop 2005;Offner 1981b;Smith 1987;Tosi and Piperno 1973;Wells 1984;Whitehouse 1983;Whitehouse and Williamson 1973). Our assessment of this split also suggests that there was a strong correlation between the presence of literacy/epigraphic records of the society/ culture under study and the socioeconomic paradigm.…”