Street vendors gather to fill their barrels with water in the Mora valleys in Dar Ouaddai, eastern Chad (French)

It is one of the regions of the Republic of Chad. It is located in the eastern part of the country and its capital is the city of Abéché. About 997 thousand people live in it. It was a stronghold of the Kingdom of Ouaddai, which was founded in 1611 AD by Abd al-Karim bin Jami. Historical sources say that he is descended from the Abbasids who fled Iraq following the invasion of the Mongols. .

Abdul Karim and the sultans after him established one of the most powerful Islamic kingdoms in Central Sudan during the Middle Ages, as they were interested in spreading Islam among the African tribes and encouraging the construction of mosques, until the kingdom became a major center for Islamic culture and the Arabic language, and it spread from there to the countries of Central Africa.

The Kingdom fiercely resisted French colonialism in the twentieth century, and its Sultan Doud once fought several battles supported by the Sultan of Darfur, the forces of the Senusi movement, and the Sultan of the Masalit. However, the massacres committed by the French against the civilian population forced him to surrender, so his cousin was installed as Sultan without executive powers, and after the departure of French colonialism From the region, the Kingdom of Wadai became one of the three Islamic kingdoms that formed the modern state of Chad, in addition to the Kingdoms of Kanem and Baqarmi.

Location and administrative division

The Dar Ouaddai region is located in the eastern part of the Republic of Chad. It is bordered to the east by the Republic of Sudan, to the north by the Fara Valley region, to the west by the Batha region, and to the south by the Sila region.

It extends over an area estimated at about 30 thousand square kilometers, and is one of the 23 regions of the Republic of Chad. Its administrative capital is the city of Abéché. It is divided into 3 administrative units: Wara, Asunga, and Abdi. It includes 16 provinces and 16 municipalities, in addition to hundreds of villages.

Before 2002, it was known as Ouaddai Governorate, then a new administrative division was adopted and two regions were cut from it, namely Sila and Jorf El Ahmar, and a new region was formed, the Sila Region.

An aerial photo of the Mora Valley between Abéché and Farchana near Hadjer Hadid in Dar Ouedai, eastern Chad (French)

the climate

The region is characterized by a dry and hot desert climate, and experiences heavy rainfall, with an average rainfall of 803.8 millimetres.

Population

The region's population is 997 thousand people, according to official statistics in 2018, including 482 thousand men and 515 thousand women.

The population is distributed among the main ethnic groups: Ouedai, Zaghawa, Masalit, Hausa, Fur, Arabs, and Tama.

Labels

Dar Ouday was known by many names, including: Dar Mbek (Mba), Dar Ouday, Dar Barqu, and Dar Salih. It is sometimes referred to as a sultanate and sometimes a kingdom or empire.

Several accounts have been proposed to explain the source of this name, some of which claim that the kingdom had paid an annual tribute to the Sultan of Darfur since its founding by Abdul Karim Jama’ until the reign of Sultan Yacoub Arous, who ruled in 1681 AD.

One of these narrations says that the name Wadi is derived from the word “deposits,” meaning the money that the sultans of the kingdom sent to Darfur, while other narrations claim that the founder’s grandfather was called Wada or Sulayh, so he called the kingdom Dar Wadi and Dar Sulayh, and this was the name she gave it. The neighboring kingdoms, and the residents called themselves Mba or Dar Mbak.

Seeds of the famous millet plant in Dar Ouaddai state (Getty)

Capital of the region

Wara was the capital of the Ouaddai Kingdom from its founding until the middle of the nineteenth century, and for more than two centuries it was an economically and culturally prosperous city, then the capital moved to the city of Abéché.

Among the reasons cited by sources to explain the change of capital is the sharp drop in water levels in the city of Wara, in addition to the political turmoil it witnessed, which made Sultan Muhammad Sharif take the decision to move the royal headquarters to Abéché in 1848 AD.

The city is located at the crossroads of desert trade routes, and it was also an important stop on the Hajj route, as Muslims from West Africa passed through it on their way to perform Hajj rituals. In 1858 AD, a hostel was opened there to receive pilgrims, and according to sources, about 80,000 pilgrims passed through it annually.

The city appeared at the epicenter of events in 2007 after members of a French charitable organization attempted to kidnap more than a hundred Chadian children and transport them from the city of Abéché to France in order to offer them for adoption to French families.

Chadian officials stopped the children smuggling operation when they were heading to a plane waiting for them at Abéché Airport, and while the members of the organization said that the children were orphans and came from the Sudanese region of Darfur, and they wanted to transport them to France away from the war, Chad announced that these children were Chadian, and that many of them had been kidnapped from Their parents are not orphans.

One of the most heinous crimes committed by French colonialism in the region was the Kabkab massacre in 1917 (Getty)

the date

According to Al-Maqrizi, followed by Banu Halba, then Al-Tunjur.

The sources differed about the origin of the Tunjur. Some of them said that they were Berbers, some of them attributed their lineage to the Nuba, some of them attributed their lineage to the Tebu, who lived in the Tibesti Plateau in northern Chad, and some of them said that their lineage goes back to the Hilal Arabs who came from Tunisia and settled in Darfur. Wuday, and in the latter they established a kingdom with Kadma as its capital.

The Tunjur ruled for nearly two centuries (the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), until the establishment of the Islamic Kingdom of Wadai in 1611 AD by Abd al-Karim Jama’, known as the Mujaddid of Islam.

Muhammad bin Omar al-Tunisi - a historian and traveler who embarked on a journey from Egypt to Sudan, then Darfur, then the Valleys, where he spent 18 months before returning to Tunisia in 1813 AD - quoted the jurists of the region as saying that the lineage of the sultans of this kingdom goes back to the Abbasids, who left Iraq to flee the Mongols. They took refuge in Egypt.

Some of them moved from Egypt to Hijaz, then they traveled to Shendi, then to Darfur, then they continued to walk west until they settled in the mountains of Kadi. Among them was a person named Jami’, who was known for his righteousness, religiosity, and great knowledge of the Islamic religion. He married the king of Kadi and married his daughter, who gave birth to him, Abdul Karim Jami’. Founder of the Wadai Sultanate.

A number of sources agree with Al-Tunisi’s narration about the origin of the Wadi, as they confirm their affiliation with the Abbasids, and indicate that despite their mixing and assimilation with the Negro tribes, this did not affect their tongues, as they continued to pronounce Arabic with ease and without distortion or foreign language, but this affected their language. The color of their skin made them multi-coloured, including brown and wheat.

Although a number of studies and narrations agreed that the rulers of Dar Wadi belonged to the Abbasids, they argued that the indigenous population belonged to the African tribes and some Arab tribes other than the Abbasids.

After Abd al-Karim bin Jami’ took control of the Kingdom of Wadai and was of the same religion as he was, he began to consolidate the foundations of his rule until it became one of the strongest Islamic kingdoms that existed in central Sudan in the Middle Ages, as he worked to spread the Islamic call, fight injustice and corruption, and encourage the construction of mosques in neighboring villages. And sending preachers from his companions to it.

The kingdom's borders at that time extended to Umm Shaalouba in the north and west to Bahr al-Ghazal and the outskirts of Lake Chad, and to the south it extended to the Salamat region and east to the borders of the Kingdom of Darfur.

Al-Tunisi mentioned in his book “A Journey to My Valley” that its area is equal to a journey of thirty days in length and 24 days in width, and it is bordered to the east by the Kingdom of Darfur, to the west by the Kingdom of Baqirmi, and to the south by the lands of idol worshipers.

The Kingdom turned into a major center for the spread of Islam and the Arabic language in Central Africa for several factors, including its location bordering Sudan, Libya and Egypt, its use of the Arabic language in its official offices, and Islamic law in its local courts. It also had contact with the Sublime Porte in Istanbul via Cairo, as it was The Ottomans had an embassy in the capital, Abéché, and the Kingdom remained an important cultural center in Africa until the entry of French colonialism at the beginning of the twentieth century.

French colonialism

The Kingdom of Wadai fiercely resisted French colonialism, as its Sultan, “Dud Marra,” declared jihad against the French, and allied himself with the forces of the Senussi movement in Libya, the Sultan of Darfur, and the Sultan of Masalit, and together they fought fierce battles against the colonialists, which ended with the Sultan of Wadai being forced to surrender after the massacres committed against civilians.

The French took over the capital, Abéché, in 1909. Ouaddai was incorporated into the military territory of Chad in 1912. The colonial authorities appointed Sultan Doud Marra’s cousin, Muhammad Aseel, as Sultan of Ouaddaï, but they stripped them of their executive powers under a treaty he signed with the French ruler.

French colonialism worked to fight the Arabic language and Islamic culture and impose its culture and language, which the population and scholars faced with rejection and challenge, as they rejected French education and adhered to their cultural heritage. Because of this, a number of scholars were subjected to exile and killing.

One of the most heinous crimes committed by French colonialism in the Kingdom was the Kabkab massacre that took place in 1917, in which hundreds of scholars, hadith scholars, commentators, and linguists were killed.

The word kabkab is a translation from the French language of the word (coupe), which means to cut off. The colonial authorities had ordered the beheading of scholars and local officials with a cleaver. This massacre lasted for three days and included the capital, Abéché, and its environs.

This massacre led to the migration of many scholars who survived the killing to neighboring countries. As a result, Islamic education and the Arabic language weakened in the region, and colonialism introduced the French language in education and made it compulsory in all educational institutions.

After the withdrawal of French forces, the kingdom became part of the modern state of Chad, which was formed from three main Islamic kingdoms, which are, along with the Valleys of the Kingdom of Kanem, which was founded in the eighth century AD in the north, and the Kingdom of Baguirmi in the Lake Chad Basin, which was founded in the eleventh century.

The descendants of the Abbasids still inherit the Sultanate in the Wadi region, even though it is a symbolic sultanate. In 2020, a presidential decree was issued in which Sharif Abdul Hadi Mahdi was appointed Sultan of the Abbasid Sultanate of Dar Wadi, and he was inaugurated in a public ceremony.

Millet is one of the best types of crops in Chad (Shutterstock)

Economy

The region's economy depends on agriculture, livestock raising, and trade. It has vast fertile lands on which many types of agricultural crops are grown, the most important of which is millet, which is grown by most of the region's residents. Ouadi millet is considered one of the finest types of crops in Chad.

The region is also famous for peanuts, sesame, and onions, and the Ouaddaï region is the main source of this crop in Chad, in addition to other products such as vegetables, mango, guava, watermelon, fennel, and other crops. The state is also rich in large livestock of various types.

The city of Abéché is the largest commercial center in the country, and a destination for many basic, improvement and luxury goods for the residents of the region in particular and the residents of the north-east of the country in general.

The city of Abéché produces many high-quality handmade products, the most important of which are women's and men's shoes, bags, and horse decorations. All of these products are made of pure leather and of good quality.

The Wadi region is considered a gateway for the entry of a number of imported goods, such as all types of furniture, soft drinks, sugar, tea, fuel, building materials, rice, and other foodstuffs, blankets, and clothing, which generate important financial revenues from customs to the state.

Source: websites