Riftvalley
VIP
I came across something the other day which talked about Muhammad Al Mahdi correspondence with East African groups. It said he wrote a letter to “Somali Muslims of Harar” to join the war effort of the Sudanese dervishes. Haven’t been able to verify such a letter ever existing. Interestingly, there is a document by a traveller which lists the many languages being spoken in Suakin:
“It was curious to count up the number of
different languages one heard spoken in and about Suakin at this time. Besides English, French, Portuguese, and Italian, there were amongst others the following : Turkish, Arabic, Somali, Greek, Armenian, Hindustani, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Mahrathi, and Pukhtu”.
Somalis have always had a notable presence in the east of Sudan as traders and scholars. They intermarried into some of the Sudanese ethnic groups. I wonder if Somalis fought in the Mahdist army? Anyone encountered evidence to show that?
“It was curious to count up the number of
different languages one heard spoken in and about Suakin at this time. Besides English, French, Portuguese, and Italian, there were amongst others the following : Turkish, Arabic, Somali, Greek, Armenian, Hindustani, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Mahrathi, and Pukhtu”.
Somalis have always had a notable presence in the east of Sudan as traders and scholars. They intermarried into some of the Sudanese ethnic groups. I wonder if Somalis fought in the Mahdist army? Anyone encountered evidence to show that?
