The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 120, October, 1867: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and PoliticsVarious
General
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 120, October, 1867: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
Soodan has several kingdoms, the country of the Fellatahs and Bornoo being
the most powerful,--the territorial extent of the latter being some 810,000
square miles.
These nations are strict Mohammedans, having been converted some two or
three centuries ago by the Bedouin Arabs and those from Morocco, who,
pushed by want of riches, came to Soodan to acquire them. Different
languages are found in each nation, some written and some not; but the
Arabic is very much in use among the higher class of people, as the Latin
is used by the Catholic priests. Especially the Koran is written in Arabic,
and in my country no one is allowed to handle the Sacred Book unless he can
read it and explain its contents.
Bornoo, my native country, is the most civilized part of Soodan, on account
of the great commerce carried on between it and the Barbary States of
Fezzan, Tunis, and Tripoli. They export all kinds of European articles to
Central Africa, and take gold-dust, ivory, &c., in return.
Bornoo has had a romantic history for the last one hundred years. The whole
of Soodan, more than two thousand miles in extent, was once under the Maïs
of Bornoo; but by dissensions and civil wars nearly all the tributaries
north of Lake Tchad were lost. In 1809 a shepherd arose from the country of
the Fellatahs and assumed the title of Prophet. He said to the ignorant
portion of his countrymen, that Allah had given him orders to make war with
the whole of Soodan, and had promised him victory. They believed his story,
and the legitimate king was dethroned and the false prophet, Otman
Danfodio, was proclaimed Emperor of the Fellatahs. The impostor went at
once to work, and in less than two years conquered almost the whole of
Soodan, excepting Kanem, a tributary to my country. Bornoo, after a manly
effort, was compelled by force of arms to submit to the yoke of the
Fellatahs.
In 1815 Bornoo arose from its humiliating position, to shake off the yoke
of Danfodio. Mohammed el Anim el Kanemy, the Washington of Bornoo, was the
man who undertook to liberate his country and restore her former prestige.
This immortal hero could collect from the villages of Bornoo but a few
hundreds of horsemen; but in Kanem he got eight hundred men, and accepted
an engagement with the enemy. He gained the first victory, and took such
good advantage of his success, that in the space of two months he won forty
battles, drove the enemy entirely out of Bornoo, and captured a great many
places belonging to the Fellatahs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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