Nuwābiya

The Nūba of the East & their westward migrations

Abstract: Medieval historians wrote large books concerning human migration throughout Africa in addition to
the cultures that they interacted with. Abū al-Idrisi and Ibn Hawqal wrote extensively on the roads that were
traveled by people from Nuwābiya and Egypt. This paper is a mere excerpt from a larger unpublished
manuscript entitled The Nabateans: People of Botany and Astronomy.

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 [1.14C] Nuwābiya, The Nūba of the East & Their westward migrations

There were countless of Arabic speaking historians that recorded the histories of Africa during
the Islamic Golden Age. In this section, we will highlight the works of Ibn Hawqal and Abū al-Idrīsī, as it
relates to human migrations into West Africa. The writings of Ibn Hawqal conveniently mentions Nubian
and Egyptian migrations into West Africa.

The Oases used before the conquest to be a populous land with water, trees, villages
and Greeks (Rūm). from the back (zahr) of them they used to journey to the land of
the Sūdān and the Maghrib on the road which was travelled of old from Egypt to
Ghāna, but it was cut off. This road is not without oases of palms and traces of
people….

Nubian and Egyptian travellers used [these roads] continually to proceed to the Maghrib and the
land of the Sūdān by more than one road across deserts (barārī) and this did not cease
till the days of the rule of Abū’l- ‘Abbās Ahmad b. Tūlūn1.

The histories of Ibn Hawqal are very exact on the travels of the Nubians and Egyptians into the land of
the Maghrib2. The road mentioned in this excerpt seems to be along the Sahel which extends from
Ethiopia to Senegal. According to the map provided in the book entitled Corpus of Early Arabic Sources
for West African History, there was a trade route that left Egypt that extended into Ghana, West Africa3.

Abū al-Idrīsī 4 wrote on the Nūba. According to Abū al-Idrīsī, the Nubians – Nūba 5obtained their
name from a Sudanese city called Nuwābiya.

Samna is six stages distant from the town of Tājuwa. There are eighteen stages from
the town of Tājuwa to that of Nuwābiya, from which the Nūba trace their origin, and
derive their name6.

1 PP. 51. Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins, Editors.
2 Maghrib is a term used in Arabic for West.
3 Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. The Climes Section. N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins.
4 The full name of Abū al-Idrīsī is Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muhammad Ibn Muhammad al-Sharīf al-Idrīsī. PP. 106. Corpus of Early Arabic

Sources for West African History. The Climes Section. N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins, Editors.
5There are two distinct Nubian linguistic groups that Aleya Rouchdy highlights. According to the Nubians of Badr, the Kenuz

Nubians state that they came from the Arabian Peninsula (PP. 15). Whereas the Nubians that speak Fadicca – Nubi do not claim
origin from the Arabian Peninsula.
The Fadicca, who refer to their dialect as Nubi or Fadicca, insist that they are “real
Nubians” of African origin, and that they speak “real Nubian.” They consider the Kenuz
to be historically Nubianized Arabs (personal interviews).
PP. 15. Nubians and the Nubian Language in contemporary Egypt. A case of cultural and
linguistic contact. Aleya Rouchdy.
Sulaym al-Aswāni also states that the Nūba came from Salha, who was from Yemen. According to Sulaym al-Aswāni, these Nūba
stated that they were Sabians prior to converting to Christianity (al-Mudhab al-Ya’qubiyya). The nuances of the Nubian people
are worth mentioning in relationship to the writings of Abū al-Idrīsī. In my survey of the Nubians and their origin story, it
appears that they coalesced around the Napata, and lived a semi-nomadic pastoral lifestyle. Their influence and travels lead
them to having settlements in Arabia, Yemen, and Kemet. This brief synopsis would explain the statements made by the Kenuz
Nubians, concerning their origin from Arabia.
6 PP. 115. Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. The Climes Section. N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins, Editors.

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Considering the claim that Nuwābiya is south of Dunqula (Dongola) it may be concluded that exact location of
Nuwābiya7is what is commonly referred to as Napata. The Nuwābiya of Abū al-Idrīsī is undoubtedly the
*Nuwāpiya/*Napata of dynastic Egypt8. Napata is often times called [Npy] within various Pharaonic Egyptian
text9. Nuwābiya appears to be a variation of [Npy], which when reconstructed becomes *Nuwāpiya. Migrations
from Nuwāpiya, Meroë, Kush is also mentioned by A.J. Arkell. Historian A.J. Arkell also mentions the people of
Meroë, Sudan, and their migration westward to establish the Kingdom of Bornu.

It is indeed possible that the Tumagera, who founded several kingdoms in Tibesti and
Bornu in the country west of Darfur, were the scions of the Meroitic royal family, and
further that is to Meroitic royal family, and further that it is to Meroitic influence if not
to Meroitic royal blood that is due the rise of other divine kingdoms along the great
east – west road across Africa between the desert and the forest, such for instance as
that of the Jukun in northern Nigeria10.

Professor Chiekh Anta Diop elaborates on various migrations from east to west Africa as well11. The Meroitic
bloodline as it relates to Northern Nigeria, Southwest Chad, Northern Cameroon, Kingdom of Bornu, is worth
exploring more.

7 Nuwābiya appears to be a variation of the placename Nawāba. The /-iya/ appears to be a suffix for the Latin suffix /-ia/. If

Nuwābiya was Latinized, it would appear as Nuwābia. The place name Tājuwa appears as Tājuwiyya in other Arabic text, which
further validates the claim that /-iya/ is functions as a suffix.
8 See Middle Egyptian Glossary *Nuwāpiya. Nabataeans: People of Botany & Astronomy. Emory A. King. Unpublished.
9 See Middle Egyptian Glossary *Nuwāpiya. Nabataeans: People of Botany & Astronomy. Emory A. King. Unpublished.
10 PP. 177. A history of the Sudan. From the earliest times to 1821. A.J. Arkell.
11
See Middle Egyptian Glossary *Nuwāpiya. Nabataeans: People of Botany & Astronomy. Emory A. King. Unpublished.

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 Figure 1
Migrations across the Sahel

Description

Nuwābiya appears on this map as an alternative name for Napata. Nawāba is also mentioned as an
alternative spelling of Nuwābiya by Sa’īd al-Maghribī. On this map however, the noun *Nawāba is
being applied to Kom Ombo. Within Middle Egyptian Kom Ombo is spelled as [Nwb]. Kom Ombo is an
Arabic name for [Nwb] – *Nawāba. It appears that the people of Sudan called multiple places [Nwb], as
they settled along the Nile river. The Jukun ethnic group that migrated from Sudan appear in the
Northeast corner of Nigeria, and the Northern part of Cameroon. The Mboum, from whence the
Bamiléké descended, is depicted as coming from the Nile Valley – Kemet. However, there were multiple
Mboum migrations into Cameroon according to my field research. Alexis Feyou De Happy explains this
migration in the book entitled Bamileke People of Faith. The land of Kush is incapsulated by a red
circle. This is the land of the ‘Nahas’ – Nubians that spoke what is referred to in Middle Egyptian as
*Djū Nahas (Speech of Nahas). The language of the Nubians is explained in greater detail within
Nabataeans: People of Botany & Astronomy. The Proto Sabians of Yemen are depicted originating from
Central East Africa, perhaps from an early Khoisan population of nomads.

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Conclusions

In conclusion, if the stories of Ibn Hawqal and Abū al-Idrīsī is to be accepted, it may be concluded that
the people of Nuwābiya and Kemet did in fact travel into Ghana and various regions along the Sahel12.
These migrating Egyptians and Nubians must have taken place before the Islamic expansion, and partially
during the Islamic expansion. The people of Nuwābiya were the Bejā, Nuër, Nuba, Ombo, Mbutu and
other semi-nomadic ethnic groups. The Nūba of the Mountain regions bordering South Sudan would have
also taken similar migratory patterns into West Africa. These same traveling people groups that settled
various parts of West Africa and the Sahel eventually settled west, the Americas, during the transatlantic
slave trade.

12Chiekh Anta Diop highlights the importance of Arab Chroniclers as it relates to the cataloguing of West African history.
The sense of an ancient past was weakening but the Arab chroniclers noted the events
of African history with praiseworthy objectivity: their writings today constitute a
precious source documentation.
PP. 174 – 175. Precolonial Black Africa. Chiekh Anta Diop. Translated from the French
by Harold Salemson. 1987.
Chiekh Anta endorses the importance of the Arab chroniclers. If it were not for these same Arabic speaking chroniclers, the
Sudanese district of Nuwābiya would have been lost in the cloud of antiquity.

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Bibliography

A history of the Sudan. From the earliest times to 1821. A.J. Arkell.

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins.

Bamileke People of Faith. Joseph Feyou De Happy & Feyou De Happy. Copyright 1986-2015.

Nubians and the Nubian Language in contemporary Egypt. A case of cultural and linguistic contact.
Aleya Rouchdy.

Nabataeans: People of Botany & Astronomy. Emory A. King. Unpublished.

Precolonial Black Africa. Chiekh Anta Diop. Translated from the French by Harold Salemson. 1987.