Who are the Zaghawa?

The Zaghawas are a subgroup of the Beri peoples of Chad and Sudan.

Zaghawas speak the Zaghawa language, which is an eastern Saharan language. They are pastoralists, and a breed of sheep that they herd is called Zaghawa by the Arabs. They are nomadic and obtain much of their livelihood through herding cattle, camels and sheep and harvesting wild grains. It has been estimated that there are 307,000 Zaghawas.

The Zaghawas are Sunni Muslims, but their devotions are lukewarm, at least when compared to many other Muslim groups. They also practice karama-the sacrifice of a bull, goat, or lamb to ward off evil or to bring rain and a good harvest.

Ecomy and life

The problem of water is a major preoccupation for the Zaghawa, who during normal years must wait nine dry months for a short rainy season which lasts between the end of June and the end of August. To survive, many herdsmen drive their animals north to graze during the dry season, and return southwhen it rains.

Many Zaghawa are merchants who travel southward and eastward to find food and manufactured goods that are not available in their own region. Sugar, tea, oil, blankets, plastic products and soap are all purchased or exchanged for cattle, sheep, wild grasses and the gum of the acacia tree.

Because of changing economic patterns in recent years, more and more Zaghawa young men travel seasonally to Libya in search of wage labor. 

Probably the main dialects of Zaghawa (Beriaa) in Sudan are Wegi , Kobe and Toba (Bedeyat), besides Dorong in Chad. Jakobi (1999) in her paper entitled ‘Current research on languages of Darfur’ said in the introduction, ‘Darfur is an area where various people live: For, Zaghawa (Beri), Bideyat, Berti...’ This statement seems to suggest that Bideyat and Zaghawa are different languages. But in fact Bideyat is the word non-Zaghawa speakers use to refer to the speakers of “Toba” dialect, which is simply another variety of Zaghawa.” 

The adoption of Muslim (sic), which was introduced into the region in the 1600s. Villages have become hospitable to outsiders, and sacrifice and ancestor worship have either been modified and reinterpreted in order to be acceptable to Muslim. Although Muslim is widely accepted and the study of Muslim law is highly respected, the Zaghawa, like Muslims everywhere, still hang on to many of their traditional superstitions. To avoid the curse of the ‘evil eye,’ a rather vague yet terrifying phenomenon, they wear charms, construct their houses in a certain fashion and cover their babies’ faces in public.”

The Kanemite royal history, the Girgam, refers to the Zaghawa people as the Duguwa. Today, Zaghawa refer to themselves as the Beri, while the Arab people and literature refers to them as \"Zaghawa\". In literature related to African ethnic groups, the term Beri (sometimes Kegi) includes Zaghawas, Bideyat and Bertis peoples, each clustered in different parts of Chad, Sudan and Libya.

The Zaghawas are further subdivided into several clans with powerful ethnic identities:

Gala

Dirong

Kigé

Tuer

The Zaghawa are mentioned in classical Arabic language texts. The 9th century Arab geographer al-Ya\\\'qubi wrote of them as the “Zaghawa who live in a place called Kanem,” and proceeded to list a string of other kingdoms under Zaghawa rule. Historically, the Zaghawa people held a sort of hegemony over most of the smaller societies that stretched along the Sahel between Lake Chad to the Nile valley kingdoms of Nubia, Makuria and Alwa.

The early Arabic accounts describe the Zaghawa to be \\\"black nomads\\\". The 12th century geographer Al-Idrisi and the 13th century Yaqut describe the Zaghawa influence around an oasis centered system, and they mention the towns of Kanem, Manan and Anjimi.

Although Zaghawa power was broken by the rise of Kanem in the Lake Chad region, Zaghawa retained control over a considerable portion of the lands lying east of Kanem, and it is only in the late 14th century that Darfur is mentioned as an independent state by the Egyptian historian and geographer Maqrizi. Following the rise of Darfur and Kanem, the Zaghawa appear to have controlled only desert areas and ceased to be a major regional power.

Political power among the Zaghawas was once exercised by omdas, or chiefs, but, in recent decades, the Sudanese government has imposed a series of village, division, and regional councils. The omdas, however, are still recognized as important judicial officials.

They accepted the Maliki school of Sunni Islam, but retained some of their pre-Islamic rites such as karama – a ritual sacrifice of animals to ward off evil spirits. The century in which they converted has been a subject of debate and little consensus, with estimates ranging from the 13th to the early 17th century. In contemporary times, they lead a sedentary lifestyle, growing staples such as millet and sorghum, and other foods such as sesame, melons, pumpkins, peanuts and okra.

Social stratification

The term \"blacksmith\" has been a derogatory term in Zaghawa culture, states Anne Haour – a professor of African Studies and Medieval Archaeology, and \\\"if born a blacksmith one will always be a blacksmith\\\". Non-blacksmith castes of Zaghawa neither eat nor associate with the blacksmith castes. The lowest strata has been the slaves. The social stratification and castes such as for the leatherworker strata within the Zaghawa people is similar to those found in nearby Fur people.

While they are not very powerful in Sudan, they politically dominate Chad. The former president, Idriss Déby and several former prime ministers of Chad are Zaghawa, as well as many other members of the government. Thus the Chadian Zaghawa have been influential people in the regional politics. In contemporary wars in Chad, Libya and Sudan, the Zaghawa ethnic group has been deeply involved, particularly through strategic alliances with other ethnic groups such as the Fur people.

The Zaghawa have been among the tribes in Darfur who have been referred to as \"African\" even as other tribes that have fought with them have been called \"Arab\".