page_title: Shaigiya tribe
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Shaigiya tribe / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Shaqiya warrior as seen by Frederic Caillaud during the Egyptian invasion and coloured by Goedsche and others in 1832. Note: Parts of the spear have been photoshopped into the image by me, as they were missing in the original. Same for the vegetaion in the right bottom corner.
context_page_description: The Shaigiya, Shaiqiya or Shaykia are an arabised Nubian tribe in Northern Sudan. They are a part of the Sudanese Arabs and are also one of the three premier tribes of arabised Nubians indigenous to North Sudan, along with the Ja'alin and Danagla. The tribe inhabits the region of Dar al-Shayqiya, which stretches along the banks of the Nile River from Jabal al-Dajer to the end of Muscat's fourth waterfall and includes their tribal capital of Korti and parts of the Bayuda desert. Although speaking Sudanese Arabic today, the Shaigiya, like the Ja'alin, are known to have spoken some form of Nubian as late as the 19th century. This language, labelled as Old Shaiqi, was apparently closely related if not identical to the Nobiin dialect. Shaiqi tribesmen are among those along the Nile who have been affected by the Merowe Dam.
context_section_description: The Shaigiya are first mentioned in 1529, when an Italian visitor to Upper Egypt remarked that pyramids could be found in their country. They were subjects of the Funj Sultanate, which extended as far north as Dongola. From the sixteenth century until colonization, the Shaigiya had many prominent Islamic schools which attracted students from all over Sudan. Around 1690 the tribe broke loose from the Kingdom of Funj, defeating the Abdelab governor, and were the only independent tribe in the region. The first account of the Shaigiya tribesmen was given by the Scottish traveller James Bruce in his book Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1790) who noticed the tribe migrated from more southern regions to its present homeland around 1772. Still the best early description came from an adventurer and historian John Lewis Burckhardt, who, mesmerized by the Shaigiya, spent some time with the tribe. His accounts of the events were published at 1819 in the "Travels in Nubia". The predatory character of the tribe speaks of change from Bruce's time, "My guide, in constant dread of the Shaiqiya would not allow me to light a fire although the nights were getting very cold". Evidently, the tribe was ruled by two Macs (the title given by the kings of Funj to tribal chiefs), Mac Jaweesh and Mac Zubeir. Military training of the Shaiqiya youth was brutal, and at very early age they were capable of launching spears from a horseback by astonishing precision. Their unexplainable intolerance of other tribes led to raids against their neighbours and beyond. They attacked villages and caravans as far as Wadi Halfa in the north, and Shendi in the south forcing some families of the neighbouring tribes to emigrate westwards (Danagla). Constantly attacking the town of Shendi and killing some of local Mac Nimr's uncles forced the Ja'Alin to seek help from the king of Funj, who at his political decline was too weakened and unable to help. Burckhardt who spent time in Merowe around 1807 gives us more description of the tribe 
  "Shaiqiya are continually at war. They all fight on horseback, in coats of mail. Fire-arms are not common amongst them, their only weapons being lance, target and sabre. They are all mounted on Dongola Stallions and are famous for their horsemanship. Their youth conduct raids sometimes as far as Darfur. The Shaiqiya are perfectly independent people, and possess great wealth in corn and cattle. They are renowned for their hospitality; and the person of their guest, or companion is sacred. If the traveller possesses a friend among them and has been plundered on the road, his property will be recovered, even if it has been taken by the King. Many of them can write and read. Their learned men are held in great respect by them; they have schools, wherein all the sciences are taught, which form the course of the Mohammedan study, Mathematics and Astronomy excepted. Such of the Shaiqiya as are soldiers, indulge in frequent use of wine and spirits made of dates."
  — W.Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia (published in 1819)
   They were challenged around 1811 at Dongola by the Mamelukes, but continued to dominate a considerable part of Nubia. They resisted the Turkish/Egyptian invasion in 1820, at the battle of Korti after refusing to submit and were defeated due to the use of fire-arms and cannons and retreated southwards. Mac Jaweesh along the majority of his men sought asylum in Shendi in hope to persuade the Ja'Ali chief Mac Nimr to join forces against the much stronger enemy. Mac Nimr declined the offer and the Shaiqiya were handed over to the Turks, who promised to pardon the Shaiqiya warriors and return their land if they accepted the service in Turkish ranks. After the deal was struck Shaiqiya were used during the suppression of the Ja'Alin revolt (1822) and demonstrated astonishing brutality. For their services they obtained lands of the Ja'Alin between Shendi and Khartoum (15.633°N 32.533°E). 
  In the Mahdist War of 1884/85, General Gordon's first fight was to rescue a few Shaiqiya, still serving with the invader and besieged in a fo
caption: A Shaigiya man at the time of the Egyptian invasion.
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