Bible Encyclopedias
Nubia

Ethnology

As an ethnical expression the term Nuba or Nubian has little value. Rejected by the presumable descendants of Diocletian's Nobatae, who now call themselves Berber or Barabara, it has become synonymous in the Nile valley with "slave," or "negro slave." This is due to the large number of slaves drawn by Arab dealers from the Nuba negroes of Kordofan, who appear to constitute the original stock of the Nubian races (but see Hamitic Races). On the other hand, the name has never included all the inhabitants of Nubia. Peoples of three distinct stocks inhabit the country - the comparatively recent Semitic Arab intruders, mainly in Upper Nubia, the Beja (? Hamitic) family of tribes (the Ababda, Bisharin, Hadendoa, Beni-Amer, &c.), everywhere between the Nile and the Red Sea; and the Nubians (Nuba or Barabira), in Lower Nubia, where they are now almost exclusively confined to the banks of the Nile, from Assuan southwards to Dongola. Ethnologically, these modern Nubians are a very mixed people, but their affiliation to negroes or negroids, which is based on physical and linguistic grounds, is confirmed by what is known of the history of the Nilotic peoples.

The first inhabitants of the region beyond Egypt appear to have been the Uaua, whose name occurs in an inscription on a tomb at Memphis of the VIth Dynasty, and again constantly in subsequent inscriptions down to the time of the Ptolemies, as the chief negro race to the south of Syene. (For the history of the country during this period see Ethiopia). It thus appears that throughout the historic period down to the arrival of the Romans the Nile-country above Egypt was occupied by a negro people. Egyptian monuments are found as far south as Mount Barkal (Napata), but no Egyptian settlements beyond Syene. Hence these Uaua negroes probably remained unaffected, or very slightly affected, by foreign elements until about the 3rd century A.D. Their domain then began to be encroached upon from the east by the Blemmyes, who have been identified with the present Beja of the Nubian desert. It was owing to their incessant raids that Diocletian withdrew the Roman garrisons above the cataracts, and called in the warlike Nobatae to protect the Egyptian frontier from their attacks. These negro Nobatae, originally from Kordofan, as is now evident, had advanced to the Great Oasis (Kharga) in Upper Egypt, whence they passed into the Nile valley between the cataracts. Here they absorbed the older Uaua of kindred stock, and ultimately came to terms with the Blemmyes. The two races even became intermingled, and, making common cause against the Romans, were defeated by Maximinus in 451.

The Blemmyes, remaining pagan after the Nubas had embraced Christianity (6th century) were soon after driven from the Nile valley eastwards to the kindred Megabares, Memnons and other nomads, who, with the Troglodytes, had from time immemorial held the whole steppe region between the Nile and the Red Sea from Axum to Egypt. Here their most collective name was Bugaitae (Bou-yaaaT at) , as appears from the Axumite inscription, whence the forms Buja, Beja, which occur in the oldest Arab records, and by which they are still known.

In the 7th century the Arabs who had conquered Egypt penetrated into Lower Nubia, where the two Jawabareh and Al-Gharbiya tribes became powerful, and amalgamated with the Nubas of that district. Their further progress south was barred by the Christian kings of Dongola (q.v.) until the 14th century, when the Arabs became masters of the whole region. Still later another element was added to the population in the introduction by the Turkish masters of Egypt of a number of Bosnians. These Bosnians (Kalaji as they called themselves) settled in the country and intermarried with the Arabs and Nubians, their descendants still holding lands between Assuan and Derr. Hence it is that the Nubians of this district, fairest of all the race, still claim Arab and Osmanli (Bosnian) descent.

Nevertheless, the Nubian type remains essentially negro, being characterized by a very dark complexion, varying from a mahogany brown and deep bronze to an almost black shade, with tumid lips, large black animated eyes, doli-chocephalic head (index 73, 72), hair often woolly or strongly frizzled, and scant beard worn under the chin like the figures of the fugitives (Uaua?) in the battle-pieces sculptured on the walls of the Egyptian temples. At the same time the nose is much larger and the zygomatic arches less prominent than in the full-blood negro. The Nilotic Nubians are on the whole a strong muscular people, essentially agricultural, more warlike and energetic than the Egyptians. Many find employment as artisans, small dealers, porters and soldiers in Egypt, where they are usually noted for their honesty, and frank and cheerful temperament. Since the overthrow of the native Christian states all have become Mahommedans, but not of a fanatical type. Although a native of Dongola, the mandi, Mahommed Ahmed, found his chief support, not among his countrymen, but among the more recently converted Kordofan negroes and the nomad Arabs and Beja. (For ethnology see also Hamitic Races, Beja, Ababda, Bisharin, Hadendoa, &c.).

Language

Little is known of the language of the ancient Nubians or of its connexion, if any, with the language, known as Meroitic, of the "Ethiopians" who preceded them. The hieroglyphs and inscriptions in Meroitic belong mostly to the first six centuries A.D.; the existing Nubian MSS. are medieval and are written chiefly in Greek letters, and in form and character resemble Coptic. They are, with one exception, written on parchment and contain lives of saints, &c., the exception being a legal document. The most noteworthy of these MSS. was found near Edfu, in Upper Egypt, early in the 10th century and purchased for the British Museum in 1908. Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria about 930, included "Nubi" among the six kinds of writing which he mentions as current among the Hamitic peoples, and "Nubi" also appears among a list of six writings mentioned in an ancient manuscript now in the Berlin Museum.

The modern Nubian tongue, clearly the descendant of the Nubian of the MSS., is very sonorous and expressive. Its distinctly negro character is betrayed in the complete absence of grammatical gender, in its primitive vowel-system and highly-developed process of consonantal assimilation, softening all harsh combinations, lastly, in the peculiar infix j inserted between the verbal root and the plural pronominal object, as in ai tokki j-ir = I shake them. As in Bantu, the verb presents a multiplicity of forms, including one present, three past and future tenses, with personal endings complete, passive, interrogative, conditional, elective, negative and other forms, each with its proper participial inflexions. In Lepsius's grammar the verbal paradigm fills altogether I Io pages.

Of the Nilotic as distinguished from the Kordofan branch of the Nuba language there are three principal dialects current from Assuan along the Nile southwards to Meroc, as under: I. Northern: Dialect of Bani Kenz or Mattokki, from the first cataract to Sebu` and Wadi al-`Arab, probably dating from the Diocletian period.

I I. Central,: The Mahal, or Marisi, from Korosko to Wadi Haifa (second cataract). Here the natives are called Saidokki, in contradistinction to the northern Mattokki.

III. Southern: Dongolawi, throughout the province of Dongola from the second cataract to J. Deja near Meroe, on the northern frontier of the Arab district of Dar Shagia. By the Mahasi people it is called Biderin Bannid, "language of the poor," or, collectively with the Kenz, Oshkirin Bannid, "language of slaves." The northern and southern varieties are closely related to each other, differing considerably from the central, which shows more marked affinities with the Kordofan Nuba, possibly because the Saidokki people are later arrivals from Kordofan. For topography, &c. and archaeology, see Sudan § Anglo-Egyptian and Egypt.

Authorities.-C. R. Lepsius, Nubische Grammatik (Berlin, 1880), and Briefe aus Aegypten, Aethiopien, &c. (Berlin, 1852); D. R. Maclver, Areika (Oxford, 1909); Nubian Texts, edited by E. A. Wallis Budge (British Museum, 1909); F. Ll Griffith, "Some old Nubian Christian Texts" in Journal of Theological Studies (July, 1909); E. A. Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Sudan (London, 1907); J. Ward, Our Sudan, its Pyramids and Progress (London, 1905); E. Riippell, Reisen in Nubien, Kordofan, &c. (Frankfort a. M., 1829); F. Caillaud, Voyage a Me'roe (Paris, 1826); L. Reinisch, Die Nuba-Sprache (Vienna, 1879); Memoirs of the Societe khediviale de Geographic, Cairo; J. L. Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia, e5fc. (London, 1819); G. Waddington and B. Hanbury, Journal of a Visit to some 'parts of Ethiopia (London, 1822); E. F. Gau, Nubische Denl i mdler (Stuttgart, 1821). Consult also the bibliography under Sudan.

Ruble, a province of central Chile, bounded N. by Linares, E. by the Argentine Republic, S. by Concepcion and W. by Concepcion and Maule. Area, 3407 sq. m.; pop. (1895) 152,935. The province lies partly in the great central valley of Chile, noted for its fine climate and fertility, and partly on the western slopes of the Andes. The Itata river, which forms the southern boundary, and its principal tributary, the Nubee, form the drainage system of the province. Agriculture and grazing are the principal industries. Wheat is largely produced, and there are vineyards in some localities. Stock-raising is pursued chiefly in the east, where the pastures are rich and the water supply unfailing. The state railway from Santiago to the southern provinces passes through Nuble, from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and sends off a branch from Bulnes W. to Jan Tome on the Bay of Concepcion. The capital is Chillan, and the only other important town is Bulnes, a railway junction and active commercial centre. The hot baths of Chillan, in the eastern part of the province on the slope of the volcano of that name, about 7000 ft. above sea level, are very popular in Chile.