Historical Sketches – People and Places

Below, a selection of photographs and engravings from colonial-era Sudan, chosen for their historical and cultural appeal. They are digital reproductions of loose leaf prints or book plates belonging to me and most of them are over a hundred years old. Anyone interested in details of the sources of these works is welcome to contact me and I will be happy to provide all the information I can. I would be delighted to hear from anyone who can shed more light on any of these prints.

See too Sketches from Sudan.

The inclusion of these works should not be understood in any way as approval of European, Ottoman or Arab-Islamic imperialism or slave-trading practices of any kind.

Above and below, scenes of Beja life. Above, loose leaf print, below postcard, dated 1906.

Below, Bishari gum dealers source unknown.

Above, plate from Der Dunkle Erdteil, Atlantis Verlag Berlin, 1930. Below, from same source, “Bisharin woman spinning”, followed by “Awlad Hamid Drums”, and “Awlad Hamid, silver and amber ornaments”.

Below, Khartoum market scenes, (same source).

Below, female dancer, Khartoum, same source.

Below, Omdurman woman, as above.

Below, engraved portraits of the Mahdi and Zubayr Pasha, followed by propaganda sketch for colonial readers of Gordon’s return to Khartoum, and Khartoum and El-Obeid scenes. Source, The English in Egypt with the Life of General Gordon, 1898.

Above, from same source, sketch of Tutti Island, Khartoum. Below, Nuba Mountains house decoration, from Pagan Tribes of Nilotic Sudan, Seligman, 1932.

Below, Nuba villages, Der Dunkle Erdteil, Atlantis Verlag Berlin,1930.

Below, Shuli Musicians, source unknown.

Below, gum arabic collection and trade, Welcome Collection, CC, 1930s.

Below, from A Prisoner of the Khaleefa, Twelve Years Captivity at Omdurman, Charles Neufeld, 1899. “Sheikh ed Din’s Eunuch in his Master’s Marriage Jibbeh”, followed by one of Neufeld’s Sudanese “Arab guides”.

Below, “Nuba Arab tribesmen” in what is claimed to be medieval chainmail armour. Source, The Vast Sudan, Major A.R. Radclyffe Dugmore, 1924.

Below, Suakin scenes from Der Dunkle Erdteil, Atlantis Verlag Berlin, 1930.

Below, coloured colonial etching of the town of Dongola, Northern Province. The Mahdi was in fact born on Labab Island, near Dongola in 1844. (Picture source unknown).

This is a cultural post for Women’s Education Partnership. 

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