RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 La société agraire du sultanat de Sennar dans les récits de voyages Européens
JF African Economic History
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 74
OP 100
DO 10.3368/aeh.53.2.74
VO 53
IS 2
A1 Beauchamp, Gabriel
YR 2026
UL https://aeh.uwpress.org/aeh.uwpress.org/content/53/2/74.abstract
AB This article explores the agrarian structure of the Sennar Sultanate (1504–1821) and argues that the system is much more complex than the conventional historiography would suggest. The State, its sovereign and its populace are organized around the practice of agriculture and the control of the pastoral populations. All strata of society are closely linked, in a complex system going beyond the simple framework of feudalism once agreed upon by historians of Sudan. The statuses and roles of the peasant, the slave and the rural elite are reinterpreted, through the use of European travel literature, to show all their fluidity and complexity. Also, it is shown how the structure of the State was organized to maintain harmony between nomadic and sedentary populations and to promote social order by ensuring a diversified agricultural production and a steady surplus of cereals.