DAJU DAR DAJU
DAJU PEOPLE IN CONTEXT
Language note: the Daju dar Daju refer to themselves as simply "Daju" or "Dajo" (and often "Dadjo", in French). In some circumstances, I will distinguish the Daju people of Mongo, Eref, and Bardangal from other Daju groups of the Daju diaspora by using their longer title of "Daju dar Daju", which is the Arabic name meaning "Daju from the home of the Daju" (as opposed to, for example Daju dar Sila, which means "Sila from the home of the Daju".
DAJU HISTORY
Much of the early history of the Daju and many other ethnic groups in Africa was recorded by Arab scholars Al-Idrisi (see map below) and Al-Maqrizi. Daju traditionally passed on their history and language orally rather than in writing, so there are not many examples of Daju history recorded by Daju people. Little is published on their original location, except that “they perfunctorily claim descent from the Beduin of the Hejaz, and say that their ancestor, Kedir, brought them to Kedir in the Nuba Mountains, and thence to Darfur” (Arkell 1951)
The Daju may have lived along the Nile, in close proximity to the Nobiin people. The Forty Days Road provided a trade route from Assuit to Darfur in antiquity, and travelers would stop at several oases along the way. Historically, Daju may have come in contact with many along this route, since they purportedly lived near an oasis. AJ Arkell surmised that the Daju may have lived in or near the ancient Nilotic city of Meroe over 2000 years ago; where they adopted the pharaonic tradition of divine kingship, which they brought with them as sultans of Dar Fur.
The Daju ruled Jebel Marra (the Marra Mountains) and Dar Fur, an important cultural and trade crossroads located in what is known today as Sudan, sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries, after which they were succeeded peacefully by the Tunjur and then the Fur. After leaving Dar Fur, the Daju people split into several groups who settled mostly west of Dar Fur, with some remaining in Jebel Marra. The Daju dar Daju settled the furthest west out of all Daju groups, in the Guéra region of Chad, and have lived there for over 500 years, since long before the political borders of Chad were drawn.
HISTORICAL LOCATION OF THE DAJU
Map by Al-Idrisi. "Daju" denoted as "tagoui". Circa 1192. North and south are switched here. In modern maps, the Daju would be located to the east of Bilad Kanem, which was located just east of Lake Chad.
From desert
to
savannah
The modern country of Chad stretches 1,800 kilometers from north to south. It shares political borders with Libya, Niger, Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic.
Regions of Chad
This map shows elevation and climate regions of Chad, roughly corresponding to administrative regions or groups of administrative regions. The Guéra is the horshoe-shaped Region 7.
THE GUÉRA
The majority of modern day Chad is desert land, lying in the Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert. Most of Chad's 13 million residents, including the Daju dar Daju, live in the more temperate steppes of the southern prefectures in the Soudanian climate region. The Guéra is one such region, located about halfway down the Soudanian zone. The region is arid with rocks and small mountains and hills, and very little rainfall throughout the year. Daju people inhabit the sub-prefecture of Mongo, as well as the smaller villages of Eref about 76 miles east of Mongo, and Bardangal about 51 miles to the south.
HOW LAND AND LANGUAGE INTERACT
As resource availability and geography affect every area of a group's life, so too does it affect their language. Natural barriers such as rivers, mountain ranges, and stretches of desert can provide boundaries for dialects or languages. For example, the Eref dialect of Daju dar Daju developed differently from the Mongo/Gadjira dialect due to both physical distance (about 76 miles of desert) and mountainous terrain (the Abou Telfan Mountains). Read more about the field of Geolinguistics here.
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While natural barriers can impact language change, human-made barriers can, too. Much of Africa was divided arbitrarily, and not according to existing linguistic or ethnic groups. National borders can hinder the exchange of ideas and language, and can also push people to speak different languages than they would otherwise by imposing official languages.