Fur

Fur, people after whom the westernmost province of Sudan, Darfur, is named. The Fur inhabit the mountainous area of Jebel Marra, the highest region of Sudan. Fur languages make up one of the branches of the Nilo-Saharan language family.

The Fur had powerful kingdoms in the 16th century, extending to the Nile. Arab incursions forced them northward into the mountains, where they successfully developed a form of terrace farming. Cotton and tobacco are the main cash crops. Also cultivated are cereals such as wheat and corn (maize), as well as peanuts (groundnuts), beans, hibiscus, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, and pumpkins. The temperate climate of the mountains permits the growing of apples and strawberries.

At the end of the 16th century, an Islamic sultanate was founded by Suliman Solong, and since that period the Fur have adopted Arab dress and names. Today they are entirely Muslim. Fur society is divided between wealthy landowners and serfs. Smiths, tanners, and other artisans constitute lower castes. Bridewealth in cattle and cloth is paid by the parents of the groom to the parents of the wife. Polygyny is practiced by the wealthy few, and divorce is somewhat common.

Longstanding tensions between sedentary agricultural peoples such as the Fur and nomadic Arab pastoralists reached a crisis in 2003 when rebels from the agricultural groups attacked government installations. The government responded by creating a pastoralist militia, the Janjaweed (Arabic: “mounted men with guns,” or “bandits”), which killed tens of thousands of agriculturalists and caused an estimated one million refugees to flee the region.