Shaigiya tribe

Shaigiya
الشايقية
EthnicitySudanese Arabs
Location
Population845,000[1]
Demonym(s)Shaiqi or Shaigi
LanguageSudanese Arabic
ReligionSunni Islam

The Shaigiya, Shaiqiya, Shawayga or Shaykia (Arabic: الشايقيّة) are an Arabized Nubian[2][3][4][5][6] tribe. They are part of the Sudanese Arabs and are also one of the three prominent Sudanese Arabs tribes in North Sudan, along with the Ja'alin and Danagla. The tribe inhabits the region of Dar al-Shayqiya, which stretches along the banks of the Nile River from Korti to the end of 4th Nile cataract and includes their tribal capital of Merowe Sheriq and parts of the Bayuda desert.

Although speaking Sudanese Arabic today it was reported by various 19th-century sources that the Shaiqiya were bilingual in Arabic and Dongolawi, a Nubian language.[7] Some modern authors proposed that the Shaiqiya spoke Nobiin rather than Dongolawi.[8][9][10]

In the 20th century, Shaiqi tribe are among those along the Nile, who have been affected by the Merowe Dam.[11]

  1. ^ "Sudan". Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  2. ^ O'Fahey 1996, p. 406: "Despite claims to Abbasid descent, the Shaykiyya are undoubtedly Arabised and Islamised Nubians".
  3. ^ Thelwall 1982, p. 50.
  4. ^ Kramer, Lobban & Fluehr-Lobban 2013, p. 382.
  5. ^ Adams 1977, pp. 557–558, 562.
  6. ^ Werner 2013, p. 29.
  7. ^ Gerhards 2023, pp. 139–140.
  8. ^ Spaulding 1990, p. 288.
  9. ^ Bechhaus-Gerst 1996, pp. 25–26.
  10. ^ Gerhards 2023, p. 140.
  11. ^ "Tide of censure for African dams". Retrieved May 14, 2021.