Liffi | |
|---|---|
Station | |
  Liffi | |
| Coordinates: 8°36′32″N25°38′13″E / 8.609°N 25.637°E | |
| Country | South Sudan |
| State | Western Bahr el Ghazal |
Liffi (or Lefi) was a military station in Sudan, named after a nearby hill, and the surrounding region. It was the location of several clashes between Egyptian forces and Mahdists in the early 1880s. In 1894 the Belgians temporarily established a base there.
The rocky Mount Liffi, or Jabal Liffi, ( 8°32′43″N25°49′38″E / 8.545331°N 25.827294°E ) is a short distance to the southeast of Khor Shammam. [1] Mount Liffi is a metamorphic rock cone 150 feet (46 m) high, not far from Kagola. [2]
S. Santandrea, writing in 1948, says that the Togoyo tribe, by then almost extinct, had a legend that their ancestor Cokwol had fallen from heaven on Mount Lefi, which travelers such as Romolo Gessi called Liffi. They had lived there during their golden age and were still living there in the 19th century when the region was devastated by warfare, slave hunting, famine and disease. A few clans still existed, centered around Mount Lefi, where the tribe used to sacrifice a goat on a sacred stone to bring the rains. [3] The Togoyo territory extended from Khor Shammam [lower-alpha 1] to eastward of Kossinga, and they were fairly numerous until the end of the 19th century. [5] A 1955 article stated that Liffi post had formerly been in Togoyo land but was now in Feroge land. [1]
Romolo Gessi (1831–1881) often mentions Liffi as a large center with government officials, granaries and other facilities. [5] An 1880 account describes Liffi as a large fortified station with a garrison of 25 regular and 150 irregular soldiers. The area around Liffi was very densely populated. [2]
Frank Lupton in his 1884 Geographical Observations in The Bahr-el-Ghazal Region showed Liffi as a station at approximately 8°40′N25°54′E / 8.66°N 25.9°E , between the Lugu and Boru rivers a short distance from the point where they converge, and on the route from Deim Zubeir [lower-alpha 2] to the south to Foroga to the north. On this map the road from Deim Zubeir runs through Sakka just south of the Lugu river, then runs through Liffi between the Lugu and Boru rivers. [6] OpenStreetMap shows Lupton's coordinates for Liffi as a short distance east of the convergence of the Raga and Boro rivers, and shows the road from Deim Zubeir running north and crossing the Raga and Boro rivers to the west of their junction. [7] [lower-alpha 3] Lupton's coordinates may have been inaccurate.
In 1881 Muhammad Rauf Pasha, Gordon's successor at Khartoum, appointed Frank Lupton governor of the Bahr el Ghazal in place of Gessi. Lupton made his base in Bahr el Ghazal at Deim Suliman, now Deim Zubeir. [8] He divided the province of Bahr el Ghazal into eight districts. Liffi District corresponded to the later Raga County. [8] [lower-alpha 4]
On 18 August 1882 members of the Dinka tribe under Sheikh Jango rebelled against the Egyptian government at Liffi, the first outbreak of Mahdism in the province. [9] They attacked some of Lupton's bashi-bazouks at Liffi and gained the surrender of the inhabitants. Lupton took 600 men to the scene but Jango had retreated. [10] Lupton advanced from Deim Zubeir around the end of 1882 and defeated Jango in a bloody encounter at Jabal Telgona. [9] Early in 1883 Jango returned with some men provided by the Emir Madibbo. [9] On 1 February 1883 Lupton's chief Ruffai Agha fought off another attack by Sheikh Jango in the Liffi district. Ruffai Agha entrenched his force near Dembo, but was attacked by Mahdists in September and killed with almost all his men. [10] The Dinkas all rebelled and blocked the road to Meshra El Rek and the north. Lupton retreated to Deim Zubeir. [9]
In March 1894 a Belgian force led by Charles de la Kethulle established a post at Katuaka (8°48'N) on the Bahr el Adda which they called Fort de l'Adda. In June 1894 another Belgian force under Xavier-Ernest Donckier de Donceel entered the region from the southwest. It crossed the Biri, Sopo and Cohoca (?) rivers and arrived at Liffi south of the Raja River on 25 June 1894. On 18 July 1894 the Belgians reached the Boro river, and moved on to the home of Faki Ahmed, the son of Sultan Yussef of Wadai. He submitted to the Belgians and was sent to Liffi to talk with Donckier. On 9 September Donckier was at Liffi on the Luju, and raised the Belgian flag on the 400 metres (1,300 ft) Mount Den Darh. The Belgians found themselves short of food, with the local people trying to seize their stores and a threat of attack by Mahdists. [11] While the Belgians were debating what to do, on 9 December 1894 they heard that they were to leave all territory north of the Mbomu River, which had been ceded to the French. Around the end of 1894 and start of 1895 the Belgians left the Bahr el Ghazal region and handed it over to the French. [1]
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Western Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 93,900 km2 (36,255 sq mi) and is the least populous state in South Sudan, according to the controversial Sudanese census conducted in 2008. It is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. Its capital is Wau. The state shared international borders with Sudan to the north and the Central African Republic to the west. The portion now occupied by Raga County is the southern part of the historical region known as "Dar Fertit".
The Bahr el Ghazal is a region of northwestern South Sudan. Its name came from the river Bahr el Ghazal. The name translates as "sea of gazelles" from Arabic.
Romolo Gessi, also called Gessi Pasha, was an Italian soldier, governor in the Turkish-Egyptian administration and explorer of north-east Africa, who described the course of the White Nile in 19th-century Sudan and modern Uganda.
Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur Pasha, also known as Sebehr Rahma or Rahama Zobeir, was a slave trader in the late 19th century. He later became a pasha and governor in Sudan.
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Dār Fertit is a historical term for the lowlands south of Darfur and east of the highlands in the east of the modern-day Central African Republic that contain tributaries of the White Nile River. This region included parts of southwestern Sudan and northwestern South Sudan. In the present era, Fertit is a catch-all word for non-Dinka, non-Arab, non-Luo, non-Fur groups and tribes in Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan. Even though these groups often speak different languages and have a history of inter-tribal violence, they have become more unified over time, mostly out of opposition to the Dinka people.
Deim Zubeir, from the Arabic ديم الزبير ["Daim az-Zubayr"], commonly translated as the "Camp of Zubeir", is the historically established but highly controversial name of Uyujuku town in the Western Bahr el Ghazal of the Republic of South Sudan, located in the Western Bahr El Ghazal part of the country, some 70 km from the border with the Central African Republic (CAR), near the Biri tributary of the River Chel.
The Bongo are a Central Sudanic speaking ethnic group, living at the eastern side of the Albert Nile River in northwestern Uganda and in neighbouring South Sudan in small, scattered settlements south and east of Wau. They speak the Bongo language, one of the Bongo-Baka languages. In the early 1990s, their number was estimated at 200.000 people, with 40% Muslims. Unlike the Dinka and other Nilotic ethnic groups, the Bongo are not a cattle herding people and do not use cows for bride price. Subsistence farming and hunting is the primary source of food, though money is obtained by working in forestry, building, selling honey, and other various means. Before imported metalwork became available, they were known for their traditional production of iron tools.
The Sere are an ethnic group numbering over 10,000 living in the South Sudanese state of Western Bahr el Ghazal. Their old home was a place called Ndedegumbva or Ndedekumbva, said to be recorded on the maps of old explorers.
The Kuru River, or Chel River is a stream in the South Sudanese states of Western Bahr el Ghazal and Northern Bahr el Ghazal. It is a headwater of the Lol River.
Raga County is a county in Western Bahr el Ghazal state, in the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan. It is the largest county in the nation. In Arabic, Raga County can be known as "Raja".
The Lol State was a state of South Sudan with the capital in Raga, that existed between 2 October 2015 and 22 February 2020. It was located in the Bahr el Ghazal region, which is in the northwest section of the country. Lol state bordered Haut-Mbomou and Haute-Kotto in the Central African Republic to the west, South Darfur and East Darfur in Sudan to the north, the disputed region of Kafia Kingi to the northwest, Aweil East State to the northeast, Aweil State to the east, Gbudwe State to the south, and Wau State to the southeast. The state was created alongside 27 other states after a decree issuing the creation of 28 states took place. It was dissolved at the conclusion of the South Sudanese Civil War.
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Frank Thomas Miller Lupton, or Lupton Bey, was a British sailor who served as an administrator in the Egyptian Sudan. He was governor of Bahr el Ghazal province in 1881 at the start of the Mahdist War. Cut off from supplies and reinforcements, he had to surrender the province in 1884. After an initial period of freedom he was enchained for ten months. He was freed but struggled to make a living, his health deteriorated and he died in poverty. He had married a local woman who survived him, as did their two daughters.
The Boro River is a river of South Sudan, a headwater of the Magadhik River, which in turn is a headwater of the Lol River.
The Biri River is a river of South Sudan. It is a left tributary of the Kuru River, a headwater of the Lol River.
Awoda is a town in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan.
Mechra el Rek was a settlement in the South Sudan.
Sultan Djabir was ruler of a region on the Uele River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He engaged in the ivory and slave trade with Muslims from the north and with Belgians from the south. Eventually he was forced to flee to the Sudan when he refused to pay tribute to the Congo Free State.