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Social Consequences of Dia among the Berti

1967; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 37; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1157773

1750-0184

Ladislav Holý,

African Studies and Geopolitics

Opening Paragraph The Berti, numbering about 25,000, inhabit the part of the Northern Darfur district round their traditional centre, Melit, which lies about thirty-five miles north-east of El Fasher, the capital of the Sudanese province of Darfur. Their original language belonged to the Middle Sahara group and was closest to the Zaghawa language, but for several generations now they have been arabized. They form the sedentary population of the dry steppe of Northern Darfur and depend on agriculture with pennisetum as the staple, on animal husbandry and on collecting gum from the Acacia verek , which they sell at the local markets. Another, probably larger, part of the Berti now live in Eastern Darfur, where they migrated during the last century under pressure from the expansion of the neighbouring Meidob into their original territory in Northern Darfur.