Shield, Daraga
Bedja / Nubia / Bischari, Northern Sudan (Kassala province) / Egypt / Eritrea / Ethiopia
Rhinocerous hide
Late 19th / early 20th century

There are 115 languages and 56 ethnic groups in (the formerly united) Sudan. The Bedja, Nubia, and Bischari are nomadic herdsmen who, with the Fundj, Fur, and Nuba, live in the country’s northern region. These Upper Nile groups were traditionally considered great warriors, a reputation confirmed in the late nineteenth century during the Mahdi revolt against the British and Egyptians. They fought with long medieval kaskara swords supported by cruciform hilts and round leather shields that the Bedja called daraga. Ownership of a daraga was tantamount to a Bedja’s coming of age (Barbier, Boyer, Benitez-Johannot, Shields: Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, 2000).

22 in :: 56 cm

InventoryID #13-1871

SOLD