Darfur.
Darfur is the westernmost region of Sudan. It ranges from arid desert in the far north, through semiarid savanna in the central belt, to semiequatorial forest on its southern borders with southern Sudan and the Central African Republic. Darfur is home to about 6 million people from about forty main ethnic groups and tribes. All are Muslim and are mostly followers of the Tijaniyya Sufi sect. The largest of these ethnic groups—after whom the region takes its name—is the Fur, who inhabit the central mountain range of Jebel Marra and the fertile valleys to its west and south. The Fur constitute perhaps one-quarter of the overall population. Other major non-Arab groups include the Masalit, Berti, and Zaghawa, and a host of groups of West African origin. Darfur also contains a substantial minority of Arabs, perhaps 40 percent of the total population. These are broadly divided into the Baggara (cattle herders) in the south and smaller groups of Abbala (camel herders) in the north. Historically, the Arabs and desert-edge non-Arab peoples (principally the Zaghawa and Meidob) have followed livelihoods based on livestock herding, while non-Arabs have been mostly farmers. But all Darfurians have followed mixed livelihoods when they can, and in the mid-twentieth century richer Fur farmers “became Baggara” by herding cattle with their Arab neighbors. Economic interdependence and intermarriage among all ethnic groups was extremely common, and in the twentieth century Arabic served as a lingua franca.... ...
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