Banu Kanz

Banu al-Kanz (also known as Awlad Kanz or Kunuz) was a semi-nomadic Muslim dynasty of mixed Arab-Beja ancestry that ruled the border region between Upper Egypt and Nubia between the 10th and 15th centuries. They were descended from the sons of sheikhs of the Arab Banu Rabi'ah tribe and princesses of the Beja Hadariba tribe. They gained official control over the region of Aswan, Wadi Allaqi and the frontier zone in the early 11th century when their chief, Abu al-Makarim Hibatallah, captured a major rebel on behalf of the Fatimid authorities. Abu al-Makarim was accorded the title Kanz al-Dawla (Treasure of the State) by Caliph al-Hakim and his successors inherited the title. The Banu Kanz entered into conflict with the Ayyubids in 1174, during which they were defeated and forced to migrate southward into northern Nubia, where they helped accelerate the expansion of Islam in the mostly Christian region. They eventually assumed control of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria in the late 14th century, but by the early the 15th century, they were supplanted by the Hawwara tribesmen dispatched by the Mamluks to combat the Banu Kanz. Their modern-day descendants are a Sudanese tribe known as the "Kunuz", who live in the far north of the country.

The origins of the Banu al-Kanz lay in the Arab tribal migrations to the Egyptian frontier region with Nubia in the 9th century. The nomadic Arab tribes, of which the largest were the Mudhar, Rabi'ah, Juhaynah and Qays 'Aylan, moved to the region after the discovery of gold and emerald mines there. The Banu Kanz originated from the Banu Rabi'ah, who moved to Egypt from Arabia during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil, between 847 and 861 CE. In 855, Abdullah ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Umari, a Medina native who studied in al-Fustat and Kairouan, emigrated to Aswan, where he sought to profit from the region's gold mines. He and his slaves were sheltered by the Mudhar and gradually, he became the latter's eminent sheikh (chieftain). Al-Umari and the Mudhar were driven out of Wadi Allaqi and Aswan by the Rabi'ah and proceeded to set up their encampments and mining colony at al-Shanka, to the east of the Kingdom of Makuria ("al-Maqurra" in Arabic). Al-Umari was driven back north to Wadi Allaqi and Aswan by the Nubians of Muqurra in the late 9th century. Thereafter, he gained recognition from the Juhayna, Rabi'ah and Qays 'Aylan as their collective leader. Al-Umari oversaw a huge gold mining enterprise in the region, and the industry financed his own virtual independence in Wadi Allaqi and Aswan. Although he twice defeated the Egyptian army of Ahmad ibn Tulun, the governor of Egypt (r. 868–884), and forced the latter to cease attempts to subjugate him, al-Umari assassinated by Mudhar tribesmen after suppressing a revolt by Rabi'ah. Following his fall, Arab tribal activity continued to increase in the Eastern Desert region.

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