Hamaj Regency

The Hamaj Regency (Arabic: وصاية ٱلهمج‎‎ wiṣāyat ul-Hamaj) was a political order in the region of modern-day central Sudan from 1762 to 1821. During this period the ruling family of the Funj Sultanate of Sennar continued to reign, while actual power was exercised by the regents.

The Shankalla were people of the upper Blue Nile, between Sennar and Ethiopia. They predate the arrival of the Arabs in that part of Sudan, and are considered by some to be part of the Shilluk group of peoples. Their language is part of the Koman branch of the Sudan linguistic family. They were often the targets of Funj slave raids, and the term 'hamaj' was derogatory term (meaning 'riffraff') used by the Funj to describe them. The Hamaj were incorporated into the Funj Sultanate of Sennar in the seventeenth century. Funj society was strictly divided by skin colour and other physical characteristics. The Funj classified themselves as 'blue' (Arabic: ازرق‎‎ azraq) and they described the Hamaj as 'red' (Arabic: احمر‎‎ aḥmar). According to 'The Funj Chronicle', a slave called Hamaj settled in Sennar along with his extended family, where the prospered and 'increased greatly until they had the power and the prestige in the kingdom.

The Hamaj came to power during the reign of Sultan Badi IV. He made himself unpopular among the ruling elite by distributing lands of old established families to his new non-Funj followers - Nuba and others. This continued a policy advanced by some of his predecessors, of relying less on the traditional Funj military aristocracy and more on slave armies. Badi placed his military forces under the command of the Hamaj general Muhammad Abu Likaylik, whom he had appointed as shaykh (possibly, governor) of Kordofan in 1747. When news of Badi's increasingly arbitrary rule reached the Funj armies in Kordofan, they agreed to depose him under the leadership of Abu Likaylik. They crossed the White Nile back into core Funj territory at Alays, where they were joined by Badi's son Nasir. They advanced on Sennar and surrounded it, but agreed to allow Badi to leave under an amnesty. Abu Likaylik then installed Nasir as sultan, and the regency began.

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