Darfur

The kingdom of Darfur, located on the dry grasslands of the Sudan approximately midway between the Middle Nile and the Niger River, played an important role in the transcontinental trade routes that carried various commodities such as gold, salt, ivory, and slaves from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans throughout the 16th century.

The name means “house of the Fur” in Arabic and refers to the agricultural Fur peoples ruled by the Tunjur, who had built a non-Muslim kingdom perhaps as early as the fourth century. According to traditional lore, the Tunjur replaced the earlier Daju kingdom. Archaeological excavation of the ruins in the ancient cities in the Darfur region suggests that the earliest kingdoms were Christian, probably descended from the exiled Meroe kingdoms of the Middle Nile. This is significant in several ways: Not only does it suggest that Christianity spread farther into the African continent from the east than was previously believed, but also that Islam came to dominate the region much later than had been assumed. Indeed, the Muslim faith most likely came to Darfur in the 14th or 15th century, gaining a certain foothold only with the conquering Kanem-Bornu king Mai Idris Alooma (r. 1571-1603) as late as the 17th century.

After the death of Mai (“king”) Idris, Sulayman established the Keira dynasty of the independent Fur kingdom of Darfur. The Keira Sultanate reigned until 1916, when the Darfur kingdom became part of the British Empire.

Further reading: Robert Fay, “Darfur,” in Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, eds. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999), 562-563; “Kanem-Bornu and the Hausa States,” in Basil Davidson, West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850 (London: Longman, 1998), esp. 63-90; “Kingdoms of the Old Sudan,” in Basil Davidson, The Lost Cities of Africa (Boston: Little, Brown, 1987), esp. 51-124.

—Lisa M. Brady

Da Vinci, Leonardo See Leonardo da Vinci.

De La Warr, Lord (1577-1618) governor Thomas West, 12th baron De La Warr, was an important early figure in the development of English colonial America, particularly in Jamestown, Virginia, following its early difficulties.

De La Warr attended the University of Oxford but never received a degree. He enjoyed travel and adventure, participating in both as a private citizen and an army officer. His military career was notable and earned him a knighthood in 1599. His superior officer and mentor was the earl of Essex, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s favorites and a man who was executed for a plot against the government. De La Warr became implicated in the rebellion because of his close association to the leader of the plot. Before he died Essex wrote to the queen and absolved De La Warr of complicity. She must have listened, because after attaining peerage at his father’s death De La Warr became a member of Elizabeth’s Privy Council.

De La Warr became a member of the Council of Virginia in 1609 as the Virginia Company of London reorganized. The company recognized that Jamestown colony was failing, and the reorganization sought to change its course. In 1610 De La Warr was appointed lord governor and captain general of the Virginia colony. His appointment was for life, and he joined the struggling settlement in the early summer. He had learned strict discipline in the army, and once he arrived in Jamestown he implemented rigorous new demands upon the colony’s residents. He appointed a council from among Jamestown’s prominent residents and organized the colony’s work. Many of Jamestown’s early settlers had died of starvation during the first few winters, so some of De La Warr’s work units were sent into the wilderness to look for food. Among his legal and social reforms was the death penalty, instituted for a variety of offenses, including laziness. In addition, because disease had contributed to Jamestown’s early problems, colonists were whipped if they relieved themselves within a quarter mile of the colony’s fort. The result was that formerly indolent Virginians began working in fort and field, and the colony’s prospects improved. While some saw his measures as draconian, they worked. The Virginia colony stabilized.

Returning to England in 1611, De La Warr reported that the colony could succeed. He also recommended

Choosing future colonists with care to avoid the perils of lethargy and fecklessness exhibited by many of the first settlers. De La Warr spent seven years in England while retaining his colonial titles and responsibilities. Jamestown prospered during this period, although tobacco, rather than Lord De La Warr, can be credited for the success.

In early 1618 De La Warr set sail for Virginia once again, but he never arrived. He died at sea; the cause, date, and place are unknown. While De La Warr’s involvement with the Virginia colony was brief and interrupted by a long visit to England, historians credit him with saving Jamestown, thus making it the first permanent English settlement in North America. His accomplishments were not forgotten by succeeding generations of colonists. The Delaware River, Delaware Bay, the colony and state of Delaware, as well as the Delaware Indian Nation all commemorate Lord De La Warr’s contributions to England’s first empire.

Further reading: Warren M. Billings, John E. Selby, and Thad W. Tate, Colonial Virginia: A History (White Plains, N. Y.: KTO Press, 1986); “De La Warr, Lord,” in Dictionary of National Biography; Richard L. Morton, Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1: The Tidewater Period, 1607—1710 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960); John A. Munroe, Colonial Delaware: A History (White Plains, N. Y.: KTO Press, 1978).

—David P Dewar

Dengel, Lebna (Dauti [David] II) (ca. 1496-1540) emperor of Ethiopia

Emperor of the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia (see Ethiopia) from 1508 to 1540, Lebna Dengel successfully defended his kingdom from Muslim invaders in 1516 but could not repel the invaders in 1527.

Born in 1496, Lebna Dengel acceded to the Abyssinian throne upon the death of his father, Naod, in 1508. Because Dengel was only 12 years old at the time, his mother, Helena, served as regent. Muslim unrest and invasion characterized the early years of Dengel’s rule, and as regent Helena requested the help of the Portuguese to defend the ancient kingdom from the Muslims. Dengel came into power in his own right before the Portuguese delegation arrived and suppressed a Muslim rebellion by the Adal sultanate at Zelia, a city on the Red Sea, in 1516. A Portuguese embassy arrived in Abyssinia in 1520 but left in 1527 after receiving a cool reception by Dengel. That same year Muslims under Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim assaulted Dengel’s kingdom. The Adalite Muslims succeeded this time, destroyed monasteries for several years, and forced the largely Christian population in Abyssinia to convert to Islam. Dengel once again turned to Portugal for assistance, suggesting in 1535 that the Ethiopian Church be attached to the Roman See. Unsuccessful in ousting the Muslim invaders, Dengel fled to a monastery in Debra Damo (Ethiopia), where he died on September 2, 1540, before the Portuguese returned.

Further reading: “Lebna Dengel,” in Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, eds. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999), 1,142; “Lebna Dengel,” in Dictionary of African Historical Biography, 2nd ed., eds. Mark R. Lipschutz and R. Kent Rasmussen (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 119-120.

—Lisa M. Brady

Dias, Bartholomeu (1450?-1500) explorer of Africa A Portuguese navigator of the 15th century, Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.

Little is known of Dias’s early life, although several Portuguese historians claim he was a relative or descendent of Joao Dias, who sailed around Cape Bojador in 1434, and of Diniz Dias. In 1481 Dias gained valuable seafaring knowledge when he accompanied Diogo d’Azambuja on an expedition to the Gold Coast. In addition to this early expedition, Dias served as a cavalier of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses, and as sailing master of the man-of-war San Christovao before October 10, 1486, when King John (Joao) II commissioned him to lead an expedition aimed at sailing around the southern tip of the African continent in search of the Christian African king known as Prester John.

Following 10 months of preparation, Dias departed from Lisbon in late July or early August 1487. He was equipped with two armed caravels, each weighing 50 tons, and one supply ship, commanded by his brother Pero. After sailing first to the mouth of the Congo, Dias followed the African coast before entering Walfisch Bay, where he probably erected stone columns near the present-day Angra Pequena. Stopping for a few days to take in water and supplies, he met a number of native Africans, who were intermittently hostile and friendly. Dias’s crew included a few Africans whom the Portuguese had hoped would serve as interpreters, but the Natives they encountered spoke different languages.

At approximately 29 degrees south latitude a violent storm lasting 13 days drove Dias and his crew far beyond the cape to the south. Vision impaired, Dias did not sight the cape when his ship rounded it. When calm weather resumed, he sailed eastward. Failing to immediately sight land, he turned in a northerly direction, landing in Mossel Bay. Following the coastline, Dias reached Algoa Bay, the northern-most point of the expedition. On the return voyage Dias sighted the cape, naming it Cabo Tormentoso (“Cape of Storms”), although the name was later changed to the Cape of Good Hope.

Dias returned to Lisbon 16 months after setting sail. There is no extant logbook, chronicle, or diary of his voyage, although Joao de Barros recorded the event some 60 years later. In addition, there is little extant evidence relating to the reception Dias received upon his return, although it appears as though John I gave him only lukewarm congratulations. The Portuguese monarch failed to follow up promptly on Dias’s expedition. Only nine years later did he commission a similar voyage, this time with Vasco da Gama in charge and Dias along in a subordinate position. In 1500 Dias was involved in yet another expedition, this one led by Pedro Alvares Cabral, but Dias perished when his ship wrecked near the Cape of Good Hope, the landmark he had discovered 13 years earlier.

Further reading: Eric Axelson, South-East Africa, 14881699 (Cape Town: 1973); Bailey W. Diffie and George D. Winius, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977); Edgar Prestage, The Portuguese Pioneers (London: A&C Black, 1933); E. G. Ravenstein, “The Voyages of Diego Cao and Bartholomew Dias,” The Geographical Journal XVI (1900): 625-655.

—Matthew Lindaman

Dfaz del Castillo, Bernal (1492-1584) Spanish historian and soldier

A foot soldier, Diaz accompanied Hernan CoRTES on his conquest of Mexico and later recorded the events in the novel-like True History of the Conquest of Mexico.

Bernal Diaz del Castillo was born in the noble town of Medina del Campo in 1492. By the time Bernal reached his early 20s, he followed the example of many Spanish youths, leaving in 1514 for the New World in search of fame and wealth. Altogether, Diaz participated in three exploratory ventures to Mexico, all launched from Spanish strongholds in Cuba. The third venture, piqued by the knowledge and allure of Mexican gold, was launched in 1521. Directed by Hernan Cortes, it possessed just more than 500 soldiers. Marching inland, the expedition met many CACiqUEs and chieftains coming in advance of MoCTEZUMA II. Vacillating between diplomacy and a declaration of war, the Aztec sovereign kept to the former until the Spaniards made him a prisoner in his own palace. Collecting an immense treasure, Cortes and his party proceeded with an 85-day siege of the Aztec capital.

Following the conquest of the AzTECS, the Spaniards fanned out across Mexico looking for Moctezuma’s mines. Seeking rewards of his own, Diaz returned briefly to Spain in 1539, making his case for a share of the riches. For his efforts he was granted a claim in Guatemala, where he settled permanently, serving as a magistrate of his community. During the 1560s the aging ex-soldier of Cortes assembled a manuscript that chronicled the conquest of Mexico. It is generally assumed that he undertook the project to correct a work entitled The History of the Conquest of Mexico published in 1552 by a former chaplain of Cortes’s named Francisco Lopez de Gomara. Never having set foot in the New World, the chaplain’s account exalted the figure of Cortes at the expense of his soldiers. Diaz sought balance in his novel-like account, describing the merits of all participants in the venture, including the native Aztecs.

From his chronicle readers learned of explorations along the coast, the inland march, the luxury of Moctezuma’s palace, the capture of the monarch, the siege and destruction of the Aztec capital, and the division of the spoils. The chronicle contains numerous colorful anecdotes to go along with invented speeches and dialogues. At the same time, it represents history as told by a common foot-soldier, a private who slogged through mud, endured hunger, and narrowly escaped with his life on numerous occasions—all taking place in a foreign and uncharted land. Diaz’s writing style was no doubt influenced by the “romances of chivalry” that, beginning around 1500, influenced and captivated readers in all the literate classes throughout the 16th century. Highlighting the concept of life in which virtue, strength, and passion were all transcendent, this genre brought to readers accounts of fantastic places, riches, monsters, and wonders. In the process, authors like Diaz promulgated myths including El Dorado, Fountains of Youth, Amazons, the Seven Enchanted Cities, and other will-o’-the-wisps.

Further reading: Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain, trans. J. M. Cohen (London: Folio

Society, 1963);-, The Discovery and Conquest of

Mexico, 1517-1521, ed. Genaro Garcia, trans. A. P Maud-slay (New York: Farrar, Strauss, Cudahy, 1958).

—Matthew Lindaman