African Kingdoms

Rafaï (Islamic Sultanate) (Africa)
c.AD 1886 - 1939

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The pre-history of Africa covers a long and uncertain stretch of unrecorded history. Much of this involves a great deal of uncertainty which can only be understood through archaeology. Even the more recent prehistory is shrouded in uncertainty, requiring analysis and archaeology to help define it.

Central Africa was poorly defined as a region until the creation of colonial-era territories. A collection of sultanates emerged in the eighteenth century, across the area which today is partially covered by Central African Republic (or CAR) and Chad to its north. The sultans here ruled large conquered populations in the north and east of CAR, usually as dependencies of larger sultanates to the north.

The title of sultan was later confirmed by colonial 'Congo Free State' agents for local rulers in Bangassou, Rafaï, and Zémio, in the early 1890s. These sultanates included the famous slave-trader, Muhammad al-Sanusi of Dar al-Kuti, along with the sultans Labasso of Bangassou, Hetman of Rafaï, and Zémio of the state of the same name, all heads of conquering minor dynasties.

Rafaï was formed from an amalgamation of Bandia and Zande tribal groups. The Bandia side of the equation was also responsible for the origins of Bangassou to the immediate west, in the form of the Nzakara of the Ubangi. In the Rafaï area, this sultanate's initial founder was Kassanga. Perhaps he was a warlord or an exile who had his own following, although he may also have been the brother of the Nzakara chief, Ndounga.

He conquered the east of Zande country, around the Chinko river basin. By circa 1800 he was the ruler of the Chinko river valley and the Bandia of the Chinko. Essentially this was Rafaï in its original form, but the situation in CAR was still highly fluid at this time. Few of the region's clan states seemingly possessed any longevity or enough power to secure their unchanged survival.

Instead, four generations later, Kassanga's state was under pressure from the east where the Mahdists had suddenly created a large and powerful holding of their own. Slave-trading raids from the north were also affecting the area, notably highly aggressive slave harvesting raids by Rabih of the Zobeir dynasty.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Richard A Bradshaw & Juan Fandos-Rius, by Doctor Jean Kokide (University of Bangui), from Monographie du Dar-Kouti-Oriental, Edmond A J Boucher (Typescript, 1934, copied and updated from the original by Pierre Claustre), from Dar al-Kuti and the Last Years of the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, Denis D Cordell (The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), from Un ancien royaume Bandia du Haut-Oubangui, Eric de Dampierre (Plon, Paris, 1967), from Central African Republic, Pierre Kalck (Praeger Publishers, 1971), from Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic, Pierre Kalck( Third Edition, Scarecrow Press, 2005), from Un explorateur du centre de l'Afrique, Paul Crampel (1864-1891), Pierre Kalck (L'Harmattan, Paris, 1993), from The New Atlas of African History, G S P Freeman-Grenville (Rex Collins, London, 1991), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, 1979), and from External Links: Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Central African Republic (World Statesmen), and Anne Retel-Laurentin et les Nzakara, Jean-Noël Biraben (Cahiers d'Études Africaines, Vol 27, Notebook 105/106, Démographie Historique, 1987, pp 187-197, and available via JSTOR).)

1886 - 1900

Conquered Djabir to create Rafaï sultanate. Died 15 June.

1886

Having ruled since about 1875, Rafai abandons his Bandia of the Chinko domains between the Chinko and the Moï rivers due to the Mahdist advance. He and his people make their way south where they are able to conquer much of the Djabir state and establish a royal court not far from that of the former Djabir rulers. This forms the basis of the Rafaï sultanate.

Sultan Rafai of the sultanate which bore his name died in July 1900, having refounded his father's clan state along the Chinko, and having readied his son and successor, Hetman, to take over without the traditional need to rename this political entity

1888 - 1889

War flares up between Rafai and the remaining Djabir kingdoms, causing Rafai to move again by the autumn of 1889. He takes his followers from an area to the south of the River Mbomou to the river's north bank, re-establishing his court in what will later be known as Rafai city.

1892 - 1895

The Rafaï sultanate becomes part of a Belgian Congo protectorate from 1892, but French forces occupy Rafai city and the sultanate to the north of the River Mbomou, as approved by the 12 July 1894 'France-Congo Free State' agreement.

1900 - 1939

Son? Last sultan. A name or a title?

1909

Governor Merwart signs a new French protectorate treaty with Sultan Hetman on 31 March 1909, having already signed a similar agreement with Bangassou in the previous month. In the summer of 1909, Governor Merwart fixes a definitive frontier between the two sultanates, no doubt to avoid conflict between the two.

Central Africa in 1897 was a land of uncertain, shifting borders, with small states expanding to incorporate previously stateless tribal societies (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1939

Upon the death of the last sultan, the sultanate is suppressed by the French. The sultanate comes under direct French administration within 'French Equatorial Africa' as part of their protectorate, although post-incorporation details appear to be thin on the ground.

1939 - 1966

Mayor of Rafaï. b c.1907 in Rafaï. Nat Assembly 1964-66.

1958 - 1960

'French Equatorial Africa' is dissolved as the republics become autonomous. Full independence from France is achieved in 1960. Dar al-Kuti's former ruling family remain prominent, holding positions of authority by 1974, but that of Bangassou seemingly fades into the background and Rafaï's is largely unknown.

After becoming newly-independent Central African Republic's first elected president, David Dacko (here seated, left, alongside President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi of Israel) took the country towards a dictatorship before being deposed, only to return to head a democratic government in 1979

Ubangi-Shari, which had been a colonial creation and which consists of territory between the Ubangi and Chari rivers, forms the core of a new state which also absorbs the former territory of Bangassou, Dar al-Kuti, Rafaï, and Zémio. The new state is to be known as Central African Republic.