African Tribes: The Sara


Figure 1.-- The Sara are a Nilotic people, meaning their origins are in the Nile Valley, including the African Great Lakes region and southwestern Ethiopia. They are believed to have migrated west from the Nile Valley through what is now the Sudan to Chad at a relatively late period (16th century). The Sara seem to have been one of many traditional cultural systems that broke down over centuries of attacks from Arab slave raiders. Tribes in the Nile valley wee especially exposed to the drepedations of Arab slave traders. Floating their caotives down the Nile was much easier than trudgeing across the Sahara. While the tribe may not be recognized by its name, some of its cosmetic practices have meant that most people have noted the tribe. Women traditionally elongated their lips using lip plates. Many men used scarification. Some European explorrs anf missionaries claim that this was an effort to make them less desirable to Arab slave traders (19th century). We can not yet confirm this.

The Sara (kameeni) have descended from the Sao people. They are the largest ethnic group in Chad and are also present in the Central African Republic and Congo Brazeville. The Sara were less touhed by French colonial policies than the more coastal tribes. They are mostly non-Muslim people. Some are Christians, perhaps 15 percent. Most adhere to traditional animist beliefs influenced by Egyptian religion. The Sara are concentrated in south-east of Chad, especially in the Moyen-Chari, Logone Oriental, Logone Occidental, and areas of the Tandjile regions. Tribes to the north tend to ne more Islamicized. The Sara are a Nilotic people, meaning their origins are in the Nile Valley, including the African Great Lakes region and southwestern Ethiopia. They are believed to have migrated west from the Nile Valley through what is now the Sudan to Chad at a relatively late period (16th century). The Sara seem to have been one of many traditional cultural systems that broke down over centuries of attacks from Arab slave raiders. Tribes in the Nile valley wee especially exposed to the drepedations of Arab slave traders. Floating their caotives down the Nile was much easier than trudgeing across the Sahara. While the tribe may not be recognized by its name, some of its cosmetic practices have meant that most people have noted the tribe. Women traditionally elongated their lips using lip plates. Many men used scarification. Some European explorrs anf missionaries claim that this was an effort to make them less desirable to Arab slave traders (19th century). We can not yet confirm this. The Sara are largely small-scale farmers. The constutute main stay of the Chadian economy. The cultivate cotton, rice, peanuts, corn, millet, sorghum, and cassava. Southeastern Chad is the best watered and most productive region of Chad which extends northb into the arid Sahel and Sahara. France began colonized Chad (late-19th century). This brought both forced labor and military recruitment. One source suggests that the Sara were the largest group of Sub-Saharan Africans to serve with the French during World War II. The French during the colonial period tended to romanticized the Sara with theirv tall, physically powerful presence. They wre called La Belle Race" (The beautiful race).







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Created: 6:55 PM 6/17/2013
Last updated: 6:56 PM 6/17/2013