Economic organization

Settlement patterns

The societies exhibited three different patterns of settlement. The Otoro lived in scattered groups. Otoro homesteads were scattered irregularly over hilltops and valleys, a number of homesteads constituting a village, villages combining to form hill communities, a number of which made up the tribe. The homesteads were the basic social and economic unit. In contrast, the Fur had more compact settlements. The Fur lived in homesteads, a number of which constituted a village. The third type of settlement pattern was that of the Humr Baqqārah, who lived in tent camps. Their nomadic existence did not permit the formation of permanent settlements.

Production and technology

The economy of most of the peoples of Sudan was and still is dependent on cultivation, with animal husbandry, and sometimes hunting and fishing, providing an important supplement to agriculture. A wide variety of crops are grown, including grain, sesame, vegetables, sorghum, corn (maize), peanuts (groundnuts), and cotton, the latter two sometimes as cash crops.

Among the Humr Baqqārah, cultivation is a subsidiary occupation. They move in a regular seasonal cycle according to the availability of water and grass. In winter, or at the end of the rains, they move south, and in spring, or during the rains, they move north. Some cultivation of millet and of cotton as a cash crop is undertaken. Throughout their territory the Humr Baqqārah have communal grazing rights, whereas cultivable plots of land are owned individually and handed down from father to son.

The technology of these societies was formerly simple. Among the Otoro the making of bedsteads, mat weaving, and pottery making were undertaken. There were ironworkers in every Fur village; other Fur crafts included tanning and weaving of cloth and basketry. The Humr Baqqārah produced leather goods and basketry to meet their own needs.

Property and exchange systems

Land among the Otoro and Fur was the principal economic asset. Among the Otoro, land could be acquired through inheritance, purchase, and lease and by clearing and cultivating new areas. The Otoro and the rest of the Nuba tribes converted nearly their whole agricultural surplus into livestock. Although livestock were used for clan sacrifices, the animals were not sold for money, and neither were they slaughtered for meat. Among the Nuba tribes, however, people used livestock for certain standardized payments such as bridewealth or gifts to kin relations. Iron, because of its rarity and its use in weapons and tools, became the standard medium of exchange. Handicraft products were purchased with such goods as grain, sesame, hoes, spears, goats, and ax heads and, later, with money.

Whereas livestock is a secondary source of wealth to the Otoro, cattle are the primary source of wealth, prestige, and political position for the Humr Baqqārah. Cattle were once the medium of exchange, but during the 20th century cash became significant.

Among the Fur, property consists of houses, domestic articles, rolls of cloth, and cattle kept mainly for resale. Rights over land are held jointly by descent groups and are vested in a titleholder. There are organized marketplaces in which the medium of exchange has been, and still is, money. Previously, cloth may have served as a medium of exchange. Agricultural products are exchanged for tools and utensils, cloth, and other commodities.