Magyarab people

The Magyarab[1][2] are a small community living within Nubia, along the Nile in Sudan and Egypt. They have distant Hungarian ancestors who intermarried with locals[3] and probably date back to the late 16th century, when portions of both Hungary and Egypt were part of the Ottoman Empire.

Magyarabs
Regions with significant populations
 Egypt and  Sudan : 7,000[1]
Languages
Arabic (Egyptian Arabic and Sudanese Arabic), English
formerly Hungarian
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Hungarians, Nubians, Egyptians

Name

The name "Magyarab" is not a portmanteau of the words "Magyar" and "Arab", as is commonly assumed. Rather, it is a concatenation of "Magyar" (Hungarian) and "Ab", which in Nubian means simply "tribe". Magyarab combined thus translates to "Tribe of the Magyars". In fact, to the Magyarab people, their Hungarian identity specifically sets them apart from the surrounding Egyptians.

History

According to legend, Christian Hungarians who had only recently been brought under the control of the Ottoman Empire formed a part of the Ottoman army that was fighting in southern Egypt. Supposedly, a portion or the entirety of the fighting unit remained there and intermarried with the local Nubian women.

According to local Magyarabs, their ancestor was Ibrahim el-Magyar, a general who came from Buda (present-day Budapest) in 1517, he married with a local Nubian woman, they had a son called Ali. Ali had five sons (Selami, Mustafa, Djelal Eddin, Musa and Iksa), and Ali's five sons were the ancestor of all Magyarabs. Magyarabs have been members of the World Federation of Hungarians (Magyarok Világszövetsége) since 1992 and still consider themselves as Hungarians.

They were not discovered by Europeans until 1935, when László Almásy, who was himself Hungarian, and his co-worker, the German engineer and explorer Hansjoachim von der Esch, happened upon the tribe in the region of Nubia. Representatives of the tribes later attempted to make contact with Hungarian officials but failed to do so because of the outbreak of World War II.

These people now have a mixed-race appearance because the intermarriage with the local Nubian population, and they do not speak Hungarian. Around 1934, however, Esch, who spent several weeks with the population of the Magyarab island at Wadi Halfa, put together a list of non-Arabic words that were used only on that island and, according to him, were recognized by Almásy as similar to Hungarian words. His notes showed that all Magyarab in Wadi Halfa were convinced that their ancestors came from "Nemsa" (the Arabic word for Austria), which might refer to any region of Austria-Hungary. He was told by the leader of the Magyarab island village that their ancestors had arrived in Egypt/Sudan as a group of "Austrian" soldiers, led by a man called Shenghal Sendjer, which Esch assumed to have been originally General Sendjer or Senger.[3]

Magyarab communities

Magyarabs live along the Nile, in Sudan around Wadi Halfa, in Egypt around Aswan in the villages of Magyarab-irki, Magyararti, Magyariyya, Magyar-nirki, Hillit el-Magyarab and about 400 Magyarabs live in Cairo.

References
  1. Géza Balázs, The Story of Hungarian: A Guide to the Language, Corvina Books, 1997,p. 20
  2. Iván Boldizsár, The New Hungarian Quarterly, Volume 7, Lapkiadó Publishing House, 1966, p. 148
  3. Hansjoachim von der Esch, Weenak - die Karawane ruft (Brockhaus, Leipzig 1941)

Sources

Detailed report about a Hungarian expedition:

Other references:


  • Topographic map of the Wadi Halfa region in 1958 (prior to the filling of Lake Nasser/Nubia) which shows "Magarab I." (i.e., Magyarab Island) near the top. Published by the British War Office and Air Ministry in 1960.
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