Shilluk people

Shilluk woman carrying a jar

Photo of Shilluk "material culture" from the late 1870s

More Shilluk "material culture"

The Shilluk people formed today's Shilluk Kingdom in southern Sudan in 1454. Historically, the Shilluk was a patriarchal monarchy led by a reth from the divine lineage of the cultural hero Nyikang, who is believed to affect the nation's health. Their society was once somewhat hierarchical, with castes of royals, nobles, commoners, and enslaved people.[1] Today, the Shilluk government is a democracy, with an elected headman voted in by a council of hamlet heads.[1]

The Shilluk are closely related to the Anuak people and Luo Nilotic members. The Shilluk language shares many words with the Anuak language (the dha anywaa).

Most Shilluk are sedentary agriculturists.[1] Like most Nilotic groups, cattle-raising is a large part of their economy; however, agriculture and fishing are more significant activities than usual. Both sexes engage in agricultural work.[1]

The Shilluk, along with the Dinka, have been considered some of the tallest people in the world. In an investigation between 1953-1954, D. F. Robers reported that Dinka Ruweng males were, on average, 181.3 cm (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) tall, while Shilluk males averaged 182.6 cm (6 ft 0 in).[2] General characteristics among the Nilotic people include long legs, narrow bodies, and short trunks, adaptations to South Sudan's hot climate.[3]

However, in 1995, male Shilluk refugees in southwestern Ethiopia were, on average, 172.6 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall. The study suggests that Nilotic people "may attain greater height if privileged with favorable environmental conditions during early childhood and adolescence, allowing full expression of the genetic material."[4] These refugees were displaced due to civil wars in their country from 1955 to the present.

Most Shilluk have converted to Christianity, while some still follow the traditional religion or a mixture of the two; a few have converted to Islam. The Shilluk pride themselves on being one of the first Nilotic groups to accept Christianity, the other being the Anuak people. [citation needed] The Episcopal Church of Sudan dates the event to the late 19th century, when the Church Mission Society first began to send missionaries.

Colonial policies and missionary movements have divided Shilluk into Catholic and Protestant denominations. The Catholic Church historically proselytized on the western bank of the Nile. It ran mission stations at Lul, Detwoc, Tonga, and Yoynyang. In contrast, the American Inland Mission ran a mission station at Doleib Hill, located south of Malakal on the eastern side of the Nile but situated on the Sobat River. The Shilluk were a minority in the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) for most of the Second Sudanese Civil War, their number peaking in the late 1980s and the pre-ceasefire fighting in 2004.

During the summer of 2010, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in an attempt to disarm the tribe and stop a local Shilluk rebellion, burned several villages and killed an untold number of civilians in South Sudan's Shilluk Kingdom.[5] Over 10,000 people were displaced during the rainy season and sent fleeing into the forest, often naked, without bedding, shelter, or food. Many children died from hunger and cold.[5]

The violence started again in April 2011 with an SPLA crackdown on rebel-controlled regions. Shilluk and Nuba were the alleged victims.[6]

Violence broke out again in Tonga in late 2022.[7]

• Corbett, Greville G. (2000). Numbers. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 156–158. ISBN 0-521-64970-6. This section discusses number systems in Dhok-Chollo.

• Media related to Shilluk at Wikimedia Commons
• The Shilluk people, their language and folklore (1912)
• The Gateway to Shilluk Community
• Library of Congress Photo of two Shilluk men, dated 1936
• Mayhem in Sudan's Shilluk Kingdom
• Shilluk, Dhocolo in South Sudan