# Hakura system

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The ***hakura* system** was a method of land allocation in the [Sultanate of Darfur](/source/Sultanate_of_Darfur). The system was based on charters or *hawakir* (singular *hakura*) issued by the sultan entitling one to ownership of a certain estate, usually as a [freehold](/source/Freehold_(law)), sometimes as [fiefs](/source/Fiefs) in exchange for tribute or rent.[1] The possessors of *hawakir* were usually wealthy aristocrats, while most of the estates granted were worked by slaves or bondservants. A distinction can be made between the [demesne](/source/Demesne) lands of the estate-holder, whose slaves he personally owned, and the rest of the *hakura*, from whose inhabitants he exacted tribute and who owned their own slaves.[2]

The *hakura* system was introduced to Darfur during the reign of [Kuuru](/source/Kuuru), the second sultan of the [Keira dynasty](/source/Keira_dynasty). When the itinerant court finally settled down around [El Fasher](/source/El_Fasher) towards 1790, the land around the capital was gradually given out to courtiers through *hawakir*. In exchange these landholders were responsible for tax collection on their estates, which were the most heavily taxed in the country.[3] The right to employ nomads as herders was sometimes granted to *hakura* holders.[2]

After the [conquest of Darfur](/source/Invasion_of_Darfur_(1916)) in 1916, the [Anglo-Egyptian government](/source/Anglo-Egyptian_Condominium) abolished the *hakura* system and abolished slavery, effecting "the release of Sudanese servants".[1]

## Notes

1. de Waal 2005, p. 49.

1. O'Fahey 1986, pp. 91–92.

1. de Waal 2005, pp. 60–61.

## Sources

- O'Fahey, R. S. (1986). "Slavery and Society in Dar Fur". *Slaves and Slavery in Africa, Volume 2: The Servile Estate*. Willis, John R. (ed.). Florence, KY: Routledge. pp. 82–99.
- de Waal, Alex (2005). [*Famine That Kills: Darfur*](https://archive.org/details/faminethatkillsd00dewa). Cary, NC: Oxford University Press.

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