Abstract

The Turco‐Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1820–1 was a tragic turning point in the history of the peripheral regions of the Ethiopian and Sudanese states. With the commencement of Turco‐Egyptian overrule, the indigenous peoples of Benishangul, Gambela, Bahr al-Jabal, and Bahr al-Ghazal became integrated into a wider political-economic order in which they had much to lose and little to win. The panorama of social disruption that followed this integration is similar to that of other African regions, which were treated as mere reservoirs of raw materials and forced labour by neighbouring states. This chapter presents an archaeological site that is most likely related to the Turco‐Egyptian control of Benishangul. It describes the structures, proposes a chronology based on historical inferences, and interprets them in the context of the economic exploitation of the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Finally, it addresses the issue of monumentality and its implications in a traditional African landscape.