Shilluk people
Cøllø | |
|---|---|
 Two Shilluk men, photographed in 1936 near Malakal, South Sudan | |
| Total population | |
| 500,000-700,000[citation needed] | |
| Languages | |
| Shilluk, English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity African traditional religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Luo peoples, other Nilotic peoples |
The Shilluk (Shilluk: Chollo) are a major Luo Nilotic ethnic group that resides in the northeastern Upper Nile state of South Sudan on the western bank of the White Nile River in Upper Nile. Before the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Shilluk also lived in settlements on the northern bank of the Sobat River, close to where the Sobat joins the Nile in the defunct Sobat district and in particular Baliet county today. The defunct Sobat district was made up of the Current Baliet County, Akoka County and Malakal City Council, and the indigenous residents of these counties are people of Padang Dinka with their different sections, who are residing in Jonglei Canal and Atar on the White Nile and around the Sobat River confluence with the White Nile along both banks of Sobat River eastward up to Doma North of Sobat and Ashweel South of Sobat River. And also, these Padang people are residence of the whole White Nile eastern Bank up to the border of the Sudan in Renk county today. The borders of Padang and Chollo Kingdon is the White Nile River.
The Shilluk are the third-largest ethnic group of southern Sudan, after the Dinka and Nuer.
Their language is called Dhøg Cøllø, dhøg being the Shilluk word for language and mouth. It belongs to the Luo branch of the Western Nilotic subfamily of the Nilotic languages.
History
[edit]Origins
[edit]The Shilluk trace their ancestry through a mythic genealogy preserved through oral tradition. Though minor variations occur across regions and even among individual narrators, the essential structure remains stable. These traditions were recorded by D.S. Oyler in Nikawng and the Shilluk migration (1918), and provide insight into Shilluk cosmology and royal origins.[1]
The genealogical sequence begins with a supernatural union and proceeds as follows:
Omaro, the son of a mysterious river cow and Nikia, the sister of the crocodile,
- was the father of Kolo,
- who was the father of Moel,
- who was the father of Okwa,
- who in turn was the father of Nyikang (also spelled Nikawng), the founding hero of the Shilluk people.[1]
The Shilluk regard their ancestral homeland as a distant and sacred place, located "up the Nile" and referred to as the land of Duwot or the country of Kero. This mythic land is imagined as the "head of the earth," a place where death did not exist. Instead, when individuals grew old and feeble, they were left in the cattle yard, where trampling by cows would reduce them to the size of infants—after which they would grow up again, thus renewing life in a perpetual cycle.[1]
Nyikang’s departure from this deathless land marks the foundational moment in Shilluk history. The narrative is preserved as follows:
"When Okwa ceased to be king of the country, Nyikang was a candidate for the kingship. He was defeated by his half brother, Duwot. Being unwilling to give allegiance to his half brother, he left the country. The parting was dramatic. As he started to stalk off, Duwot called to him to look behind him. He merely turned his head, and Duwot threw a long sharpened stick after him. It is the same tool that the Shilluks still use for planting their crops, but it was the symbol of death. It was a warning to Nyikang that he was going to a land where death reigned. The sharpened stick was to be used in digging the graves of his dead. He accepted the stick in a defiant manner. He said: 'Some of my people will die, and those who remain will increase before they die.' One of his friends started to run after him to plead with him to remain, but Duwot warned him that he must choose between Duwot and Nyikang. As he seemed to hesitate, Nyikang called without looking back for him to go back to Duwot."[1]
Shilluk kingdom
[edit]The Shilluk people formed today's Shilluk Kingdom in southern Sudan in 1454. Historically, it was a patriarchal monarchy led by a reth from the divine lineage of the culture 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.[2] Today, the Shilluk government is a democracy, with an elected headman voted in by a council of hamlet heads.[2]
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.[2] 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.[2]
Culture
[edit]Marriage and family
[edit]
Among the Shilluk, marriage is a culturally significant institution marked by the transfer of bride-wealth which traditionally included about ten head of cattle, several sheep (diek nom), and symbolic items such as spears (jam nom). While these form the ideal, the amount was negotiable depending on the groom’s means. The process traditionally involves formal ceremonies—cattle exchange, a wedding feast at the bride’s home, a symbolic mock battle between families, and the couple’s relocation to the groom’s family compound. The bride often returns to her natal home to give birth to her first child, affirming lineage ties.[3]
In urban areas like Juba, these customs persist in modified forms. One chief noted that families may accept smaller payments—such as three goats or a modest cash sum—making marriage more accessible to youth. Public celebrations are held in communal spaces, with community contributions reinforcing collective involvement. Despite economic and social shifts, Shilluk marriage continues to emphasize respect, kinship, and cultural continuity.[4]
Religion
[edit] |
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 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.
Physique
[edit]The Shilluk, along with the Dinka, have been considered some of the tallest people in the world. In an investigation between 1953 and 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).[5] General characteristics among the Nilotic people include long legs, narrow bodies, and short trunks, adaptations to South Sudan's hot climate.[6]
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."[7] These refugees were displaced due to the Sudanese civil wars in their country from 1955 to the present.
Recent history
[edit]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.[8] 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.[8]
Violence started again in April 2011 with an SPLA crackdown on rebel-controlled regions. The Shilluk and Nuba were the alleged victims.[9]
Violence broke out again in late 2022.[10]
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ a b c d Oyler, D.S (1918). Nikawng and the Shilluk migration. Cairo: Printing-Office of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology. p. 108. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Shilluk | people | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ^ Burton, John; Adem, Teferi. "Culture Summary:Shilluk". World Cultures. New Haven: Yale. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
- ^ Akile, Emmanuel (February 2024). "Chief explains high rate of Collo weddings in Juba". Eye Radio. Eye Media Ltd. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
- ^ Roberts, D. F.; Bainbridge, D. R. (1963). Bainbridge, D. R (ed.). "Nilotic physique". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 21 (3): 341–370. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330210309. ISSN 0002-9483. PMID 14159970.
- ^ Stock, Jay (Summer 2006). "Skeleton key". Planet Earth: 26.
- ^ Chali D (1995). "Anthropometric measurements of the Nilotic tribes in a refugee camp". Ethiopian Medical Journal. 33 (4): 211–7. PMID 8674486.
- ^ a b "Sudan: Transcending tribe". Aljazeera.net/english, LLC. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ "Southern Sudan: Abuses on Both Sides in Upper Nile Clashes". Juba: Worldnews.com. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
- ^ South Sudan: ‘Raw violence’ displaces thousands during ‘ruthless conflict’, UNHCR says, UN News, United Nations, December 7, 2022
References
[edit]- 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.
