They gained official control over the region of Aswan, Wadi Allaqi and the frontier zone in the early 11th century when their chief, Abu al-Makarim Hibatallah, captured a major rebel on behalf of the Fatimid authorities.
The Banu Kanz entered into conflict with the Ayyubids in 1174, during which they were defeated and forced to migrate southward into northern Nubia, where they helped accelerate the expansion of Islam in the mostly Christian region.
[4] In 855, Abdullah ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Umari, a Medina native who studied in al-Fustat and Kairouan, emigrated to Aswan, where he sought to profit from the region's gold mines.
[5] Al-Umari and the Mudhar were driven out of Wadi Allaqi and Aswan by the Rabi'ah and proceeded to set up their encampments and mining colony at al-Shanka, to the east of the Kingdom of Makuria ("al-Maqurra" in Arabic).
[3] Although he twice defeated the Egyptian army of Ahmad ibn Tulun, the governor of Egypt (r. 868–884), and forced the latter to cease attempts to subjugate him, al-Umari assassinated by Mudhar tribesmen after suppressing a revolt by Rabi'ah.
[6] The Rabi'ah was able to grow powerful because of their alliance with the indigenous Beja people, namely the Muslim Hadariba tribe, which controlled the region between the Red Sea coastline and the eastern banks of the Nile River.
[6] Thus, by 943, Ishaq ibn Bishr, who was born to a Rabi'ah father, became the chief of the Rabi'ah-Hadariba principality after succeeding his maternal Beja uncles Abdak and Kawk.
[9] The caliphs accorded the Kanz al-Dawla responsibility for regulating Fatimid diplomatic ties and commerce with Nubia, tax collection in the frontier villages, protecting the mines of Wadi Allaqi and travelers and caravans passing through the principality.
[9] In 1168, the Banu Kanz provided safe haven to the disbanded black African regiments of the Fatimid army by the influential aides of Caliph al-Adid, Shirkuh and his nephew Saladin.
In 1171/72, the Nubian army, together with the Fatimids' former black African contingents, attempted to occupy Upper Egypt and sacked Aswan, prompting the Kanz al-Dawla to request military assistance from Saladin, to which he complied.
[12] Accordingly, the Banu Kanz and the Arab tribes of Upper Egypt felt that their iqta (fiefs) and official privileges were threatened by the new Ayyubid order.
[14] With the loss of their capital, the Banu Kanz migrated south to occupy Maris, where Nubian control of the region had been significantly diminished due to the Ayyubid punitive expedition in 1172.
[18] During the reign of Sultan Barquq, the latter dispatched the Berber tribesmen of the Hawwara confederation to Upper Egypt and the frontier region to counter the Banu Kanz.