The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar (after its capital
Sennar
Sennar ( ar, سنار ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. It remains publicly unclear whether Sennar or Singa is the capital of Sennar State. For several centuries it was the capital of the F ...
) or Blue Sultanate due to the traditional Sudanese convention of referring to black people as blue () was a
monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...
in what is now
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, northwestern
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
and western
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. Founded in 1504 by the
Funj people
The Funj are an ethnic group in present-day Sudan. The Funj set up the Funj Sultanate with Abdallah Jamma and ruled the area for several centuries. The Funj rose in southern Nubia and had overthrown the remnants of the old Christian kingdom of Al ...
, it quickly converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, although this embrace was only nominal. Until a more orthodox Islam took hold in the 18th century, the state remained an "African empire with a Muslim
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
". It reached its peak in the late 17th century, but declined and eventually fell apart in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1821, the
last sultan, greatly reduced in power, surrendered to the
Ottoman Egyptian invasion without a fight.
History
Origins
Christian Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin language, Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue ...
, represented by the two
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
kingdoms of
Makuria
Makuria (Old Nubian: , ''Dotawo''; gr, Μακουρία, Makouria; ar, المقرة, al-Muqurra) was a Nubian kingdom located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. Makuria originally covered the area along the Nile River from the ...
and
Alodia
Alodia, also known as Alwa ( grc-gre, Aρουα, ''Aroua''; ar, علوة, ''ʿAlwa''), was a medieval kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of ...
, began to decline from the 12th century. By 1365 Makuria had virtually collapsed and was reduced to a petty kingdom restricted to
Lower Nubia
Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...
, until finally disappearing 150 years later. The fate of Alodia is less clear. It has been suggested that it collapsed already as early as the 12th century or shortly after, as archaeology suggests that in this period,
Soba
Soba ( or , "buckwheat") is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or hot in a noodle soup. The variety ''Nagano soba'' includes wheat flour.
In Japan, soba noodles can be found i ...
ceased to be used as its capital. By the 13th century central Sudan seemed to have disintegrated into various petty states. Between the 14th and 15th centuries Sudan was overran by
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
tribes. In the 15th century one of these Bedouins, whom
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
ese traditions refer to as
Abdallah Jammah, is recorded to have created a tribal federation and to have subsequently destroyed what was left of Alodia. In the early 16th century Abdallah's federation came under attack of an invader from the south, the
Funj
The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar (after its capital Sennar) or Blue Sultanate due to the traditional Sudanese convention of referring to black people as blue () was a monarchy in what is now Sudan, northwestern E ...
.
The ethnic affiliation of the Funj is still disputed. The first and second of the three most prominent theories suggest that they were either Nubians or Shilluk, while, according to the third theory, the Funj were not an ethnic group, but a social class.
In the 14th century a Muslim Funj trader named al-Hajj Faraj al-Funi was involved in the Red Sea trade. According to oral traditions the Dinka, who migrated upstream the White and Blue Nile since the 13th-century disintegration of Alodia, came in conflict with the Funj, who the Dinka defeated. In the late 15th/early 16th century the
Shilluk arrived at the junction of the
Sobat
Sobat may refer to:
* Sobat, Afghanistan
*Sobat River, in South Sudan
*, a British coaster
* Synchronized On-Board Audio Track (SOBAT), an audio playback technology used in Walt Disney Parks and Resorts rides
* Gail Sidonie Sobat, Canadian writer, ...
and the White Nile, where they encountered a sedentary people Shilluk traditions refer to as ''Apfuny'', ''Obwongo'' and/or ''Dongo'', a people now equated with the Funj. Said to be more sophisticated than the Shilluk, they were defeated in a series of brutal wars and either assimilated or pushed north. Anti-Funj propaganda from the later period of the kingdom referred to the Funj as "pagans from the White Nile" and "barbarians" who had originated from the "primitive southern swamps".
In 1504 the Funj defeated Abdallah Jammah and founded the Funj sultanate.
Ottoman threat and revolt of Ajib
![A lady of Sennar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/A_lady_of_Sennar.jpg)
In 1523 the kingdom was visited by
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
traveller
David Reubeni
David Reubeni (1490–1535/1541?) was a Jewish political activist, described by the ''Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia'' as "half- mystic, half-adventurer." Although some scholars are reluctant to believe his claims to nobility, citing suspicions ...
, who disguised himself as a
Sharif
Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, fr ...
. Sultan
Amara Dunqas Amara Dunqas was the first ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar, which he ruled from 1504 - 1533/4. "Dunqas" is an epithet meaning "bent down, with an inclined head", referring to the way of how he required his subjects to approach him.
According to Jam ...
, Reubeni wrote, was continuously travelling through his kingdom. He, who "ruled over black people and white" between the region south of the Nile confluence to as far north as Dongola, owned large herds of various types of animals and commanded many captains on horseback. Two years later,
Ottoman admiral
Selman Reis Selman Reis was an Ottoman admiral and former corsair who was active in the Mamluk Navy of Egypt and later in the Ottoman Navy against the Portuguese in the first half of the 16th century. Selman Reis was originally from the Aegean island of Lesbo ...
mentioned Amara Dunqas and his kingdom, calling it weak and easily conquerable. He also stated that Amara paid an annual tribute of 9.000 camels to the
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...
. One year later the Ottomans occupied
Sawakin
Suakin or Sawakin ( ar, سواكن, Sawákin, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north.
Suakin used to b ...
, which beforehand was associated with Sennar. It seems that to counter the Ottoman expansion in the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
region, the Funj engaged in an alliance with Ethiopia. Besides camels the Funj are known to have exported horses to Ethiopia, which were then used in war against the
Muslims of Zeila and later, when they tried to
expand their domains in Ethiopia, the Ottomans.
Before the Ottomans got a foothold in Ethiopia, in 1555,
Özdemir Pasha
Özdemir Pasha (died 1561, Sana, Yemen Eyalet) was a Mamluk general for the Ottoman Empire, of Kumyk descent.''Mustafa Müftüoğlu.'' Yalan söyleyen tarih utansın!--. — Çile Yayınevi, 1981. — 384 с. He joined Hadım Süleyman Pasha's ca ...
was appointed
Beylerbey
''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks ...
of the (yet to be conquered)
Habesh Eyalet
, common_name = Habesh Eyalet
, subdivision = Eyalet
, nation = the Ottoman Empire
, year_start = 1554
, year_end = 1872
, life_span =
, date_start = ...
. He attempted to march upstream along the Nile to conquer the Funj, but his troops revolted when they approached the
first Nile cataract. Until 1570, however, the Ottomans had established themselves in
Qasr Ibrim
Qasr Ibrim ( ar, قصر ابريم; Meroitic: ''Pedeme''; Old Nubian: ''Silimi''; Coptic: ⲡⲣⲓⲙ ''Prim''; Latin: ''Primis'') is an archaeological site in Lower Nubia, located in the modern country of Egypt. The site has a long history o ...
in
Lower Nubia
Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...
, most likely a preemptive move to secure
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
from Funj aggression. Fourteen years later they had pushed as far south as the third Nile cataract and subsequently attempted to conquer
Dongola
Dongola ( ar, دنقلا, Dunqulā), also spelled ''Dunqulah'', is the capital of the state of Northern Sudan, on the banks of the Nile, and a former Latin Catholic bishopric (14th century). It should not be confused with Old Dongola, an ancien ...
, but, in 1585, were crushed by the Funj at the
battle of Hannik. Afterwards, the battlefield, which was located just south of the third Nile cataract, would mark the border between the two kingdoms. In the late 16th century the Funj pushed towards the neighbourhood of the Habesh Eyalet, conquering north-western
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
. Failing to make progress against both the Funj sultanate and Ethiopia, the Ottomans abandoned their policy of expansion. Thus, from the 1590s onwards, the Ottoman threat vanished, rendering the Funj-Ethiopian alliance unnecessary, and relations between the two states were about to turn into open hostility soon. As late as 1597, however, the relations were still described as friendly, with trade being a flourishing matter.
In the meantime, the rule of sultan
Dakin (1568–1585) saw the rise of
Ajib, a minor king of northern Nubia. When Dakin returned from a failed campaign in the Ethiopian-Sudanese borderlands Ajib had acquired enough power to demand and receive greater political autonomy. A few years later he forced sultan
Tayyib to marry his daughter, effectively making Tayyib and his offspring and successor,
Unsa, his vassals. Unsa was eventually deposed in 1603/1604 by
Abd al-Qadir II Abd al-Qadir II was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar (1603/4 - 1606). According to James Bruce, he was the son of Unsa I, whom Bruce describes as "a weak and ill-inclined man". While he was ruler of Sennar, Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia sent to Abd ...
, triggering Ajib to invade the very Funj heartland. His armies pushed the Funj king to the south-east. Thus, Ajib effectively ruled over an empire reaching from Dongola to Ethiopia. Abd el-Qadir II, eventually deposed in December 1606, fled to Ethiopia and submitted to emperor
Susenyos, providing Susenyos with an opportunity to intervene in the sultanate's affairs. However, the new Funj sultan,
Adlan I Adlan I (reigned 1606 - 1611/12) was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of Ayat, although James Bruce writes he was the son of Unsa I and the brother of Abd al-Qadir, whom he deposed and exiled from Sennar. Adlan was, in turn, deposed ...
, managed to turn the tide of war against Ajib, eventually killing him in 1611 or 1612. While chasing the remnants of Ajib's army to the north, Adlan II himself was deposed and succeeded by a son of the former sultan Abd al-Qadir II,
Badi I Badi I (1611/12 – 1616/17), also known as Badi el Kawam, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. During his reign, Sennar was at peace with its neighbor, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian ''Royal Chronicles'' mention that Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia responde ...
. He issued a peace treaty with the sons of Ajib, agreeing to factually split the Funj state. The successors of Ajib, the
Abdallab
The Abdallabi (or Abdallab) are people living in central Sudan who claim descent from Abdallah Jamma’a. They were an important political force between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. For a short time the Abdallabi succeeded in establishin ...
, would receive everything north of the confluence of Blue and White Nile, which they would rule as vassal kings of Sennar. Therefore, the Funj lost direct control over much of their kingdom.
17th century peak
![Court of Badi of Sennar (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Court_of_Badi_of_Sennar_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The submission of Abd al-Qadir II to the Ethiopian emperor and the possibility of a consequential invasion remained a problem for the Funj sultans. Adlan I had apparently been too weak to do something against this situation, but Badi I was able to take matters into his own hands. A rich present by Susenyos, which he perhaps sent in the belief that the successors of Abd al-Qadir II would honour the submission of the latter, was rudely answered with two lame horses and first raids of Ethiopian posts. Susenyos, occupied elsewhere, would not respond to that act of aggression until 1617 when he raided several Funj provinces. This mutual raiding finally escalated in a full-fledged
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
in 1618 and 1619, resulting in the devastation of many of the Funj eastern provinces. A pitched battle was also fought, claimed by the Ethiopian sources to have been a victory, albeit this is posed doubtful by the fact that the Ethiopian troops retreated immediately afterwards. After the war, the two countries remained at peace for over a century.
The Funj sultan who ruled during the war,
Rabat I Rabat I (1616/7 - 1644/5) was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. According to James Bruce, he was the son of Badi I.
He intrigued in Ethiopian politics a number of times. Early in his reign he detained the Coptic bishop Abba Yeshaq, who had passed t ...
, was the first in a series of three monarchs under whom the sultanate entered a period of prosperity, expansion and increased contacts with the outside world, but was also confronted with several new problems.
In the 17th century, the Shilluk and Sennar were forced into an uneasy alliance to combat the growing might of the
Dinka
The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Gh ...
. After the alliance had run its cause, in 1650, Sultan
Badi II Bādī II Abū Daqn, known as The Bearded (r. 1644/5 – 1681), was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of Rabat I and ascended to the throne in 1644/5.
During the reign of Badi II, the Kingdom of Taqali to the west was defeated and m ...
occupied the northern half of the
Shilluk Kingdom
The Shilluk Kingdom, dominated by the Shilluk people, was located along the left bank of the White Nile river in what is now South Sudan and southern Sudan. Its capital and royal residence was in the town of Fashoda. According to Shilluk folk his ...
. Under his rule the Funj defeated the
Kingdom of Taqali
Taqali (also spelled Tegali) was a state of Nuba peoples which existed in the Nuba Mountains, in modern-day central Sudan. It is believed to have been founded in the eighteenth century, though oral traditions suggest its formation two centuries ...
to the west and made its ruler his vassal.
Decline
![Sudanese woman (](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Sudanese_woman_%28%22Book_of_Women%22%29.jpg)
Sennar was at its peak at the end of the 17th century, but during the 18th century, it began to decline as the power of the monarchy was eroded. The greatest challenge to the authority of the king were the merchant funded
Ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
who insisted it was rightfully their duty to mete out justice.
In about 1718 the previous dynasty, the
Unsab, was overthrown in a coup and replaced by
Nul, who, although related to the previous Sultan, effectively founded a dynasty on his own.
In 1741 and 1743 young Ethiopian emperor
Iyasu II
Iyasu II ( Ge'ez: ኢያሱ; 21 October 1723 – 27 June 1755), throne name Alem Sagad ( Ge'ez: ዓለም ሰገድ), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1730 to 1755, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Emperor Bakaffa and Empr ...
conducted first raids westwards, attempting to acquire quick military fame. In March 1744 he assembled an army of 30,000–100,000 men for a new expedition, which was initially intended as yet another raid, but soon turned into a war of conquest. On the banks of the
Dinder river
The Dinder River ( ar, نهر الدندر Nahr-ud-dindir, also spelled Dindar; ) is a tributary of the Blue Nile. It flows through Ethiopia and Sudan for .
Course
The Dinder River rises in the Ethiopian Highlands, west of Lake Tana in the Ethiopi ...
the two states fought a
pitched battle
A pitched battle or set-piece battle is a battle in which opposing forces each anticipate the setting of the battle, and each chooses to commit to it. Either side may have the option to disengage before the battle starts or shortly thereafter. A ...
, which went in favour of Sennar. Iyasu II, traveller
James Bruce
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Europ ...
noted, plundered his way back to Ethiopia, allowing him to display his campaign as a success. Meanwhile, Badi IV's repulsion of the Ethiopian invasion made him a national hero. Hostilities between the two states continued until the end of Iyasu II's reign in 1755, tensions caused by this war were still recorded in 1773. Trade, however, soon resumed after the conflict, although on reduced scale.
![Sennar palace (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Sennar_palace_%28cropped%29.jpg)
It has been suggested that it was Badi's victory over the Ethiopians that strengthened his power; in 1743/4 he is known to have had his vizier executed and to have taken the reins. He attempted to create a new power base by purging the previous ruling clan, stripping the nobility of their land and instead empowering clients from the western and southern periphery of his realm. One of these clients was
Muhammad Abu Likayik
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monothe ...
, a
Hamaj (a generic Sudannese term applied to the pre-Funj, non-Arabic or semi-Arabized people of the Gezira and Ethiopian-Sudanese borderlands) from east of Fazughli who was granted land immediately south of Sennar in 1747/8. He was a cavalry commander tasked to pacify Kordofan, which had become a battlefield between the Funj and the Musabb’at, refugees from the
Sultanate of Darfur
The Sultanate of Darfur was a pre-colonial state in present-day Sudan. It existed from 1603 to October 24, 1874, when it fell to the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr and again from 1898 to 1916, when it was conquered by the British and integrat ...
. The Fur had the upper hand until 1755, when Abu Likayik finally managed to overrun Kordofan and turn it into his new powerbase. In the meantime, Sultan Badi grew increasingly unpopular due to his repressive measures. Eventually, Abu Likayik was convinced by disaffected Funj noblemen, many of them residing in Kordofan, to march on the capital. In 1760/1761 he reached Alays at the White Nile, where a council was held in which Badi was formally deposed. Afterwards, he besieged Sennar, which he entered on 27 March 1762. Badi fled to Ethiopia but was murdered in 1763. Thus began the
Hamaj Regency The Hamaj Regency ( ar, وصاية ٱلهمج ) was a political order in the region of modern-day central Sudan from 1762 to 1821. During this period the ruling family of the Funj Sultanate of Sennar continued to reign, while actual power was exerc ...
, where the Funj monarchs became puppets of the Hamaj.
![Le roi de Sennâr donnant audience à ses ministres](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Le_roi_de_Senn%C3%A2r_donnant_audience_%C3%A0_ses_ministres.jpg)
Abu Likayik installed another member of the royal family as his puppet sultan and ruled as regent. This began a long conflict between the Funj sultans attempting to reassert their independence and authority and the Hamaj regents attempting to maintain control of the true power of the state. These internal divisions greatly weakened the state and in the late 18th century Mek
Adlan II Adlan II (died 1789) was the ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar (1776 - 1789).
He defeated the Vizier Rajab
Rajab ( ar, رَجَب) is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of the classical Arabic verb ''rajaba'' is "t ...
, son of Mek Taifara, took power during a turbulent time at which a Turkish presence was being established in the Funj kingdom. The Turkish ruler,
Al-Tahir Agha, married Khadeeja, daughter of Mek Adlan II. This paved the way for the assimilation of the Funj into the Ottoman Empire.
![Sennar in 1821](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Sennar_in_1821.jpg)
The later 18th century saw a rapid disintegration of the Funj state. In 1785/6 the Fur Sultanate conquered Kordofan which it managed to hold until the Egyptian invasion of 1821. In the second half of the 18th century Sennar lost the Tigre in what is now Eritrea to the rising ''naib'' ("deputy") of
Massawa
Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...
, while after 1791 Taka around the Sudanese
Mareb River
The Mareb River, or Gash River ( ar, القاش) is a river flowing out of central Eritrea. Its chief importance is defining part of the boundary between Eritrea and Ethiopia, between the point where the Mai Ambassa enters the river at to the co ...
made itself independent. The Shukriya became the new dominant power in the Butana. After 1802, the authority of the sultanate was limited to the Gezira for good. In the early years of the 19th century the kingdom was plagued by excessive civil wars. Regent Muhammad Adlan, who rose to power in 1808 and whose father had been assassinated by a warlord of that period, was able to put an end to these wars and managed to stabilize the kingdom for another 13 years.
In 1820,
Ismail bin Muhammad Ali
Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...
, the general and son of the
nominally Ottoman vassal
Muhammad Ali Pasha
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
, started the conquest of Sudan. Realizing that the Turks were about to conquer his domain, Muhammad Adlan prepared to resist and ordered to muster the army at the Nile confluence, but he fell to a plot near Sennar in early 1821. One of the murderers, a man named Daf'Allah, rode back to the capital to prepare Sultan
Badi VII
Badi VII (reigned 1805–1821) was the last ruler of the Funj Sultanate.
Badi offered no resistance to Ismail Pasha, who had led the khedive army of his father up the Nile to his capital at Sennar. Alan Moorhead repeats Frédéric Cailliaud's ...
's submission ceremony to the Turks. The Turks reached the Nile confluence in May 1821. Afterwards, they travelled upstream the Blue Nile until reaching Sennar. They were disappointed to learn that Sennar, once enjoying a reputation of wealth and splendour, was now reduced to a heap of ruins. On 14 June they received the official submission of Badi VII.
[Alan Moorehead, ''The Blue Nile'', revised edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), p. 215]
Government
Administration
![King sennar 1821](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/King_sennar_1821.jpg)
The sultans of Sennar were powerful, but not
absolutely so, as a council of 20 elders also had a say in state decisions. Below the king stood the chief minister, the ''amin'', and the ''jundi'', who supervised the market and acted as commander of the state police and intelligence service. Another high court official was the ''sid al-qum'', a royal bodyguard and executioner. Only he was allowed to shed royal blood, as he was tasked to kill all brothers of a freshly elected king to prevent civil wars.
The state was divided into several provinces governed by a ''manjil''. Each of these province was again divided into sub-provinces governed by a ''
makk
''Makk'' (plural ''mukūk''), also spelled ''mak'', ''mek'' or ''meek'',Robert S. Kramer, Richard Andrew Lobban Jr. and Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, ''Historical Dictionary of the Sudan'', 4th ed. (Scarecrow Press, 2013), p. 293.Richard Andrew Lobban Jr. ...
'', each of them subordinated to their respective ''manjil''. The most important ''manjil'' was the one of the Abdallabs, followed by Alays at the White Nile, the kings of the Blue Nile region and finally the rest. The king of Sennar exercised his influence among the ''manjils'' forcing them to marry a woman from the royal clan, which acted as royal spies. A member of the royal clan also always sat at their side, observing their behaviour. Furthermore, the ''manjils'' had to travel to Sennar every year to pay tribute and account for their deeds.
It was under king Badi II when Sennar became the fixed capital of the state and when written documents concerning administrative matters appeared, with the oldest known one dating to 1654.
Military
![Sword Nasir ibn Badi IV NCAM KH394](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Sword_Nasir_ibn_Badi_IV_NCAM_KH394.jpg)
The army of Sennar was feudal. Each noble house could field a military unit measured in its power by its horsemen. Subjects, although generally armed, were only rarely called to war, in cases of uttermost need. Most Funj warriors were slaves traditionally captured in annual slave raids called ''salatiya'', targeting the stateless non-Muslims in the Nuba mountains pejoratively referred to as ''Fartit''. The army was divided into the infantry, represented by an official called ''muqaddam al-qawawid'', as well as the cavalry, represented by the ''muqaddam al-khayl''. The Sultan only rarely led armies into battle and instead appointed a commander for the duration of the campaign, called ''amin jaysh al-sultan''. Nomadic warriors fighting for the Funj had an own appointed leader, the ''aqid'' or ''qa’id''.
The weaponry of the Funj warriors consisted of thrusting
lance
A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier ( lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike si ...
s,
throwing knives
A throwing knife is a knife that is specially designed and weighted so that it can be thrown effectively. They are a distinct category from ordinary knives.
Throwing knives are used by many cultures around the world, and as such different tacti ...
,
javelin
A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...
s,
hide shield
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...
s and, most importantly, long
broadsword
The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages.
In mod ...
s which could be wielded two-handed. Body armour consisted of leather or quilts and additionally mail, while the hands were protected by leather gloves. On the heads, there were worn iron or copper helmets. The horses were also armoured, wearing thick
quilt
A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, a ...
s,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
headgear and
breast plates. While armour was also manufactured locally, it was at times imported as well. During the late 17th century Sultan
Badi III
Badi III, or Badi el Ahmar (1692–1716), was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. James Bruce includes in his account of Ethiopia the translation of a letter the Ethiopian Emperor Tewoflos of Ethiopia, Tewolfos sent him dated 21 January 1706, wherein ...
attempted to modernize the army by importing
firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
s and even
cannons
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during ...
, but they were quickly disregarded after his death not only because the import was expensive and unreliable, but also because the traditionally armed elites feared for their power. In the early 1770s James Bruce remarked that the Sultan had "not one musket in his whole army".
One time a year Sennar conducted a slave-raid against the regions to its south and south-west.
The Funj made use of
Shilluk and
Dinka
The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Gh ...
mercenaries.
Culture
Religion
Islam
![Sudanese mosque, mid-19th century](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Sudanese_mosque%2C_mid-19th_century.jpg)
By the time of the visit by David Reubeni in 1523, the Funj, originally Pagans or syncretic Christians, had converted to Islam. They probably converted to ease their rule over their Muslim subjects and to facilitate trade with neighbouring countries like Egypt. Their embracement of Islam was, however, only nominal and, in fact, the Funj effectively even delayed the Islamization of Nubia, as they temporarily strengthened African sacral traditions instead. The monarchy they established was
divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine ...](_blank)
, similar to that of many other African states: The Funj Sultan had hundreds of wives and spent most of his reign within the palace, secluded from his subjects and maintaining contact only with a handful of officials. He was not allowed to be seen eating. On the rare occasion he appeared in public he did so only with a veil and accompanied by much pomp. The Sultan was judged regularly and, if found wanting, could be executed. All Funj, but especially the Sultan, were believed to be able to detect sorcery. Islamic talismans written in Sennar were believed to have special powers due to the proximity to the Sultan. Among the populace even the basics of Islamic faith were not widely known. Pork and beer were consumed as staple food throughout much of the kingdom, the death of an important individual would be mourned by "communal dancing, self-mutilation and rolling in the ashes of the feast-fire". At least in some regions, elderly, crippled and others who believed to be a burden for their relatives and friends were expected to request to be buried alive or otherwise disposed. As late as the late 17th century the Funj Sultanate was still recorded to not follow the "laws of the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
”, i. e. Islam. Thus, until the 18th century Islam was not much more than a facade.
Despite this, the Funj acted as sponsors of Islam from the very beginning, encouraging the settlement of Muslim holy men in their domain. In the later period civil wars forced the peasants to look to the holy men for protection; the sultans lost the peasant population to the
Ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
.
Christianity
![Banganarti church, Sudan (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Banganarti_church%2C_Sudan_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The collapse of the Christian Nubian states went hand in hand with the collapse of the Christian institutions. The Christian faith, however, would continue to exist, although gradually declining. By the sixteenth century large portions of Nubia's population would still have been Christian. Dongola, the former capital and Christian center of the Makurian kingdom, was recorded to have been largely Islamized by the turn of the 16th century, although a Franciscan letter confirms the existence of a community immediately south of Dongola practicing a "debased Christianity" as late as 1742. According to the 1699 account of Poncet, Muslims reacted to meeting Christians in the streets of Sennar by reciting the
Shahada
The ''Shahada'' (Arabic: ٱلشَّهَادَةُ , "the testimony"), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there is n ...
. The Fazughli region seems to have been Christian at least for one generation after its conquest in 1685; a Christian principality was mentioned in the region as late as 1773. The
Tigre in north-western Eritrea, who were part of the Beni Amer confederation, remained Christians until the 19th century.
Rituals stemming from Christian traditions outlived the conversion to Islam and were still practiced as late as the 20th century.
From the 17th century foreign Christian groups, mostly merchants, were present in Sennar, including
Copts
Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are C ...
,
Ethiopians
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
,
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
,
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
. The sultanate also served as interstation for Ethiopian Christians travelling to Egypt and the
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
as well as European missionaries travelling to Ethiopia.
Languages
In the
Christian period,
Nubian languages
The Nubian languages ( ar, لُغَات نُوبِيّة, lughāt nūbiyyah) are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. They form a branch of the Eastern Sudanic languages, which is part of the wider Nilo-Saharan phylum. Initially, ...
had been spoken between the region from
Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
in the north to an undetermined point south of the confluence of the Blue and White Nile. They remained important during the Funj period, but were gradually superseded by Arabic, a process accomplished in central Sudan by the 19th century.
After the Funj conversion to Islam, Arabic grew to become the
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
of administration and trade while also being employed as language of religion. While the royal court would continue to speak their pre-Arabic language for some time by 1700, the language of communication at the court had become Arabic. In the 18th century, Arabic became the written language of state administration. As late as 1821, when the kingdom fell, some provincial noblemen were still not capable of speaking Arabic.
Evliya Çelebi
Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...
(17th century) and
Joseph Russegger
Joseph Ritter von Russegger (18 October 1802 – 20 June 1863) was an Austrian geologist who was a native of Salzburg.
He received his education in Salzburg, and in the years 1823 to 1825, was associated with the Mining and Forestry Academy at Sc ...
(mid 19th century) described a pre-Arabic language in the Funj heartland. Çelebi provided a listing of numerals as well as a poem, both written in Arabic script; the numerals are clearly
Kanuri, while the language used for the poem remains unidentified. Russegger stated that a ''Fungi'' language, sounding similar to Nubian and having absorbed many Arabic words, was spoken as far north as Khartoum, albeit already reduced to a secondary role compared to Arabic. In Kordofan, Nubian was still spoken as primary or at least secondary language as late as the 1820s and 1830s.
Trade
During the reign of sultan Badi III in the late 17th and early 18th century the prosperous and cosmopolitan capital of Sennar was described as "close to being the greatest trading city" in all Africa. The wealth and power of the sultans had long rested on the control of the economy. All caravans were controlled by the monarch, as was the gold supply that functioned as the state's main currency. Important revenues came from customs dues levied on the caravan routers leading to Egypt and the Red Sea ports and on the pilgrimage traffic from the Western Sudan. In the late 17th century the Funj had opened up trading with the Ottoman Empire. In the late 17th century with the introduction of coinage, an unregulated market system took hold, and the sultans lost control of the market to a new merchant middle class. Foreign currencies became widely used by merchants breaking the power of the monarch to closely control the economy. The thriving trade created a wealthy class of educated and literate merchants, who read widely about Islam and became much concerned about the lack of orthodoxy in the kingdom.
The Sultanate also did their best to monopolize the
slave trade to Egypt, most notably through the annual caravan of up to one thousand slaves. This monopoly was most successful in the seventeenth century, although it still worked to some extent in the eighteenth.
Rulers
The rulers of Sennar held the title of ''
Mek'' (sultan). Their
regnal number
Regnal numbers are ordinal numbers used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office. Most importantly, they are used to distinguish monarchs. An ''ordinal'' is the number placed after a monarch's regnal name to differ ...
s vary from source to source.
*
Amara Dunqas Amara Dunqas was the first ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar, which he ruled from 1504 - 1533/4. "Dunqas" is an epithet meaning "bent down, with an inclined head", referring to the way of how he required his subjects to approach him.
According to Jam ...
1503-1533/4 (AH 940)
*
Nayil 1533/4 (AH 940)-1550/1 (AH 957)
*
Abd al-Qadir I 1550/1 (AH 957)-1557/8 (AH 965)
*
Abu Sakikin
Abu or ABU may refer to:
Places
* Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan
* Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan
* Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria
* Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...
1557/8 (AH 965)-1568
*
Dakin 1568-1585/6 (AH 994)
*
Dawra 1585/6 (AH 994)-1587/8 (AH 996)
*
Tayyib 1587/8 (AH 996)-1591
*
Unsa I 1591-1603/4 (AH 1012)
*
Abd al-Qadir II Abd al-Qadir II was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar (1603/4 - 1606). According to James Bruce, he was the son of Unsa I, whom Bruce describes as "a weak and ill-inclined man". While he was ruler of Sennar, Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia sent to Abd ...
1603/4 (AH 1012)-1606
*
Adlan I Adlan I (reigned 1606 - 1611/12) was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of Ayat, although James Bruce writes he was the son of Unsa I and the brother of Abd al-Qadir, whom he deposed and exiled from Sennar. Adlan was, in turn, deposed ...
1606-1611/2 (AH 1020)
*
Badi I Badi I (1611/12 – 1616/17), also known as Badi el Kawam, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. During his reign, Sennar was at peace with its neighbor, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian ''Royal Chronicles'' mention that Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia responde ...
1611/2 (AH 1020)-1616/7 (AH 1025)
*
Rabat I Rabat I (1616/7 - 1644/5) was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. According to James Bruce, he was the son of Badi I.
He intrigued in Ethiopian politics a number of times. Early in his reign he detained the Coptic bishop Abba Yeshaq, who had passed t ...
1616/7 (AH 1025)-1644/5
*
Badi II Bādī II Abū Daqn, known as The Bearded (r. 1644/5 – 1681), was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of Rabat I and ascended to the throne in 1644/5.
During the reign of Badi II, the Kingdom of Taqali to the west was defeated and m ...
1644/5-1681
*
Unsa II Unsa II () was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of Nassir, the brother of the previous ruler Rabat I Rabat I (1616/7 - 1644/5) was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. According to James Bruce, he was the son of Badi I.
He intrigued ...
1681–1692
*
Badi III
Badi III, or Badi el Ahmar (1692–1716), was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. James Bruce includes in his account of Ethiopia the translation of a letter the Ethiopian Emperor Tewoflos of Ethiopia, Tewolfos sent him dated 21 January 1706, wherein ...
1692–1716
*
Unsa III 1719–1720
*
Nul 1720–1724
*
Badi IV
Badi IV (reigned 1724–1762; died 1764), also known as Badi abu Shilluk, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of his predecessor, Nul.
When Emperor Iyasu II of Ethiopia invaded his realm in 1738, the army of Sennar under the l ...
1724–1762
*
Nasir
Nasir ( ar, ناصر, translit=Nāṣir) is a masculine given name, commonly found in Arabic which can mean "helper" or "one who gives victory" (grammatically the Stem I masculine singular active participle of consonantal verb root ''n-ṣ-r''). ...
1762–1769
*
Isma'il
Ismail ( ar, إِسْمَاعِيْل, ʾIsmāʿīl) is regarded as a prophet and messenger and the ancestor to the Ishmaelites in Islam. He is the son of Ibrahim (Abraham), born to Hajar (Hagar). Ismail is also associated with Mecca and the ...
1768–1776
*
Adlan II Adlan II (died 1789) was the ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar (1776 - 1789).
He defeated the Vizier Rajab
Rajab ( ar, رَجَب) is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of the classical Arabic verb ''rajaba'' is "t ...
1776–1789
*
Awkal 1787–1788
*
Tayyib II
Al-Ṭayyib Abūʾl-Qāsim ibn Al-Manṣūr ( ar, ٱلطَّيِّب أَبُو ٱلْقَاسِم ابْن ٱلْمَنْصُوْر) was, according to the Tayyibi Isma'ili-Musta'li sect of Isma'ilism, the twenty-first Imam and the last Calip ...
1788–1790
*
Badi V
Badi may refer to:
People
*Badi II, (1645–1681) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badi III, (1692–1716) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badi IV, (1724–1762) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
* Badí‘ (Mírzá Áqá Buzurg-i-Nishapuri), (1852 ...
1790
*
Nawwar 1790–1791
*
Badi VI
Badi may refer to:
People
*Badi II, (1645–1681) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badi III, (1692–1716) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badi IV, (1724–1762) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
* Badí‘ (Mírzá Áqá Buzurg-i-Nishapuri), (1852 ...
1791–1798
*
Ranfi 1798–1804
*
Agban 1804–1805
*
Badi VII
Badi VII (reigned 1805–1821) was the last ruler of the Funj Sultanate.
Badi offered no resistance to Ismail Pasha, who had led the khedive army of his father up the Nile to his capital at Sennar. Alan Moorhead repeats Frédéric Cailliaud's ...
1805–1821
Hamaj regents
*
Muhammad Abu Likayik
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monothe ...
– 1769–1775/6
*
Badi walad Rajab
Badi may refer to:
People
*Badi II, (1645–1681) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badi III, (1692–1716) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badi IV, (1724–1762) ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar
*Badí‘ (Mírzá Áqá Buzurg-i-Nishapuri), (1852– ...
– 1775/6–1780
*
Rajab
Rajab ( ar, رَجَب) is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of the classical Arabic verb ''rajaba'' is "to respect" which could also mean "be awe or be in fear", of which Rajab is a derivative.
This month is re ...
1780–1786/7
*
Nasir
Nasir ( ar, ناصر, translit=Nāṣir) is a masculine given name, commonly found in Arabic which can mean "helper" or "one who gives victory" (grammatically the Stem I masculine singular active participle of consonantal verb root ''n-ṣ-r''). ...
1786/7–1798
*
Idris wad Abu Likayik Idris may refer to:
People
* Idris (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Idris (prophet), Islamic prophet in the Qur'an, traditionally identified with Enoch, an ancestor of Noah in the Bible
* Idris G ...
– 1798–1803
*
Adlan wad Abu Likayik – 1803
*
Wad Rajab
Wad is an old mining term for any black manganese oxide or hydroxide mineral-rich rock in the oxidized zone of various ore deposits. Typically closely associated with various iron
Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol ...
– 1804–1806
Maps
File:1701 Guillaume Delisle map of the Ottoman and Persian Empires (Nubia).jpg, Map by Guillaume Delisle
Guillaume Delisle, also spelled Guillaume de l'Isle, (; 28 February 1675, Paris – 25 January 1726, Paris) was a French cartographer known for his popular and accurate maps of Europe and the newly explored Americas.
Childhood and education
Desli ...
(1701)
File:Map of Funj Sultanate (1749).png, Map by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville
Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (; born in Paris 11 July 169728 January 1782) was a French geographer and cartographer who greatly improved the standards of map-making. D'Anville became cartographer to the king, who purchased his cartographic ...
(1749)
File:Sultanate of Sennar on map by James Bruce.png, Map by traveller James Bruce
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Europ ...
, who traversed the country in the early 1770s
See also
* ''
Funj Chronicle
The ''Funj Chronicle'' is an Arabic history of the Funj Sultanate and the early years of Ottoman rule in the Sudan. It originally covered the period from 1504 to 1838, but continuations bring it down to 1871. It has been translated into English.
...
''
*
List of Sunni Muslim dynasties
The following is a list of Sunni Muslim dynasties.
Asia
Middle East Arabian Peninsula
* Banu Wajih (926–965)
*Sharif of Mecca (967–1925)
* Al Uyuniyun (1076–1253)
*Sulaymanids (1063–1174)
*Mahdids (1159–1174)
*Kathiri (Hadhramaut) ( ...
Annotations
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
* Robinson, Arthur E
"Some Notes on the Regalia of the Fung Sultans of Sennar" ''Journal of the Royal African Society'', 30 (1931), pp. 361–376
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Funj Sultanate
States and territories established in 1504
States and territories disestablished in 1821
Countries in precolonial Africa
History of Sudan
Sennar, Kingdom of
1504 establishments in Africa
1821 disestablishments in Africa
Muslim dynasties
Former sultanates
Sahelian kingdoms
Former countries
Lists of African monarchs