Funj Sultanate

The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar or Blue Sultanate was an Islamic kingdom in what is now Sudan, northwestern Eritrea and western Ethiopia. Succeeding the medieval Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, it was established in 1504 by Sultan Amara Dunqas, a convert to Islam who founded its capital Sennar on the Blue Nile. It was dominated by the Funj people, an arabized people of unclear ethnic origin who ruled over an ethnically diverse population including Nubians, Beja, Bedouin and Hamaj. It reached its peak in the late 17th century, when it extended from the Third Cataract southwards to the western fringes of the Ethiopian Highlands and the Sobat River, east to the Red Sea, and west to Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains. It encouraged the spread of Islam by inviting Sufi holymen, which in turn also accelerated Arabization and the formation of the modern Sudanese Arab tribes. In the 18th century the power of the Funj declined, especially after the Hamaj seized power in a coup in 1762. From the late 18th century the Sultanate disintegrated and was torn apart by civil wars. In 1821 the last sultan, greatly reduced in power, was forced to surrender to the Turco-Egyptian conquest.