Funj
Funj was a former sultanate in the north of Sudan, which ruled a substantial area of northeast Africa between 1504-1821.
Founded by Amara Dunkas in 1504-1505 with its capital at Sennar, the kingdom converted to Islam in the 16th century and expanded rapidly at the expense of neighboring states. Its power was extended over the Gezira and southern Kordofan over the following two centuries and the kingdom fought two wars with Ethiopia in the 18th century. Its strategic position in the northern Nile valley gave it great commercial influence and helped to open up the whole region for commerce, with a corresponding influx of Arab traders. The economy was a primarily commercial one based on a network of urban entrepots.
Funj declined from the 18th century onwards, divided politically and dependent on a large but unreliable army of slaves. Its rulers faced many local revolts, with power disputed between the ruling dynasty and a series of insurgencies (often led by the kingdom's own military commanders). The military eventually supplanted the sultans, but only at the cost of fatally weakening the kingdom. In 1821 the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, led an army into Funj; he encountered no resistance from the last king, whose realm was promptly absorbed into Ottoman Egypt.
The region was subsequently absorbed into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the independent Republic of Sudan on that country's independence in 1956.
