The Ottomans and the Funj sultanate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Abstract

This article examines sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ottoman sources for the Funj sultanate that ruled the Gezira and Nile Valley regions of the modern Sudan. It also aims to elucidate the relationship between the Ottoman empire and the Funj sultanate. In the first part of the article, the sixteenth-century Ottoman sources, largely documents from the Ottoman archives in Istanbul, are translated and analysed. In the second part, two seventeenth-century Ottoman accounts of the Funj are examined: that by the famous Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, and that by the geographer Abu Bekr el-Dimaşki. The text of the relevant passage from Dimaşki's work is provided alongside a translation. The article also examines evidence for religious links between the Ottomans and the Funj.

Living Outside the Wall: the Quarter of Wattle-and-daub Houses in Old Dongola of the Funj Period

“…The travellers also report the presence of Funj soldiers. Another group reportedly inhabiting Old Dongola in the 17th century are merchants from the Funj Sultanate (Çelebi 1994: 151), although the reliability of this information is questionable (Peacock 2012). The lack of material evidence for the presence of inhabitants of the southern regions of the Funj Sultanate can be explained by the paucity of studies concerning the material culture of Nubia in the Funj period conducted so far.…”

The Nubian Frontier as a Refuge Area Warrior Society between c. 1200 and c. 1800 CE: A Comparison between Nubia and the Ottoman Balkans

“…The army continued south beyond the Third Cataract, and the Ottomans allegedly defeated the Funj army at Hannek. 74 The following year, Sai Island and the wider region of Sikkoot/Sukkoot became a district in the southernmost Ottoman province on the Nile, 75 and the Ottomans established their southernmost fortress on Sai Island. 76 This event marked the end of the medieval era in Nubia and the beginning of the almost three centuries long period of Ottoman occupation of Nubia north of Sai Island.…”