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Makuria was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is today northern Sudan and southern Egypt. Its capital was Dongola in the fertile Dongola Reach, and the kingdom is sometimes known by the name of its capital.
The Baqt (بقط)was a 7th-century treaty between the Christian state of Makuria and the new Muslim rulers of Egypt. Lasting almost seven hundred years, it is by some measures the longest-lasting treaty in history. The name comes either from the Egyptian's term for barter, or the Greco-Roman term for pact.
Al-Maris was a Medieval Arabic name for Lower Nubia, the region of the Nile around the first and second cataracts, including Aswan. Because most of the sources for Nubian history during the period are in Arabic, it is sometimes used interchangeably with the Nubian region of Nobadia. The northern section of al-Maris was part of Fatimid Upper Egypt and was semi-independent under the Kanz ad-Dawla between 1046 and 1077 AD. The Kanz ad-Dawla Nasir invaded Nubia in 1066 but was repulsed and his territory raided.
Banu Kanz, also known as Awlad Kanz, was a semi-nomadic Muslim dynasty of Arab descent that ruled the border region between Upper Egypt and Nubia between the 10th and 15th centuries. They were descended from the sons of sheikhs of the Arab Banu Hanifa tribe who intermarried with the princesses of the Beja Hadariba tribe. 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. Abu al-Makarim was accorded the title Kanz al-Dawla by Caliph al-Hakim and his successors inherited the title. 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. They eventually assumed control of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria in the early 14th century, but by the early the 15th century, they were supplanted by the Hawwara tribesmen dispatched by the Mamluks to combat the Banu Kanz. Their modern-day descendants are a Sudanese tribe known as the "Kunuz", who live in the far north of the country.
Alodia, also known as Alwa, 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 the Blue and White Nile rivers.
Michael I was the 46th Coptic Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria from 743 to 767.
Kyriakos or Cyriacus was a ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria. While some authorities place his reign between Merkurios and Zacharias I, according to Severus of El Ashmunein, Kyriakos succeeded Markos.
Zacharias III was ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria. In 833, he ceased paying the Baqt to the rulers of Egypt, and prepared to fight the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tasim (833-842) over the tribute. He sent his son Georgios to renegotiate the terms, and al-Mu'tasim reduced the payment to once every third year.
Georgios II was a ruler of the medieval Nubian kingdom of Makuria. He ascended the throne in 887, after the death of his father Georgios I, and ruled until 915 or 920, when he was succeeded by his son Zacharias II. Belonging to the Dynasty of Zacharias, little is known about his rule, although it is recorded that at some point between 910 and 915, his kingdom was involved in a war with the Abbasid Caliphate.
Abu Tahir Isma'il, better known by his regnal name al-Mansur Billah, was the third caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, ruling from 946 until his death. He presided over a period of crisis, having to confront the large-scale Kharijite rebellion of Abu Yazid. He succeeded in suppressing the revolt and restoring the stability of the Fatimid regime.
Abu Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Salimal-Aswani was a tenth-century Egyptian diplomat and Shia Muslim dāʿī (missionary) in the service of the Fatimids. Following the Fatimid conquest of Egypt, he was dispatched to Nubia by the Fatimid governor Jawhar al-Siqilli in 975 AD (365 AH) or perhaps a little earlier. He left a written record of his mission, the Kitāb Akhbār al-Nūba waʾl-Muḳurra wa ʿAlwa waʾl-Buja waʾl-Nīl. This is the only surviving eyewitness description of medieval Nubia other than the very brief account in Ibn Ḥawqal.
Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Fadlallah al-Umari, commonly known as Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari or Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-‘Umārī was an Arab historian born in Damascus. His major works include at-Taʾrīf bi-al-muṣṭalaḥ ash-sharīf, on the subject of the Mamluk administration, and Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār, an encyclopedic collection of related information. The latter was translated into French by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes in 1927.
Nobatia or Nobadia was a late antique kingdom in Lower Nubia. Together with the two other Nubian kingdoms, Makuria and Alodia, it succeeded the kingdom of Kush. After its establishment in around 400, Nobadia gradually expanded by defeating the Blemmyes in the north and incorporating the territory between the second and third Nile cataract in the south. In 543, it converted to Coptic Christianity. It would then be annexed by Makuria, under unknown circumstances, during the 7th century.
The Islamization of the Sudan region (Sahel) encompasses a prolonged period of religious conversion, through military conquest and trade relations, spanning the 8th to 16th centuries.
The Second Battle of Dongola or Siege of Dongola was a military engagement between early Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Nubian-Christian forces of the kingdom of Makuria in 652. The battle ended Muslim expansion into Nubia, establishing trade and a historic peace between the Muslim world and a Christian nation. As a result, Makuria was able to grow into a regional power that would dominate Nubia for over the next 500 years.
The kingdom of al-Abwab was a medieval Nubian monarchy in present-day central Sudan. Initially the most northerly province of Alodia, it appeared as an independent kingdom from 1276. Henceforth it was repeatedly recorded by Arabic sources in relation to the wars between its northern neighbour Makuria and the Egyptian Mamluk sultanate, where it generally sided with the latter. In 1367 it is mentioned for the last time, but based on pottery finds it has been suggested that the kingdom continued to exist until the 15th, perhaps even the 16th, century. During the reign of Funj king Amara Dunqas the region is known to have become part of the Funj sultanate.
The Throne Hall of Dongola, also known as the Mosque Building, is an archaeological site in Old Dongola, Sudan. It is a two-storey brick building situated on a rocky hill, overlooking the town and the Nile valley. It was originally built in the 9th century, serving as the richly adorned representative building of the Makurian kings. In 1317, during the period of Makurian decline, it was converted into a mosque, serving this purpose until it was closed and turned into a historic monument in 1969. Shortly afterwards Polish archaeologists from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw began to excavate the building. It has been described as possibly "the most important, symbolic edifice in the medieval history of Sudan". It is presently the oldest preserved mosque in Sudan.
Longinus was a Byzantine Monophysite missionary and the first ordained Christian bishop in Nubia. The main sources for his life are his contemporary and fellow Monophysite, John of Ephesus, who knew him; the 9th-century historian Eutychius of Alexandria; and the 15th-century Muslim historian al-Maqrizi. John includes a letter written by Longinus in his chronicle.
Moses Georgios was ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria. During his reign it is believed that the crown of Alodia was also under the control of Makuria. He is mostly known for his conflict with Saladin.
The Battle of Dongola (1276) was a battle fought between the Mamluk Sultanate under Baibars and the Kingdom of Makuria. The Mamluks gained a decisive victory, capturing the Makurian capital Dongola, forcing the king David of Makuria to flee and placing a puppet on the Makurian throne. After this battle the Kingdom of Makuria went into a period of decline until its collapse in the 15th century