| Summary/Abstract |
The funj sultanate took shape in 1504 on territory now occupied by Sudan. Based at Sennar on the shores of the Blue Nile River, it controlled all trade and pilgrimage routes. Its direct power stretched to Dongola in the north, and in the eastern part of Sudan, it collected tribute from the lands of the Beja people. Thus, the Nile Valley, earlier the space of Christian states, was gradually Islamized. Having increased its territory at the expense of the territories of the former Mamluk Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire became a northern neighbor of the funj sultanate even if separated from it by sparsely populated desert territories.
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