Funj

The Funj are a Muslim people of the Blue Nile who gave their name to the Funj Sultanate, though their origin is debated: traditions make them Nubians, Shilluk or upper Blue Nile migrants, while some scholars see Funj as a ruling class.

They appeared south of the Nile confluence as the Christian Nubian Alodia dissolved, overthrew its remnants and defeated the Abdallab federation; in 1504 their leader Amara Dunqas founded the Blue Sultanate of Sennar. Rulers soon adopted Islam, invited Sufi holy men and made Arabic the language of administration and trade by the eighteenth century, the old tongue surviving at court to about 1700.

At its height in the later 1600s the sultanate stretched from the Third Cataract to the Nuba Mountains, Sennar rich on caravan and slave trades with Egypt. The Hamaj seized control in 1762, civil war followed; in 1821 the last sultan surrendered Sennar to Turco-Egyptian invaders.