El Manaqil

El Manaqil lies in Gezira, the country between the Blue and White Nile. Its earlier setting is the history of the wider region rather than a documented medieval town. Gezira formed part of the kingdom of Alodia for several centuries. After that state's collapse in the early sixteenth century, the region became a centre of the Funj Sultanate.

The Abdallabi, described as Arabised descendants of Alodia's Anaj nobility, also belonged to this country and the neighbouring Sennar region. The town's later agricultural importance reflects a much more recent transformation. El Manaqil became a retail and service centre for agricultural production, handling cotton, wheat and sorghum.

Its east-west road links the Blue Nile at Wad Medani with Ed Dueim on the White Nile. These later connections help locate the town within the same inter-river country that had supported earlier kingdoms. They should be distinguished from the political history of Alodia and the Funj, which applies here at the regional level.