Fashoda

Fashoda stands on the White Nile in the country of the Shilluk. It is a sacred centre of Shilluk kingship, associated with Nyikang, the ancestral hero who led his people to their river homeland. The king's authority is bound to Nyikang and to the welfare of the Shilluk communities along the Nile. Shrines and rituals honour the ancestral presence at the heart of this river kingdom.

Tradition credits King Tugo with establishing a lasting permanent royal centre at Fashoda and its rites of installation. In the ceremony, effigies of Nyikang and his son Dak are brought from the shrine at Akurwa to Fashoda. The procession joins the new ruler to the ancestral figure whose presence gives continuity to the kingship.

The later city of Malakal lies here.