Shendi

Shendi stands on the Nile in northern Sudan, at a meeting point of river travel and caravan routes. It was the seat of the Ja'ali rulers and a busy market where traders brought goods and enslaved people from the Sudanese interior, along with livestock and other goods for sale. Caravans travelling towards the Red Sea and Egypt made the town an important centre of exchange.

The Egyptian invasion of Sudan brought a violent end to the old kingdom. In 1822 Mek Nimr, the Ja'ali ruler, had Ismail Pasha, son of Muhammad Ali, killed at Shendi after a confrontation over demands made upon him. Egyptian forces retaliated against the Ja'ali, and the town was devastated during the uprising and its suppression in 1822–23.