This empire lasted for 318 years!!!! It was created by Funj. Islam had a big influence on this kingdom. They were good @ trading and had a strong military. It had great battles with various nations and empires. It fell off in the early 1800's. It became a part of Sudan.
The Funj tribe was chased to the north by the Shilluk tribe. They defeated Aiwa kingdom. In 1504 Amara Dunqas founded Sennar Sultanate. After the Ottomans took Eygpt he negotiated with them; which kept them from taking over Sudan. The Funj are Nubians mixed with Arabs.
The rulers embraced Islam in 1523, while everyone practiced their traditional religion. Later on, people became Islamic but they still followed the ways of your ancestors. The upper class spoke Arabic. Everyone else spoke Funj. Many Islamic scholars came to Sennar and taught the Quran, Sharia, and Sufism. Imams had baraka. This is blessing power given by Allah.
The Sultan controlled trading. All traders were taxed, which made the kingdom rich. They traded with several African and Middle Eastern nations. A middle class was created from all this trading. They were very Islamic. They opposed the Sultan somewhat. They were more dogmatic; so they wanted the Funj to give up the ways of their ancestors. Ulama grew in authority.
They had cavalry and infantry. The cavalry used large swords and wore chain mail. The horses wore copper helmets. The infantry also had swords. Sennar Sultanate had the largest army in East Africa until 1810.
People from Alodia lived in Sennar Sultanate. They rebelled against the Sultan and took over in 1606. Sennar monarchy went to Abyssinia. They defeated the rebels and then the rebels were given their own territory in Dongola.
The Ottomans invaded but were unable to defeat Sennar. Abyssinia and Sennar fought over territory. They were continuously fighting the Silliuk. Later they joined forces to fight the Dinka. Sennar defeated Taqali and made it a vassal state.
Decline
It fell off because of the Ulama. The king lost authority to Ulama. There were problems in succession. Then it was it became a part of the Ottoman Empire. Sennar lost its vassal states and Egypt created a rival Ulama.
Conclusion
This was a great kingdom!!!! They were great @ trade and had a strong military. It lasted for over 300 years. They had great traditions. The embrace of Islam was a double-edged sword. It made the kingdom richer but took power from the king and cause people to turn from their ancestors. I give this civilization a B.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennar_(sultanate)
https://janakesho1.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/sennar-sultanate/
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/sudan/history-funj.htm
http://bluenilstate.blogspot.com/2013/03/funj-kingdom.html
African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations
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