Makuria Kingdom

Overview

Makuria (Old Nubian Dotawo) was a medieval Christian Nubian kingdom in what is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt, with its capital at Dongola in the fertile Dongola Reach of the Nile. It emerged after the collapse of the Kingdom of Kush in the 4th century, converted to Christianity in the mid-6th century, and by the early 7th century had absorbed its northern neighbour Nobatia, giving it a border with Egypt at the First Cataract.

History

Its defining early achievement was the Baqt treaty of 652: after repelling a Rashidun Arab siege of Dongola—Nubian archers were famed—King Qalidurut concluded a treaty with Egypt that secured largely peaceful relations for over six centuries, one of history's most durable diplomatic arrangements. Between the 9th and 11th centuries Makuria reached its zenith: the monumental Throne Hall and great Cruciform Church of Dongola (28 m high, the kingdom's largest building) were raised, the Banganarti monastery founded, and a distinctive Nubian Christian culture flourished in wall painting, manuscript illumination and fine pottery. Kings like Georgios I negotiated in Baghdad; Makurian armies raided as far north as Akhmim in Upper Egypt in the 960s; and a "Nubization" movement under Archbishop Georgios promoted written Old Nubian alongside Greek, Coptic and Arabic.

Decline came from the 12th century: Saladin's forces briefly occupied Qasr Ibrim in 1173, and from 1260 Mamluk sultan Baybars launched repeated invasions. In 1276 Mamluk armies sacked Dongola and reduced Makuria to a vassal; in 1317 the throne passed briefly to its first Muslim king, Abdallah Barshanbu, who converted the Throne Hall into a mosque. The Black Death after 1347, Juhayna Bedouin incursions and a ruinous civil war in 1365 reduced Makuria to a rump state: Dongola was abandoned, and the court retreated to the fortress of Gebel Adda in Lower Nubia.

This terminal period—roughly 1366 to the late 15th century, the window highlighted in the table—is poorly documented. The kingdom was now a chain of "castle houses" between Qasr Ibrim and perhaps the Third Cataract, ruled by shadowy kings such as Nazir (deposed 1397) and Koudlaniel. The last known king, Joel, is attested in documents from 1463 and may have presided over a final modest renaissance. Makuria collapsed soon after, in the late 15th century; a Syrian traveller around 1500 found the Nubians still nominally Christian but kingless, ruled by some 150 castle lords. The Ottomans occupied Lower Nubia in the 1560s, while the Islamic Funj Sultanate annexed Dongola by 1523.

Decline and legacy

Makuria's legacy was dramatically revived by UNESCO's 1960s Nubian Campaign ahead of the Aswan High Dam: the Polish excavation of Faras Cathedral and its luminous murals transformed understanding of Christian Africa, and Old Nubian remains the best-documented medieval African written language.