The King of Nubia at work: archaeological context and text edition of a sixteenth/seventeenth-century Arabic document from Old Dongola

Abstract

This paper explores new historical evidence for a pre-colonial ruler of Dongola, the former capital of the Christian kingdom of Makuria, during Sudan’s Islamisation. Central to this study is a newly excavated Arabic document discovered in an élite residence. This document, ordering the exchange of textiles and livestock, was issued in the name of King Qashqash, a figure previously considered semi-legendary. Combining numismatic evidence, radiocarbon dating, and written sources, this research investigates rulership, social interactions, and Arabisation in Dongola during the Funj period. Key comparative sources include documents from Qasr Ibrim and an indigenous literary work, Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt by Wad Ḍayfallāh, along with supplementary accounts by foreigners such as Krump and Poncet from around 1700. Earlier, Leo Africanus’s remark that the ‘king of Nubia was always at war’ contrasts with the king’s order from Old Dongola, revealing a pre-colonial ruler’s involvement in governance and micropolitics, elucidating his everyday work. The paper offers new insights into Dongola’s socio-political history, emphasising its importance at the intersection of Ottoman Egypt and the Sultanate of Sennar before colonialism.