Dongola

History

In the medieval period the region was controlled by the Christian kingdom of Makuria, which until the mid-14th century had its capital at Old Dongola further south. Subsequently, Old Dongola became the capital of a smaller kingdom which was integrated into the Islamic Funj Sultanate in the 16th century, which ruled the region until the late 18th century. By the 1820s the town was virtually abandoned. In 1812 the Mamluks arrived in the Dongola region after they were forced out from Egypt by Muhammad Ali Pasha, establishing a small state. As their capital they chose the small town of Maragha. Growing significantly, it came to be known as Dongola Urdu, New Dongola. In 1820 Muhammad Ali Pasha invaded Sudan and the Mamluks, numbering only 300 men, abandoned the town and fled to the south. The Egyptians made Dongola a provincial capital, which it remained until the outbreak of the Mahdist revolt in the 1880s. The Nile Expedition of 1884–1885 to relieve Gordon at Khartoum passed through the area. Regiments were challenged to race up the river by boat, and this gave rise to the English regatta competition of dongola racing. Dongola was the scene of a victory by Brigadier Sir Herbert H. Kitchener over the indigenous Mahdist Muslim tribes in 1896 who later turned it into a British-Egyptian army base with the objective of collecting and storing weapons, gear and resources. Dongola was a considered an all time base for sending campaign reports to Britain, and the first English press release was issued in the name of Dongola Star, with news of the British-Egyptian army in Sudan. Kitchener's forces were known for their mercilessness, killing over 15,000 Mahdist troops in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, and later on proceeded to kill the wounded, raising the overall death toll to…