Alodia in the context of Greek language

Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's third-largest country by area. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum.

The area that is now Sudan witnessed the Khormusan (c. 40000–16000 BC), Halfan culture (c. 20500–17000 BC), Sebilian (c. 13000–10000 BC), Qadan culture (c. 15000–5000 BC), the war of Jebel Sahaba, the earliest known war in the world, around 11500 BC, A-Group culture (c. 3800–3100 BC), Kingdom of Kerma (c. 2500–1500 BC), the Egyptian New Kingdom (c. 1500–1070 BC), and the Kingdom of Kush (c. 785 BC – 350 AD). After the fall of Kush, the Nubians formed the three Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, most of Sudan was gradually settled by Arab nomads. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, central and eastern Sudan were dominated by the Funj sultanate, while Darfur ruled the west and the Ottomans the east.

Nubians (/ˈnuːbiənz, ˈnjuː-/) (Nobiin: Nobī; Arabic: النوبيون) are a Nilo-Saharan speaking ethnic group indigenous to the region which is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization. In the southern valley of Egypt, Nubians differ culturally and ethnically from Egyptians, although they intermarried with them and other ethnic groups, especially Arabs. They speak Nubian languages as a mother tongue, part of the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages, and Arabic as a second language.

Neolithic settlements have been found in the central Nubian region dating back to 7000 BC, with Wadi Halfa believed to be the oldest settlement in the central Nile valley. Parts of Nubia, particularly Lower Nubia, were at times a part of ancient Pharaonic Egypt and at other times a rival state representing parts of Meroë or the Kingdom of Kush. By the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (744 BC–656 BC), all of Egypt was united with Nubia, extending down to what is now Khartoum. However, in 656 BC, the native Twenty-sixth Dynasty regained control of Egypt. As warriors, the ancient Nubians were famous for their skill and precision with the bow and arrow. In the Middle Ages, the Nubians converted to Christianity and established three kingdoms: Nobatia in the north, Makuria in the center, and Alodia in the south. They then converted to Islam during the Islamization of the Sudan region.

Nobatia /noʊˈbeɪʃə/ or Nobadia (/noʊˈbeɪdiə/; Greek: Νοβαδία, Nobadia; Old Nubian: ⲙⲓⲅⲛ̅ Migin or ⲙⲓⲅⲓⲧⲛ︦ ⲅⲟⲩⲗ, Migitin Goul lit. "of Nobadia's land") was a late antique kingdom in Lower Nubia, modern day southern Egypt. Together with the two other Coptic-Nubian kingdoms, Makuria and Alodia, it succeeded the kingdom of Kush. After its establishment in around 400, Nobadia gradually expanded by defeating the Blemmyes in the north and incorporating the territory between the second and third Nile cataract in the south. In 543, it converted to Coptic Christianity. It would then be annexed by Makuria, under unknown circumstances, during the 7th century.

Christianity in Sudan has a long and rich history, dating back to the early centuries of the Christian era.Ancient Nubia was reached by Coptic Christianity by the 1st century.The Coptic Church was later influenced by Greek Christianity, particularly during the Byzantine era. From the 7th century, the Christian Nubian kingdoms were threatened by the Islamic expansion, but the southernmost of these kingdoms, Alodia, survived until 1504.

Southern Sudan (including what is now South Sudan) remained long dominated by traditional (tribal) religions of the Nilotic peoples, with significant conversion to Christianity during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Soba is an archaeological site and former town in what is now central Sudan. Three kingdoms existed in medieval Nubia: Nobadia with the capital in Faras, Makuria with the capital in Dongola, and Alodia (Alwa) with the capital in Soba. The latter used to be the capital of the medieval Nubian kingdom of Alodia from the sixth century until around 1500. E. A. Wallis Budge identified it with a group of ruins on the Blue Nile 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Khartoum, where there are remains of a Meroitic temple that had been converted into a Christian church.

In the 10th century Ibn Selim el-Aswani described the city as large and wealthy, with " fine buildings and extensive feelings " . Built mainly of red brick, the abandoned city was plundered for building material when Khartoum was founded in 1821. Since the 1990s, development from the growth of suburbs in Greater Khartoum has continued to pose a threat to the ruins.

The Funj are a group of tribes in present-day Sudan. The historical Funj rose south of the Nile confluence (sources differ on their geographic origin) and had overthrown the remnants of the old Christian kingdom of Alodia. In 1504 a Funj leader named Amara Dungus, founded a sultanate at Sinnar (the capital) after defeating the northern Abdallab Sultanate. The resulting kingdom would be known as the Kingdom of Sinnar, the Funj Sultanate, or the Blue Sultanate, and would rule most of modern-day Sudan until the Ottoman conquest in 1821.

The origins of the Funj are debated by scholars. There is only limited evidence for a pre-Arabic Funj language from the Sultanate period. Sources contemporary to the Funj Sultanate and modern Sudanese oral tradition describe them as a 'blue' or dark-skinned African people residing in the mountains of the Blue Nile region, originating further upstream in a place referred to as "Lul". In the 18th-century, the Wad Doleyb manuscript classified them as Nuba, a term applied to non-royal Fur, "Anaj" Danagla, and the peoples west and south of the banks of the White Nile. The 19th-century portion of the Wad Doleyb manuscript, the Funj are said to have been subjects of Abyssinia before gaining power, breaking away, and forming their own kingdom. The authors of the document consider Funj to be sudan ("Blacks") and descendants of Ham son of Noah, but distinct from the Zunj (another branch of Hamites and sudan), a term applied in the document to the "Jangay" (likely the Dinka), Zaghawa, and so-called "Hamaj" (literally "savage") groups. Today, a number of different linguistic groups in southeastern Sudan are described as Funj, most frequently the Berta/Benishangul, who refer to their language as Ndu Alfuñu ("Funj mouth"). Wendy James also found Funj identification and claims of Sinnari origin among Ingessana, southern Burun-speaking peoples, and the people of Jebel Gule.

The Nuba Mountains (Arabic: جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, are an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. They are not the same as the Nubians who are indigenous to north Sudan. Rather their name is derived from the name of the mountains, “Nuba”. In Antiquity, the area was a part of the Kingdom of Kush. In the Middle Ages, the Nuba mountains had been part of the Nubian kingdom of Alodia. In the 18th century, they became home to the kingdom of Taqali that controlled the hills of the mountains until their defeat by Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad. After the British defeated the Mahdi army, Taqali was restored as a client state. Infiltration of the Messiria tribe and Muraheleen of Baggara Arabs has been influential in modern conflicts. Up to 1.5 million people live in the mountains, mostly ethnic Nuba, with a small minority of Baggara.