Summary

Postmedieval is a conventional term describing the period between the fall of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alwa and the colonial Turco-Egyptian expansion toward Sudan. A void after the medieval kingdoms was filled by the Ottoman Empire north from the Third Cataract, and a newly established Funj Sultanate, which dominated the rest of the Sudanese Nile Valley. At the same time, Darfur was ruled by the Tunjur and from the 17th century the Keira state. The political transformation of the postmedieval period coincided with changes in the society. It encompassed the abandonment of Christianity and the spread of Islam instigated by Sufi holy men, whose activity left traces in the form of shrines—baniyas, and tombs—qibab, focal points of the local religious landscape.

Despite political division, the society of the Middle and Upper Nile Valley was rather uniform. It was expressed by shared material culture, including pottery, basketry, and textiles, as well as a characteristic organization of egalitarian houses built around shared courtyards, known, for example, from Old Dongola and settlements in Ottoman Nubia. Alien components, added to the local landscape of Ottoman Sudan, were military forts, for instance, in Ibrim or Sai. The material culture of the postmedieval Sudan is characterized by home craft production. Nevertheless, the use of imported objects from the Ottoman Empire, Europe, and/or Asia attests a far-reaching trade.

The territory of Darfur is much less recognized archaeologically. Nonetheless, data from surveys confirm that Dar Fur was a multiethnic sultanate with a large component of nomad or seminomad population, characterized by hilltop palaces of sultans and local chiefs. The Turco-Egyptian invasions put an end to the states of the postmedieval Sudan and eventually led to the transformation of the society by the colonial regimes.