Editing Funj Sultanate (section)

===Decline===
{{Contradicts other|Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824)|here|End date|section|date=June 2021}}
{{See also|Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824)#Submission of Sennar}}
[[File:Sudanese woman ("Book of Women").jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|A Sudanese woman in an Ottoman miniature from the late 18th century]]
Sennar was at its peak at the end of the 17th century, but during the 18th century, it began to decline as the power of the monarchy was eroded. The greatest challenge to the authority of the king were the merchant funded [[Ulama]] who insisted it was rightfully their duty to mete out justice.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

In about 1718 the previous dynasty, the [[Unsab dynasty|Unsab]], was overthrown in a coup and replaced by [[Nul of Sennar|Nul]], who, although related to the previous Sultan, effectively founded a dynasty on his own.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=213}} <!--Nol Arabizer Spaulding 1985 p=213}}-->

In 1741 and 1743 the young Ethiopian emperor [[Iyasu II]] conducted raids westwards, attempting to acquire quick military fame. In March 1744 he assembled an army of 30,000–100,000 men for a new expedition, which was initially intended as yet another raid, but soon turned into a war of conquest.{{sfn|Kropp|1996|pp=116–118, note 21}} On the banks of the [[Dinder River|Dinder river]] the two states fought a [[Battle of the Dindar River|pitched battle]], which went in favour of Sennar.{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|p=91}} Traveller [[James Bruce]] noted that Iyasu II, plundered his way back to Ethiopia, allowing him to display his campaign as a success.{{sfn|Kropp|1996|p=125}} Meanwhile, Badi IV's repulsion of the Ethiopian invasion made him a national hero.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=213}} Hostilities between the two states continued until the end of Iyasu II's reign in 1755, tensions caused by this war were still recorded in 1773.{{sfn|Aregay|Selassie|1971|p=68}} Trade, however, soon resumed after the conflict, although on reduced scale.{{sfn|Pankhurst|1997|pp=371–372}}
[[File:Sennar palace (cropped).jpg|thumb|300px|At the time of the Egyptian invasion in 1821 the palace of Sennar was already in ruins.]]

It has been suggested that it was Badi's victory over the Ethiopians that strengthened his power;{{sfn|McHugh|1994|p=53}} in 1743/1744 he is known to have had his vizier executed and to have taken the reins.{{sfn|McHugh|1994|p=54}} He attempted to create a new power base by purging the previous ruling clan, stripping the nobility of their land and instead empowering clients from the western and southern periphery of his realm. One of these clients was [[Muhammad Abu Likaylik]], a [[Hamaj]] (a generic Sudannese term applied to the pre-Funj, non-Arabic or semi-Arabized people of the Gezira and Ethiopian-Sudanese borderlands){{sfn|Etefa|2006|pp=17–18}} from east of Fazughli who was granted land immediately south of Sennar in 1747/1748.{{sfn|McHugh|1994|pp=53–54}} He was a cavalry commander tasked to pacify [[Kordofan]], which had become a battlefield between the Funj and the Musabb’at, refugees from the [[Sultanate of Darfur]].{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|p=93}} The Fur had the upper hand until 1755, when Abu Likayik finally managed to overrun Kordofan and turn it into his new powerbase.{{sfn|Spaulding|1998|pp=53–54}} In the meantime, Sultan Badi grew increasingly unpopular due to his repressive measures. Eventually, Abu Likayik was convinced by disaffected Funj noblemen, many of them residing in Kordofan, to march on the capital. In 1760/1761 he reached Alays at the White Nile, where a council was held in which Badi was formally deposed.{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|p=94}} Afterwards, he besieged Sennar, which he entered on 27 March 1762.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=313}} Badi fled to Ethiopia but was murdered in 1763.{{sfn|Kropp|1996|p=128}} Thus began the [[Hamaj Regency]], where the Funj monarchs became puppets of the Hamaj.{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|pp=94–95}}

[[File:Le roi de Sennâr donnant audience à ses ministres.jpg|left|thumb|A Funj king of Sennar and his ministers as represented in a book by [[Félix Mengin]], 1823]]

Abu Likayik installed another member of the royal family as his puppet sultan and ruled as regent. This began a long conflict between the Funj sultans attempting to reassert their independence and authority and the Hamaj regents attempting to maintain control of the true power of the state. These internal divisions greatly weakened the state and in the late 18th century Mek [[Adlan II]], son of Mek Taifara, took power during a turbulent time at which a Turkish presence was being established in the Funj kingdom. The Turkish ruler, [[Al-Tahir Agha]], married Khadeeja, daughter of Mek Adlan II. This paved the way for the assimilation of the Funj into the Ottoman Empire.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

[[File:Sennar in 1821.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Sennar in 1821]]

The later 18th century saw a rapid disintegration of the Funj state. In 1785/1786 the Fur Sultanate conquered Kordofan which it managed to hold until the Egyptian invasion of 1821.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|pp=391–392}} In the second half of the 18th century Sennar lost the Tigre in what is now Eritrea to the rising ''naib'' ("deputy") of [[Massawa]],{{sfn|Miran|2010|p=47}} while after 1791 Taka around the Sudanese [[Mareb River]] made itself independent.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=383}} The Shukriya became the new dominant power in the Butana.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} The long isolated province of Dongola finally fell to the Shaiqiya in around 1782, who installed a loyal puppet dynasty.{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|p=101}}{{sfn|Beška|2020|p=320}} After 1802, the authority of the sultanate was limited to the Gezira for good.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=382}}<!--p. 371-379 attempt to restore control in the north, never again riding north of nile confluence Ja'aliyin p. 405-406 Darfur 1802 White Nile Sennar excessively plundered in early 1804 p. 426-267 --> In the early years of the 19th century the kingdom was plagued by excessive civil wars. Regent Muhammad Adlan, who rose to power in 1808 and whose father had been assassinated by a warlord of that period, was able to put an end to these wars and managed to stabilize the kingdom for another 13 years.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|pp=440–442}}

[[File:Préliminaires cérémonieux de l'entrevue d'un chef nègre avec un roi sennarien.png|thumb|upright=1.2|After the conquest of Sennar, the Funj became Egyptian vassal kings ruling the mountains of the central Gezira. On this depiction from the mid-19th century, a Funj king (on horseback) meets a local chief]]

In 1820, [[Ismail bin Muhammad Ali]], the general and son of the [[Ottoman Empire|nominally Ottoman]] vassal [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]], began the conquest of Sudan. Realizing that the Turks were about to conquer his domain, Muhammad Adlan prepared to resist and ordered to muster the army at the Nile confluence, but he fell to a plot near Sennar in early 1821. One of the murderers, a man named Daf'Allah, rode back to the capital to prepare Sultan [[Badi VII]]'s submission ceremony to the Turks.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|pp=449–451}} The Turks reached the Nile confluence in May 1821. Afterwards, they travelled upstream the Blue Nile until reaching Sennar.{{sfn|McGregor|2006|p=73}} They were disappointed to learn that Sennar, once enjoying a reputation of wealth and splendour, was now reduced to a heap of ruins.{{sfn|Oliver|Atmore|2001|p=106}} On 14 June they received the official submission of Badi VII.<ref name="Moorehead">Alan Moorehead, ''The Blue Nile'', revised edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), p. 215</ref>