Old Dongola, New Religions

In the 4th and 5th century, three waves of a new religion, Christianity, swept across Nubia. The wave from the south was violent, with the Ethiopian Axumites invading and destroying the Kushite kingdom of Meroe. The two from the north, although conflicting, were more peaceful, led by missionaries from Egypt. Around the same time - we aren't sure if it was a coincidence - Nubia was divided into three Christian states, Nobatia, Makuria and Alwa. Our time travel had brought us to the capital of the middle one, (Old) Dongola. 

Initially founded as a simple fortress on the banks of the Nile, it eventually grew to be a town and then an important city in Medieval Nubia with a number of monasteries, palaces and houses, some of which have been excavated. As we wandered around the site, our feet sinking into the soft unblemished sand, with no one else about, it felt as if we were the first explorers to discover the ruins. The granite columns, many still standing but half buried, were from once great churches and cathedrals, lost for centuries to the encroaching desert.

But they might never have been built. Only a couple of centuries after Christianity took hold, a second new religion, Islam, started encroaching on Nubia, effectively isolating it from other Christian countries around the Mediterranean. However, the Arab invaders met strong resistance at (Old) Dongola and agreed a peace treaty which amazingly lasted until the 14th century. To cope with the demands of Arab traders, it established the first mosque in the country, right in the middle of the Christian city. Although now its just a ruin, it demonstrated the religious tolerance of the Nubians.

The only ancient building to survive relatively intact from that period is the 9th century Throne Hall, believed to have been part of the palace. And that only survived because it was converted into a mosque in the early 14th century and was still in use until 1969. The two storey building sits atop the highest mound in the city and must have dominated the horizon. From the Throne Hall, with its view over miles of desert and the ever vital Nile, we could appreciate the strategic location of Dongola and how it had survived as a capital for over 1,000 years.

Eventually Christianity gave way, peacefully, to Islam and for the last 700 years, Nubia has been a muslim country. Its modern name originates from the Arabs first encounters with the dark-skinned natives. They named the territory 'Bilad al-Sudan' which literally means 'land of the blacks'.

Nearby, and moving us closer to the present, we visited an Islamic cemetery with several, surprisingly intact, 17th century mud brick beehive-shaped tombs called Qubbas. They are surrounded by thousands of more recent graves, decorated with black basalt stones and round white pebbles, palm fronds and, as a sop to the Jinn (spirits), a water jar for the them to drink from. 

Our journey through time had returned us to the 21st century - or what passes for it in Sudan - and it was time to head out into the desert and back to Khartoum. But first we were going to meet some of the colourful locals.