Historyof Christianity in the lands of My Toil

To summarize the history of the Sudan:
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE LANDS OF MY TOIL: PROF. M. M. NINAN
What is now northern and central Sudan was in ancient times the Meroitic-speaking Kingdom of Kush,
which for a short time even ruled over Egypt as the 25th dynasty. Driven out of Egypt by the Assyrians
it retreated back to Sudan, where it maintained itself until the mid 4th century AD. After its fall the
Nubians formed the three kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia, which converted to Christianity in
the 6th century. In 642 and 652 respectively Makuria, now probably unified with Nobatia, managed to
maintain its independence against the Rashidun Caliphate. Afterwards the Nubian kingdoms
blossomed, while Muslim Arabs began to settle among the Beja people in the Sudanese Red Sea
coast and the adjacent Eastern Desert. Since 1317 Makuria was temporarily ruled by Muslim kings,
and after 1365 it had largely collapsed, being reduced merely to Lower Nubia ] At least since 1324
Arab Bedouins had begun to migrate to the Sudanese Nile Valley, eventually settling in the Butana,
the Gezira, Kordofan and Darfur. The last Christian Nubian kingdom, Alodia, was destroyed in c. 1500
either by Arabs or the African Funj.
After the destruction of Alodia the Funj founded a new Muslim state
encompassing large parts of riverine and eastern Sudan, while Darfur
dominated the west and the Ottomans the far north. Due to Sufi
teachers, Islam started to become the dominant religion in Sudan,
albeit small Christian Nubian communities survived until the turn of the
20th century. Additionally, the Nubians living upstream of Al Dabbah
and in Kordofan were Arabized, a process largely completed by the
19th century. In 1820 central Sudan was conquered by Muhammad Ali
Pasha. The harsh Egyptian reign eventually caused a successful revolt
led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah,
resulting in the establishment of the Caliphate of Omdurman. This state lasted until 1899, when it was
destroyed by the British Empire. Afterwards Sudan was governed by the Anglo-Egyptian condominium
Egyptian Kingdom of Kush c. 16th cent. BC – 11th cent. BC
Meroitic Kingdom of Kush 11th cent. BC– 6th cent. BC
Christian Kingdoms of Nubia 6th AD- c. 14th cent.AD
Islamization c. 9th cent AD– 19th cent.AD
Ali dynasty 1821–1885 AD
The Mahdiyah 1885–1899 AD
Anglo-Egyptian rule 1899–1956 AD
Thus, the Reverend Wilson Cash, secretary of the Church Missionary Society, observed in 1930:
“The government is scrupulously fair to Muslims and pagans, and in religious matters adopts a strictly
neutral attitude. The task of evangelization is no part of the government's work and it falls to the
mission alone to decide whether these southern pagan tribes shall be left to be captured for Islam or
whether they shall be won for Jesus Christ” (Wilson Cash, The Changing Sudan, London: Christian
Mission Society, 1930, p. 54.)
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