Old Dongola

Old Dongola

دنقلا العجوز
Church of the Granite Columns in Old Dongola
Shown within Sudan
Location	Northern State, Sudan
Region	Nubia
Coordinates	18°13′23″N 30°44′38″E / 18.22306°N 30.74389°E / 18.22306; 30.74389
Type	Settlement
Site notes
Condition	In ruins

Old Dongola (Old Nubian: ⲧⲩⲛⲅⲩⲗ, Tungul; Arabic: دنقلا العجوز, Dunqulā al-ʿAjūz) is a deserted Nubian town in what is now Northern State, Sudan, located on the east bank of the Nile opposite the Wadi Howar. An important city in medieval Nubia, and the departure point for caravans west to Darfur and Kordofan, from the fourth to the fourteenth century Old Dongola was the capital of the Makurian state. A Polish archaeological team has been excavating the town since 1964.

The urban center of the population moved downstream 80 km (50 miles) to the opposite side of the Nile during the nineteenth century, becoming the modern Dongola.