Old Dongola

Old Dongola
دنقلا العجوز
Church of the Granite Columns in Old Dongola
Location in Sudan
Location in Sudan
Shown within Sudan
LocationNorthern State, Sudan
RegionNubia
Coordinates18°13′23″N 30°44′38″E / 18.22306°N 30.74389°E / 18.22306; 30.74389
TypeSettlement
Site notes
ConditionIn 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.