Sennar

For other uses, see Sennar (disambiguation).

Sennar (Arabic: سنار Sannār) is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar.^[1] For several centuries it was the capital of the Funj Kingdom of Sennar and until at least 2011, Sennar was the capital of Sennar State.

Sennar سنار
Sennar Location in Sudan
Coordinates: 13°33′N 33°35′E
Country	Sudan
State	Sennar State
Population  (2007)
• Total	143,059

History

The area was under Kushite & Meroitic rule from 750 BC to around 350 AD.^[2] The area came under Alwan rule, after which the Alwans were overthrown by the Funj who made Sennar their capital.

Overview

The French traveler Charles-Jacques Poncet, who visited Sennar near the end of the 17th century, estimated the town had a population of 100,000 inhabitants. However, when the Dutch explorer Juan Maria Schuver travelled through the town in April 1881, he doubted it had "anything like 100,000 inhabitants, when Khartoum, the centre and capital of a tenfold larger country is not able to muster more than a quarter of that number, if we exclude the garrison."^[3] He observed that Sennar had declined as trade had over the years shifted to Karkoj, "much more advantageously situated as the terminus of regular navigation, as the natural outlet of the Takruri country between Kassala and Galabat."^[3]

The modern town lies SSE of the ruins of the ancient capital of the Funj Kingdom, 300 kilometres (186 miles) southeast of Khartoum, the Capital of Sudan.

The city is home to Sinnar University, established in 1977.^[4] In 2011, the Library of Congress still presented maps indicating that Sennar was the capital of Sennar state,^[5] but more recent works indicate that the capital is at Sinja.^[6][7]

Climate

Despite receiving over 400 millimetres or 16 inches of rainfall per year, the extreme heat and high evaporation means Sennar still has a borderline hot arid climate (Köppen BWh) a little below a hot semi-arid climate (BSh).

Climate data for Sennar (1991-2020, extremes 1907–present)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	44 (111)	45.9 (114.6)	47 (117)	47 (117)	47 (117)	46.5 (115.7)	42.7 (108.9)	41.5 (106.7)	44.6 (112.3)	46 (115)	41.5 (106.7)	40.3 (104.5)	47 (117)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	33.4 (92.1)	36.0 (96.8)	39.2 (102.6)	41.8 (107.2)	40.7 (105.3)	39.1 (102.4)	35.6 (96.1)	33.5 (92.3)	35.6 (96.1)	37.5 (99.5)	36.8 (98.2)	34.2 (93.6)	37.0 (98.6)
Daily mean °C (°F)	23.2 (73.8)	25.4 (77.7)	28.4 (83.1)	31.8 (89.2)	32.7 (90.9)	32.0 (89.6)	29.3 (84.7)	27.8 (82.0)	29.0 (84.2)	29.7 (85.5)	27.1 (80.8)	24.2 (75.6)	28.4 (83.1)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	13.0 (55.4)	14.8 (58.6)	17.7 (63.9)	21.8 (71.2)	24.8 (76.6)	24.8 (76.6)	23.1 (73.6)	22.2 (72.0)	22.4 (72.3)	22.0 (71.6)	17.3 (63.1)	14.2 (57.6)	19.8 (67.6)
Record low °C (°F)	4 (39)	4.6 (40.3)	6 (43)	10 (50)	15 (59)	16.7 (62.1)	17 (63)	17.2 (63.0)	17 (63)	13 (55)	7.5 (45.5)	4.7 (40.5)	4 (39)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	0.1 (0.00)	0.0 (0.0)	1.1 (0.04)	2.1 (0.08)	22.4 (0.88)	43.3 (1.70)	127.5 (5.02)	146.0 (5.75)	68.3 (2.69)	23.4 (0.92)	2.5 (0.10)	0.0 (0.0)	436.6 (17.19)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.5	2.7	4.3	8.9	10.9	5.4	2.1	0.1	0.0	35.1
Average relative humidity (%)	39	31	26	25	36	48	64	73	68	58	44	44	46
Mean monthly sunshine hours	313.1	274.4	297.6	279.0	266.6	240.0	204.6	201.5	237.0	282.1	306.0	316.2	3,218.1
Source 1: NOAA[8][9]
Source 2: Meteo Climat (record highs and lows)[10]

Demographics

Year	Population
1973 (Census)	28,546
1983 (Census)	42,803
1993 (Census)	72,187
2007 (Estimate)	143,059

Notable people

• Nasra bint ʿAdlan, Sudanese royalty

See also

• Railway stations in Sudan