sultan Badi III in the late 17th and early 18th century the prosperous and cosmopolitan capital of Sennar was described as "close to being the greatest trading city" in all Africa. The wealth and power of the sultans had long rested on the control of the economy. All caravans were controlled by the monarch, as was the gold supply that functioned as the state's main currency. Important revenues came from customs dues levied on the caravan routers leading to Egypt and the Red Sea ports and on the pilgrimage traffic from the Western Sudan. In the late 17th century the Funj had opened up trading with the Ottoman Empire. In the late 17th century with the introduction of coinage, an unregulated market system took hold, and the sultans lost control of the market to a new merchant middle class. Foreign currencies became widely used by merchants breaking the power of the monarch to closely control the economy. The thriving trade created a wealthy class of educated and literate merchants, who read widely about Islam and became much concerned about the lack of orthodoxy in the kingdom. The Sultanate also did their best to monopolize the slave trade to Egypt, most notably through the annual caravan of up to one thousand slaves. This monopoly was most successful in the seventeenth century, although it still worked to some extent in the eighteenth. Rulers The rulers of Sennar held the title of Mek (sultan). Their regnal numbers vary from source to source. Amara Dunqas 1503-1533/4 (AH 940) Nayil 1533/4 (AH 940)-1550/1 (AH 957) Abd al-Qadir I 1550/1 (AH 957)-1557/8 (AH 965) Abu Sakikin 1557/8 (AH 965)-1568 Dakin 1568-1585/6 (AH 994) Dawra 1585/6 (AH 994)-1587/8 (AH 996) Tayyib 1587/8 (AH 996)-1591 Unsa I 1591-1603/4 (AH 1012) Abd al-Qadir II 1603/4 (AH 1012)-1606 Adlan I 1606-1611/2 (AH 1020) Badi I 1611/2 (AH 1020)-1616/7 (AH 1025) Rabat I 1616/7 (AH 1025)-1644/5 Badi II 1644/5-1681 Unsa II 1681–1692 Badi III 1692–1716 Unsa III 1719–1720 Nul 1720–1724 Badi IV 1724–1762 Nasir 1762–1769 Isma'il 1768–1776 Adlan II 1776–1789 Awkal 1787–1788 Tayyib II 1788–1790 Badi V 1790 Nawwar 1790–1791 Badi VI 1791–1798 Ranfi 1798–1804 Agban 1804–1805 Badi VII 1805–1821 Hamaj regents Muhammad Abu Likayik – 1769–1775/6 Badi walad Rajab – 1775/6–1780 Rajab 1780–1786/7 Nasir 1786/7–1798 Idris wad Abu Likayik – 1798–1803 Adlan wad Abu Likayik – 1803 Wad Rajab – 1804–1806 Maps See also Funj Chronicle List of Sunni Muslim