Butana

Butana (Arabic: البطانة) is a region in Sudan. It is bordered by the Nile from Khartoum to Atbarah, by the Atbarah River from Atbarah to Ethiopia, by the Ethiopian border from the Atbarah River to the Blue Nile, and by the Blue Nile from Ethiopia to Khartoum. It includes most of the state of Al Qadarif plus parts of the states of Kassala, River Nile, Khartoum, Al Jazirah and Sennar. The Plateau of Butana occupies most of Butana. The name Butana is applied to many things which come from the region, such as the Butana breed of cattle, Butana sheep [ [http://www.sudanimals.com/myweb/englishsheep.htm Sudanimals.com] ] , Butana goat, etc. Historically, it was part of Alodia and later the Funj_Sultanate_of_Sinnar.

Butana was known as "The Island of Meroe" [ [http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1934/ "The Island of Meroe", UNESCO World Heritage] ] when it was part of the Kushitic kingdom of Meroe. The city of Meroe was about halfway between Atbarah and Khartoum, on the east side of the Nile river [ [http://numibia.net/nubia/meroe.htm "The Meroitic State: Nubia as a Hellenistic African State. 300 B.C.-350 AD", "Nubia Museum," Aswan, Egypt] ] .There were two other major Meroitic cities in Butana, Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa [ [http://www.ancientsudan.org/meroe_gallery/index.htm Osman Elkhair and Imad-eldin Ali, "Ancient Meroe Site: Naqa and Musawwarat es-Sufra" (recent photographs)] ] .

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