Suakin is a port in north eastern Sudan, on the Red Sea. It was formerly the chief port of the African Red sea, but it is now obstructed by a coral reef.
In earlier times, Suakin was an important port; there are references to Venetian merchants residing at Suakin, and Massawa in the 14th century. O. G. S. Crawford believed that this city was a center of Christianity in the 13th century; there is evidence that this city was a departure point for Ethiopian pilgrims for Jerusalem until Selim I conquered the port in 1517. However, the Christian influence gradually waned after the fall of the Nubian kingdom in the 14th century, and the believers either died out or converted to Islam in the 16th century, due to the encouragement of the neighboring Kingdom of Sennar.
