[citation needed] The town lies about 250 kilometres (160 mi) from Khartoum, on the south side of the Nile at the terminus of the Wadi Muqaddam.

In 1820 the town was the site of a battle between the Shaiqiya and an invading force of Muhammad Ali Pasha.

In 1881, the Mahdist uprising led to Britain sending in an army in August 1884 under Garnet Wolseley in the so-called Nile Expedition to relieve General Gordon.

[1] In January 1885 a fort was built by British troops on the north side of the Nile, right in front of Korti.

In the fighting in the Bayuda Desert between Kurti and Metemmeh (on the Nile opposite Shendi) the Madhist Sudanese suffered a defeat in the Battle of Abu Klea soon after the base at Korti was built.