The Tunjur (or Tungur) people are a Sunni Muslim ethnic group living in eastern Chad and western Sudan.
[1] Based on linguistic and archaeological evidence, the ethnic ancestry of the Tunjur people has been argued by contemporary archaeologist Claude Rilly to go back to Christian Nubia.
According to their own oral traditions and other scholars, they are of Arab descent, whose ancestors migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to central Sudan either by way of North Africa and Tunis or by way of Nubia.
Thus, the 19th century German explorer Gustav Nachtigal claimed they resemble Arabs in features and behaviour,[5] but this impression has been refuted by modern scholars.
[3][6] In the 16th century, they were overthrown by an Arab[citation needed] group that founded the Keira dynasty, and later merged with the Fur people.