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90-798: The tributaries of the Akobo river include the Cechi , the Chiarini , and the Owag, on the right or Ethiopian side; and the Neubari , Ajuba and Kaia on the left or South Sudanese side. The boundary between Sudan and Ethiopia was defined for the region near the Akobo River in 1899, by Major H.H. Austin and Major Charles W. Gwynn of the British Royal Engineers . They had no knowledge of

180-578: A Neolithic culture had settled into a sedentary way of life there in fortified mudbrick villages, where they supplemented hunting and fishing on the Nile with grain gathering and cattle herding. Neolithic peoples created cemeteries such as R12 . During the fifth millennium BC, migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture. The population that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing developed

270-473: A coup d'état on 11 April 2019 and Bashir's imprisonment. Sudan is currently embroiled in a civil war between two rival factions, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Islam was Sudan's state religion and Islamic laws were applied from 1983 until 2020 when the country became a secular state . Sudan is a least developed country and among

360-464: A 30-year-long military dictatorship led by Omar al-Bashir ruled Sudan and committed widespread human rights abuses , including torture, persecution of minorities, alleged sponsorship of global terrorism , and ethnic genocide in Darfur from 2003–2020. Overall, the regime killed an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people. Protests erupted in 2018, demanding Bashir's resignation, which resulted in

450-707: A dynastic change, while another one in 1761–1762 resulted in the Hamaj Regency , where the Hamaj (a people from the Ethiopian borderlands) effectively ruled while the Funj sultans were their mere puppets. Shortly afterwards the sultanate began to fragment; by the early 19th century it was essentially restricted to the Gezira. The coup of 1718 kicked off a policy of pursuing a more orthodox Islam, which in turn promoted

540-561: A free vote on whether they wished independence or a British withdrawal. A polling process was carried out resulting in the composition of a democratic parliament and Ismail al-Azhari was elected first Prime Minister and led the first modern Sudanese government. On 1 January 1956, in a special ceremony held at the People's Palace, the Egyptian and British flags were lowered and the new Sudanese flag, composed of green, blue and yellow stripes,

630-615: A key province of the New Kingdom, economically, politically, and spiritually. Indeed, major pharaonic ceremonies were held at Jebel Barkal near Napata. As an Egyptian colony from the 16th century BC, Nubia ("Kush") was governed by an Egyptian Viceroy of Kush . Resistance to the early eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian rule by neighboring Kush is evidenced in the writings of Ahmose, son of Ebana , an Egyptian warrior who served under Nebpehtrya Ahmose (1539–1514 BC), Djeserkara Amenhotep I (1514–1493 BC), and Aakheperkara Thutmose I (1493–1481 BC). At

720-585: A petty kingdom. After the prosperous reign of king Joel ( fl. 1463–1484) Makuria collapsed. Coastal areas from southern Sudan up to the port city of Suakin was succeeded by the Adal Sultanate in the fifteenth century. To the south, the kingdom of Alodia fell to either the Arabs, commanded by tribal leader Abdallah Jamma , or the Funj , an African people originating from the south. Datings range from

810-527: A priority of the revolutionary government. The following year, under Egyptian and Sudanese pressure, the British agreed to Egypt's demand for both governments to terminate their shared sovereignty over Sudan and to grant Sudan independence. On 1 January 1956, Sudan was duly declared an independent state. After Sudan became independent, the Gaafar Nimeiry regime began Islamist rule. This exacerbated

900-737: A revival of the Nubian Empire, which rather continued in the form of a smaller kingdom centred on Napata . The city was raided by the Egyptian c. 590 BC, and sometime soon after to the late-3rd century BC, the Kushite resettled in Meroë . On the turn of the fifth century the Blemmyes established a short-lived state in Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia, probably centred around Talmis ( Kalabsha ), but before 450 they were already driven out of

990-586: A sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt. Mentuhotep II , the 21st century BC founder of the Middle Kingdom , is recorded to have undertaken campaigns against Kush in the 29th and 31st years of his reign. This is the earliest Egyptian reference to Kush ; the Nubian region had gone by other names in the Old Kingdom. Under Thutmose I , Egypt made several campaigns south. The Egyptians ruled Kush in

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1080-596: A social hierarchy over the next centuries which became the Kingdom of Kerma at 2500 BC. Anthropological and archaeological research indicates that during the predynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were ethnically and culturally nearly identical, and thus, simultaneously evolved systems of pharaonic kingship by 3300 BC. The Kerma culture was an early civilization centered in Kerma , Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia . The Kerma culture

1170-583: A suburb of modern-day Khartoum). Still in the sixth century they converted to Christianity. In the seventh century, probably at some point between 628 and 642, Nobatia was incorporated into Makuria. Between 639 and 641 the Muslim Arabs of the Rashidun Caliphate conquered Byzantine Egypt. In 641 or 642 and again in 652 they invaded Nubia but were repelled, making the Nubians one of

1260-478: Is also sometimes referred to as North Sudan to distinguish it from South Sudan . Affad 23 is an archaeological site located in the Affad region of southern Dongola Reach in northern Sudan, which hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of the oldest open-air hut in the world) and diverse hunting and gathering loci some 50,000 years old". By the eighth millennium BC, people of

1350-726: Is also unknown what happened to the Nobadian royal family. The merger most likely occurred before the Muslim conquest in 652, since the Arab histories speak of only one Christian state in Nubia and reached at least as far as Old Dongola . Nobatia seems to have maintained some autonomy in the new state. It was ruled by an eparch of Nobatia who was also titled the Domestikos of Pakhoras. These were originally appointed but seem to be dynastic in

1440-456: Is known from an early Nobadian burial in Qustul. The Nobadians shot barbed and possibly poisoned arrows of around 50 cm length. To store the arrows, they used quivers made of tanned leather from long-necked animals such as goats or gazelles. Additionally, they were enhanced with straps, flaps and elaborate decoration. The quivers were possibly worn on the front rather than on the back. On

1530-804: Is mentioned in the Bible as having saved the Israelites from the wrath of the Assyrians, although disease among the besiegers might have been one of the reasons for the failure to take the city. The war that took place between Pharaoh Taharqa and the Assyrian king Sennacherib was a decisive event in western history, with the Nubians being defeated in their attempts to gain a foothold in the Near East by Assyria. Sennacherib's successor Esarhaddon went further and invaded Egypt itself to secure his control of

1620-602: Is now known as South Kordofan to the Sinai. Pharaoh Piye attempted to expand the empire into the Near East but was thwarted by the Assyrian king Sargon II . Between 800 BCE and 100 AD the Nubian pyramids were built, among them can be named El-Kurru , Kashta , Piye , Tantamani , Shabaka , Pyramids of Gebel Barkal , Pyramids of Meroe (Begarawiyah) , the Sedeinga pyramids , and Pyramids of Nuri . The Kingdom of Kush

1710-537: Is part of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was reluctant to police this remote region and become involved in the politics of Sudan's internal conflicts. The Akobo has been the subject of several mining surveys. In 1939, engineers of Companies Mineralia Ethiopia ( COMINA ) carried out exploration of the Akobo and its tributaries. North-flowing tributaries appeared to be more promising than the south-flowing ones. Values up to 10 grams of gold per cubic meter were found in Chama creek, and

1800-847: Is quite likely the same civilization that is known to archeologists as the Ballana culture . Eventually, the Nobatae were successful in defeating the Blemmyes , and an inscription by Silko , "Basiliskos" of the Nobatae, claims to have driven the Blemmyes into the Eastern Desert . Around this time the Nobatian capital was established at Pakhoras (modern Faras ); soon after, Nobatia converted to non-Chalcedonian Christianity . By 707, Nobatia had been annexed by their southern neighbor, Makuria . The circumstances of this merger are unknown. It

1890-583: The 'Urabi revolt , which threatened the Khedive's survival. Tewfik appealed for help to the British, who subsequently occupied Egypt in 1882. Sudan was left in the hands of the Khedivial government, and the mismanagement and corruption of its officials. During the Khedivial period, dissent had spread due to harsh taxes imposed on most activities. Taxation on irrigation wells and farming lands were so high most farmers abandoned their farms and livestock. During

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1980-536: The 9th century after the Hijra ( c. 1396–1494), the late 15th century, 1504 to 1509. An alodian rump state might have survived in the form of the kingdom of Fazughli , lasting until 1685. In 1504 the Funj are recorded to have founded the Kingdom of Sennar , in which Abdallah Jamma's realm was incorporated. By 1523, when Jewish traveller David Reubeni visited Sudan, the Funj state already extended as far north as Dongola. Meanwhile, Islam began to be preached on

2070-593: The Arabisation of the state. To legitimise their rule over their Arab subjects the Funj began to propagate an Umayyad descend . North of the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, as far downstream as Al Dabbah , the Nubians adopted the tribal identity of the Arab Jaalin . Until the 19th century Arabic had succeeded in becoming the dominant language of central riverine Sudan and most of Kordofan. West of

2160-745: The Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt ; it was centred at Napata in its early phase. After King Kashta ("the Kushite") invaded Egypt in the eighth century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt for nearly a century before being defeated and driven out by the Assyrians . At the height of their glory, the Kushites conquered an empire that stretched from what

2250-452: The Coptic alphabet , while also using Greek , Coptic and Arabic . Women enjoyed high social status: they had access to education, could own, buy and sell land and often used their wealth to endow churches and church paintings. Even the royal succession was matrilineal , with the son of the king's sister being the rightful heir. From the late 11th/12th century, Makuria's capital Dongola

2340-793: The Isis cult of Philae . Its importance outlived the Ptolemaic and Meroitic period and Nubian pilgrims continued to travel to Philae. The temple on Philae was eventually shut down between 535 and 538 and Nubians were forbidden to enter. Another Isis cult, the Greco-Roman mysteries of Isis , has been confirmed to be practised in Nobadia by an unearthed shrine in Qasr Ibrim. This cult was practised during Meroitic times as well. As confirmed by epigraphical and archaeological evidence, Christianity

2430-533: The Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1020 BC), and then the resurgent Neo-Assyrian Empire (935–605 BC). The Assyrians , from the tenth century BC onwards, had once more expanded from northern Mesopotamia , and conquered a vast empire, including the whole of the Near East , and much of Anatolia , the eastern Mediterranean , the Caucasus and early Iron Age Iran . According to Josephus Flavius,

2520-657: The Sudan Defence Force played an active part in responding to incursions early in World War Two. Italian troops occupied Kassala and other border areas from Italian Somaliland during 1940. In 1942, the SDF also played a part in the invasion of the Italian colony by British and Commonwealth forces. The last British governor-general was Robert George Howe . The Egyptian revolution of 1952 finally heralded

2610-760: The Sudanese Communist Party . Several days later, anti-communist military elements restored Nimeiry to power. In 1972, the Addis Ababa Agreement led to a cessation of the north–south civil war and a degree of self-rule. This led to ten years hiatus in the civil war but an end to American investment in the Jonglei Canal project. This had been considered absolutely essential to irrigate the Upper Nile region and to prevent an environmental catastrophe and wide-scale famine among

2700-601: The United Nations , Arab League , African Union , COMESA , Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation . The country's name Sudan is a name given historically to the large Sahel region of West Africa to the immediate west of modern-day Sudan. Historically, Sudan referred to both the geographical region , stretching from Senegal on the Atlantic Coast to Northeast Africa and

2790-728: The Vali of Egypt under the Ottoman Empire , Muhammad Ali styled himself as Khedive of a virtually independent Egypt. Seeking to add Sudan to his domains, he sent his third son Ismail (not to be confused with Ismaʻil Pasha mentioned later) to conquer the country, and subsequently incorporate it into Egypt. With the exception of the Shaiqiya and the Darfur sultanate in Kordofan, he was met without resistance. The Egyptian policy of conquest

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2880-479: The 16th to the 19th centuries, central and eastern Sudan were dominated by the Funj sultanate , while Darfur ruled the west and the Ottomans the east. In 1811, Mamluks established a state at Dunqulah as a base for their slave trading . Under Turco-Egyptian rule of Sudan after the 1820s, the practice of trading slaves was entrenched along a north–south axis, with slave raids taking place in southern parts of

2970-529: The 1870s, European initiatives against the slave trade had an adverse impact on the economy of northern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces. Muhammad Ahmad ibn Abd Allah , the Mahdi (Guided One), offered to the ansars (his followers) and those who surrendered to him a choice between adopting Islam or being killed. The Mahdiyah (Mahdist regime) imposed traditional Sharia Islamic laws . On 12 August 1881, an incident occurred at Aba Island , sparking

3060-742: The 7th century. The kingdom of Nobatia had been founded in the former Meroitic province of Akine , which comprised large parts of Lower Nubia and is speculated to have been autonomous already before the ultimate fall of the Kingdom of Kush in the mid 4th century. While the Nobatae / ˈ n ɒ b ə t i / had been invited into the region from the Western Desert by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in 297 AD, their kingdom only became tangible around 400 AD. Early Nobatia

3150-619: The Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1902, resulting in an area in the Ethiopian Gambela Region called the Baro Salient . The Baro Salient is more closely connected to South Sudan than Ethiopia, both in terms of natural features and people. The Baro Salient was used as a sanctuary by Sudanese insurgents during the country's long civil wars . It was difficult for Sudan to exert authority over a region that

3240-402: The Ansar at Tushkah. The failure of the Egyptian invasion broke the spell of the Ansar's invincibility. The Belgians prevented the Mahdi's men from conquering Equatoria , and in 1893, the Italians repelled an Ansar attack at Agordat (in Eritrea ) and forced the Ansar to withdraw from Ethiopia. In the 1890s, the British sought to re-establish their control over Sudan, once more officially in

3330-424: The Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011 ; since then both titles have been held by Algeria . Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum . The area that is now Sudan witnessed the Khormusan ( c. 40000–16000 BC), Halfan culture ( c. 20500–17000 BC), Sebilian ( c. 13000–10000 BC), Qadan culture ( c. 15000–5000 BC), the war of Jebel Sahaba , the earliest known war in

3420-414: The Bedoin of Asia, he sailed upstream to Upper Nubia to destroy the Nubian bowmen." The tomb writings contain two other references to the Nubian bowmen of Kush. By 1200 BC, Egyptian involvement in the Dongola Reach was nonexistent. Egypt's international prestige had declined considerably towards the end of the Third Intermediate Period . Its historical allies, the inhabitants of Canaan , had fallen to

3510-420: The British had a policy of running Sudan as two essentially separate territories; the north and south. The assassination of a Governor-General of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in Cairo was the causative factor; it brought demands of the newly elected Wafd government from colonial forces. A permanent establishment of two battalions in Khartoum was renamed the Sudan Defence Force acting as under the government, replacing

3600-420: The Great Depression. Cotton and gum exports were dwarfed by the necessity to import almost everything from Britain leading to a balance of payments deficit at Khartoum. In July 1936 the Liberal Constitutional leader, Muhammed Mahmoud was persuaded to bring Wafd delegates to London to sign the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, "the beginning of a new stage in Anglo-Egyptian relations", wrote Anthony Eden . The British Army

3690-467: The Levant. This succeeded, as he managed to expel Taharqa from Lower Egypt. Taharqa fled back to Upper Egypt and Nubia, where he died two years later. Lower Egypt came under Assyrian vassalage but proved unruly, unsuccessfully rebelling against the Assyrians. Then, the king Tantamani , a successor of Taharqa, made a final determined attempt to regain Lower Egypt from the newly reinstated Assyrian vassal Necho I . He managed to retake Memphis killing Necho in

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3780-422: The Mahdist War. In 1899, Britain and Egypt reached an agreement under which Sudan was run by a governor-general appointed by Egypt with British consent. In reality, Sudan was effectively administered as a Crown colony . The British were keen to reverse the process, started under Muhammad Ali Pasha , of uniting the Nile Valley under Egyptian leadership and sought to frustrate all efforts aimed at further uniting

3870-464: The Mahdiyah period, largely because of the Khalifa's brutal methods to extend his rule throughout the country. In 1887, a 60,000-man Ansar army invaded Ethiopia , penetrating as far as Gondar . In March 1889, king Yohannes IV of Ethiopia marched on Metemma ; however, after Yohannes fell in battle, the Ethiopian forces withdrew. Abd ar-Rahman an-Nujumi, the Khalifa's general, attempted an invasion of Egypt in 1889, but British-led Egyptian troops defeated

3960-456: The New kingdom beginning when the Egyptian King Thutmose I occupied Kush and destroyed its capital, Kerma. This eventually resulted in their annexation of Nubia c.  1504 BC . Around 1500 BC, Nubia was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt , but rebellions continued for centuries. After the conquest, Kerma culture was increasingly Egyptianized, yet rebellions continued for 220 years until c.  1300 BC . Nubia nevertheless became

4050-450: The Nile Valley by the Nobatians. The latter eventually founded a kingdom on their own, Nobatia . By the sixth century there were in total three Nubian kingdoms: Nobatia in the north, which had its capital at Pachoras ( Faras ); the central kingdom, Makuria centred at Tungul ( Old Dongola ), about 13 kilometres (8 miles) south of modern Dongola ; and Alodia , in the heartland of the old Kushitic kingdom, which had its capital at Soba (now

4140-412: The Nile by Sufi holy men who settled there in the 15th and 16th centuries and by David Reubeni's visit king Amara Dunqas , previously a Pagan or nominal Christian, was recorded to be Muslim. However, the Funj would retain un-Islamic customs like the divine kingship or the consumption of alcohol until the 18th century. Sudanese folk Islam preserved many rituals stemming from Christian traditions until

4230-400: The Nile to safeguard a planned irrigation dam at Aswan . Herbert Kitchener led military campaigns against the Mahdist Sudan from 1896 to 1898. Kitchener's campaigns culminated in a decisive victory in the Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898. A year later, the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat on 25 November 1899 resulted in the death of Abdallahi ibn Muhammad , subsequently bringing to an end

4320-409: The Nile, in Darfur , the Islamic period saw at first the rise of the Tunjur kingdom , which replaced the old Daju kingdom in the 15th century and extended as far west as Wadai . The Tunjur people were probably Arabised Berbers and, their ruling elite at least, Muslims. In the 17th century the Tunjur were driven from power by the Fur Keira sultanate . The Keira state, nominally Muslim since

4410-520: The Nobadians was a type of short sword. It has a straight hollow-ground blade which was sharpened only on one edge and was therefore not designed to thrust, but to hack. Apart from said swords, there were also lances, some of them with large blades, as well as halberds . It is possible that the large-bladed lances and the halberds were only ceremonial. Nobadian warriors and their leadership made use of shields and body armour, most of it manufactured from leather. Fragments of thick hide have been found in

4500-474: The Nobatians had come from the Meroitic period. Archaeology from the pagan period confirms the relevance archery had for the Nubians and therefore also the Nobatians. The slightly reflexed longsbows , which are attested for Kushite mercenaries since the Middle Kingdom , were replaced by reflex composite bows during the Meroitic or post-Meroitic period, measuring around one meter and originally designed to be shot from horseback . One simple wooden self bow

4590-428: The Ottoman invasion saw the attempted usurpation of Ajib , a minor king of northern Nubia. While the Funj eventually killed him in 1611/1612 his successors, the Abdallab , were granted to govern everything north of the confluence of Blue and White Niles with considerable autonomy. During the 17th century the Funj state reached its widest extent, but in the following century it began to decline. A coup in 1718 brought

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4680-405: The United Kingdom as a condominium . In effect, Sudan was governed as a British possession. The Egyptian revolution of 1952 toppled the monarchy and demanded the withdrawal of British forces from all of Egypt and Sudan. Muhammad Naguib , one of the two co-leaders of the revolution and Egypt's first President, was half-Sudanese and had been raised in Sudan. He made securing Sudanese independence

4770-443: The beginning of the march towards Sudanese independence. Having abolished the monarchy in 1953, Egypt's new leaders, Mohammed Naguib , whose mother was Sudanese, and later Gamal Abdel Nasser , believed the only way to end British domination in Sudan was for Egypt to officially abandon its claims of sovereignty. In addition, Nasser knew it would be difficult for Egypt to govern an impoverished Sudan after its independence. The British on

4860-401: The biblical Moses led the Egyptian army in a siege of the Kushite city of Meroe. To end the siege Princess Tharbis was given to Moses as a (diplomatic) bride, and thus the Egyptian army retreated back to Egypt. The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient Nubian state centred on the confluences of the Blue Nile and White Nile , and the Atbarah River and the Nile River . It was established after

4950-428: The country and slaves being transported to Egypt and the Ottoman Empire . From the 19th century, the entirety of Sudan was conquered by the Egyptians under the Muhammad Ali dynasty . Religious-nationalist fervour erupted in the Mahdist Uprising in which Mahdist forces were eventually defeated by a joint Egyptian-British military force. In 1899, under British pressure, Egypt agreed to share sovereignty over Sudan with

5040-458: The end of the Second Intermediate Period (mid-sixteenth century BC), Egypt faced the twin existential threats—the Hyksos in the North and the Kushites in the South. Taken from the autobiographical inscriptions on the walls of his tomb-chapel, the Egyptians undertook campaigns to defeat Kush and conquer Nubia under the rule of Amenhotep I (1514–1493 BC). In Ahmose's writings, the Kushites are described as archers , "Now after his Majesty had slain

5130-423: The few who managed to defeat the Arabs during the Islamic expansion . Afterward the Makurian king and the Arabs agreed on a unique non-aggression pact that also included an annual exchange of gifts , thus acknowledging Makuria's independence. While the Arabs failed to conquer Nubia they began to settle east of the Nile, where they eventually founded several port towns and intermarried with the local Beja . From

5220-466: The former garrison of Egyptian army soldiers, saw action afterward during the Walwal Incident . The Wafdist parliamentary majority had rejected Sarwat Pasha 's accommodation plan with Austen Chamberlain in London; yet Cairo still needed the money. The Sudanese Government's revenue had reached a peak in 1928 at £6.6 million, thereafter the Wafdist disruptions, and Italian borders incursions from Somaliland, London decided to reduce expenditure during

5310-604: The hand holding the bow, the archers wore bracelets to protect the hand from injuries while drawing the bowstring . For the nobility, the bracelets could be made of silver, while poorer versions were made of rawhide. Furthermore, the archers wore thumb rings , measuring between three and four cm. Thus, Nubian archers would have employed a drawing technique very similar to the Persian and Chinese ones, both of which also reliant on thumb rings. At Qasr Ibrim, two crossbow darts have been discovered. The use of crossbows had hitherto been unattested in Nubia. A weapon characteristic for

5400-439: The help primarily of the Baggara of western Sudan, overcame the opposition of the others and emerged as the unchallenged leader of the Mahdiyah. After consolidating his power, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad assumed the title of Khalifa (successor) of the Mahdi, instituted an administration, and appointed Ansar (who were usually Baggara ) as emirs over each of the several provinces. Regional relations remained tense throughout much of

5490-404: The land, its inhabitants, or their languages, and were short on supplies. Rather than defining a line based on ethnic groups and traditional territories, essentially along the escarpment that separates the highlands and the plains, Majors Austin and Gwynn simply proposed drawing the line down the middle of the Akobo River and parts of the Pibor River and Baro River . This boundary was consummated in

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5580-441: The later period. Some of their records have been found at Fort Ibrim , presenting a figure with a great deal of power. Nobatia՚s name is often given as al-Maris in Arabic histories. The eparchate of Nobadia remained an integral part of the Kingdom of Makuria until Makuria's end, as is confirmed by a document from 1463 mentioning an eparch named Teedderre. Since Ptolemaic times, the "state religion" of Lower Nubia had been

5670-445: The local tribes, most especially the Dinka. In the civil war that followed their homeland was raided, looted, pillaged, and burned. Many of the tribe were murdered in a bloody civil war that raged for over 20 years. Nobatia Nobatia / n oʊ ˈ b eɪ ʃ ə / or Nobadia ( / n oʊ ˈ b eɪ d i ə / ; Greek : Νοβαδία, Nobadia ; Old Nubian : ⲙⲓⲅⲛ̅ Migin or ⲙⲓⲅⲓⲧⲛ︦ ⲅⲟⲩⲗ, Migitin Goul lit. " of Nobadia's land " )

5760-412: The medieval Nubians has been described as " Afro-Byzantine ", but was also increasingly influenced by Arab culture. The state organisation was extremely centralised, being based on the Byzantine bureaucracy of the sixth and seventh centuries. Arts flourished in the form of pottery paintings and especially wall paintings. The Nubians developed an alphabet for their language, Old Nobiin , basing it on

5850-431: The mid eighth to mid eleventh century the political power and cultural development of Christian Nubia peaked. In 747 Makuria invaded Egypt, which at this time belonged to the declining Umayyads , and it did so again in the early 960s, when it pushed as far north as Akhmim . Makuria maintained close dynastic ties with Alodia, perhaps resulting in the temporary unification of the two kingdoms into one state. The culture of

5940-422: The modern Sudan. The name derives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān ( بلاد السودان ), or "The Land of the Blacks ". The name is one of various toponyms sharing similar etymologies , in reference to the very dark skin of the indigenous people. Prior to this, Sudan was known as Nubia and Ta Nehesi or Ta Seti by Ancient Egyptians named for the Nubian and Medjay archers or bowmen. Since 2011, Sudan

6030-403: The name of the Egyptian Khedive, but in actuality treating the country as a British colony. By the early 1890s, British, French, and Belgian claims had converged at the Nile headwaters. Britain feared that the other powers would take advantage of Sudan's instability to acquire territory previously annexed to Egypt. Apart from these political considerations, Britain wanted to establish control over

6120-411: The northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League . It was the largest country by area in Africa and

6210-485: The other hand continued their political and financial support for the Mahdist successor, Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi , who it was believed would resist Egyptian pressure for Sudanese independence. Abd al-Rahman was capable of this, but his regime was plagued by political ineptitude, which garnered a colossal loss of support in northern and central Sudan. Both Egypt and Britain sensed a great instability fomenting, and thus opted to allow both Sudanese regions, north and south to have

6300-437: The outbreak of what became the Mahdist War . From his announcement of the Mahdiyya in June 1881 until the fall of Khartoum in January 1885, Muhammad Ahmad led a successful military campaign against the Turco-Egyptian government of the Sudan, known as the Turkiyah . Muhammad Ahmad died on 22 June 1885, a mere six months after the conquest of Khartoum. After a power struggle amongst his deputies, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad , with

6390-405: The poorest countries in the world, ranking 170th on the Human Development Index as of 2024 and 185th by nominal GDP per capita . Its economy largely relies on agriculture due to international sanctions and isolation, as well as a history of internal instability and factional violence. The large majority of Sudan is dry and over 60% of Sudan's population lives in poverty. Sudan is a member of

6480-707: The possible average value could be 0.7 g per cubic meter. In the period 1952-1954 the Ministry of Mines employed as many as 120 miners at a time. They produced an average of 1.66 grams of gold per day. Sudan Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in Northeast Africa . It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to

6570-520: The process and besieged cities in the Nile Delta. Ashurbanipal , who had succeeded Esarhaddon, sent a large army in Egypt to regain control. He routed Tantamani near Memphis and, pursuing him, sacked Thebes . Although the Assyrians immediately departed Upper Egypt after these events, weakened, Thebes peacefully submitted itself to Necho's son Psamtik I less than a decade later. This ended all hopes of

6660-482: The recent past. Soon the Funj came in conflict with the Ottomans , who had occupied Suakin c.  1526 and eventually pushed south along the Nile, reaching the third Nile cataract area in 1583/1584. A subsequent Ottoman attempt to capture Dongola was repelled by the Funj in 1585. Afterwards, Hannik , located just south of the third cataract, would mark the border between the two states. The aftermath of

6750-660: The region, which was thin on the ground. The British ambassador blocked Italian attempts to secure a Non-Aggression Treaty with Egypt-Sudan. But Mahmoud was a supporter of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem ; the region was caught between the Empire's efforts to save the Jews, and moderate Arab calls to halt migration. The Sudanese Government was directly involved militarily in the East African Campaign . Formed in 1925,

6840-563: The reign of Sulayman Solong (r. c. 1660–1680), was initially a small kingdom in northern Jebel Marra , but expanded west- and northwards in the early 18th century and eastwards under the rule of Muhammad Tayrab (r. 1751–1786), peaking in the conquest of Kordofan in 1785. The apogee of this empire, now roughly the size of present-day Nigeria , would last until 1821. In 1821, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali of Egypt , invaded and conquered northern Sudan. Although technically

6930-770: The rift between the Islamic North, the seat of the government, and the Animists and Christians in the South. Differences in language, religion, and political power erupted in a civil war between government forces, influenced by the National Islamic Front (NIF), and the southern rebels, whose most influential faction was the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which eventually led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011. Between 1989 and 2019,

7020-480: The royal tombs of Qustul, suggesting that the principal interment was usually buried while wearing armour. A well-preserved and richly decorated breastplate made of oxhide comes from Qasr Ibrim, while a comparable, but more fragmentary piece was discovered at Gebel Adda , albeit this one was made of reptile hide, possibly from a crocodile. Another fragment which possibly once constituted a body armour comes from Qustul. It consists of several layers of tanned leather and

7110-580: The two countries. Under the Delimitation, Sudan's border with Abyssinia was contested by raiding tribesmen trading slaves, breaching boundaries of the law. In 1905 local chieftain Sultan Yambio, reluctant to the end, gave up the struggle with British forces that had occupied the Kordofan region, finally ending the lawlessness. Ordinances published by Britain enacted a system of taxation. This

7200-411: The villages was not accomplished until the 7th–9th centuries. South of the second cataract, Christianity seems to have begun spreading later than in the north, possibly since the late 6th or early 7th century. Many ancient Egyptian temples were converted to churches and plastered with Christian wall paintings. Nothing is known about the organization of the Nobatian army. Many of the weapons employed by

7290-547: The world, around 11500 BC, A-Group culture (c. 3800–3100 BC), Kingdom of Kerma ( c. 2500–1500 BC), the Egyptian New Kingdom ( c. 1500–1070 BC), and the Kingdom of Kush ( c. 785 BC – 350 AD). After the fall of Kush, the Nubians formed the three Christian kingdoms of Nobatia , Makuria , and Alodia . Between the 14th and 15th centuries, most of Sudan was gradually settled by Arab nomads . From

7380-530: Was a late antique kingdom in Lower Nubia . Together with the two other Nubian kingdoms, Makuria and Alodia , it succeeded the kingdom of Kush . After its establishment in around 400, Nobadia gradually expanded by defeating the Blemmyes in the north and incorporating the territory between the second and third Nile cataract in the south. In 543, it converted to Coptic Christianity . It would then be annexed by Makuria, under unknown circumstances, during

7470-772: Was allowed to return to Sudan to protect the Canal Zone. They were able to find training facilities, and the RAF was free to fly over Egyptian territory. It did not, however, resolve the problem of Sudan: the Sudanese Intelligentsia agitated for a return to metropolitan rule, conspiring with Germany's agents. Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini made it clear that he could not invade Abyssinia without first conquering Egypt and Sudan; they intended unification of Italian Libya with Italian East Africa . The British Imperial General Staff prepared for military defence of

7560-536: Was already present among parts of the Nobadian society even before the official conversion of 543. The Nobadian elite might have started considering to convert to Christianity in the 530s, parallel to when the Isis temple was shut down. Christianity proceeded to spread through Nobadia on various levels at different speeds. Towns, for example, were quick in adopting the new religion, while the Christianization of

7650-481: Was based in the southern part of Nubia, or " Upper Nubia " (in parts of present-day northern and central Sudan), and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of several Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt . In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Saï and became

7740-529: Was expanded and intensified by Ibrahim Pasha 's son, Ismaʻil, under whose reign most of the remainder of modern-day Sudan was conquered. The Egyptian authorities made significant improvements to the Sudanese infrastructure (mainly in the north), especially with regard to irrigation and cotton production. In 1879, the Great Powers forced the removal of Ismail and established his son Tewfik Pasha in his place. Tewfik's corruption and mismanagement resulted in

7830-472: Was following the precedent set by the Khalifa. The main taxes were recognized. These taxes were on land, herds, and date-palms. The continued British administration of Sudan fuelled an increasingly strident nationalist backlash, with Egyptian nationalist leaders determined to force Britain to recognise a single independent union of Egypt and Sudan. With a formal end to Ottoman rule in 1914, Sir Reginald Wingate

7920-559: Was in decline, and Alodia's capital declined in the 12th century as well. In the 14th and 15th centuries Bedouin tribes overran most of Sudan, migrating to the Butana , the Gezira , Kordofan and Darfur . In 1365 a civil war forced the Makurian court to flee to Gebel Adda in Lower Nubia , while Dongola was destroyed and left to the Arabs. Afterwards Makuria continued to exist only as

8010-471: Was raised in their place by the prime minister Ismail al-Azhari . Dissatisfaction culminated in a coup d'état on 25 May 1969. The coup leader, Col. Gaafar Nimeiry , became prime minister, and the new regime abolished parliament and outlawed all political parties. Disputes between Marxist and non-Marxist elements within the ruling military coalition resulted in a briefly successful coup in July 1971 , led by

8100-577: Was sent that December to occupy Sudan as the new Military Governor. Hussein Kamel was declared Sultan of Egypt and Sudan , as was his brother and successor, Fuad I . They continued upon their insistence of a single Egyptian-Sudanese state even when the Sultanate of Egypt was retitled as the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan , but it was Saad Zaghloul who continued to be frustrated in the ambitions until his death in 1927. From 1924 until independence in 1956,

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