Sudan

HISTORY

The region which is now Sudan was once known as Nubia and settled by Egypt.

After its fall in the mid 4th century AD the Nubians formed the three kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodi

Christianity became the state religion. However it never caught on among the general public as the church services were in Greek, which none of the people spoke so they failed to understand what was going on. In time it fizzled out to be replaced by Islam.

The royal residence of Sennar at the time of the 1820 Egyptian conquest.

Sudan was again ruled by Egypt from 1820.  In 1881 Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, a religious leader of the Sufi Samaniyya order in Sudan proclaimed himself as the Mahdi or messianic redeemer of the Islamic faith. He led a revolt against the Turco-Egyptian government of the Sudan and captured Khartoum in 1885.

The revolt was subdued by an Anglo Egyptian army under Herbert Kitchener, who was Sirdar (British Commander in Chief) of the forces. Kitchener's campaigns culminated in a decisive victory in the Battle of Omdurman on September 2, 1898. 

The flight of the Khalifa after his defeat at the Battle of Omdurman.

Winston Churchill served as a Cavalry officer in Sudan in 1898 where he fought in the Battle of Omdurman, which featured the last classic cavalry charge in British warfare. He was decorated for bravery after Sudan.

After colonial rule from 1899 the Republic of the Sudan achieved independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom on January 1, 1956.

The flag of Sudan was adopted on May 20, 1970. It consists of a horizontal red-white-black tricolour, with a green triangle at the hoist. The flag is based on the Arab Liberation Flag shared by Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, that uses a subset of the Pan-Arab colours in which green is less significant.

Flag of Sudan

Following Sudan's independence, power was largely in the hands of the Arabic-Muslim elite in the North, who dominated, exploited, and persecuted the more African and more Christian South and periphery. Resistance led quickly to the first Sudanese Civil War (1955 to 1972).

A second Sudanese civil war broke out between the country's Muslim north and Christian south in 1983. The situation worsened when on January 20, 1991 Sudan's government imposed Islamic law nationwide.

It is estimated that possibly two million people, mainly Christian southerners, died over the 22 year duration of the Second Sudanese Civil War, with up to five million more displaced. International pressure produced a ceasefire in 2005, and then a process towards a referendum that lead to independence for South Sudan on July 9, 2011.

Government Militia in Darfur

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on March 4, 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan. Al-Bashir was the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002. The warrant was delivered to the Sudanese government, which did not recognize the ICC and ignored it.

Amidst mass protests against his government, Omar al-Bashir was ousted as President of Sudan in a military coup d'état on April 11, 2019 after nearly 30 years in office. The Miscellaneous Amendments Act, which became law on July 9, 2020, ended long-standing restrictions on freedom introduced under the regime of Omar al-Bashir. This included abolishing Sudan's apostasy law, which carried a death penalty for leaving Islam. 15 months later, a military coup deposed the government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

On April 15, 2023, clashes broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. The fighting began with attacks by the RSF on key government sites, including the presidential palace and the military headquarters. Airstrikes, artillery, and heavy gunfire were reported across Sudan, and at least 188 people were killed in the clashes.

FUN SUDAN FACTS

Sudan was originally a name given to a geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to eastern Central Africa. It derives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān (or "the lands of the Blacks").

Sudan used to have the largest area of all the countries in Africa, until South Sudan separated from it in 2011. Sudan now has an area of 1,861,484 km2, [718,723.sq mile] and is the third largest country in Africa by area.

Sudan is the country with the most pyramids. There are approximately 255, twice the amount that are found in Egypt. There are at least 223 pyramids in the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal and Meroë. They are generally 20 to 30 metres high and steep sided.

Nubian pyramids in Meroë. By Photographer: B N Chagny en.wikipedia.org

Sudan's capital is Khartoum, located at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile.

About 37 million people live in Sudan of whom 5.5 million live in its capital Khartoum or in towns that are joined to it.

Sudanese Arabic is the most widely spoken language in Sudan, but people also speak Nubian, Nilotic and English.

The currency of Sudan is called the Sudanese Pound (Jinneh).

Agriculture is the main source of income, employing 80 percent of the workforce and contributing 39 percent of GDP, but most farms remain rain-fed and susceptible to drought.

Source Hutchinson Enyclopedia