1 Name 2 History

Sudan This article is about the country. For the geographical two civil wars and the War in the Darfur region. Sudan region, see Sudan (region). suffers from poor human rights most particularly deal- “North Sudan” redirects here. For the Kingdom of North ing with the issues of ethnic cleansing and slavery in the Sudan, see Bir Tawil. nation.[18] For other uses, see Sudan (disambiguation). i as-Sūdān /suːˈdæn/ or 1 Name السودان :Sudan (Arabic /suːˈdɑːn/;[11]), officially the Republic of the Sudan[12] Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), is an Arab The country’s place name Sudan is a name given to a جمهورية السودان :Arabic) republic in the Nile Valley of North Africa, bordered by geographic region to the south of the Sahara, stretching Egypt to the north, the Red Sea, Eritrea and Ethiopia to from Western to eastern Central Africa. The name de- the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African or “the ,(بلاد السودان) rives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya lands of the Blacks", an expression denoting West Africa to the northwest. It is the third largest country in Africa. and northern-Central Africa.[19] The Nile River divides the country into eastern and western halves.[13] Its predominant religion is Islam.[14] Sudan was home to numerous ancient civilizations, such 2 History as the Kingdom of Kush, Kerma, Nobatia, Alodia, Makuria, Meroë and others, most of which flourished Main article: History of Sudan along the Nile River. During the predynastic period Nu- bia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were identical, simultaneously evolved systems of pharaonic kingship by 3300 [15] BC. By virtue of its proximity to Egypt, the Sudan par- 2.1 Prehistoric Sudan ticipated in the wider history of the Near East inasmuch as it was Christianized by the 6th century, and Islamized in the 7th. As a result of Christianization, the Old Nubian language stands as the oldest recorded Nilo-Saharan language (earliest records dating to the 9th century). Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world until 2011, when South Sudan separated into an independent country, following an independence referendum. Sudan is now the third largest country in Africa (after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and also the third largest country in the Arab world (after Algeria and Saudi Arabia). Sudan is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement, as well The large mud brick temple, known as the shrek or Western Def- as an observer in the World Trade Organization.[12][16] fufa, in the ancient city of Kerma Its capital is Khartoum, the political, cultural and com- mercial centre of the nation. It is a federal presidential By the eighth millennium BC, people of a Neolithic cul- representative democratic republic. The politics of Su- ture had settled into a sedentary way of life there in dan is regulated by a parliamentary organization called fortified mud-brick villages, where they supplemented [17] the National Assembly. The Sudanese legal system is hunting and fishing on the Nile with grain gathering and based on Islamic law. cattle herding.[20] During the fifth millennium BC migra- Sudan suffers from several challenges. For much of Su- tions from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into dan’s history, the nation has suffered from rampant ethnic the Nile Valley along with agriculture. The population strife and has been plagued by internal conflicts including that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing devel- oped social hierarchy over the next centuries become the 1 2 2 HISTORY Kingdom of Kush (with the capital at Kerma) at 1700 his successor Ashurbanipal sent a large army into south- BC. ern Egypt and routed Tantamani, ending all hopes of a Anthropological and archaeological research indicate that revival of the Nubian Empire. during the predynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper During Classical Antiquity, the Nubian capital was at Egypt were ethnically, and culturally nearly identical, and Meroë. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom thus, simultaneously evolved systems of pharaonic king- was known as Ethiopia (a term also used earlier by the ship by 3300 BC.[15] Assyrians when encountering the Nubians). The civiliza- tion of Kush was among the first in the world to use iron smelting technology. The Nubian kingdom at Meroë per- 2.2 Kingdom of Kush sisted until the 4th century AD. After the collapse of the Kushite empire several states emerged in its former terri- Main article: Kingdom of Kush tories, among them Nubia. The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient Nubian state cen- 2.3 Christianity and Islam Nubian pyramids in Meroë. tered on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara. It was established after the Bronze Age Ruins of Old Dongola. collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, centered at Napata in its early phase. By the 6th century, fifty states had emerged as the politi- After King Kashta (“the Kushite”) invaded Egypt in the cal and cultural heirs of the Meroitic Kingdom. Nobatia 8th century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as Pharaohs of in the north, also known as Ballanah, had its capital at the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt for a century before Faras; the central kingdom, Muqurra (Makuria), was cen- being defeated and driven out by the Assyrians. At the tred at Tungul (Old Dongola), about 13 kilometres (8.1 height of their glory, the Kushites conquered an empire miles) south of modern Dunqulah; and Alawa (Alodia), in that stretched from what is now known as South Kord- the heartland of old Meroë, which had its capital at Sawba ofan all the way to the Sinai. King Piye attempted to (Soba) (now a suburb of modern-day Khartoum). In all expand the empire into the Near East, but was thwarted three kingdoms, warrior aristocracies ruled Meroitic pop- by the Assyrian king Sargon II. The Kingdom of Kush ulations from royal courts where functionaries bore Greek is mentioned in the Bible as having saved the Israelites titles in emulation of the Byzantine court. A missionary from the wrath of the Assyrians, although disease among sent by Byzantine empress Theodora arrived in Nobatia the besiegers was the main reason for the failure to take and started preaching Christianity about 540 AD. The the city.[21] Nubian kings became Monophysite Christians. How- The war that took place between King Taharqa and the ever, Makuria was of the Melkite Christian faith, unlike Assyrian King Sennacherib was a decisive event in west- Nobatia and Alodia. ern history, with the Nubians being defeated in their at- After many attempts at military conquest failed, the Arab tempts to gain a foothold in the Near East by Assyria. commander in Egypt concluded the first in a series of reg- Sennacherib’s successor Esarhaddon went further, and in- ularly renewed treaties known as al-baqṭ (pactum) with vaded Egypt itself, deposing Taharqa and driving the Nu- the Nubians that governed relations between the two peo- bians from Egypt entirely. Taharqa fled back to his home- ples for more than 678 years. Islam progressed in the area land where he died two years later. Egypt became an As- over a long period of time through intermarriage and con- syrian colony; however, king Tantamani, after succeed- tacts with Arab merchants and settlers. Additionally, ex- ing Taharqa, made a final determined attempt to regain emption from taxation in regions under Muslim rule were Egypt. Esarhaddon died while preparing to leave the As- also a powerful incentive for conversion.[22] In 1093, a syrian capital of Nineveh in order to eject him. However, Muslim prince of Nubian royal blood ascended the throne 2.4 Turkiyah and Mahdiyah period 3 Fresco of Faras Cathedral, 10th–11th century of Dunqulah as king. The two most important Arab tribes to emerge in Nubia were the Jaali and the Juhayna. To- day’s northern Sudanese culture often combines Nubian and Arabic elements. During the 16th century, a people called the Funj, under a leader named Amara Dunqus, appeared in south- ern Nubia and supplanted the remnants of the old Chris- tian kingdom of Alwa, establishing As-Saltana az-Zarqa (the Blue Sultanate), also called the Sultanate of Sennar. The Blue Sultanate eventually became the keystone of the Funj Empire. By the mid-16th century, Sennar con- trolled Al Jazirah and commanded the allegiance of vassal states and tribal districts north to the Third Cataract and south to the rainforests. The government was substan- Ismail Pasha, Sultan of Egypt & Sudan tially weakened by a series of succession arguments and coups within the royal family. In 1820, Muhammad Ali of Egypt sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan. His forces corruption and mismanagement resulted in the Orabi Re- accepted Sennar’s surrender from the last Funj sultan, volt, which threatened the Khedive’s survival. Tewfik ap- Badi VII. pealed for help to the British, who subsequently occupied Egypt in 1882. Sudan was left in the hands of the Khedi- vial government, and the mismanagement and corruption [23][24] 2.4 Turkiyah and Mahdiyah period of its officials. During the 1870s, European initiatives against the slave Main articles: History of Sudan (1821–1885) and History trade had an adverse impact on the economy of north- of Mahdist Sudan ern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces.[25] In 1821, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ahmad ibn Abd Allah, the Mahdi (Guided had invaded and conquered northern Sudan.

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