Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A country in north-east Africa. Sudan takes its name from the great belt of open savannah crossing Africa south of the Sahara, from Ethiopia to Cape Verde.

Physical

Sudan has Egypt on its northern boundary, a coast on the Red Sea, and boundaries also with Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Chad, and Libya. The third-largest country on the African continent, it has equatorial forest in the south and the Nubian Desert in the north; its whole length is traversed from south to north by the River Nile. The mid-south contains the Sudd swamps, which are mainly covered with reeds and papyrus grass. There is a region of savannah, and near the junction of the Blue and White Niles cotton is grown under irrigation on the plains of the Gezira. Further north are areas covered with acacia bushes, the source of gum arabic. In the extreme north years may pass without rain, and the only cultivation is on the river’s banks.

Economy

Already devastated by the civil war, floods, and drought, Sudan’s economy was further damaged by the loss of three-quarters of its oil production on the secession of South Sudan in 2011 and then by the latter’s suspension of oil production in 2012. The government is attempting to develop other industries, and gold is now the major export; however, oil exports are still important. Agriculture employs four-fifths of the workforce; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, and sugar are exported.

History

Nubian culture was established in northern Sudan about 30,000 years ago. Most of Nubia gradually came under the control of Egypt from about 4000 bc. Nubia later formed part of the kingdom of Cush, which lasted from the 11th century bc to the 4th century ad. From about the 6th century ad missionaries established Christianity in the area. From the 13th century Arab nomads began immigrating into Sudan and eventually took control of the Christian areas.

By 1800 northern Sudan consisted of the Muslim empire of the Funji, where an Islamic revival was occurring. The Funji were then conquered by Mehemet Ali from Egypt (1820–23). In 1874 Khedíve Ismail, viceroy of Egypt, offered the post of governor of the Egyptian Sudan to the Briton Charles Gordon. His anti-slave administration was not popular. In 1881 Muhammad Ahmad declared himself Mahdi and led an Islamic rebellion in the Sudan. Britain occupied Egypt in 1882 and invaded the Sudan where Gordon was killed (1885). The Mahdists resisted Anglo-Egyptian forces until Kitchener defeated them at Omdurman in 1898. Following the Fashoda incident, an Anglo-Egyptian condominium was created for the whole Sudan (1899) under a British governor. A constitution was granted in 1948 but in 1951 King Farouk of Egypt proclaimed himself King of Sudan. After his fall, Egypt agreed to Sudan’s right to independence; self-government was granted in 1953 and full independence in 1956. North–South political and religious tension undermined stability until General Nimeiri achieved power in 1969 and negotiated an end to the civil war in the south (1972). However, the early 1980s saw the collapse of the economy, widespread starvation, and a renewal of separatist guerrilla activity in the south. Nimeiri was overthrown by the army in April 1985, and a brief civilian coalition government was formed under Sadiq al-Mahdi. But civil war continued; the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) militarized much of the south, while the Muslim Brotherhood’s National Islamic Front (NIF) strengthened its hold in the north. A military coup by General Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir in 1989 was followed by a ban on all political parties. The early 1990s saw an influx of several million refugees from Ethiopia and Chad. The continuing civil war, drought, and flooding led to large-scale destitution and famine. The strongly Islamic Bashir regime has been accused of sponsoring fundamentalist terrorism, particularly in neighbouring Egypt. The first presidential and parliamentary elections since the coup were held in March 1996, resulting in victory for Bashir and his supporters. In 1997 the SPLA made large gains in the south and east of the country. In 1999 Bashir announced that he would agree to the south seceding if this would end the civil war, and in 2004 a peace settlement granted virtual autonomy to the south with an option to secede after six years. Meanwhile, in 2003 a new conflict began in Darfur: a rebellion of Black Africans was followed by a campaign of savage ethnic cleansing conducted by Arab militias with government support. A series of ceasefires failed, and in 2008 the African Union peacekeepers were replaced by a UN force. in 2017 it was estimated that over 500,000 people had died as a result of the conflict, including deaths from famine and disease; some 3 million people remain displaced, and most of the population rely on humanitarian aid. In a referendum in January 2011, Sudan's ten southern provinces voted overwhelmingly for independence, and in July 2011 South Sudan became Africa’s newest nation. Unresolved disputes, including the precise line of the border and how to share oil revenues, led to armed clashes. In 2010, Bashir was re-elected president in Sudan’s first contested election, gaining 68 per cent of the vote, and in 2015 he was elected again, gaining around 94 per cent of the vote in a poll that was boycotted by the opposition. Bashir was charged in 2009 with crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court, but the court has so far failed to have him arrested.