Brief History of the Sudan
A brief history of Sudan is provided here, starting from the era of the Nubian Kingdom to modern day independence.
Nubia: from 3000 BC
The region known in modern times as the Sudan (short for the Arabic bilad as-sudan, 'land of the blacks') has for much of its history been linked with or influenced by Egypt, its immediate neighbour to the north. But it also has a strong identity as the eastern end of the great trade route stretching along the open savannah south of the Sahara.
Over the centuries the Egyptians push further south, past a succession of cataracts, first to raid and then to build fortified settlements among the people of these middle reaches of the Nile. By about 1500 BC the Egypt of the pharaohs extends as far up the river as the fourth cataract, in the region of the modern Merowe.
The Cushite Dynasty: from c.730 BC
The first incursion of the kings of Cush into Egypt occurs in about 750 BC, when Kashta conquers upper Egypt (the region north of the first cataract and Abu Simbel). But it is his son Piye, also known as Piankhi, who from about 730 BC captures cities the entire length of the Nile as far north as Memphis and receives the submission of the local rulers of the delta region
The traditional date for the end of the Cushite dynasty in Egypt is 656 BC. But this is very far from the end of the dynasty itself, which survives in the Sudan for another thousand years - still interring the royal family in Egyptian pyramids, at Napata and subsequently at Meroe.
The Funj
At the same time that the Ottomans brought northern Nubia into their orbit, a new power, the Funj, arose farther south and supplanted the Christian kingdom of Alwa. In 1504 a Funj leader, Amara Dunqas, founded the Black Sultanate at Sinnar (also seen as Sennar and Sannar) that eventually became the keystone of the Funj Empire. By the mid-sixteenth century, Sinnar controlled Al-Gezira and commanded the allegiance of vassal states and tribal districts north to the third cataract and south to the swampy grasslands along the Nile.
The Fur
Darfur was the Fur homeland. Renowned as cavalrymen, Fur clans frequently aided, and as frequently opposed, their kin, the Kanuri of Borno, in modern Nigeria. After a period of disorder in the sixteenth century, Sulayman Solong (1596–1637) became Darfur’s first sultan. He decreed Islam to be the official religion; however, large-scale religious conversions did not occur until the reign of Ahmad Bakr (1682– 1722), who imported teachers, built mosques, and compelled his subjects to become Muslims. In the eighteenth century, several sultans
consolidated the dynasty’s hold on Darfur, established a capital at Al-Fashir, and challenged the Funj for control of Kordofan (also seen as Kurdufan).
Egyptian rule: from 1821
In 1820 Mohammed Ali sends two armies south into the Sudan, each commanded by one of his younger sons. By 1821 they have conquered sufficient of the territory to establish themselves in military headquarters on the point of land formed by the confluence of the Blue and White Niles. The long narrow shape of the camp, coming to a point where the waters join, gives it the name 'elephant's trunk' - or Khartoum in Arabic.
From 1846 there are Egyptian officials in the Red Sea ports of Suakin and Mits'iwa. And in 1869 Samuel Baker returns to the southern Sudan, this time with an army, to annexe the vast region known as Equatoria on behalf of the khedive of Egypt (now Ismail, a grandson of Mohammed Ali). But Egyptian control remains tenuous in much of this region. And it is made particularly unwelcome by the western influences to which Ismail inclines
The Mahdi and the British: 1881-1898
In or shortly before 1881 an ascetic religious leader, Mohammed Ahmed, living with his disciples on an island in the White Nile, is inspired by the revelation that he is the long-awaited Mahdi. Publicly announcing his new role, he calls for the creation of a strict Islamic state. The immediate result is an order from Khartoum for his arrest, followed by the escape to the mountains of the Mahdi and his followers.
The fervour of the faithful, combined with the Mahdi's own skills, results during 1883 in a series of astonishing victories - the rapid defeat of three Egyptian armies (the last of them under a British general) and the capture of several key towns, including El Obeid.
Anglo-Egyptian Condominium: 1899-1956
The victorious army at Omdurman is mainly composed of Egyptian troops, though led by senior British officers, and the avowed purpose of the campaign is to restore order in this southern province of the khedive of Egypt. The Anglo-Egyptian partnership continues in the arrangements now made for the government of the Sudan. Sovereignty in the region is to be shared by the British crown and the khedive. British and Egyptian flags are to fly side by side
Independent Sudan
The al-Azhari government, hoping to promote unity with Egypt, set aside the agenda for self-determination proposed by the Condominium powers. After realizing that popular opinion had shifted against unification with Egypt, however, al-Azhari reversed the NUP’s stand and supported Sudanese independence. In August 1955, he called for the speedy withdrawal of foreign troops and requested that the Condominium powers sponsor a plebiscite in advance of the scheduled date. Independence was achieved, however, by a simple declaration adopted unanimously by the Sudanese parliament on December 19, 1955. On January 1, 1956, Sudan became an independent Republic.
