Sudan — map and facts

About Sudan

Sudan is a large country in northeastern Africa with a population of approximately 46 million people. Its capital is Khartoum, situated at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. Sudan is an Arab-majority, predominantly Muslim republic that has experienced prolonged instability since independence in 1956. For decades the country was led by Omar al-Bashir, whose authoritarian government was ousted by the military in April 2019 following mass protests. A transitional civilian-military council was established, but in October 2021 a coup by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan consolidated military control. In April 2023 violent conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, plunging the country into a catastrophic civil war. Millions have been displaced and famine conditions declared in several regions. Sudan's economy depends heavily on agriculture, gold mining, and livestock. Arabic is the official language. Sudan lost roughly a third of its territory and much of its oil wealth when South Sudan seceded in 2011, deepening an already severe economic crisis.

Geography and Landscape

Sudan covers approximately 1.88 million square kilometres, making it the third-largest country in Africa. The landscape is dominated by desert in the north, transitioning through semi-arid savanna to tropical woodland in the far south. The Nubian Desert stretches across the northeast, while the Libyan Desert covers much of the northwest. The Nile and its tributaries are the defining geographic features: the Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia and the White Nile flows from Central Africa, converging at Khartoum. The Nile valley and its narrow corridor of irrigated farmland form the country's agricultural heartland. In the west, the Jebel Marra massif in Darfur rises to over 3,000 metres. The Red Sea coast in the northeast provides Sudan's only maritime access, with the port of Port Sudan being the country's principal outlet to international trade. The climate ranges from hyper-arid in the Sahara zone to tropical in the south, with the north receiving minimal rainfall and the southern regions experiencing a seasonal monsoon.

History

The Nile Valley of present-day Sudan was home to some of the ancient world's great civilisations. The Kingdom of Kush flourished from around 2500 BCE and at its height extended its rule over Egypt. Later, the Meroitic Kingdom made Meroe a centre of ironworking and trade. The region was Christianised in the sixth century and later Islamised from the fifteenth century onward through Arab migration and the Funj Sultanate. Ottoman and Egyptian influence expanded southward in the nineteenth century, and the Mahdist State, led by Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, expelled Turco-Egyptian forces in 1885, famously killing British General Charles Gordon at Khartoum. British and Egyptian forces reconquered Sudan in 1898, establishing the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. Sudan gained independence on 1 January 1956. The decades that followed were marked by military coups, two long civil wars with the south, and the Darfur conflict beginning in 2003, during which al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity.