The heart of the land is the Nile River, the world's longest. The main course, at first called the Mountain Nile, flows out of Uganda northward. It exits this area into east central Sudan. It re-enters the area further east, again flowing north, but now called the White Nile. In the south the river passes grasslands; further north, beyond an irrigation zone, is desert. At Khartoum the White Nile is joined by the Blue Nile and still further downstream, by the Atbara. Both these rivers flow northeast from the Ethiopian Highlands through broad irrigation belts; their volume is highly seasonal. The Blue Nile enters Sudan from Ethiopia at the reservoir Khazzan ar-Rusayris(16), source of hydro-generated electricity. From Khartoum the combined river flows first northeast and then southwest to exit this area.
In the west the land changes from north to south, starting as desert waste, changing to arid scrub, then savannah (grass with scattered trees), and then good farmland. In Western Darfur the land rises to over 3,000 meters.
In the very south the land also rises to over 3,000 meters near the Uganda border. Here too the land receives enough rain for grass to grow, and even for some swamps.
South of Khartoum is the Island State, which grows cotton thanks to fertile soil and irrigation.
More than 30 million people live here--most of Sudan's citizens. Probably almost eight in ten speak Sudanese Arabic, and many--perhaps most--learn standard Arabic, the language of Islam, government formalities and televesion news. No minority amounts to as much as one in twenty.
The overwhelming majority in this area are Sunni Moslems, including all the Arabic speakers and numerous others. The non-Arab southerners are a mixture of Christians and animists, with most recent Christian converts continuing animists practices. The animists in Darfur are being exterminated by the conflict between Moslem and Christian warlords. There are many animist refugees in northern cities.
Metropolitan Khartoum has more than five million residents, including more than a million "internally displaced persons." The city proper has nearly two million, who live between the White and Blue Niles, both of which are bridged. Across the White Nile is Umm Durman(17) with almost three million residents, and north of the Blue Nile is Khartoum Bahri, with a million and a half. The urban areas grew into significance in the 19th century. Khartoum was first the center of Egyptian traders and slavers, and later of British military rules, while Umm Durman became the center of the Islamic anti-British resistance leader, Mahdi.
People evolved not far away and so humans have been in this area at least 100,000 years. The speakers of Nubian languages(18) may have lived west of the White Nile 2,000 years ago or more, where some-speaking Dongolawi, Ghulfan and Meidob--still live. Most of them--according to the prevailing view--migrated north into the Nile Region about 600 C.E. The river valley 2000 years back was inhabited by another Nilo-Saharan language group, the Luo. Speakers of Luwo or Jur still live in southern Kurdufan and the Shilluk were said to have lived as far north as Khartoum. Another Nilo-Saharan language, neither Nubian nor Luo, is Fur, spoken in the Darfur Massif, again probably for thousands of years. Masalit is another Nilo-Saharan language of Darfur that may have a long lineage. In the south are more Nilo-Saharan languages--perhaps long standing: the Bari group, Didinga, the Dinka-Nuer group, Jur Mode, Toposa and Otuho.
Zande became in important language in the southwest as a result of conquest in the 18th century. This Niger-Congo group probably entered Sudan more than 3,000 years ago.
Kordufan seems to have had a long standing linguistic division between Nilo-Saharan groups, like the Darfur Daju, and Niger-Congo groups belonging (mostly) to the Kordofanian sub-family.
north
east of the Nile River State, and north of Kassala
east of northern Kassala
east of south central Kassala
east of southern Kassala and of the Blue Nile State
south of the White Nile State; east of Southern Kordufan, of the Ghazal River State, and of Buhayrat; and north of the Eastern Equatorial State
east of the Eastern Equatorial State
southeast of the Eastern Equatorial State
south of the Eastern Equatorial State
southwest of the Eastern Equatorial State and south of the Western Equatorial State
west of the Western Equatorial and the Ghazal River States, and southwest of Southern Darfur
west of Western Darfur
west of Northern Darfur
north of Northern Darfur and Kurdufan, and west of the Nile River State
Cotton monoculture
Sudan
Africa
Ben Laden and Sudanese terrorism.
The American attack on Sudan.
19th century Anglo-Egyptian imperialism and Mahdi.
The Nile
The Blue Nile
The White Nile
The Sahara
The civil war in Sudan and starvation
(1) More properly, al-Khartum or al-Hartum.
(2) In Arabic transliteration, al-Azraq.
(3) In Arabic transliteration, an-Nil.
(4) In Arabic transliteration, al-Bahr- (waters) al-Abyad.
(5) Could be translated as Oasis. In Arabic transliteration, al-Jazirah or -Gezera.
(6) In Arabic transliteration, al-Janubiyah or Janub.
(7) More properly, Kurdufan.
(8) In Arabic transliteration, ash-Shamaliyah or Shamal or Samal or as-Samaliyah.
(9) In Arabic transliteration, Garb.
(10) In Arabic transliteration, one word for river is Nahr.
(11) In Arabic transliteration, al-Bahr (waters). The word can be translated as sea or water.
(12) In Arabic transliteration, Buhayrat or Buheyrat
(13) In Arabic transliteration, as-Istiwa'iyah.
(14) In Arabic transliteration, Jabal.
(15) In Arabic transliteration, Sarq.
(16) Or Roseires.
(17) Or Omdurman.
(18) Called the Noubai, Noba, Annoubades, Nobitai and further south, Makoritai.