The center piece of this nation is the Nile(1) River. It flows out of Uganda into southern Sudan where it is called the Mountain Nile(2). The Mountain Nile flows through marshes called as-Sudd, which is what the nation is named for. Where it is joined by the Ghazal River(3) it turns east and becomes the White Nile(4). As the White Nile bends back northward it receives the Sobat. When it is joined by the Blue Nile(5) it becomes the Nile proper. The lands south of this junction are called the Island(6) and are good farmland. The main stream makes two great bends, first east where it is joined by the Atbara, and then west. It exits Sudan flowing north into Egypt, its waters backed up as Lake Nasser(7) by the Egyptian Aswan Dam.
As a broad generality, in the south the lands away from the rivers are savannah (grasslands with scattered trees), sometimes even swampy grasslands. As one goes north, they transition to harsh desert. High lands are found in the west and southeast--over 3,000 meters--and near the Red Sea coast, where a 2,000 meter escarpment plunges seaward.
The overwhelming majority speak Sudanese Spoken Arabic as their first language. Many more learn it and some learn Standard Arabic, the religious language, as well. Along the northernmost portion of the Nile, Nubian languages dominate, specifically Nobiin. In the northeast Beja is the main first language, and in the east-center languages in the Nuer-Dinka group are the local majority.
Most Sudanese, though by no means all, are Sunni Moslems.
The only metropolitan area with more than a million residents is the capital, Khartoum(8), consisting of three cities of a million or more: Khartoum proper, Umm Durman(9) and al-Khartum-Bahri.
Junqali and A'ali-Nile States
Khartoum, Kassala, Blue Nile, White Nile, Island, Southern Kordufan, Northern Kordufan, Western Kordufan, Southern Dafur, Northern Dafur, Western Dafur, Nile River, al-Qadarif, Sinnar, Western Gazal River, Southern Gazal River, al-Wahdah, Warab, Lake, Western Equatorial, Mountain River and Eastern Equatorial States
Northern State
Red Sea State
(1) an-Nil in transliterated Arabic.
(2) Bahr(waters, stream) al-Jabal (mountain) in transliterated Arabic.
(3) Bahr-al-Ghazal in transliterated Arabic.
(4) al-Bahr-al-Abyad in transliterated Arabic. Abyad means white.
(5) al-Bahr-al-Azraq in transliterated Arabic. Azraq means blue.
(6) al-Jazirah or al-Gezira in transliterated Arabic. Island in this context means oasis.
(7) Buhayrat Nasir in transliterated Arabic.
(8) al-Khartum or al-Hartum in strict transliteration from the Arabic.
(9) Also called Omdurman.