Early Modern and Modern States of Egypt and Nubia: Map & History

Christian Nubia, represented by the two medieval kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, began to decline from the 12th century. By 1365 Makuria had virtually collapsed and was reduced to a rump state restricted to Lower Nubia, until finally disappearing c. 150 years later. The fate of Alodia is less clear. It has been suggested that it had collapsed as early as the 12th century or shortly after, as archaeology suggests that in this period, Soba ceased to be used as its capital. By the 13th century central Sudan seemed to have disintegrated into various petty states. Between the 14th and 15th many Bedouin moved into Sudan and introduced Islam and the Arabic language to the region.

From Wikipedia: Funj Sultanate · History: Origins (until early 16th century) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The sultans of Sennar were powerful, but not absolutely so, as a council of 20 elders also had a say in state decisions. Below the king stood the chief minister, the amin, and the jundi, who supervised the market and acted as commander of the state police and intelligence service. Another high court official was the sid al-qum, a royal bodyguard and executioner. Only he was allowed to shed royal blood, as he was tasked to kill all brothers of a freshly elected king to prevent civil wars.

From Wikipedia: Funj Sultanate · Government: Administration (CC BY-SA 4.0)

During the reign of sultan Badi III in the late 17th and early 18th century the prosperous and cosmopolitan capital of Sennar was described as "close to being the greatest trading city" in all Africa. The wealth and power of the sultans had long rested on the control of the economy. All caravans were controlled by the monarch, as was the gold supply that functioned as the state's main currency. Important revenues came from customs dues levied on the caravan routers leading to Egypt and the Red Sea ports and on the pilgrimage traffic from the Western Sudan. In the late 17th century the Funj had opened up trading with the Ottoman Empire. In the late 17th century with the introduction of coinage, an unregulated market system took hold, and the sultans lost control of the market to a new merchant middle class.

From Wikipedia: Funj Sultanate · Economy: Trade (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The army of Sennar was feudal. Each noble house could field a military unit measured in its power by its horsemen. The population, although generally armed, was only rarely called to war, in cases of uttermost need. Most Funj warriors were slaves traditionally captured in annual slave raids called salatiya, targeting the stateless non-Muslims in the Nuba mountains pejoratively referred to as Fartit. The army was divided into infantry, represented by an official called muqaddam al-qawawid, and cavalry, represented by the muqaddam al-khayl. The Sultan rarely led armies into battle and instead appointed a commander for the duration of the campaign, called amin jaysh al-sultan. At its peak the Funj Sultanate was probably able to field about 5,000 horsemen, while in 1772 James Bruce estimated that lightly armed slave warriors fighting as infantry amounted to about 14,000 men.

From Wikipedia: Funj Sultanate · Military (CC BY-SA 4.0)

By the time of the visit by David Reubeni in 1523, the Funj, originally Pagans or syncretic Christians, had converted to Islam. They probably converted to ease their rule over their Muslim subjects and to facilitate trade with neighbouring countries like Egypt. Their embracement of Islam was only nominal and, in fact, the Funj effectively even delayed the Islamization of Nubia, as they temporarily strengthened African sacral traditions instead. The monarchy they established was divine, similar to that of many other African states: The Funj Sultan had hundreds of wives and spent most of his reign within the palace, secluded from his subjects and maintaining contact only with a handful of officials. He was not allowed to be seen eating. On the rare occasion he appeared in public he did so only with a veil and accompanied by much pomp.

From Wikipedia: Funj Sultanate · Culture: Islam (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sennar was at its peak at the end of the 17th century, but during the 18th century, it began to decline as the power of the monarchy was eroded. Cultural dissidence found fertile ground among superfluous Funj princes, aspiring Islamic scholars, and governors excluded from royal trade. The greatest challenge to the authority of the king was the merchant funded Ulama who insisted it was rightfully their duty to mete out justice. The previously agrarian region urbanised as the number of towns rose from 1 in 1700 to around 30 in 1821.

From Wikipedia: Funj Sultanate · History: Decline and Ottoman conquest (18th century–1821) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Tunjur oral traditions say that the founder of the Tunjur kingdom in Darfur, Ahmad al-Ma'qur, had two sons called Ahmad Kanjar and Musa; Kanjar accordingly succeeded his father in Darfur and was the founder of the Kunjaara dynasty, while Musa went to Wadai and subjugated the region with the assistance of the Mahamid Arabs. Most traditions emphasise that the Tunjur and Fur were kin of some sort. The final Tunjur king was reportedly Shaw Dorshid (lit. 'the master over us') who ruled as a tyrant (thought to have been around the mid-16th century), leading his nobility to ask his half-brother, Daali or Dalil Bahr, to usurp the kingship, after which Shaw Dorshid is said to have fled to the Jebel Marra on a white horse or antelope (a common motif). Other versions say that Daali was a eunuch at the Tunjur capital of Uri.

From Wikipedia: Sultanate of Darfur · History: Origins (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The state was headed by a sultan. Early monarchs were divine kings (an institution that was possibly inherited from the Tunjur), with Islam only transforming this rather than replacing it. Monarchs were effectively primus inter pares due to their reliance on local loyalties, until the lengthy civil war in the 18th century permitted centralisation of power in the sultan and the establishment of new institutions. Middle-ranking chiefs were titled shartay (derived from the Daju title chorte). There is some evidence of ritual regicide in the 18th century.

From Wikipedia: Sultanate of Darfur · Government (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Darfur's harsh environment and varying levels of rainfall saw it divided into three loosely-defined economic zones, corresponding to rain-fed hoe agriculture, cattle nomadism, and camel nomadism. Ethnic terms often corresponded to lifestyles, such that a successful Fur farmer in the east who accumulated cattle was incentivised to become a cattle nomad (due to the cattle's impact on their fields) and from then on belong to the Baqqara, while in the west Fur farmers could become camel nomads and belong to the Zaghawa, with the loss of herds in natural disaster or war conversely forcing nomads to become sedentary farmers.

From Wikipedia: Sultanate of Darfur · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On his deathbed c. 1720, Bukr reportedly made title-holders swear an oath that his sons were to succeed him and that the kingship were to pass from brother to brother, such that a grandson was not permitted to succeed while he had a living uncle. Over the following decades, internal conflict ensued between the incumbent sultan at any one time, who wanted to consolidate power and privilege their own lineage, and others of Bukr's lineage. One of Bukr's sons, Dawra (meaning "iron-hearted"; also called "Harut"), served as co-ruler during his lifetime and succeeded him. Dawra reportedly killed many of his brothers throughout his reign, and tradition remembers him as a callous ruler. Despite naming one of his sons, Musa 'Anqarib, as his successor, Dawra later favoured another son called 'Umar Lel ("the donkey", possibly due to his patience), provoking Musa to revolt.

From Wikipedia: Sultanate of Darfur · History: Civil war among the sons of Bukr and conflict with Wadai (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Like elsewhere, ethnicity in Darfur was ill-defined and much more fluid than modern conceptualisations. Terms used included jabalawiyyin (to refer to "mountain dwellers"), hajaray (to pejoratively refer to enslaveable peoples), and fartit (to refer to peoples to the south). The Fur were (and are) divided into loosely-defined orrenga, which were patrilineal descent-groups (though people considered themselves related to both of their parents' groups). Bridewealth and inheritance passed on bilaterally, and endogamy within descent-groups was very common. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Arab nomads (likely belonging to a large Fazara federation in Upper Egypt) gradually migrated into northern and southern Darfur. The concept of Arab identity within the state was very fluid and ill-defined, though the Jebel Marra inhibited the spread of Arabisation from east to west.

From Wikipedia: Sultanate of Darfur · Society and culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1821, the Turco-Egyptians under Muhammad Ali, who planned to conquer the Sudan and compile a large slave army, conquered the Funj and the province of Kordofan from al-Fadl. The Keira dispatched another army but it was routed by the Egyptians near Bara on 19 August 1821. The Turco-Egyptians had intended to conquer all of Darfur, but their difficulties consolidating their hold on the Nile region forced them to abandon these plans.

From Wikipedia: Sultanate of Darfur · History: Decline (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The process of Muhammad Ali's seizure of power was a long three way civil war between the Ottoman Turks, Egyptian Mamluks, and Albanian mercenaries along with Egyptians loyal to Muhammad Ali. It lasted from 1803 to 1807 with the Muhammad Ali Pasha taking control of Egypt in 1805, when the Ottoman Sultan acknowledged his position. Thereafter, Muhammad Ali was the undisputed ruler of Egypt, and his efforts henceforth were directed primarily to the maintenance of his practical independence.

From Wikipedia: History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty · Muhammad Ali's rise to power (CC BY-SA 4.0)

During this period the stagnation of the Egyptian population that had been fluctuating at about 4 million level for many centuries prior to 1805 was changed by the start of a rapid population growth. This growth was quite slow till the 1840s, but since then the Egyptian population grew up to about 7 million by the 1880s, and the first modern census registered 9,734,405 people in Egypt in 1897. This was achieved by a radical decrease in mortality rates and concomitant growth of life expectancy by 10–15 years, which, of course, indicates that Muhammad Ali and his successors in fact achieved impressive success in the effective modernization of Egypt and that the actual quality of life of the majority of the Egyptian population significantly increased in the 19th century.

From Wikipedia: History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty · Demographic changes during the reign of Muhammad Ali and his successors (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Egypt under Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century had the fifth most productive cotton industry in the world, in terms of the number of spindles per capita. The industry was initially driven by machinery that relied on traditional energy sources, such as animal power, water wheels, and windmills, which were also the principle energy sources in Western Europe up until around 1870. While steam power had been experimented with in Ottoman Egypt by engineer Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf in 1551, when he invented a steam jack driven by a rudimentary steam turbine, it was under Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century that steam engines were introduced to Egyptian industrial manufacturing.

From Wikipedia: History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty · Egypt under Muhammad Ali: Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ali went to war against the sultan on in order to obtain raw materials lacking in Egypt (especially timber for his navy) and a captive market for Egypt's new industrial output. From fall 1831 to December 1832 Ibrahim led the Egyptian army through Lebanon and Syria and across the Taurus Mountains into Anatolia where he defeated the Ottoman forces and pushed on to Kutahya, only 150 miles from Istanbul.

From Wikipedia: History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty · Egypt under Muhammad Ali: War with the Sultan (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ottoman Egypt was invaded by the French army led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. The French army in the region was later defeated and surrendered in 1801. In the chaotic years that followed, an Ottoman officer named Muhammad Ali rose to power and was recognized as Ottoman governor of Egypt from 1805 to 1848. During this time, he eliminated other factions that competed for power in Egypt, most notably with the massacre of the Mamluks in 1811. He established de facto autonomy from the Ottoman sultan and in various campaigns expanded his control to Sudan, the Arabian Peninsula, and Syria By 1841 he was forced to withdraw from Syria and recognize the authority of the Ottoman Empire, but he retained control of his Sudanese territories.

From Wikipedia: Khedivate of Egypt · History: Background: rule of Muhammad Ali and his successors (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Although the adoption of modern, Western industrial techniques was begun under Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century, the policy was continued under the Khedives.

From Wikipedia: Khedivate of Egypt · Economy: Adoption of European-style industries (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Isma'il dreamt of expanding his realm across the entire Nile including its diverse sources, and over the whole African coast of the Red Sea. This, together with rumours about rich raw material and fertile soil, led Isma'il to expansionist policies directed against the Ethiopian Empire under Yohannes IV. In 1865, the Ottoman Sublime Porte ceded Habesh Eyalet to Isma'il, with Massawa and Suakin at the Red Sea as the main cities of that province. This province, which neighboured Ethiopia, first consisted of a coastal strip but expanded subsequently inland into territory controlled by the Ethiopian emperor. Here Isma'il occupied regions originally claimed by the Ottomans when they had established the Habesh Eyalet in the 16th century.

From Wikipedia: Khedivate of Egypt · History: War with Ethiopia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Abbas II became very hostile to the British as his reign drew on, and, by 1911, was considered by Lord Kitchener to be a "wicked little Khedive" worthy of deposition.

From Wikipedia: Khedivate of Egypt · History: End of the Khedivate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

From the early 19th century, Egypt had begun to conquer Sudan and subjugated it as a source of human and material resources. This period became locally known as the Turkiyya, i.e. the "Turkish" rule by the Eyalet and later Khedivate of Egypt. The name was something of a misnomer: the Egyptians recruited local Sudanese for initially low-level, and then later quite high-level official posts. Egyptian control integrated Sudan into global commercial networks, but Egypt's trans-Mediterranean links proved a doubled-edged sword. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened and quickly became a key economic lifeline for the British Empire in India and the Far East. To defend this waterway, Britain sought a greater role in Egyptian affairs.

From Wikipedia: Mahdist State · History: Background (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Mahdist State had a large military which became increasingly professional as time went on. From an early point, the Mahdist armies recruited defectors from the Egyptian Army and organized professional soldiers in the form of the jihadiya, mostly Black Sudanese. These were supported by tribal spearmen and swordsmen as well as cavalry. The jihadiya and some tribal units lived in military barracks, while the rest were more akin to militia. The Mahdist armies also possessed limited artillery, including mountain guns and even machine guns. However, these were few in numbers, and thus only used as defenses for important towns and to the river steamers that acted as the state's navy. In general, the Mahdist armies were highly motivated by their belief system. Exploiting this, the Mahdist commanders used their riflemen to screen charges by their melee infantry and cavalry.

From Wikipedia: Mahdist State · Military: Army (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Even though the Mahdist State factually ceased to exist after Umm Diwaykarat, some Mahdist holdouts continued to persist. One officer, Osman Digna, continued to resist the Anglo-Egyptian forces until captured in January 1900. However, the most long-lasting Mahdist holdouts survived in Darfur, despite the fact that Mahdist rule had already been collapsing there before the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest. The holdouts were concentrated at Kabkabiya (led by Sanin Husain), Dar Taaisha (led by Arabi Dafalla), and Dar Masalit (led by Sultan Abuker Ismail). The reestablished Sultanate of Darfur consequently had to crush the Mahdist loyalists in a series of lengthy wars. The Kabkabiya holdout under Sanin Husain persisted until 1909, when it was destroyed by the Sultanate of Darfur after a siege of 17 or 18 months.

From Wikipedia: Mahdist State · History: Holdouts and legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ethnic Egyptians made up the majority of the population in Egypt. However, thousands of Greeks, Jews, Italians, Maltese, Armenians and Syro-Lebanese were present in Egypt. These communities were known as the Mutamassirun (lit. 'Egyptianized'). Despite the fact these communities were foreigners, they were integrated into Egyptian society and were considered to be homogenous groups by Egyptian nationalists. The Mutammassirun community had most of its members leaving Egypt in the 1950s. After the Suez Crisis of 1956, more than 12,000 of 18,000 people who carried British or French nationality were expelled and were only allowed to take one suitcase with them and a small sum of cash.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Egypt · Demographics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A group known as the Wafd (meaning "Delegation") attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 to demand Egypt's independence. Included in the group was political leader, Saad Zaghlul, who would later become Prime Minister. When the group was arrested and deported to the island of Malta, demonstrations started to occur in Egypt.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Egypt · History: Aftermath of the First World War (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement, led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, toppled King Farouk in a coup d'état that began the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. On 26 July, Farouk abdicated in favour of his seven-month-old son, Ahmed Fuad, who became King Fuad II. At 6pm the same day, the now former king departed Egypt on the royal yacht, along with other members of the royal family, including the new infant king. Following precedent for a sovereign under the age of majority, a Regency Council was formed, led by Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim. The Regency Council, however, held only nominal authority, as real power lay with the Revolutionary Command Council, led by Naguib and Nasser.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Egypt · History: Dissolution (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sudan has had a troubled relationship with many of its neighbours and much of the international community, owing to what is viewed as its radical Islamic stance. For much of the 1990s, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia formed an ad hoc alliance called the "Front Line States" with support from the United States to check the influence of the National Islamic Front government. The Sudanese Government supported anti-Ugandan rebel groups such as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

From Wikipedia: Sudan · Government and politics: Foreign relations (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 2010, Sudan was considered the 17th-fastest-growing economy in the world and the rapid development of the country largely from oil profits even when facing international sanctions was noted by The New York Times in a 2006 article. Because of the secession of South Sudan, which contained about 75 percent of Sudan's oilfields, Sudan entered a phase of stagflation, GDP growth slowed to 3.4 percent in 2014, 3.1 percent in 2015 and was projected to recover slowly to 3.7 percent in 2016 while inflation remained as high as 21.8% as of 2015. Sudan's GDP fell from US$123.053 billion in 2017 to US$40.852 billion in 2018.

From Wikipedia: Sudan · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In April 2023 – as an internationally brokered plan for a transition to civilian rule was discussed – power struggles grew between army commander (and de facto national leader) Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Hemedti, head of the heavily armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), formed from the Janjaweed militia.

From Wikipedia: Sudan · History: 2023–present: Instability and civil war (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Like in many countries, football is the most popular sport also in Sudan. The Sudan Football Association was founded in 1936 and thus it became one of the oldest football associations to exist in Africa. However, before the foundation of the Football Association, Sudan had started experiencing football brought to the country by the British colonizers since early 20th century via Egypt. Other Sudanese clubs founded at that time include Al-Hilal Omdurman, Al-Merrikh, which led to popularization of football in the country. The Khartoum League became the first national league to be played in Sudan, laying ground for the future development of Sudanese football.

From Wikipedia: Sudan · Culture: Sport (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the early 2010s between the Army of Sudan and the Sudan Revolutionary Front started as a dispute over the oil-rich region of Abyei in the months leading up to South Sudanese independence in 2011, though it is also related to civil war in Darfur that is nominally resolved. A year later in 2012 during the Heglig Crisis Sudan would achieve victory against South Sudan, a war over oil-rich regions between South Sudan's Unity and Sudan's South Kordofan states. The events would later be known as the Sudanese Intifada, which would end only in 2013 after al-Bashir promised he would not seek re-election in 2015. He later broke his promise and sought re-election in 2015, winning through a boycott from the opposition who believed that the elections would not be free and fair. Voter turnout was at a low 46%.

From Wikipedia: Sudan · History: Partition and rehabilitation (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The United Arab Republic was established on 1 February 1958 as the first step towards a larger pan-Arab state, which was originally proposed to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser by a group of political and military leaders in Syria.

From Wikipedia: United Arab Republic · History: Origins (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Upon accepting the 1960 Best Supporting Actor award given to Hugh Griffith for his "wonderfully humorous, human, and sympathetic characterization of an Arab sheik" in Ben-Hur (1959), director William Wyler expressed regret that the people of the United Arab Republic would not be permitted to see Griffith's performance.

From Wikipedia: United Arab Republic · History: Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Instead of a federation of two Arab peoples, as many Syrians had imagined, the UAR turned into a state completely dominated by Egyptians. Syrian political life was also diminished, as Nasser demanded all political parties in Syria to be dismantled. In the process, the strongly centralized Egyptian state imposed Nasser's socialistic political and economic system on weaker Syria, leading to backlash from Syrian business and army circles, which resulted in the Syrian coup of 28 September 1961, and the end of the UAR as a political union. According to Moshe Ma'oz, "...this unity scheme was successful in consolidating the shaky Syrian identity. In fact, once the Syrians lost their independence they suddenly realized that they did indeed possess a different identity than the Egyptians."

From Wikipedia: United Arab Republic · History: Dissolution (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Since independence, relations with Sudan have been changing. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir first announced, in January 2011, that dual citizenship in the North and the South would be allowed, but upon the independence of South Sudan he retracted the offer. He has also suggested an EU-style confederation. Essam Sharaf, Prime Minister of Egypt after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, made his first foreign visit to Khartoum and Juba in the lead-up to South Sudan's secession. Israel quickly recognised South Sudan as an independent country, and is host to thousands of refugees from South Sudan, many of whom have finally been granted temporary resident status more than a decade later. According to American sources, President Obama officially recognised the new state after Sudan, Egypt, Germany and Kenya were among the first to recognise the country's independence on 8 July 2011.

From Wikipedia: South Sudan · Government and politics: Foreign relations (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The presidents of Kenya and Rwanda invited the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan to apply for membership to the East African Community upon the independence of South Sudan in 2011, and South Sudan was reportedly an applicant country as of mid-July 2011. Analysts suggested that South Sudan's early efforts to integrate infrastructure, including rail links and oil pipelines, with systems in Kenya and Uganda indicated intention to pivot away from dependence on Sudan and toward the EAC.

From Wikipedia: South Sudan · Economy: East African Community membership (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On 5 September 2013, an article written by analyst Duop Chak Wuol was published by the US-based South Sudan News Agency (SSNA). The writer raised critical questions surrounding what he described as the rise of autocracy within the top leadership of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and warned of monumental repercussions unless the ruling elites restored the founding principles of the party. Duop also berated the ruling party, arguing that the party has replaced its founding principles with "forgotten promises and deceptions". In December 2013, a political power struggle broke out between President Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, as the president accused Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état. Fighting broke out, igniting the South Sudanese Civil War. Ugandan troops were deployed to fight alongside South Sudanese government forces against the rebels.

From Wikipedia: South Sudan · History: Sudanese Civil War (2013–2020) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Many traditional and modern games and sports are popular in South Sudan, particularly wrestling and mock battles. The traditional sports were mainly played after the harvest seasons to celebrate the harvests and finish the farming seasons. During the matches, they smeared themselves with ochre – perhaps to enhance the grip or heighten their perception. The matches attracted large numbers of spectators who sang, played drums and danced in support of their favourite wrestlers. Though these were perceived as competition, they were primarily for entertainment.

From Wikipedia: South Sudan · Culture: Sports (CC BY-SA 4.0)