Sudan History

Online Resources

 * Sudan
 * Nubia
 * Arab Culture - TOTA, gives general information about Arab Culture

History
Nubians, are an ethnolinguistic group of Africans indigenous to present-day Sudan and southern Egypt who originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization. Between the 14th and 15th centuries much of Sudan was settled by Muslim, but not all Sudanese are considered Arabs. From the 16th–19th centuries, central and eastern Sudan were dominated by the Funj sultanate, while Darfur ruled the west and the Ottomans the far north. This period saw extensive Islamization.

From 1820 to 1874 the entirety of Sudan was conquered by the Muhammad Ali dynasty. Between 1881 and 1885 the harsh Egyptian reign was eventually met with a successful revolt led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, resulting in the establishment of the Caliphate of Omdurman. This state was eventually destroyed in 1898 by the British, who would then govern Sudan together with Egypt.

The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism and in 1953 Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on January 1, 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Gaafar Nimeiry, Sudan instituted Islamic law in 1983. This exacerbated the rift between the Arab north, the seat of the government and the black African animists and Christians in the south. Differences in language, religion, ethnicity and political power erupted in a civil war between government forces, strongly influenced by the National Islamic Front and the southern rebels, whose most influential faction was the Sudan People's Liberation Army, eventually concluding in the independence of South Sudan in 2011.

Since 2011, Sudan's government has been engaged in a war with the Sudan Revolutionary Front. Human rights violations, religious persecution and allegations that Sudan had been a safe haven for terrorists isolated the country from most of the international community. In 1995, the United Nations imposed sanctions against Sudan. 

Timeline
1798 - 1801 The French Campaign in Egypt and Syria was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests and weaken Britain's access to British India 1882 - Britain invaded Egypt and would continue to occupy and dominate the country for decades 1923 - Treaty of Lausanne was when Turkey formally ceded, retroactive to 5 November 1914, all remaining claims and rights in Egypt and Sudan 1924 - Until independence in 1956, the British had a policy of running Sudan as two essentially separate territories, the north and south 1972 - The Addis Ababa Agreement led to a cessation of the north-south civil war and a degree of self-rule. This led to ten years hiatus in the civil war. In the civil war that followed their homeland was raided looted, pillaged and burned. Many of the tribe were murdered in a bloody civil war that raged for over 20 years 1989 - The Islamic Movement led by its secretary Hassan al-Turabi and a military led by Omar al-Bashir launched a military coup against President-elect Sadiq al-Mahdi. Omar al-Bashir, who also became president of the National Congress Party and Sudan, seized power and began institutionalizing Sharia law at a national level 2003 - The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in favor of Sudanese Arabs, precipitating the War in Darfur. The conflict has since been described as a genocide 2007 - The country was hit by devastating floods, with over 400,000 people being directly affected 2009 - A series of ongoing conflicts between rival nomadic tribes in Sudan and South Sudan have caused a large number of civilian casualties