Northern Africa · SDN
Sudan
The story · 13 chapters
How it was drawn
Kerma, Kush and Meroe, the Christian Nubian kingdoms, the Funj and Darfur sultanates, joined into one territory by Egyptian and British rule, split in two in 2011 and at war again since 2023.
Play the story Take the first lessonThrough the ages
Rivals in history
The kingdoms, empires and states Sudan fought or stood against, from the first to today.
- Egypt of the pharaohs2000 BC to 1070 BC
Egypt fortifies the second cataract against Kerma, then the New Kingdom conquers Kerma around 1500 BC and rules Nubia for its gold until about 1070 BC.
- Neo-Assyrian Empire674 BC to 663 BC
Assyria fights the Kushite pharaohs for Egypt. Esarhaddon takes Memphis from Taharqa in 671 BC, and Ashurbanipal's armies drive Tantamani back to Nubia around 663 BC, ending Kush's rule over Egypt.
- Roman Empire25 BC to 20 BC
After Rome takes Egypt, Kushite forces raid Aswan in 25 BC. The Roman prefect Petronius marches south and sacks Napata. A treaty agreed with Augustus in 21 or 20 BC fixes a peaceful frontier.
- Kingdom of Aksum330 to 360
In the fourth century the Christian king Ezana of Aksum, in today's Ethiopia and Eritrea, records a campaign down the Nile against the Noba and Kushites, a sign of Meroe's collapse.
- Rashidun Caliphate642 to 652
Arab armies from newly conquered Egypt attack Nubia in 642 and 652. Makurian archers hold them at Dongola, and the Baqt treaty of 652 sets a trade and peace arrangement that lasts six centuries.
- Mamluk Sultanate1272 to 1317
The Mamluks of Egypt raid Makuria repeatedly from the 1270s, sack Dongola and install puppet kings. Their interventions, with Arab migration, end Christian Nubia as a power.
- Ethiopian Empire1744
In 1744 the Ethiopian emperor Iyasu II invades the Funj sultanate of Sennar. His army is routed near the Dinder river, a major victory for Sennar.
- Egypt of Muhammad Ali and the khedives1820 to 1885
Muhammad Ali's armies conquer the Funj in 1821 and found Khartoum. Egyptian rule spreads south and takes Darfur in 1874, until the Mahdist revolt destroys it and captures Khartoum in 1885.
- British Empire1884 to 1956
Britain sends Gordon to evacuate Khartoum in 1884; he dies there in 1885. Kitchener's army destroys the Mahdist forces at Omdurman in 1898, and Britain dominates Sudan until independence in 1956.
- Ethiopian Empire1885 to 1889
The Mahdist state and Ethiopia fight over the borderlands. Mahdist troops sack Gondar in 1888, and in March 1889 Emperor Yohannes IV is killed at the battle of Gallabat, or Metemma.
Both countries claim the Halaib triangle on the Red Sea coast, where the political boundary of 1899 and an administrative line of 1902 differ. Egypt has controlled it since the 1990s.
- Sudan People's Liberation Army1983 to 2005
Led by John Garang, the SPLA fights Khartoum from 1983 for a new Sudan and southern rights. The war kills about two million people and ends with the 2005 peace agreement that leads to southern independence.
After the split, the two countries dispute Abyei and other border areas. In April 2012 South Sudanese troops seize the Heglig oil field before withdrawing. Abyei's final status is still unresolved.
- Rapid Support ForcesSince 2023Still open
The paramilitary RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, goes to war with the army in April 2023. The war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Today
Sudan now
Long referred to as Nubia, modern-day Sudan was the site of the Kingdom of Kerma (ca. ) until it was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt. D. After the fall of Kush, the Nubians formed three Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia, with the latter two enduring until around 1500. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, Arab nomads settled much of Sudan, leading to extensive Islamization between the 16th and 19th centuries.
- Capital
- Khartoum
- Government
- presidential republic
- Head of government
- Abdalla Hamdok
- Head of state
- Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
- Languages
- Arabic, English
- Area
- 1,878,000 km²
Through time
Then and now
- Population50.0 million2023 · 6.2 million in 1950
- Life expectancy66.3 years2023 · 45.8 years in 1950
- Living in cities35%2025 · 6% in 1950
- Literacy54%2008 · 8% in 1950
- Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
- Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
- Military spending0.9% of GDP2021
- War deaths145 per 100,0002025
Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.