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General Information
The Mahdi tomb in Omdurman
Arab tribes appear to have moved into the country
in the middle of the 15th century. History places the
final overthrow of the kingdom in 1504, as a result of
an alliance between immigrant Arabs from the north
and a people of the Funj.
The Funj Kingdom
The Funj and their allies established a Muslim
kingdom that lasted for 300 years. The influence of
these “Black Sultans”, with their capital at Sennar,
extended at the height of their power from the Third
Cataract in the north to Fazugli in the south. They
even ruled Kordofan for a few years in the second
half of the 18th century. A strong Christian kingdom in
Abyssinia prevented their expansion to the east. The
Sultanate was really little more than a fragile feudal
confederation, the land being parcelled out among
kinglets that enjoyed considerable independence.
Eventually the failure to build up a centralised
administration and the weakness of the royal house
itself brought about the disintegration of the kingdom,
and at the end of the 18th century one after the other
of the chieftains was thrown off their allegiance to
Sennar. By 1820, the authority of the Funj scarcely
extended north of Khartoum.
Turko–Egyptian Rule
In 1820, Muhammad Ali, the Turkish Pasha of Egypt,
sent two military expeditions south and westward
into Sudan, capturing Sennar and El Obeid in the
following year. Thus began the period of Turko–
Egyptian rule in Sudan, which lasted till 1885. A new
capital was established at Khartoum and the country
was divided into provinces and districts, with Turks
or Egyptians in charge. It appears that Muhammad
Ali invaded Sudan mainly in the hope of obtaining
gold and black men to enlist in his army which he
intended to use in his schemes against his own
master, the Ottoman Sultan. The new government
remained little more than a tax collecting body, and a
prosperous slave trade ensued between Sudan and
Egypt. In about 1850 the first Christian missionaries
arrived in southern Sudan. During the reign of the
Khedive of Egypt, Ismail (1863–79), there were a
number of changes. He had plans for the creation
of a large empire south of Egypt. To realize this end,
he conquered Darfur in 1874 with the active help
of Zubeir Pasha, and by 1876 he had established
outposts along the Nile as far as the Great Lakes.
Communications were improved by connecting
Darfur and Egypt via Khartoum with a telegraph line.
He employed European explorers and administrators
like Sir Samuel Baker and Colonel Gordon. Under
Gordon’s administration a concerted attempt to
abolish the slave trade was made, which met with
some success. Little was done, however, to develop
the resources of the country. Generally speaking, the
Turko–Egyptian government of Sudan was doomed
to failure. The appointed officials lacked public
spirit, were unpopular among the people and were
considered to be a burden on the country.
The Mahdiya
In 1881, the religious leader Mohamed Ahmed El
Mahdi instigated a revolt against the government.
His rebellion, which was a movement for both
religious and political reform, was widely successful.
It triumphed with the capture of Khartoum where
General Gordon, who was the last Turkish rule
governor, was killed in 1885. He is now buried in
Omdurman.
On the advice of the British, who occupied Egypt
since 1882, the Turko–Egyptian government
withdren. Although the Mahdi died in the same year,
Sudan under his successor, the Khalifa Abd Allah,
remained independent until 1898.