“ The Sudan was costing Egypt more money than its revenue yielded, though it must not be forgotten that large sums found their way illicitly into the hands of the pashas. The successors of Mehemet Ali, in an endeavour to make the country more profitable, extended their conquests to the south, and in 1853 and subsequent years trading posts were established on the Upper Nile, the pioneer European merchant being John Petherick, British consular agent at Khartum. [6] Petherick sought for ivory only, but those who followed him soon found that slave-raiding was more profitable than elephant hunting. ”

“ In February 1877, under pressure from the British and Egyptian governments, he went to Cairo, where he was given the governorship of the whole of the Egyptian territories outside Egypt; namely, the Sudan provinces proper, the Equatorial Provinces, Darfur, and the Red Sea and Somali coasts. He replaced at Khartum Ismail Pasha Eyoub, a Turk made governor-general in 1873, who had thwarted as much as he dared all Gordon's efforts to reform. Gordon remained in the Sudan until August 1879. During his tenure of office he did much to give the Sudanese the benefit of a just and considerate government. ”

“ About this period Mehemet Ali leased from the sultan of Turkey the Red Sea ports of Suakin and Massawa, and by this means got into his hands all the trade routes of the eastern Sudan. The pasha of Egypt practically monopolized the trade of the country except that in slaves, which became a vast “industry,” the lands inhabited by negro tribes on the borders of the conquered territories being raided annually for the purpose. From the negro population the army was so largely recruited that in a few years the only non-Sudanese in it were officers. The Egyptian rule proved harmful to the country. ”

“ In the south-west of the Bahr-el-Ghazal are the Bongos and other tribes, and along the Nile-Congo water-parting are the A-Zande or Niam-Niam, a comparatively light-coloured race. (All the tribes mentioned are separately noticed.)
Social Conditions.—In contrast with the Egyptians, a most industrious race, the Sudanese tribes, both Arab and negro, are as a general rule indolent. Where wants are few and simple, where houses need not be built nor clothes worn to keep out the cold, there is little stimulus to exertion. ”

“ Considerable quantities of wheat and barley are also grown. Other foodstuffs raised are lentils, beans, onions and melons. The date-palm is cultivated along the Nile valley below Khartum, especially on the west bank in the Dongola mudiria and in the neighbouring oases. Dates are also a staple product in Darfur and Kordofan. Ground-nuts and sesame are grown in large quantities for the oil they yield, and cotton of quality equal to that grown in the Delta is produced. The Sudan was indeed the original home of Egyptian cotton. ”

“ Cut off from North Africa by the Sahara desert, the inhabitants, who belong in the main to the negro family proper, are thought to have received their earliest civilization from the East. Arab influence and the Moslem religion began to be felt in the western Sudan as early as the 9th century and had taken deep root by the end of the 11th. The existence of native Christian states in Nubia hindered for some centuries the spread of Islam in the eastern Sudan, and throughout the country some tribes have remained pagan. ”

“ Mehemet Ali gave the command of the army sent to Nubia to his son Ismail, who at the head of some 4000 men left Wadi Halfa in October 1820. Following the Nile route he occupied Dongola without opposition, the Mamelukes fleeing before him. (Some of them went to Darfur and Wadai, others made their way to the Red Sea. This was the final dispersal of the Mamelukes.) With the nomad Shagia, who dominated the district, Ismail had two sharp encounters, one near Korti, the other higher up the river, and in both fights Ismail was successful. ”

“ From Old Dongola to Merawi (a distance of 100 m. by the river) are numerous ruins of monasteries, churches and fortresses of the Christian era in Nubia—notably at Jebel Deka and Magal. In the immediate neighbourhood of Jebel Barkal (the “holy mountain” of the ancient Egyptians) , a flat-topped hill which rises abruptly from the desert on the right bank of the Nile a mile or two above the existing village of Merawi (Merowe) , are many pyramids and six temples, the pyramids having a height of from 35 to 60 ft. ”

“ The greater part of the region and also most of the Bahr-el-Ghazal relapsed into a state of complete savagery.
In the country under his dominion the khalifa's government was carried on after the manner of other Mahommedan states, but pilgrimages to the Mahdi's tomb at Omdurman were substituted for pilgrimages to Mecca. The arsenal and dockyard and the printing-press at Khartum were kept busy (the workmen being Egyptians who had escaped massacre) . ”

“ A shorter route to the sea than that through Egypt being essential for the commercial development of the country, a railway from the Nile near Berber to the Red Sea was built (1904–1906) . This line shortened the distance from Khartum to the nearest seaport by nearly 1000 m., and by reducing the cost of carriage of merchandise enabled Sudan produce to find a profitable outlet in the markets of the world. ”

“ The Arab tribes are all Mahommedans, credulous and singularly liable to fits of religious excitement. Most of the negro tribes are pagan, but some of them who live in the northern regions have embraced Islam.
Divisions and Chief Towns.—Darfur is under native rule. The rest of the Sudan is divided into mudirias (provinces) and these are subdivided into mamuria. The mudirias are Halfa, Red Sea, Dongola and Berber in the north (these include practically all the region known as Nubia) ; Khartum, Blue Nile and White Nile in the centre; Kassala and Sennar in the east; Kordofan in the west ”

“ In what follows the term Sudan is used to indicate the Anglo-Egyptian condominium only.
Physical Features.—The Sudan presents many diversified features. It may be divided broadly into two zones. The northern portion, from about 16° N., is practically the south-eastern continuation of the Saharan desert; the southern region is fertile, abundantly watered, and in places densely forested. West of the Nile there is a distinctly marked intermediate zone of steppes. In the southern district, between 5° and 10° N., huge swamps extend on either side of the Nile and along the Bahr-el-Ghazal. ”

“ Elsewhere the inhabitants north of 12° N. are of mixed Arab descent. In the Nubian Desert the chief tribes are the Ababda and Bisharin, the last named grazing their camels in the mountainous districts towards the Red Sea. In the region south of Berber and Suakin are the Hadendoa. The Jaalin, Hassania and Shukria inhabit the country between the Atbara and Blue Nile; the Hassania and Hassanat are found chiefly in the Gezira. The Kabbabish occupy the desert country north of Kordofan, which is the home of the Baggara tribes. In Darfur the inhabitants are of mixed Arab and negro blood. ”

“ West of the Nile the desert zone extends farther south than on the east, and Kordofan, which comes between the desert and the plains of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, is largely barren and steppe land. South of 10° N. there is everywhere abundance of water. Darfur is mainly open, steppe-like country with extensive tracts of cultivable land and a central mountain massif, the Jebel Marra (see Sennar, Kordofan, Darfur) .
Climate.—The country lies wholly within the tropics, and as the greater part of it is far removed from the ocean and less than 1500 ft. above the sea it is extremely hot. ”

“ In the forests are numerous bright-plumaged birds and many species of monkeys, mostly ground monkeys—the trees being too prickly for climbing. Snakes are also plentiful, many poisonous kinds being found. In the steppe regions of Kordofan, Darfur, &c., and in the Nubian Desert ostriches are fairly plentiful. Insect life is very abundant, especially south of 12° N., the northern limit of the tsetse fly. The chief pests are mosquitoes, termites and the serut, a brown fly about the size of a wasp, with a sharp stab, which chiefly attacks cattle. ”

“ The Arab-speaking and Mahommedan population found their religion and language respected, and from the first showed a marked desire to profit by the new order. To the negroes of the southern Sudan, who were exceedingly suspicious of all strangers—whom hitherto they had known almost exclusively as slave-raiders—the very elements of civilization had, in most cases, to be taught. In these pagan regions the Sudan government encouraged the work of missionary societies, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, while discouraging propaganda work among the Moslems. ”

“ No records indeed were discovered of the founders of the first great Ethiopian kingdom from Piankhi to Tirhakah, nor has any fresh light been thrown upon the relations which that remarkable king Ergamenes maintained with the Egyptian Ptolemies. But the exploration of sites in the southern half of Lower Nubia has revealed the existence of a wholly unsuspected independent civilization which grew up during the first six centuries after Christ. ”

“ The fanaticism with which the Mahdi had inspired his followers remained almost unbroken to the end. The khalifa after the fatal day of Omdurman fled to Kordofan where he was killed in battle in November 1899. In January 1900 Osman Digna, a wandering fugitive for months, was captured. In 1902 the last surviving dervish amir of importance surrendered to the sultan of Darfur. Mahdism as a vital force in the old Egyptian Sudan ceased, however, with the Anglo-Egyptian victory at Omdurman. ”

“ Of this region the Arabs say “the soil is like fire and the wind like a flame.” Nevertheless, the dryness of the air renders the climate healthy. The steppe countries, Kordofan and Darfur, are also healthy except after the autumn rains. At Khartum, centrally situated, the minimum temperature is about 40° F., the maximum 113°, the mean annual temperature being 80°. January is the coldest and June the hottest month. Violent sandstorms are frequent from June to August. Four rain zones may be distinguished. The northern (desert) region is one of little or no rain. ”

“ Donkeys are much used in the central regions; they make excellent transport animals.
Mineral Wealth.—In ancient times Nubia, i.e. the region between the Red Sea and the Nile south of Egypt and north of the Suakin-Berber line, was worked for gold. Ruins of an extensive goldmine exist near Jebel Erba at a short distance from the sea. In 1905 gold mining recommenced in Nubia, in the district of Um Nabardi, which is in the desert, about midway between Wadi Halfa and Abu Hamed. A light railway, 30 m. long, opened in June 1905, connects Um Nabardi with the government railway system. ”

“ Ancient Monuments south of Halfa.—Ruins of pyramids, temples, churches and other monuments are found along both banks of the Nile almost as far south as the Fourth Cataract, and again in the “Island of Meroë.” In the following list the ruins are named as met with on the journey south from Wadi Halfa. Opposite that town on the east bank are the remains of Bohon, where was found the stele, now at Florence, commemorating the conquest of the region by Senwosri (Usertesen) I. of Egypt (c. 2750 B.C.) . Forty-three miles farther south are the ruins of the twin fortresses of Kumma and Semna. ”

“ Otherwise Khartum was deserted, the khalifa making Omdurman his capital and compelling disaffected tribes to dwell in it so as to be under better control. While Omdurman grew to a huge size the population of the country generally dwindled enormously from constant warfare and the ravages of disease, small-pox being endemic. The Europeans in the country were kept prisoners at Omdurman. Besides ex-officials like Slatin and Lupton, they included several Roman Catholic priests and sisters, and numbers of Greek merchants established at Khartum. ”

“ The negro tribes living south of those countries possess large herds of cattle, sheep and goats. The cattle are generally small and the sheep yield little wool. The Arabs use the cattle as draught-animals as well as for their milk and flesh; the negro tribes as a rule do not eat their oxen. ”

“ This prosperity was brought about largely by improving the water-supply, and thus bringing more land under cultivation, by the creation of new industries, and by the improvement of means of communication. ”

“ E. A. Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Sudân (1907) ; G. A. Reisner and C. M. Firth, Reports on The Archaeological Survey of Nubia; G. Elliott Smith and F. Wood Jones, ibid. vol. ii. “The Human Remains” (1910) ; J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt (1906–1907) , A History of Egypt (1905) , Temples of Lower Nubia (1906) , Monuments of Sudanese Nubia (1908) ; D. Randall-MacIver and C. L. Woolley, Reports of the Eckley B. Coxe, jun. expedition, viz. vol. i. Areika. ”