Sudan

There is evidence of human habitation which dates back tens of thousands of Years. From the end of the 4th millennium BCE, Nubia (now northern Sudan) periodically came under Egyptian rule, and it was part of the kingdom of Cush from the 11th century BCE to the 4th Century CE. Christian missionaries converted the area’s three principal Kingdoms during the 6th century CE; those black Christian Kingdoms coexisted with their Muslim Arab neighbours in Egypt for centuries, until the influx of Arab immigrants brought about their collapse in the 13th–15th centuries. Egypt had conquered all of the Sudan region by 1874 and encouraged British interference there. This aroused Muslim opposition and led to the revolt of the Mahdī, who captured Khartoum in 1885 and established a Muslim theocracy in the Sudan which lasted until 1898, when these forces were defeated by the British.

The British ruled, generally in partnership with Egypt, until the region achieved independence in 1956. Since then the country has fluctuated between ineffective parliamentary government and unstable military rule, with the distraction of long-running civil wars (1955–72; 1983–2005) between the northern-based government and southern rebels. Meanwhile, fighting broke out in 2003 in the Darfur region of western Sudan; tens of thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced. In 2011, the southern Sudanese population voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from the north and seceded on July 9. Sudan or officially Republic of the Sudan, covers an area of 1,841,507 sq. km. Has a population of about 44,591,000 people (2020). The capital cities are: Khartoum (executive) and Omdurman (legislative). People identifying themselves as Arab predominate, but other ethnic groups also live in the country. The languages are predominately Arabic, whilst English is the official working languages. The Nubian languages which form a branch of the Eastern Sudanic languages are spoken throughout much of Sudan, but as a result of arabization they are today mostly limited to the Nile Valley between Aswan (southern Egypt) and Al Dabbah as well as villages in the Nuba mountains and Darfur. The religions vary from Islam- predominantly Sunni Muslims: who regard their denomination as the mainstream and traditionalist branch of Islam—as distinguished from the minority denomination, the Shiʿah. There is also Christianity and Traditional Beliefs.

Their currency is the Sudanese Pound. The Country encompasses an immense plain with the Sahara Desert in the north-centre, sand dunes in the west, and shrublands in the south-central belt. The Nile River flows through the entire length of the country. Wildlife includes lions, leopards, elephants, and giraffes.

Sudan has a developing mixed economy based largely on oil and agriculture. One of the largest irrigation projects in the World provides water to farms between the White Nile and the Blue Nile. Chief cash crops are cotton, peanuts, and sesame; livestock is also important. Major industries include food processing and cotton ginning, and petroleum is the main export. (In 2021, Sudan exported $395M in Crude Petroleum. The main destinations of  Sudan exports on Crude Petroleum were Italy ($160M), India ($123M), Malaysia ($112M), United Arab Emirates ($398), and Malta ($324).)

The country is ruled by a military-backed regime; the head of state and government is the president, assisted by vice presidents.