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THE ANGLO-See also:EGYPTIAN See also:SUDAN The region which before the revolt of the Arabized tribes under the See also:Mandi Mahommed Ahmed in 1881–84 was known as the Egyptian Sudan has, since its reconquest by an 1 a s the Anglo-Egyptian expeditions of 1896-98, been under the See also:joint See also:sovereignty of See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:Egypt. The limits of this condominium differ slightly from those of the Egyptian Sudan of the pre-Mandi See also:period. It is bounded N. by Egypt (the 22nd parallel of N. See also:lat. being the dividing- See also:line), E. by the Red See also:Sea, See also:Eritrea and See also:Abyssinia, S. by the See also:Uganda See also:Protectorate and Belgian See also:Congo, W. by See also:French Congo. See also:North of See also:Darfur is the Libyan See also:Desert, in which the western and See also:northern frontiers meet. Here the boundary is undefined.' As thus constituted the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan forms a compact territory which, being joined southwards by the Uganda Protectorate, brings the whole of the See also:Nile valley from the See also:equatorial lakes to the Mediterranean under the See also:control of Great Britain. The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan extends north to See also:south about 1200 M. in a See also:direct line, and See also:west to See also:east about moo m. also in a direct line. It covers 950,000 sq. m., being about one-See also:fourth the See also:area of See also:Europe. In what follows the See also:term Sudan is used to indicate the Anglo-Egyptian condominium only. See also: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 See also:southern region is fertile, abundantly watered, and in places densely forested. West of the Nile there is a distinctly marked intermediate See also:zone of See also:steppes. In the southern See also:district, between 5° and to° N., huge swamps extend on either See also:side of the Nile and along the See also:Bahr-el-Ghazal. From south to north the Sudan is traversed by the Nile (q.v.), and all the great tributaries of that See also:river are either partly or entirely within its See also:borders. The most elevated district is a range of mountains See also:running parallel to the Red Sea. These mountains, which to the south join the Abyssinian See also:highlands, See also:present their steepest See also:face eastward, attaining heights within the Sudan of 4000 to over 7000 ft. See also:Jebel Erba, 7480 ft., and Jebel Soturba, 6889 ft. (both between 21° and 22° N.), the highest peaks, face the Red Sea about 20 m. inland. Westward the mountains slope gradually to the Nile valley, which occupies the greater See also:part of the See also:country and has a See also:general level of from 600 to 1600 ft. In places, as between See also:Suakin and See also:Berber and above Roseires on the See also:Blue Nile, the mountains approach See also:close to the river. Beyond the Nile westward extend vast plains, which in See also:Kordofan and See also:Dar Nuba (between to° and 15° N.) are broken by hills reaching 2000 ft. Farther west, in Darfur, the country is more elevated, the Jebel Marra range being from 5000 to 6000 ft. high. In the south-west, beyond the valley of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the country gradually rises to a See also:ridge of hills, perhaps 2000 ft. high, which running south-eastandnorth-west See also:form the See also:water-parting between the Nile and the Congo. Apart from the Nile See also:system, fully described elsewhere, the Sudan has two other See also:rivers, the Gash and the Baraka. These are intermittent streams rising in the eastern See also:chain of mountains in Eritrea and flowing in a general northerly direction. The Gash enters the Sudan near See also:Kassala and north of that See also:town turns west towards the See also:Atbara, but its See also:waters are dissipated before that river is reached. The Gash nevertheless fertilizes a considerable See also:tract of country. The Khor Baraka lies east of the Gash. It flows towards the Red Sea in the neighbourhood of Trinkitat (some 5o m. south of Suakin), but about 30 m. from the See also:coast forms an inland See also:delta. Except in seasons of great See also:rain its waters do not reach the sea. The Coast Region.—The coast extends along the Red Sea north to south from 22° N. to 18° N., a distance following the indentations of the See also:shore of over 400 M. These indentations are numerous but not deep, the general trend of the coast being S.S.E. The most prominent headland is See also:Ras Rawaya (21° N.) which forms the northern shore of Dokhana See also:Bay. There are few See also:good harbours, See also:Port 1 It was supposed to be indicated by the line which, according to the See also:Turkish See also:firman of 1841, describes a semicircle from the See also:Siwa See also:Oasis to See also:Wadai, approaching the Nile between the Second and Third Cataracts. This line is disregarded by the Sudan See also:government. Sudan and Suakin being the See also:chief ports. South of Suakin is the shallow bay of Trinkitat. A large number of small islands See also:lie off the coast. A See also:belt of sandy See also:land covered with See also:low scrub stretches inland ten to twenty See also:miles, and is traversed by khors (generally dry) with See also:ill-defined shifting channels. Beyond this See also:plain rise the See also:mountain ranges already mentioned. Their seaward slopes often See also:bear a considerable amount of vegetation. The Desert Zone.—The greater part of the region between the coast and the Nile is known as the Nubian Desert. It is a rugged, rocky, barren See also:waste, scored with khors or wadis, along whose beds there is scanty vegetation. The desert See also:character of the country increases as the river is neared, but along either See also:bank of the Nile is a narrow See also:strip of cultivable land. West of the Nile there are a few oases--those of Selima, Zaghawa and El Kab—but this district, part of the Libyan Desert, is even more desolate than the Nubian Desert. The Intermediate Zone and the Fertile Districts.—East of the. Nile the region of See also:absolute desert ceases about the point of the Atbara confluence. The country enclosed by the Nile, the Atbara and the Blue Nile, the so-called See also:Island of Meroe, consists of very fertile See also:soil, and along the eastern frontier, by the upper courses of the rivers named, is a district of See also:rich land alternating with prairies and open forests. The See also:fork between the See also: Violent See also:sand-storms are frequent from June to See also:August. Four rain zones may be distinguished. The northern (desert) region is one of little or no rain. There are perhaps a few See also:rainy days in winter and an occasional See also:storm in the summer. In the central belt, where " the' rainy See also:season " is from See also:mid-June to See also:September, there are some to in. of rain during the See also:year. The number of days on which rain falls rarely exceeds, however, fifteen. The rainfall increases to about 20 in. per annum in the eastern and south-eastern regions. In the swamp district and throughout the Bahr-el-Ghazal heavy rains (40 in. or more a year) are experienced. The season of heaviest rain is from See also:April to September. In the maritime district there are occasional heavy rains between August and January. In the See also:sudd region thunderstorms are frequent. Here the temperature averages about 85° F., the air is always See also:damp and See also:fever is endemic. See also:Flora.—In the deserts north of Khartum vegetation is almost confined to stunted See also:mimosa and, in the less arid districts, scanty herbage. Between the desert and the cultivated Nile lands is an open growth of samr, hashab (See also:Acacia verek) and other acacia trees. Between Khartum and 12° N. See also:forest belts line the See also:banks of the rivers and khors, in which the most noteworthy See also:tree is the sant or sunt (Acacia arabica). Farther from the rivers are open See also:woods of heglig (Balanites aegyptiaca), hashab, &c., and dense thickets of laot (Acacia nubica) and kittr (Acacia mellifera). These open woods See also:cover a considerable part of Kordofan, the hashab and talh trees being the chief producers of See also:gum arabic. South of 12° N. the forest lands of the White Nile as far southas the sudd region are of similar character to that described. On the Blue Nile the forest trees alter, the most abundant being the babanus (Sudan See also:ebony) and the silag (Anogeissus leiocarpus), while gigantic baobabs, called tebeldi in the Sudan, and tarfa (Sterculia cinerea) are numerous. In southern Kordofan and in the higher parts of the Bahr-el-Ghazal the silag and ebony are also See also:common, as well as See also:African See also:mahogany (homraya, Khaya senegalensis) and other See also:timber trees. In the Ghazal See also:province also are many See also:rubber-producing lianas, among them the Landolphia owariensis. There are also forest regions in the Bahr-el-Jebel, in the Mongalla mudiria and along the Abyssinian-Eritrean frontier. East of the Bahr-el-Jebel and north of the Bahr-el-Ghazal are vast prairies covered with tall coarse grass. See also:Cotton is indigenous in the valley of the Blue Nile, and in some districts bamboos are plentiful. The See also:castor-oil plant grows in almost every province. (See also § See also:Agriculture, and, for the vegetation of the swamp region, NILE.)
See also:Fauna.—See also:Wild animals and birds are numerous. Elephants are abundant in the Bahr-el-Ghazal and Bahr-el-Jebel forests, and are found in fewer See also:numbers in the upper valley of the Blue Nile.
The See also:hippopotamus and See also:crocodile abound in the swamp regions, which also shelter many kinds of water-See also:fowl. The See also:lion, See also:leopard, See also:giraffe and various kinds of See also:antelope are found in the prairies and in the open woods. In the forests are numerous See also:bright-plumaged birds and many See also:species of monkeys, mostly ground monkeys—the trees being too prickly for climbing. See also: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. See also:Insect See also:life is very abundant, especially south of i2° N., the northern limit of the tsetse See also:fly. The chief pests are mosquitoes, termites and the serut, a See also: Inhabitants.—The See also:population, always sparse in the desert and steppe regions, was never dense even in the more fertile southern districts. During the Mandia the country suffered severely from See also:war and disease. Excluding Darfur the population before the Mandist See also:rule was estimated at 8,500,000. In 1905 an estimate made by the Sudan government put the population at 1,853,000 only, including 1i,000 foreigners, of whom 2800 were Europeans. Since that year there has been a considerable natural increase and in 1910 the population was officially estimated at 2,400,000. There has also been a slight See also:immigration of Abyssinians, Egyptians, Syrians and Europeans —the last named chiefly Greeks. The term " Bilad-es-Sudan " (" country of the blacks ") is not altogether applicable to the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, the northern portion being occupied by Hamitic and Semitic tribes, chiefly nomads, and classed as Arabs. In the Nile valley north of Khartum the inhabitants are of very mixed origin. This applies particularly to the so-called Nubians who inhabit the See also:Dongola mudiria (see See also:NuBIA). Elsewhere the inhabitants north of 12° N. are of mixed Arab descent. In the Nubian Desert the chief tribes are the See also:Ababda and See also: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 See also:Hadendoa. The Jaalin, See also:Hassania and See also:Shukria inhabit the country between the Atbara and Blue Nile; the Hassania and Hassanat are found chiefly in the Gezira. The See also:Kabbabish occupy the desert country north of Kordofan, which is the See also:home of the See also:Baggara tribes. In Darfur the inhabitants are of mixed Arab and See also:negro See also:blood. Of negro Nilotic tribes there are three or four See also:main divisions. The Shilluks occupy the country along the west side of the Nile northward from about See also:Lake No. The country east of the Nile is divided between the See also:Bari, See also:Nuer and See also:Dinka tribes. The Dinkas are also widely spread over the Bahr-el-Ghazal province. South of Kordofan and west of the See also:Shilluk territory are the Nubas, apparently the See also:original stock of the Nubians. 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 See also:light-coloured See also: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 See also:simple, where houses need not be built nor clothes worn to keep out the See also:cold, there is little stimulus to exertion. Many Arabs " clothed in rags, with only a See also:mat for a See also:house, prefer to See also:lead the life of the See also:free-See also:born sons of the desert, no See also:matter how large their herds or how numerous their followings" (Egypt, No. 1 [1904], p. 147). Following the See also:establishment of See also:British control slave-raiding and the slave See also:trade were stopped, but domestic See also:slavery continues. A genuine See also:desire for See also:education is See also:manifest among the Arabic-speaking peoples and slow but distinct moral improvement is visible among them. Among the riverain " Arabs" some were found to See also:supply labour for public See also:works, and with the See also:money thus obtained cattle were bought and farms started. The Dongolese are the keenest traders in the country. The Arab tribes are all Mahommedans, credulous and singularly liable to fits of religious excitement. Most of the negro tribes are See also:pagan, but some of them who live in the northern regions have embraced See also:Islam. Divisions and Chief Towns.—Darfur is under native rule. The See also:rest of the Sudan is divided into mudirias (provinces) and these are subdivided into mamuria. The mudirias are See also:Haifa, 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; and Bahrel-Ghazal, Upper Nile (formerly See also:Fashoda) and Mongalla in the south. The mudirias vary considerably in size. The See also:capital, Khartum (.v.), pop. with suburbs about 70,000, is built in the fork formed by the junction of the White and Blue Niles. Opposite Khartum, on the west bank of the white Nile, is See also:Omdurman (q.v.), pop. about 43,000, the capital of the Sudan during the Mandia. On the Nile north of Khartum at the towns of Berber, See also:Abu Hamed, Merawi (Merowe), Dongola and See also:Wadi Haifa. On the Red Sea are Port Sudan and Suakin. Kassala is on the river Gash east of the Atbara and near the Eritrean frontier. (These towns are separately noticed.) On the Blue Nile are Kamlin, Sennar, See also:Wad Medani (q.v.), pop. about 20,000, a thriving business centre and capital of the Blue Nile mudiria, and Roseires, which marks the limit of navigability by steamers of the river. See also:Gallabat is a town in the Kassala mudiria close to the Abyssinian frontier, and Gedaref lies between the Blue Nile and Atbara a little north of i4° N. El Obeid, the chief town of Kordofan, is 230 M. south-west by south of Khartum. Duiem, capital of the White Nile mudiria, is the river port for Kordofan. El Fasher, the capital of Darfur, is 500 M. W.S.W. of Khartum. All the towns named, except Roseires, are situated north of 13° N. In the south of the Sudan there are no towns properly so called. The native villages are composed of See also:straw or See also:palm huts; the places occupied by Europeans or Egyptians are merely " posts " where the administrative business of the district is carried on. Fashoda (q.v.), renamed Kodok, is the headquarters of the Upper Nile mudiria. Communications.—North of Khartum the chief means of communication is by railway; south of that See also:city by steamer. There are two See also:trunk See also:railways, one connecting the Sudan with Egypt, the other affording See also:access to the Red Sea. The first line runs from the Nile at Wadi Haifa across the desert in a direct line to Abu Hamed, and from that point follows more or less closely the right (east) bank of the Nile to Khartum. At Khartum the Blue Nile is bridged and the railway is continued south through the Gezira to Sennar. Thence it turns west, crosses the White Nile near Abba Island, and is continued to El Obeid. The length of the line from Haifa to Khartum is 575 m.; from Khartum to Obeid 350 M. The railway from the Nile to the Red Sea starts from the Halfa-Khartum line at Atbara Junction, a mile north of the Atbara confluence. It runs somewhat south of the Berber-Suakin See also:caravan route. At Sallom, 278 in. from Atbara Junction, the line divides, one See also:branch going north to Port Sudan, the other south to Suakin. The See also:total distance to Port Sudan from Khartum is 493 m., the line to Suakin being 4 m. longer. Besides these main lines a railway, 138 in. See also:long, runs from Abu Hamed on the right bank of the Nile to Kareima (opposite Merawi) in the Dongola mudiria below the Fourth See also:Cataract. (The railway which started from Haifa and followed the right bank of the Nile to Kerma, 201 M. from Haifa, was abandoned in 1903.) The railways are owned and worked by the See also:state. In connexion with the Khartum-Halfa railway steamers ply on the Nile between Haifa and Shellal (See also:Assuan) where the railway from See also:Alexandria ends. The distance by See also:rail and steamer between Khartum and Alexandria is about 1490 in. Steamers run on the Nile between Kerma and Kareima, and above Khartum the government maintains a See also:regular service of steamers as far south as Condokoro in the Uganda Protectorate. During See also:flood season there is also a steamship service on the Blue Nile. Powerful dredgers and sudd-cutting See also:machines are used to keep open communications in the upper Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazal. The See also:ancient caravan routes Korosko-Abu Hamed and Berber-Suakin have been superseded by the railways, but elsewhere See also:wells and rest-houses are maintained along the main routes between the towns and the Nile. On some of these roads a motor See also:car service is maintained. From Port Sudan and Suakin there is a regular steamship service to Europe via the See also:Suez See also:Canal . There are also services to Alexandria, the Red Sea ports of See also:Arabia, See also:Aden and See also:India. There is an extensive telegraphic system. Khartum is connected by land lines with Egypt and Uganda, thus affording direct telegraphic connexion between Alexandria and See also:Mombasa (2500 m.). From Khartum other lines go to Kassala and the Red Sea ports. In some places the See also:telegraph wires are placed 16 ft. 6 in. above the ground to protect them from damage by giraffes. Agriculture and other See also:Industries.—North of Khartum agricuI-tural land is confined to a narrow strip on either side of the Nile and to the few oases in the Libyan Desert. In the Gezira and in the plains of Gedaref between the Blue Nile and the Atbara there are wide areas of arable land, as also in the neighbourhood of Kassala along the banks of the Gash. In Kordofan and Darfur cultivation is confined to the khors or valleys. The chief See also:grain See also:crop is See also:durra, the See also:staple See also:food of the Sudanese. Two crops are obtained yearly in several districts. On lands near the rivers the durra is sown after the flood has gone down and also at the beginning of the rainy season. Considerable quantities of See also:wheat and See also: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. See also:Dates are also a staple product in Darfur and Kordofan. Ground-nuts and See also: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. For watering the land by the river banks sakias (water-wheels) are used, oxen being employed to turn them. There are also a few See also:irrigation canals. In 1910, apart from the date plantations, about 1,500,000 acres were under cultivation. In 1910 a system of See also:basin irrigation was begun in Dongola mudiria. Gum and rubber are the chief forest products. The gum is obtained from eastern Kordofan and in the forests in the upper valley of the Blue Nile, the best gum coming from Kordofan. It is of two kinds, hashab (white) and talh (red), the white being the most valuable. Rubber is obtained from the Bahr-el-Ghazalwhere there are See also:Para and See also:Ceara rubber plantations—and in the See also:Sobat district. The See also:wood of the sunt tree is used largely for See also:boat-See also:building and for See also:fuel, and the mahogany tree yields excellent timber. Fibre is made from several trees and See also:plants. Elephants are hunted for the See also:sake of their See also:ivory. The See also:wealth of the Arab tribes consists largely in their herds of camels, horses and cattle. They also keep See also:ostrich farms, the feathers being of good quality. The Dongola breed of horses is noted for its strength and hardness. The camels are bred in the desert north of Berber, between the Nile and Red Sea, in southern Dongola, in the Hadendoa country and in northern Kordofan. The Sudanese See also:camel is lighter, faster and better bred than the camel of Egypt. The camel, See also:horse and ostrich are not found south of Kordofan and Sennar. The negro tribes living south of those countries possess large herds of cattle, See also:sheep and goats. The cattle are generally small and the sheep yield little See also:wool. The Arabs use the cattle as See also:draught-animals as well as for their See also:milk and flesh; the negro tribes as a rule do not eat their oxen. Fowls are plentiful, but of poor quality. Donkeys are much used in the central regions; they make excellent transport animals. See also: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 See also:gold. Ruins of an extensive gold-mine exist near Jebel Erba at a See also:short distance from the sea. In 1905 gold See also:mining recommenced in Nubia, in the district of Um Nabardi, which is in the desert, about midway between Wadi Haifa and Abu Hamed. A light railway, 30 M. long, opened in June 1905, connects See also:Urn Nabardi with the government railway system. The producing See also:stage was reached in 1908, and between September 1908 and August 1909 the mines yielded 4500 oz. of gold. Small quantities of gold-dust are obtained from Kordofan, and gold is found in the Beni-Shangul country south-west of Sennar, but this region is within the Abyssinian frontier (agreement of the 15th of May 1902). There is See also:lignite in the Dongola mudiria and See also:iron ore is found in Darfur, southern Kordofan and in the Bahr-el-Ghazal. In the last-named mudiria iron is worked by the natives. The district of Hofrat-el-Nahas (the See also:copper mine) is rich in copper, the mines having been worked intermittently from remote times. Trade.—The chief products of the Sudan for export are gum, ivory, ostrich feathers, dates and rubber. Cotton, cotton-See also:seed and grain (durra, wheat, barley) sesame, livestock, hides and skins, beeswax, See also:mother-of-See also:pearl, See also:senna and gold are also exported. Before the opening (1906) of the railway to the Red Sea the trade was chiefly with Egypt via the Nile, and the great cost of See also:carriage hindered its development. Since the completion of the railway named goods can be put on the See also:world's markets at a much cheaper See also:rate. Besides the Egyptian and Red Sea routes there is considerable trade between the eastern mudirias and Abyssinia and Eritrea, and also some trade south and west with Uganda and the Congo countries. The Red Sea ports trade largely with Arabia and engage in pearl See also:fishery. The See also:principal imports are cotton goods, food-stuffs (See also:flour, See also:rice, See also:sugar, provisions), timber, See also:tobacco, See also:spirits (in large quantities), iron and machinery, candles, See also:cement and See also:perfumery. The value of the trade, which during the Mandist rule (1884-1898) was a few thousands only, had increased in 1905 to over £1,500,000. In 1908 the exports of Sudan produce were valued at £E515,0001; the total imports at £E1,892,000. Government.—The See also:administration is based on the provisions of a See also:convention signed on the 19th of January 189g between the British and Egyptian governments. The authority of the See also:sovereign See also:powers is represented by a See also:governor-general appointed by Egypt on the recommendation of Great Britain. In 1910 a See also:council consisting of four ex officio members and from two to four non-See also:official nominated members was created to advise the governor-general in the exercise of his executive and legislative functions. Subject to the See also:power of See also:veto retained by the governor-general all questions are decided by a See also:majority of the council. 1 A£E(See also:pound Egyptian) is equal to £1, os. 6d. British currency.Each of the mudirias into which the country is divided is presided over by a mudir (governor) responsible to the central government at Khartum. The governor-general, the chiefs of the various departments of state and the mudirs are all Europeans, the majority being British military See also:officers The See also:minor officials are nearly all Egyptians or Sudanese. See also:Revenue is derived as to about 6o% from the customs and revenue-earning departments (i.e. steamers, railways, posts and telegraphs), and as to the rest from taxes on land, date-trees and animals, from royalties on gum, ivory and ostrich feathers, from licences to sell spirits, carry arms, &c., and from fees paid for the See also:shooting of See also:game. See also:Expenditure is largely on public works, education, See also:justice and the See also:army. See also:Financial affairs are managed from Khartum, but control over expenditure is exercised by the Egyptian financial See also:department. The revenue, which in 1898 was £E35,000, for the first See also:time exceeded a million in 1909, when the amount realized was £EI,o4o,2oo. The expenditure in 1909 was £Er,153000. Financially the government had been, up to 1910, largely dependent upon Egypt. In the years 1901-1909 £E4,378,000 was advanced from See also:Cairo for public works in the Sudan; in the same period a further sum of about £E2,75o,000 had been found by Egypt to meet annual deficits in the Sudan budgets (see Egypt, No. I [1910], pp. 5-6). Justice.—The Sudan judicial codes, based in part on those of India and in part on the principles of See also:English See also:law and of Egyptian commercial law, provide for the recognition of " customary law " so far as applicable and " not repugnant to good See also:conscience." In each mudiria criminal justice is administered by a See also:court, consisting of the mudir (or a See also:judge) and two magistrates, which has general competence. The magistrates are members of the administrative See also:staff, who try minor cases without the help of the mudir (or judge). The governor-general possesses revising powers in all cases. See also:Civil cases of importance are heard by a judge (or where no judge is available by the mudir or his representative); minor civil cases are tried by magistrates. From the decision of the See also:judges an See also:appeal lies to the legal secretary of the government, in his capacity of judicial See also:commissioner. See also:Jurisdiction in all legal matters as regards See also:personal status of Mahommedans is administered by a See also:grand See also:cadi and a staff of subordinate cadis. The See also:police force of each mudiria is independently organized under the control of the mudirs. Education.—Education is in See also:charge of the department of public instruction. Elementary education, the See also:medium of instruction being Arabic, is given in kuttabs or See also:village See also:schools. There are See also:primary schools in the chief towns where English, Arabic, See also:mathematics, and in some cases land-measuring is taught. There are also government See also:industrial workshops, and a few schools for girls. The See also:Gordon See also:College at Khartum trains teachers and judges in the See also:Mahommedan courts and has annexed to it a secondary school. The college also contains the Wellcome laboratories for scientific See also:research. Among the pagan negro tribes See also:Protestant and See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:missions are established. These missions carry on educational See also:work, See also:special See also:attention being given to industrial training. See also:Defence.—The defence of the country is entrusted to the Egyptian army, of which several regiments are stationed in the Sudan. The governor-general is See also:sirdar (See also:commander-in-chief) of the army. A small force of British troops is also stationed in the Sudan—chiefly at Khartum. They are. under the command of the governor-general in virtue of an arrangement made in 1905, having previously been part of the Egyptian command. For See also:topography, &c. ,see The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a compendium prepared by officers of the Sudan government and edited by See also:Count See also:Gleichen (2 vols., See also:London, 1905); for administration, See also:finance and trade the annual Reports [by the British See also:agent at Cairo] on Egypt and the Sudan, since 1898 ; and the special See also:report (Blue See also:Book Egypt, No. ii., 1883) by See also:Colonel D. H. See also: &c., see A. H. See also:Keane, Ethnology of the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1884) ; H. Frobenius, See also:Die Heiden-Neger See also:des agyptischen Sudan (Berlin, 1893). Scientific and medical subjects are dealt with in the Reports of the Wellcome Research Laboratories, Gordon College, Khartum. The Sudan See also:Almanac is a valuable official publication. (F. R. C.) See also:Archaeology.—Archaeological study in the Sudan was retarded for many years by See also:political conditions. The work which had been begun by Cailliaud, See also:Champollion, See also:Lepsius and others was interrupted by the rise of the Mandist power; and with the frontiers of Egypt itself menaced by dervishes, the country south of Aswan (Assuan) was necessarily closed to the student of antiquity. Even after the dervishes had been overthrown at the See also:battle of Omdurman (1898) it was some time before archaeologists awoke to a sense of the See also:historical importance of the regions thus made accessible to them. Dr See also:Wallis Budge visited several of the far southern sites and made some tentative excavations, but no extensive explorations were undertaken until an unexpected event produced a sudden outburst of activity. This was the See also:resolution adopted by the Egyptian government to extend the great See also:reservoir at the First Cataract by raising the height of the Aswan See also:dam. As a result of this measure all sites bordering the river banks from Aswan to Abu Simbel were threatened with inundation and the scientific world took alarm. A large sum of money was assigned by the government, partly for the preservation of the visible temples in the area to be submerged, partly for an official expedition under the charge of Dr G. A. Reisner which was to See also:search for all remains of antiquity hidden beneath the ground. At the same time the university of See also:Pennsylvania despatched the Eckley B. See also:Coxe, jun., expedition, which devoted its attention to the southern See also:half of See also:Lower Nubia from Haifa to Korosko, while the government excavators explored from Korosko to Aswan. Thus in the five years 1907–1911 inclusive an immense See also:mass of new material was acquired which throws a flood of light on the archaeology at once of Egypt and the Sudan. For it must be clearly appreciated that though all except the southern twenty miles of Lower Nubia has been attached for purposes of administration of Egypt proper, yet this political boundary is purely artificial. The natural See also:geographical and ethnical southern frontier of Egypt is the First Cataract; Egyptian See also:scribes of the Olcl See also:Empire recognized this truth no less clearly than See also:Diocletian, and See also:Juvenal anticipates the See also:verdict of every See also:modern observer when he describes the " porta Syenes " as the See also:gate of Africa. It is the more necessary to emphasize this fact as the present See also:article must unavoidably be concerned principally with the most northern regions of the country of the Blacks—for since the days of Lepsius there has been little new investigation south of Haifa. The hasty reconnaissances of Dr Wallis Budge, See also:Professor A. H. See also:Sayce, Mr See also:Somers See also: It is certain in any See also:case that the See also:process was constantly repeated at different dates and in different parts of the country from Aswan to Axum, and to the stimulation which resulted from it must be ascribed the principal political and intellectual movements of the Sudanese nations. Thus the Ethiopians who usurped the See also:crown of the Pharaohs from 74o–66o B.C. were of a mixed stock akin to the modern See also:Barabra; the northern Nubians who successfully defied the Roman emperors were under the lordship of the Blemyes (Blemmyes), an East African tribe, and the empire of the Candace See also:dynasty, no less than the Christian kingdoms which succeeded it, included many heterogeneous racial elements (see also NUBIA). The real history of the Sudan will therefore be concerned with the See also:evolution of what may be called East African or East Central African civilizations. Up to the present, however, this aspect has been obscured, for until 1907 scholars had little opportunity of studying ancient Ethiopia except as a colonial See also:extension of Egypt. From the purely Egyptological standpoint there is much of value to be learned from the Sudan. The Egyptian penetration of the country began, according to the See also:evidence of inscriptions, as early as the 'Old Empire. Under the XIIth Dynasty colonies were planted and fortresses established down to the Batn-el-Hagar. During the XVIIIth Dynasty the political subjugation was completed and the newly won territories were studded with cities and temples as far south as the Fourth Cataract. Some two See also:hundred years later the priests of See also:Amen (See also:Ammon), flying from See also:Thebes, founded a quasi-Egyptian capital at Napata. But after this date Egypt played no part in the evolution of Ethiopia. Politically moribund, it succumbed to the attacks of its virile southern neighbours, who, having emerged from See also:foreign tutelage, See also:developed according to the natural See also:laws of their own See also:genius and environment. The history of Ethiopia therefore as an See also:independent See also:civilization may be said to date from the 8th See also:century B.C., though future researches may be able to carry its See also:infant origins to a remoter past. Of the thousand years or more of effective Egyptian occupation many monuments exist, but on a broad general view it must be pronounced that they owe their fame more to the See also:accident of survival than to any special., See also:intrinsic value. For excepting See also:Philae, which belongs as much to Egypt as to Ethiopia, Abu Simbel is the only See also:temple which can be ranked among first rate products of Egyptian genius. The other temples, attractive as they are, possess rather a See also:local than a universal See also:interest. Similarly while the exploration of the Egyptian colonies south of the First Cataract has added many details to our knowledge of political history, of local cults and provincial organization, yet with one exception it has not affected the known outlines of the history of civilization. This exception is the See also:discovery made by Dr G. A. Reisner that the archaic culture first detected at Nagada and See also:Abydos and then at many points as far north as Giza extended southwards into Nubia at least as far as Gerf Husein. This was wholly unexpected, and if, as seems probable, the evidence stands the test of See also:criticism, it is a new historical fact of great importance. The government expedition found traces between Aswan and Korosko of all the principal periods from this early date down to the Christian era. The specimens 'obtained are kept in a See also:separate See also:room of the Cairo Museum, where they form a collection of great value.
The work of the Pennsylvanian expedition, however, while adding only a few details to the archaeology of the Egyptian periods, has opened a new See also:chapter in the history of the African races. No records indeed were discovered of the founders of the first great Ethiopian See also:kingdom from Piankhi to Tirhakah, nor has any fresh light been thrown upon the relations which that remarkable See also: But the exploration of sites in the southern half of Lower Nubia has revealed the existence of a wholly unsuspected independent civilization which See also:grew up during the first six -centuries after See also:Christ. The history of the succeeding periods, moreover, has been partially recovered and the study
of See also:architecture enriched by the excavation of numerous churches dating from the time of Justinian, when Nubia was first Christianized, down to the See also:late medieval period when See also:Christianity was extirpated by Mahommedanism.
The civilization of the first six centuries A.D. may be called " Romano-Nubian," a term which indicates its date and suggests something of its character. It is the product of a See also:people living on the borders of the Roman Empire who inherited much of the Hellenistic tradition in minor arts but combined it with a remarkable power of independent origination. The sites on which it has been observed range from Dakka to Halfa, that is to say within the precise limits which late Latin and See also:Greek writers assign to the Blemyes, and there is good See also:reason,.to identify the people that evolved it with this hitherto almost unknown See also:barbarian nation. Apart from this, however, the greatest value of the new discoveries will consist in the fact that they may See also:lay the See also:foundations for a new documentary See also:record of past ages. For the See also:graves yielded not only new types of statues, bronzes, ivory carvings and painted pottery—all of the highest See also:artistic value—but also a large number of See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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