Brief History of Sudan

By | April 25, 2022

In the 1st floor. 12th c. BC. in the territory of Northern Sudan and Egypt, a slave-owning state of the Nubians arose. OK. 560 BC The Nubians were driven out of Egypt. They moved the capital of the state from Napata to Meroe. The Meroitic state was very advanced for that time. The Meroites mastered iron smelting, various crafts, built stone palaces and fortresses, and created their own culture.

In the 5th-6th centuries. the population of Northern Sudan was converted to Christianity. The medieval Nubian civilization (Macuria, Alva, Nobatia) comes to replace the ancient Meroitic civilization. Nubian civilization reached its peak in the ninth to 12th centuries.

From the 7th c. Islam began to penetrate Sudan. In the 16th century large feudal Muslim sultanates arose, which fought among themselves for dominance. One of the strongest was the Sennar Sultanate.

Between 1820 and 1822, the Turkish-Egyptian army of Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt, conquered all of Northern and Central Sudan and annexed it to Egypt. In the course of the Egyptian military expeditions to the south in 1827–78, they subjugated practically the entire territory of present-day Sudan to Egypt.

During the period when Sudan was part of the Ottoman Empire, there were often outbreaks of dissatisfaction among the Sudanese population with the rule of foreigners. Unrest among the population began in the northern and central regions of Sudan. Sufi brotherhoods (tarikats) began to preach and teach: Ansariyya, Khatmiya, Ismailiya Tijaniya, Idrisiyya, and others. In 1878, an uprising of Sudanese Arabs broke out in the southwestern provinces. In 1881, the Mahdists began an uprising against Turkish-Egyptian domination. In 1883 the Dinka tribes revolted, joined by the Beja tribes. On January 5, 1885, the Mahdists captured Omdurman, and on January 25, Khartoum fell under their blows. In July 1885, the Turkish-Egyptian troops left Sudan, and the Mahdists proclaimed the creation of an independent theocratic state based on the Koran. It lasted until 1898.

In 1896, a 10,000-strong expeditionary force of British and Egyptian troops entered into battle with the Mahdist troops and defeated them in several clashes. On September 1, 1898, the British captured Omdurman, and the Mahdist state fell.

January 18, 1899 in Cairo, the Prime Minister of Egypt and the British General signed the Agreement on the Joint Administration of the Sudan. From that moment Sudan received the official name of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. In fact, Sudan became a British colony. During the years of the existence of the condominium, dissatisfaction with the power of the colonialists grew among the Sudanese population. After the 2nd World War, political parties appeared in Sudan, which raised the issue of the country’s independence.

According to localcollegeexplorer, Sudan’s independence was proclaimed on January 1, 1956. The political struggle between the traditional parties led to a military coup in Sudan in November 1958. The power of the military fell in 1964 as a result of the broad action of the popular masses against the regime of General Abboud. A parliamentary republic was restored in Sudan. The new government included representatives of the main political parties, both right and left, united in the National Front in the struggle against the military dictatorship. However, the united front did not last long.

In 1965, right-wing forces succeeded in banning the Communist Party of Sudan. Right-wing parties came to power. Portfolios in the government were divided between the Al-Umma and NUP parties. Leftist organizations were not represented in the government.

The state of a protracted political and economic crisis, military operations in the south of the country led in May 1969 to a new military coup in Sudan, carried out by a group of officers led by Colonel J. Nimeiri. The new military leadership banned traditional right-wing parties. Legal ban on the activities of the Communist Party of Sudan. (SKP) was not withdrawn, but the communists resumed the semi-legal printing of their newspaper, and 5 members of the Central Committee of the UPC became part of the new government.

Some of the large industrial enterprises, transport, insurance and trading firms were nationalized in the country. During this period, relations between Sudan and the USSR were actively developed.

On July 19, 1971, a group of young officers attempted to remove J. Nimeiri. After the failure of the coup, Nimeiri launched a crackdown on the UPC, accusing it of involvement in the conspirators. The USSR and other socialist countries were included in the same category. Nimeiri reoriented foreign policy ties, began to pursue a policy of liberalization in the economy, a line to attract foreign investment. Previously nationalized enterprises and firms were returned to their former owners. In 1972, an agreement was signed on the settlement of the South Sudan problem.

In April 1985, a group of senior officers led by the Minister of Defense, General A. Dagab, carried out a bloodless coup d’etat, taking advantage of the growing dissatisfaction with the Nimeiri regime, the resumption of hostilities in the south and the general crisis in the country. A year later, the military, as promised, transferred power to the newly elected Constituent Assembly. Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of the Al-Umma party, became prime minister.

On June 30, 1989, a coup d’état took place in Sudan. Power passed to the National Salvation Revolution Command Council (SCRNC), composed of 15 officers, headed by General Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. The SKRNS announced the suspension of the interim Constitution of 1985, the dissolution of parliament, the house arrest of all members of the government, a number of high-ranking military, officials, political and public figures, the prohibition of all political parties, the closure of leftist and centrist newspapers, and the restriction of the activities of trade unions. Having achieved a certain stabilization of the situation in the country, in December 1990 the SKRNS announced the course towards “Islamization” as the doctrine of the ruling regime. Under these conditions, the role of the National Islamic Front and its chairman H. Turabi began to grow in Sudan.

October 16, 1993 SKRNS appointed O. Bashir as president of the country and announced self-dissolution. In March 1996, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Sudan. Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir was elected president.

Brief History of Sudan