Map of Sudan

Sudan

The country of Sudan officially calls itself the Republic of Sudan. It is separate from the country which split off from Sudan, the Republic of South Sudan. Sudan is an Arab State, in upper Africa, divided in two by the Nile River. Several migrations of Neolithic people fled the expanding Sahara and settled the land in what would be Sudan. The first civilization to rule the country was the Kingdom of Kush. The land was later conquered by the Assyrians, and split into fifty states soon afterwards. The states eventually united or were conquered and became the Funj Empire, which went on to conquer ancient Egypt.
Sudan, then called Nubia, was prolific and prosperous in the slave trade; this caused an economic crisis when Egypt banned the trade entirely. In 1889, the British tried to take over, claiming to aid a warlord who claimed the area. However, Belgium and France pushed the British back. All three claimed different parts of the land in the 1890's, shortly after fighting to exclude the other nations. Britain took over entirely in 1899, including the area that would become Egypt. Britain sought to break down the unity between what would be Egypt and what would be Sudan, which later resulted in Sudanese independence from Egypt and South Sudanese independence from Sudan. Britain's goal was to keep the population fighting and distracted from poor infrastructure and too weak to oppose British rule. Egypt granted independence in 1989, after constant fighting with Egypt.