Sudan
In the center of Sudan, the White Nile and the Blue Nile meet to form the Nile River. Even in Neolithic times people cultivated the land here. From about 2000 BCE, the area, now called Nubia, became part of Ancient Egypt. After the fall of the New Kingdom the independent Nubian Kingdom of Kush developed into a major power. Today, the ruins of Naga and Meroe tell of its glory. In the 4th century AD Kush collapsed. Nubia was Christianized, and several kingdoms emerged.Beginning in the 14th century, Islam became the dominating religion, and the sultanates of Darfur and Sannar dominated the country, now called in Arabic "Bil?d as-S?d?n", "Lands of the Blacks". In the 19th century the country was conquered by the Ottomans. After the successful Mahdist Revolt it was independent for a short time until it effectively became a British colony in 1899. 1956 the Republic of Sudan finally gained independence, and in 2011 the Republic of South Sudan split off as a country of its own.
The Bridge to Africa: The Egyptian Past of Sudan
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