Land area: 917,374 sq mi (2,376,001 sq km); total area: 967,493 sq mi (2,505,810 sq km)
Population (2009 est.): 41,087,825 (growth rate: 2.1%); birth rate: 33.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 82.43/1000; life expectancy: 51.4; density per sq mi: 46
Capital (2003 est.): Khartoum, 5,717,300 (metro. area), 1,397,900 (city proper)
Largest cities: Omdurman, 2,103,900; Port Sudan, 450,400
Monetary unit: Dinar
Geography
Sudan, in northeast Africa, is the largest country on the continent, measuring about one-fourth the size of the United States. Its neighbors are Chad and the Central African Republic on the west, Egypt and Libya on the north, Ethiopia and Eritrea on the east, and Kenya, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo on the south. The Red Sea washes about 500 mi of the eastern coast. It is traversed from north to south by the Nile, all of whose great tributaries are partly or entirely within its borders.
Government
Military government.
History
What is now northern Sudan was in ancient times the kingdom of Nubia, which came under Egyptian rule after 2600 B.C. An Egyptian and Nubian civilization called Kush flourished until A.D. 350. Missionaries converted the region to Christianity in the 6th century, but an influx of Muslim Arabs, who had already conquered Egypt, eventually controlled the area and replaced Christianity with Islam. During the 1500s a people called the Funj conquered much of Sudan, and several other black African groups settled in the south, including the Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and Azande. Egyptians again conquered Sudan in 1874, and after Britain occupied Egypt in 1882, it took over Sudan in 1898, ruling the country in conjunction with Egypt. It was known as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan between 1898 and 1955.
The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism, and in 1953 Egypt and Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on Jan. 1, 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Maj. Gen. Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri, Sudan instituted fundamentalist Islamic law in 1983. This exacerbated the rift between the Arab north, the seat of the government, and the black African animists and Christians in the south. Differences in language, religion, ethnicity, and political power erupted in an unending civil war between government forces, strongly influenced by the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the southern rebels, whose most influential faction is the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Human rights violations, religious persecution, and allegations that Sudan had been a safe haven for terrorists isolated the country from most of the international community. In 1995, the UN imposed sanctions against it.
On Aug. 20, 1998, the United States launched cruise missiles that destroyed a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Khartoum which allegedly manufactured chemical weapons. The U.S. contended that the Sudanese factory was financed by Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.
More Facts & Figures
Languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
Ethnicity/race: black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%, other 1%
Religions: Islam (Sunni) 70% (in north), indigenous 25%, Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum)
Literacy rate: 61% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $80.71 billion; per capita $2,200. Real growth rate: 10.5%. Inflation: 8%. Unemployment: 18.7% (2002 est.). Arable land: 7%. Agriculture: cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), mangos, papaya, bananas, sweet potatoes, sesame; sheep, livestock. Labor force: 11 million (1996 est.); agriculture 80%, industry and commerce 7%, government 13% (1998 est.). Industries: oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly. Natural resources: petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, hydropower. Exports: $6.989 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar. Imports: $5.028 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery and transport equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles, wheat. Major trading partners: China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, India, Germany, Australia (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 400,000 (2000); mobile cellular: 20,000 (2000). Radio broadcast stations: AM 12, FM 1, shortwave 1 (1998). Radios: 7.55 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 3 (1997). Televisions: 2.38 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (2002). Internet users: 56,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 5,978 km (2002). Highways: total: 11,900 km; paved: 4,320 km; unpaved: 7,580 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 5,310 km navigable. Ports and harbors: Juba, Khartoum, Kusti, Malakal, Nimule, Port Sudan, Sawakin. Airports: 63 (2002).
International disputes:the north-south civil war has drawn Sudan's neighbors into the fighting, sheltering refugees, and infiltration by rebel groups—Kenya and Uganda have acted as mediators; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia have been delayed by fighting in Sudan; Kenya's administrative boundary still extends into the Sudan, creating the “Ilemi triangle”; Egypt and Sudan retain claims to administer the triangular areas that extend north and south of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel, but have withdrawn their military presence; Egypt is economically developing the “Hala'ib triangle.”
Population (2009 est.): 41,087,825 (growth rate: 2.1%); birth rate: 33.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 82.43/1000; life expectancy: 51.4; density per sq mi: 46
Capital (2003 est.): Khartoum, 5,717,300 (metro. area), 1,397,900 (city proper)
Largest cities: Omdurman, 2,103,900; Port Sudan, 450,400
Monetary unit: Dinar
Geography
Sudan, in northeast Africa, is the largest country on the continent, measuring about one-fourth the size of the United States. Its neighbors are Chad and the Central African Republic on the west, Egypt and Libya on the north, Ethiopia and Eritrea on the east, and Kenya, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo on the south. The Red Sea washes about 500 mi of the eastern coast. It is traversed from north to south by the Nile, all of whose great tributaries are partly or entirely within its borders.
Government
Military government.
History
What is now northern Sudan was in ancient times the kingdom of Nubia, which came under Egyptian rule after 2600 B.C. An Egyptian and Nubian civilization called Kush flourished until A.D. 350. Missionaries converted the region to Christianity in the 6th century, but an influx of Muslim Arabs, who had already conquered Egypt, eventually controlled the area and replaced Christianity with Islam. During the 1500s a people called the Funj conquered much of Sudan, and several other black African groups settled in the south, including the Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and Azande. Egyptians again conquered Sudan in 1874, and after Britain occupied Egypt in 1882, it took over Sudan in 1898, ruling the country in conjunction with Egypt. It was known as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan between 1898 and 1955.
The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism, and in 1953 Egypt and Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on Jan. 1, 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Maj. Gen. Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri, Sudan instituted fundamentalist Islamic law in 1983. This exacerbated the rift between the Arab north, the seat of the government, and the black African animists and Christians in the south. Differences in language, religion, ethnicity, and political power erupted in an unending civil war between government forces, strongly influenced by the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the southern rebels, whose most influential faction is the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Human rights violations, religious persecution, and allegations that Sudan had been a safe haven for terrorists isolated the country from most of the international community. In 1995, the UN imposed sanctions against it.
On Aug. 20, 1998, the United States launched cruise missiles that destroyed a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Khartoum which allegedly manufactured chemical weapons. The U.S. contended that the Sudanese factory was financed by Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.
More Facts & Figures
Languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
Ethnicity/race: black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%, other 1%
Religions: Islam (Sunni) 70% (in north), indigenous 25%, Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum)
Literacy rate: 61% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $80.71 billion; per capita $2,200. Real growth rate: 10.5%. Inflation: 8%. Unemployment: 18.7% (2002 est.). Arable land: 7%. Agriculture: cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), mangos, papaya, bananas, sweet potatoes, sesame; sheep, livestock. Labor force: 11 million (1996 est.); agriculture 80%, industry and commerce 7%, government 13% (1998 est.). Industries: oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly. Natural resources: petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, hydropower. Exports: $6.989 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar. Imports: $5.028 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery and transport equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles, wheat. Major trading partners: China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, India, Germany, Australia (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 400,000 (2000); mobile cellular: 20,000 (2000). Radio broadcast stations: AM 12, FM 1, shortwave 1 (1998). Radios: 7.55 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 3 (1997). Televisions: 2.38 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (2002). Internet users: 56,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 5,978 km (2002). Highways: total: 11,900 km; paved: 4,320 km; unpaved: 7,580 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 5,310 km navigable. Ports and harbors: Juba, Khartoum, Kusti, Malakal, Nimule, Port Sudan, Sawakin. Airports: 63 (2002).
International disputes:the north-south civil war has drawn Sudan's neighbors into the fighting, sheltering refugees, and infiltration by rebel groups—Kenya and Uganda have acted as mediators; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia have been delayed by fighting in Sudan; Kenya's administrative boundary still extends into the Sudan, creating the “Ilemi triangle”; Egypt and Sudan retain claims to administer the triangular areas that extend north and south of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel, but have withdrawn their military presence; Egypt is economically developing the “Hala'ib triangle.”
