A Brief History of Sudan

Historical Timeline:

 - Before 1820's, Sudan, who was an independent nation, was made up of mainly nomadic tribes, there were no major cities or gathering areas.

- In the early 1820's, Sudan was conquered by Turkish and Egyptian forces who fought over the land for many years. They took over Sudan in the hopes of discovering natural resources.

- At this point, the English had already inhabited a portion of Sudan because they were trying to convert the Sudanese tribes to Christianity. 

- Many European countries claimed the land in Sudan for themselves, with the English, French and Belgians all owning land at some point.

- Sudan gained complete independance in 1953 due to the agreement between the English and Egyptians, the agreement was finalized in 1956, which gave the Sudanese government complete and total control over the country with no outside influence. 

- Almost immediately following the new found independance of Sudan, the Arab-led government in Sudan took back there promises to begin a federal system in the South, leading to the mutiny of hundreds of military officers, this began a civil war which would rage on for 17 years. (1955-1972) Thousands of innocent Sudanese people were murdered.

- The man who was leading the rebels in the civil war, Sadiq al-Mahdi, met with the the prime minister Gaafar Nimeiry (who came into power 1969, and once in power, abolished all parliament and forbid any other political parties) this meeting resulted in the reconciliation of the two groups. Thousands of political prisoners were released and the first civil war had ended. 

- The second civil war began in 1983 because the government implemented an Islamic based political system, which was not to the liking of various non-islmaic people within Sudan. 

- In 2005, an agreement between the government and the rebels was signed in order to end the fighting and an attempt to please both sides. They are emerging from the longest civil war in African history and over 300000 people have died in the conflict.

http://crawfurd.dk/africa/sudan_timeline.htm