Mahdist Sudan

Sudan, 1885–1899. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Mahdist State was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ruled Sudan since 1821. After four years of struggle, the Mahdist rebels overthrew the Ottoman-Egyptian administration and established their own Islamic and national government with its capital in Omdurman. Mahdist forces captured Khartoum, and Gordon was killed in his palace. The Mahdi did not live long after this victory, and his successor Abdallahi ibn Muhammad consolidated the new state, with administrative and judiciary systems based on their interpretation of Islamic law.

Seat of power: Omdurman

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• The Coptic Christians, who composed a substantial portion of the country's population, were forced to convert to Islam.
• Sudan's economy was destroyed during the Mahdist War and famine, war and disease reduced the population by more than half.
• In the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, Lord Kitchener decisively defeated the Mahdist forces.
• The British reconquered Sudan in 1898, ruling it after that in theory as a condominium with Egypt but in practice as a colony. However, remnants of the Mahdist State held out in Darfur until 1909.

Picture

Omdurman is a major city in Sudan, on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum.

Image: عاصم الرشيد التوم, CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

• Mahdist State (Wikipedia)
• Mahdist Sudan (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.