Sudan

I

Introduction

Sudan, officially Republic of Sudan, republic in north-eastern Africa, the largest country of the African continent. It is bordered on the north by Egypt; on the east by the Red Sea, Eritrea, and Ethiopia; on the south by Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and on the west by the Central African Republic, Chad, and Libya. Sudan has a total area of 2,505,800 sq km (967,490 sq mi). Khartoum is the capital and largest city.

II

Land and Resources

Sudan has a maximum length from north to south of more than 2,250 km (1,400 mi); the extreme width of the country is about 1,730 km (1,075 mi). It is divided into three separate natural regions. Desert in the north, covering about 30 per cent of the country, gives way to a vast semi-arid Sahelian region of steppes and low mountains in central Sudan. In the south is a region of vast swamps (the Sudd region) and rainforest.

Most of Sudan comprises a flat, featureless plain. The Libyan Desert, a barren waste broken by rugged uplands, covers most of Sudan north-west of the Nile proper. The Nubian Desert lies in the region east of the Nile proper and the Atbara. The few uplands include the Red Sea Hills along the coast and the Nuba Mountains in the west-central area. Jebel Marra, an isolated extinct volcanic cone in the far west, is the highest point (3,500 m/11,500 ft). Kinyeti in the south, near the Ugandan border, is 3,187 m (10,456 ft) high.

A

Rivers and Lakes

Major topographical features of Sudan are the River Nile, its headstreams the White Nile and Blue Nile (which meet at Khartoum), and the tributaries of these rivers. The White Nile crosses the country from the Ugandan border to its confluence with the Blue Nile, to form the Nile proper. The Blue Nile, the most important of the two headwaters in terms of the volume of water carried as well as the area of irrigated land watered, rises in the Ethiopian Plateau and flows across east-central Sudan. Of the Nile tributaries the most important is the Atbara, which also rises in the Ethiopian Plateau.

B

Climate

Sudan has a continental tropical climate; only the Red Sea coast is affected by maritime influences. Seasonal variations are most sharply defined in the desert zones, where winter temperatures as low as 4.4° C (40° F) are common, particularly after sunset. Summer temperatures often exceed 43.3° C (110° F) in the desert zones, and rainfall is negligible. Dust storms, called haboobs, frequently occur in the hot summer months before the rains. High temperatures also prevail to the south throughout the central plains region, but the humidity is generally low, except along the Red Sea coast.

In the vicinity of Khartoum, the average annual temperature is about 26.7° C (80° F); annual rainfall, most of which occurs between July and September, is about 254 mm (10 in). Equatorial climatic conditions prevail in southern Sudan. In this region the average annual temperature is about 29.4° C (85° F), annual rainfall is more than 1,015 mm (40 in), and the humidity is excessive. Droughts and poor harvests are common outside the south and, as in the early 1980s, can lead to famine.