SOUDAN

   or "THE LAND OF THE BLACKS"

   the cradle of the negro race, a vast tract of territory stretching E. and W. across the African continent from the Atlantic (W.) to the Red Sea and Highlands of Abyssinia (E.), between the Sahara (W.) and the Gulf of Guinea and the central equatorial provinces (S.); divided into (a) Upper Soudan, embracing Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Ashanti, Dahomey, Liberia, and west coast-lands; (6) Lower Soudan, including the Fulah States, Massina, Gando, Sokoto, &c.; (c) Egyptian Soudan, which in 1882 was subdivided into (1) West Soudan, including Dar-Fur, Kordofan, Bahr-el-Ghazal, and Dongola; (2) Central Soudan, comprising Khartoum, Sennaar, Berber, Fashoda, and the Equatorial Province, &c.; (3) Eastern Soudan, bordering on the Red Sea, and embracing Taka, Suakim, and Massowah; (4) Harar, stretching E. of Abyssinia. The extension of Egyptian rule into this territory began in 1819 with the capture of Khartoum, which became the base of military operations, ending in the gradual conquest of the surrounding regions in 1874. A serious revolt, fanned by religious fanaticism, broke out in 1882, and headed by the MAHDI (q.v.) and his lieutenant Osman Digna, ended in the utter rout of the Egyptian forces under Hicks Pasha and Baker Pasha; Gordon, after a vain attempt to relieve him, perished in Khartoum; but Stanley was more successful in relieving Emin Bey in the Equatorial Province. Anarchy and despotism ensued until the victorious campaign of KITCHENER (q.v.) again restored the lost provinces to Egypt.