Bilad al-Sudan - Land of the Black People - is what the Arabs called the regions behind the vast desert. Thence came gold and ivory; and the mighty Nile, whose actual source nobody knew.
The River Nile traverses the country from south to north for more than 3,000 kilometers. Between the Nile's third and fourth cataract (waterfall), the Nubian Kingdom of Kush was established, as far back as five or six thousand years ago. In its heyday, this new Egyptian Kingdom of Kush (16th - 11th Centuries BC) was controlled by Egyptian rulers. Some hundred years later, however, Kush kings occupied the throne of the pharaohs. From 300 BC until 300 AC, the Kingdom's capital was Meroe, where the iron industry flourished and an alphabetical form of writing developed which has yet to be deciphered. The pyramids built by the Meroe and later dynasties along the Sudanese Nile are smaller, more pointed and older than Egyptian ones. 34 kings as well as queens and princesses are buried there.

The Republic of Sudan is the largest country in Africa and the Arab World: here Arabic North Africa meets the southern tribal cultures, and the Islam meets Christianity and 'nature religions'.
When Sudan gained independence in 1956 - having been a British colony - it practically found itself in a state of Civil War. It was not until 1972 that concessions of far reaching autonomy for the southern provinces led to the end of the war. More than religious and cultural differences, the social decline between north and south Sudan is the reason for renewed fighting in recent times.
To this day, Sudan has a mainly agricultural economy. The most important export products are cotton, sesame and gum arabic. Once the pipeline to Port Sudan has been finished, the oil sector will attract new investors.