Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Part II

Generally the clan is the basis of the social organization, the family is founded on polygamy, the kinship is descriptive (the relatives of the father and the mother are indicated with different names). Sociology is patriarchal, traces of matriarchy are however so frequent and sometimes so strong that some scholars tend to consider the Nilotics to be matriarchal in origin; no doubt there were mixes of different cultures. Some tribes present themselves with strong characters of totemism and clues of this culture are found in almost all the Nilotic populations, but it has not exercised a great influence. Cannibalism is completely missing, practiced only by the Asandè who are not Nilotics.

All the languages ​​of these populations have one word: jok (sometimes jwok, which is probably derived from jo, “living being, man”) whose meaning varies from tribe to tribe: sometimes it indicates the Supreme Being, sometimes inferior spirits. The belief in a Supreme Being, almost always conceived as the creator of the universe, is general; several explorers have collected prayers addressed directly to him. An element of the most primitive cultures survives, the sacrifice of the first fruits of hunting, fishing and harvesting, but at the present state of our knowledge, it is not easy to establish whether this offering is made to the Supreme Being or to inferior spirits. The cult of the dead is highly developed. All tribes have special stones that reproduce the shape of the genital organs; male and female wings, with which they believe they can obtain rain, because the spirit of the ancestor is immanent in them. These stones are kept in a special hut, protected by taboos, and only those who take care of them can perform the necessary ceremonies to cause rain. In many cases the rite is not exclusively magical. The king or other person of great authority is charged with making this sacrifice. The king or tribal chief is closely related to nature and therefore ritually put to death when they begin to age (Scilluk, Dinca) because the spirit of the vegetation with which the spirit of the ancestor immanent in the king or chief is identified is not ‘weaken in a body that begins to age. The king or other person of great authority is charged with making this sacrifice. The king or tribal chief is closely related to nature and therefore ritually put to death when they begin to age (Scilluk, Dinca) because the spirit of the vegetation with which the spirit of the ancestor immanent in the king or chief is identified is not ‘weaken in a body that begins to age. The king or other person of great authority is charged with making this sacrifice. The king or tribal chief is closely related to nature and therefore ritually put to death when they begin to age (Scilluk, Dinca) because the spirit of the vegetation with which the spirit of the ancestor immanent in the king or chief is identified is not ‘weaken in a body that begins to age.

Animism, in our case nature conceived as populated by mostly evil spirits, has less importance than the cult of the dead. The sorcerer or witch has the task of healing the sick by resorting to magical practices and administering medicines.

The population, heavily decimated by the long wars and raids of the Mahdist period, was estimated in 1935 at about 5,800,000 with several thousand foreigners and immigrants (Abyssinians, Syrians, Egyptians) and a few Europeans, among which the Greeks excel.

The main plant products are cotton, corn, sesame, dates. dura, peanut, senna, gum arabic; the woods also produce precious woods (ebony); sheep farming products are cattle, sheep and goats; hunting provides some ivory. Deposits of gold, copper, iron, lead, graphite, bauxite, mica, salt and gypsum are reported: gold is extracted and exported to some extent. Exported products are also cotton, rubber, rubber, sesame and peanuts; cotton, sugar, machines, metals and metal objects, tobacco, coffee, tea, spirits, flour, coal, essences, etc. are especially imported. The total value of exports in 1934 was equal to 4,117,000 Egyptian pounds; that of imports amounted to 3,945,000 Egyptian pounds that year.

In Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, railways with a development of almost 3000 km are open, connecting Wadi Halfa with Sennaar and el-Obeid, Port Sudan and Sukin with Berber on one side, with Kassala and Ghedaref on the other. Communications between Sudan (Wadi Halfa) and Egypt (Shellal near Aswan) are ensured by river boats; and river lines connect Khartoum with Meshra el-Rek on the Bahr el-Ghazal, with Gambela on the Sobat, with Regiaf on the White Nile, on the southern border, and finally Sennaar with Roseires on the Blue Nile: overall the inland navigation lines have a development of 4988 km.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is administered by British and Sudanese officials: the British governor general, assisted by a council whose decisions are subject to veto by the governor, resides in Khartoum. The country is divided into 9 provinces (mudirie): Blue Nile (Wadi Medani), Kassala (Kassala), Khartoum (Khartoum), Kordofán (el-Obeid), Upper Nile (Malakal), White Nile (ed-Dueim), Northern, Equatorial, Darfur (el-Fasher). The mudirs are all English.

The most notable cities, besides Khartoum, the capital, with 40,760 residents, facing Ondurman, at the confluence of the Blue Nile with the White Nile, are: Porto Sudan which is the main commercial outlet on the Red Sea; Kassala center of a fertile cotton region near the border of the Italian empire of Ethiopia; Wadi Halfa on the Nile, just downstream of the 2nd cataract, with the ruins of some temples of the XII and XX Pharaonic dynasty; Berber, also on the Nile, not far from the Atbara station, from which the railway branches off to Porto Sudan; Sennar on the Blue Nile, head of the axial railway line and point of detachment of the railway trunk for el-Obeid in Kordofan; Wadi Medani, a very populous and active center, and capital of the Blue Nile mudiria; Gallabat, near the Ethiopian border, the center of trade with Ethiopia; el-Fasher, etc. The centers to the South. of the 13th parallel are simple indigenous villages with huts of branches: worthy of memory Fascioda, in the Upper Nile, renamed Kodok after the Anglo-French accident of 1898.

The main income assets of the budget are the profits of state-owned enterprises and customs duties, in addition to land taxes, concession rights and taxes on consumption. Sudan’s budgets apparently close in balance, as shown by the following official figures (in thousands of Egyptian pounds):

The Egyptian treasury annually pays off the deficits and provides loans, and Sudan’s finances closely depend on it. The monetary unit is the Egyptian pound.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 2

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