Wad Madani

Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile[7] – flowing north from Lake Victoria – and the Blue Nile, flowing west from Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Divided by these two parts of the Nile, the Khartoum metropolitan area is a tripartite metropolis consisting of Khartoum proper and linked by bridges to Khartoum North (الخرطوم بحري al-Kharṭūm Baḥrī) and Omdurman (أم درمان Umm Durmān) to the west. The place where the two Niles meet is known as al-Mogran or al-Muqran (المقرن; English: "The Confluence"). Khartoum was founded in 1821 by Muhammad Ali Pasha,[8] north of the ancient city of Soba. In 1882 the British Empire took control of the Egyptian government, leaving the administration of Sudan in the hands of the Egyptians. At the outbreak of the Mahdist War, the British attempted to evacuate Anglo-Egyptian garrisons from Sudan but the Siege of Khartoum in 1884 resulted in the capture of the city by Mahdist forces and a massacre of the defending Anglo-Egyptian garrison. In 1898 it was reoccupied by British forces and was the seat of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan's government until 1956.[9] In 1956, the city was designated as the capital of an independent Sudan. Three hostages were killed during the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum in 1973. In 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement engaged in combat in the city with the Sudanese Armed Forces as part of the War in Darfur. The Khartoum massacre occurred in 2019 during the Sudanese Revolution. Between 2023 and 2025, the city saw extensive combat during the civil war involving the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), affecting Khartoum International Airport and other critical sites.[10] In 2025, the Sudanese armed forces recaptured Khartoum from the RSF, leaving widespread destruction.[11] Khartoum is an economic and trade center in North Africa, with rail lines from Port Sudan and El-Obeid. It is served by Khartoum International Airport with the New Khartoum International Airport under construction. Several national and cultural institutions are in Khartoum and its metropolitan area, including the National Museum of Sudan, the Khalifa House Museum, the University of Khartoum, and the Sudan University of Science and Technology. Etymology edit The origin of the word Khartoum is uncertain. Some Scholars posit that the name derives from the Dinka words khar-tuom (Dinka-Bor dialect) or khier-tuom (as is the pronunciation in various Dinka dialects), translating to "place where rivers meet". This is supported by historical accounts which place the Dinka homeland in central Sudan (around present-day Khartoum) as recently as the 13th-17th centuries A.D.[12] One folk etymology is that it is derived from Arabic khurṭūm (خرطوم 'trunk' or 'hose'), probably referring to the narrow strip of land extending between the Blue and White Niles.[13] Captain J.A. Grant, who reached Khartoum in 1863 with Captain Speke's expedition, thought the name was most probably from the Arabic qurṭum (قرطم 'safflower', i.e., Carthamus tinctorius), which was cultivated extensively in Egypt for its oil to be used as fuel.[14] Some scholars speculate that the word derives from the Nubian word Agartum, meaning "the abode of Atum", Atum being the Nubian and Egyptian god of creation. Other Beja scholars suggest Khartoum is derived from the Beja word hartoom, "meeting".[15][16] Sociologist Vincent J. Donovan notes that in the Nilotic Maa language of the Maasai people, khartoum means "we have acquired" and that the geographical location of Khartoum is where Maasai oral tradition claims that the ancestors of the Maasai first acquired cattle.[17] History edit See also: Timeline of Khartoum 19th century edit In the slave-market at Khartoum In 1821, Khartoum was established 24 km (15 mi) north of the ancient city of Soba, by Isma'il Kamil Pasha, the third son of Egypt's ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who had just incorporated Sudan into his realm. Originally, Khartoum served as an outpost for the Egyptian Army. Egypt shifted the seat of the colonial government from Wad Madani to Khartoum in 1823, which became a permanent settlement and underwent rapid development in the next decades. With its elevation to capital status, Khartoum quickly grew into a regional center of trade, serving as a rest area on the caravan route from Ethiopia to Egypt, but also becoming a major focal point for the slave trade.[18][19] A significant change took place in 1854, when most of the city was destroyed by heavy rains and floods. It was rebuilt with houses made out of mud and stones, replacing those made out of thatch and straw. Khartoum also became the seat of several European consulates and the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa. European pressure and influence forced Egypt to close the city's public slave market in 1854, although slaves continued to be sold and trafficked in large numbers, specifically from the Blue Nile region and the Nuba Mountains, as well as down the White Nile (the Dinka and Shilluk territories).[20] According to the British explorer Samuel Baker, who visited Khartoum in 1862, slavery was the industry "that kept Khartoum going as a bustling town".[21] On 13 March 1884, troops loyal to the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad began the siege of Khartoum against the Egyptian garrison led by the British General Charles George Gordon. Despite being fortified by trenches and a wall connecting the Blue and White Niles, the city was conquered by the Mahdists on 26 January 1885 and the entire garrison was annihilated. Many of the inhabitants were massacred or enslaved and the survivors were deported to the newly established Omdurman, while Khartoum was largely destroyed and abandoned.[22][23] With the reconquest of Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898, Khartoum was established as the capital of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Herbert Kitchener became Governor-General of the Sudan in September 1898, and began a programme of reconstruction, Khartoum was rebuilt according to a street plan in the shape of the Union Jack. Khartoum Bahri was established as a garrison comprising a dockyard and a railhead to Egypt, while Omdurman, remained the most populous part and largely kept its old shape. Kitchener ordered the mosques of Khartoum rebuilt and guaranteed freedom of religion to all citizens. He also prevented Christian missionaries from trying to proselytize the local Muslims