Kordofan

Kordofan, or the White Land, lately a province of the Egyptian Soudan (q.v.), is separated from Senaar on the E. by the White Nile, and from Dar-Fûr on the W. by a strip of desert. It extends from 12° to 16° N. lat. and from 29° 30' to 32° 30' E. long.; its area, including Takalla on the S., has been estimated at 41,500 sq. m., and its population at 280,000, of whom three-fourths are slaves. The province is traversed by no rivers; but water is found almost everywhere at a comparatively short depth. The surface is undulating. The chief produce of the soil is millet, the principal food of the inhabitants. Gum-trees, mimosas, thorny plants, and prickly grass are common, but there is no forest timber. Gums, hides, ivory, ostrich-feathers, and gold are exported. Cattle and camels are bred in great numbers. Three-fifths of the population are settled; the rest are nomadic. The aborigines belong mainly to the Nuba stock, but use a negro tongue and are mostly pagans. There is a large element of nomad and slave-hunting 'Arabs,' Moslems in faith. The capital is El-Obeid, with about 30,000 inhabitants, situated in the centre of the country. In the end of the 18th century Kordofan was conquered by the ruler of Senaar, then by the sultan of Dar-Fûr; in 1821 it was annexed by Mehmet Ali of Egypt, but was lost to the Egyptians by the Mahdi's revolt in 1883. Since 1899 it has been part of the reconstituted Egyptian Soudan (see SOUDAN).