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:''For other uses, see Khartoum (disambiguation).''
'Khartoum' ('الخرطوم' 'al-Kharṭūm' "Elephant Trunk") is the capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the point where the White Nile, flowing north from Uganda, meets the Blue Nile, flowing west from Ethiopia. The merger of the two Niles is known as "the ''Mogran''". The merged Nile flows north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
The city proper has a population of well over a million inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the country, but forms with its neighbours, linked by bridges, Khartoum North (''al-Khartūm Bahrī'') and Omdurman (''Umm Durmān'') a metropolis with a population totaling over four million.

Contents

History

Early history

Recent history

Economy

Education

Universities

Transportation

Twin cities

External links

History

Early history

Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt, founded Khartoum in 1821 as an outpost for the Egyptian army, but the settlement grew as a regional center of trade, including the slave trade. Troops loyal to the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad began a siege of Khartoum on March 13, 1884 against the defenders led by British General Charles George Gordon. The siege resulted in the massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison.
The heavily damaged city fell to the Mahdists on January 26, 1885. Omdurman was the scene of the bloody battle on September 2, 1898, during which British forces under Sirdar Horatio Kitchener defeated the Mahdist forces defending the city.
In 1899 Khartoum became capital of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and, with the independence of Sudan in 1956, the capital of the new country.

Recent history

In 1973, the city was the site of a hostage crisis in which members of Black September held ten hostages at the Saudi embassy, five of whom were diplomats. The US ambassador, the US deputy ambassador, and the Belgian Chargé d'affaires were murdered. The remaining hostages were released (see Khartoum diplomatic assassinations).
The first oil pipeline between Khartoum and Port Sudan was completed in 1977.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Khartoum was the destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflicts in neighboring nations such as Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda. The refugees settled in large slums at the outskirts of the city. From the mid-1980s onward, large numbers of internally displaced from the violence of the Second Sudanese Civil War and Darfur conflict have settled around Khartoum.
Following the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, the United States accused Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group of responsibility and launched cruise missile attacks (August 20) on the al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum. The destruction of the factory produced diplomatic tension between the U.S. and Sudan, and was criticized both before and after the September 11 attacks in the United States.
The Arab League summit of March 28-29, 2006 was held in Khartoum, during which the Arab League awarded Sudan the Arab League presidency.

Economy

After the signing of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLA), the Government of Sudan has begun a massive development project. The biggest projects taking place right now in Khartoum are the Al-Mogran Development Project, two five-star hotels, a new airport, the McNimir Bridge and the Toti Bridge.

Khartoum has the highest concentration of economic activity in the country. This is slowly changing as major economic developments take place in other parts of the country, like oil exploration in the South, the Giad Industrial Complex and White Nile Sugar Project in Central Sudan, and the Merowe Dam in the North.
Among the city's industries are printing, glass manufacturing, food processing, and textiles. Petroleum products are now produced in the far north of Khartoum state, providing fuel and jobs for the city. One of Sudan's largest refineries is located in northern Khartoum.

Education

Khartoum is the main location for most of Sudan's top educational bodies, including but not limited to:

Universities

★ Sudan University of Science and Technology. One of the main Engineering and technical schools in Sudan founded in 1932 as Khartoum Technical Institute and then later on 1991 turned in to Sudan University of Science and Technology.

★ University of Khartoum. Originally founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902, it was later renamed to share the name of the city in the 1930s.

★ The Academy of Medical Sciences and Technology.Better known as AMST,it was founded in 1996 by Prof. Mamoun Humaida in the heart of Khartoum City the capital of Sudan.Its considered to be one of the best educational establishments in the country and viewed by most to be the pioneer Private University in Sudan

★ Computer Man College

★ Juba University, relocated from Juba during the civil war. Currently plans exist to relocate the university back to its original location.

★ Bayan Science and Technology University

★ Nilayn University

★ Omdurman Islamic University

★ Ahfad University for Women

★ Academy of Medical Sciences and Technology, Khartoum

★ University of Gezira Wad Medani.

Transportation

Khartoum is home to the largest airport in Sudan, Khartoum International Airport. It is the main hub for Sudan Airways, Sudan's main carrier. It was built in the southern edge of the city, but the rapid growth of the city and through the major urbanization, it has become the heart of the city.
A new international airport is currently being built in the city of Omdurman. It will replace the current airport in Khartoum as Sudan's main airport followed by Juba Airport and Port Sudan Airport.

Twin cities

★ - 'Amman', Jordan

★ - 'Cairo', Egypt

★ - 'Istanbul', Turkey

★ - 'St. Petersburg', Russia

★ - 'Wuhan', China

External links

★ Earth from Space - Khartoum

★ GNS: Country Files - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

★ Al-Sunut Development Project - Al-Sunut Development Company LTD