Kurdufan

Kurdufan kôrˌdəfănˈ [key], region (1983 pop. 3,093,294), S central Sudan. Kurdufan is divided into Northern and Southern Kurdufan states. Its terrain, generally level in the north, rises in the south to the Nuba Mts. Kurdufan's economy is agricultural, with millet as the staple crop. The government has sponsored many irrigation projects.

Conquered for Egypt in 1821, Kurdufan was under Turko-Egyptian rule until 1882, when the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad fomented revolt. With the defeat of Mahdist forces in 1898, Kurdufan became part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (later the Republic of Sudan). In the late 20th and early 21st cent. rebels in the Nuba Mts. in Southern Kurdufan were part of the S Sudanese uprising against the central government, and since the independence of South Sudan, there has been continued fighting in Southern Kurdufan between Sudanese government forces and rebels.

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