Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism and in 1953 Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on 1 January 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Gaafar Nimeiry, Sudan instituted Islamic law in 1983." [Wikipedia] "Almost all of Sudan is desert, with irrigation-based farming along the banks of the While Nile and the Blue Nile. . . . The southern part of former Sudan, in contrast to the north, was in many ways a typical Equatorial African entity, dominated culturally by Christianity and animist African religions. Ongoing conflicts between north and south were exacerbated by the discovery of oil on contested land. A long, bloody war ensued, with an estimated 1.5 million deaths. The war finally ended in the breakup of former Sudan, with the south gaining independence in 2011 as the newborn country of South Sudan." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 256]