Chapters › Turkiyya & Mahdiyya · Sudan – Middle Nile

Mahdist State (Mahdiyya)

1885 CE – 1899 CE

Key events

• Muhammad Ahmad declares himself Mahdi 1881
• Fall of Khartoum, death of Gordon 1885
• Khalifa Abdallahi rules
• Battle of Omdurman 1898; Umm Diwaykarat 1899

Capitals / sites

Omdurman

Geopolitics

A jihad movement that defeated Hicks at Shaykan (5 Nov 1883), took Kordofan, Darfur and Bahr al-Ghazal, and with 'Uthman Digna the east except Suakin; Khartoum fell and Gordon was killed (26 Jan 1885). Under the Khalifa: defeat at Tushki (1889), loss of Tokar (1891) and Kassala (1894), and a long war with Ethiopia that weakened both states. Kitchener's conquest: Atbara (8 Apr 1898), Karari/Omdurman (2 Sep 1898), Umm Diwaykarat (24 Nov 1899) (GHA VII ch.4).

Culture

Aimed to restore the 'pure and primitive faith of Islam'; followers (Ansar) took the bay'a; the hijra to Jabal Qadir shifted leadership to westerners; institutions based on the Qur'an and Sunna; Mahdist sentiment survived the state (GHA VII ch.4).

Economy

Discontent fed by heavy Turkish taxes and by the government's attempts to suppress the slave trade, 'an important source of wealth and the basis of the domestic and agrarian economy' (GHA VII ch.4).

Regional power

• Mahdist state (within Sudan, 1885–98): 0.9
• Anglo-Egyptian forces (1896–99): Research in progress GHA VII: victories owed to 'superior armaments' – qualitative

Open data flags

• GHA VII: victories owed to 'superior armaments' – qualitative

Sources

1. H.A. Ibrahim (based on a contribution by Abbas I. Ali) African initiatives and resistance in North-East Africa (General History of Africa VII, ch.4) UNESCO link [en]
2. P.M. Holt & M.W. Daly (2011) A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day Routledge (Pearson/Longman) link [en]
3. Wikipedia contributors Mahdist State Wikipedia link [en]
4. Wikipedia contributors Battle of Omdurman Wikipedia link [en]

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