苏丹(Sudan)
正式名称苏丹共和国（Republic of the Sudan）
非洲北部国家。面积2,503,890平方公里。人口约36,080,000（2001）。首都︰喀土木。穆斯林阿拉伯民族集团居於北部及中部，占该国人口的2/3，其余尼罗人及苏丹人等民族则住在南部地区。语言︰阿拉伯语（官方语）；尚有其他一百多种语言。宗教︰伊斯兰教（国教），传统宗教和基督徒。货币︰苏丹第纳尔（Sd）。苏丹为非洲最大国家，包含了一广阔的平原，其北部是撒哈拉沙漠，西部为沙丘，中南部为雨量极少的灌木带，南部则有许多沼泽和热带雨林。尼罗河流贯全国。也野生动物有狮、豹、大象、长颈鹿和斑马。为开发中的混合经济，以农业为主。有全世界最大的灌溉计画，由青尼罗河和白尼罗河供给农田用水。主要经济作物有棉花、花生和芝麻；畜牧业亦重要。工业包括了食品加工和棉纺织。现由伊斯兰教军政府统治。
证据表明，苏丹有人居住的历史可追溯到几万年以前。从西元前4千纪开始，努比亚（现在的苏丹北部）周期性地处在埃及人的统治下。西元前11世纪到西元4世纪，它是库施王国的一部分。在6世纪期间，基督教的传教士们转变了苏丹的三个主要王国；这几个黑色的基督教王国与他们在埃及的穆斯林阿拉伯邻居们共处了数百年，直到13～15世纪，阿拉伯移民的流入才使它们崩溃。1874年埃及征服了苏丹的全部，鼓励了英国人干预这个地区；这引起了穆斯林的反对，导致马赫迪的起义，1885年他占领了喀土木，在苏丹建立起一个神权政治国家，直到1898年他的军队被英军打败。英国人统治了这个国家，总体上与埃及建立夥伴关系，直到1956年苏丹实现独立。此後，这个国家就在无效的国会政府与不稳定的军事统治之间摇摆起伏。南方的非穆斯林人口反抗北方的由穆斯林控制的政府，导致近几年来的饥荒以及约有四百万人流离失所。
English version：
Sudan
Nation, North Africa. Area: 966,757 sq mi (2,503,890 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 32,594,000. Capital: Khartoum. Muslim Arab ethnic groups live in the northern and central two-thirds of the country, while Nilotic and Sudanic peoples live in the south. Languages: Arabic (official); 100 others spoken. Religions: Islam (official), animism, Christianity. Currency: Sudanese dinar. The largest country in Africa, the Sudan encompasses an immense plain with the Sahara desert in the north, sand dunes in the west, semiarid shrub lands in the southern central belt, and enormous swamps and tropical rain forests in the south. The Nile River flows the entire length of the country. Wildlife includes lion, leopard, elephant, giraffe, and zebra. It has a developing mixed economy based largely on agriculture. One of the largest irrigation projects in the world provides water to farms between the White and Blue Niles. Chief cash crops are cotton, peanuts, and sesame; livestock is also important. Major industries include food processing and cotton-ginning. It is ruled by an Islamic military regime. Evidence of inhabitation in the Sudan dates back tens of thousands of years. From the end of the 4th millennium BC, Nubia (now northern Sudan) periodically came under Egyptian rule, and it was part of the kingdom of Cush from the 11th century BC to the 4th century AD. Christian missionaries converted the Sudan's three principal kingdoms during the 6th century AD; these black Christian kingdoms coexisted with their Muslim Arab neighbors in Egypt for centuries, until the influx of Arab immigrants brought about their collapse in the 13th-15th century. Egypt had conquered all of the Sudan by 1874, and encouraged British interference in the region; this aroused Muslim opposition and led to the revolt of al-Mahdi, who captured Khartoum in 1885 and established a Muslim theocracy in the Sudan that lasted until 1898, when his forces were defeated by the British. The British ruled the country, generally in partnership with Egypt, until the Sudan achieved independence in 1956. Since then the country has fluctuated between ineffective parliamentary government and unstable military rule. The non-Muslim population of the south has engaged in ongoing rebellion against the Muslim-controlled government of the north, leading to famines and the displacement of some 4 million people in recent years.
