Khartoum

Khartoum is the capital of Sudan, where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet to form the Nile. Its name comes from the Arabic for elephant's trunk, after the narrow tongue of land between the two rivers. At the meeting point, called the Mogran, the darker water of the Blue Nile and the paler water of the White Nile run side by side for a long stretch.

The Egyptian administration of Muhammad Ali founded Khartoum in 1821 as an army camp, and it grew into the main town of the Sudan under Egyptian rule. Merchants traded gum arabic, cotton and cattle along the rivers. The city was rebuilt from 1898 on a grid of streets, with tree-lined avenues along the Blue Nile. Gordon Memorial College opened in the early 20th century and became the University of Khartoum. Khartoum became the capital of independent Sudan in the 1950s and grew together with Omdurman and Khartoum North into one metropolitan area.

DAL Group, a family company, mills flour, bottles Coca-Cola and makes dairy products in the city. Kenana Sugar, which grows cane on an estate on the White Nile, runs its business from Khartoum. Gum arabic, gathered from acacia trees in the west of the country, is sorted and shipped from the city.

The National Museum of Sudan keeps the temples of Buhen and Semna, moved from the Nile valley before the waters of Lake Nasser covered them. The University of Khartoum has its main campus along the Blue Nile, with brick buildings from the colonial period. Tuti Island, in the middle of the rivers at the confluence, is covered with farms and orchards. Omdurman, across the White Nile, has the souk and the tomb of the Mahdi with its silver dome.