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Sudan

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Overview

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Sudan
Anthem نحن جند لله جند الوطن (Arabic) (We are the Soldiers of God and of Our Land)
Watch on youtube (with lyrics in video description)
Capital Khartoum
Largest city Omdurman
Official language(s)
  • Arabic
  • English
Demonym(a name for a resident of a locality, often the same as the name of the people's native language) Sudanese
Government Federal presidential democratic republic
Area 2,505,813 km2, 967,495 sq mi
Population ~ 42 million
Currency Sudanese pound (SDG)
Internet TLD .sd
 

Geography

Sudan
Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest country in Africa and tenth largest in the world by area. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, Kenya and Uganda to the southeast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. The world's longest river, the Nile, divides the country between east and west sides.
 
Sudan
Sudan's capital is Khartoum with an urban(related to the city) population of 639,598 people. The city serves as the political, cultural and commercial centre of the nation. Omdurman remains the largest city. It has a population of around 2.4 million people.
 
 

Society and culture

Sudanese culture combines the behaviors, practices(customary actions; habits), and beliefs of about 578 tribes, communicating in 145 different languages. The country has geographic extremes varying from sandy desert(an area of land with little water or vegetation) to tropical forest.

Population

Sudan has a population of more than 39 million people. There are 597 different tribes(socially, ethnically, and politically cohesive groups of people). One major ethnic group in Sudan are the Arabs. Sudan also hosts a refugee(a person seeking a state of safety, protection or shelter in a foreign country) population. According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, 310,500 refugees lived in Sudan in 2007. The majority of this population comes from Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic.

Languages

Sudan's official languages are Arabic and English. However, English is only spoken by educated people. The total number of languages used in Sudan is around 142. 133 are currently spoken languages and 9 languages are extinct(no longer used). The most used languages are Arabic in the north, east, west and middle regions, and tribal languages in the whole country. The lingua franca(a common language used by people of diverse backgrounds to communicate with one another) in Southern Sudan is a variant(something that is slightly different from a type or norm) of Arabic called Juba Arabic.

Religion

Three religions are dominant in Sudan: Islam, Animism and Christianity. An estimated 70% of the population adheres to(to remain fixed, either by personal union or conformity of faith, principle, or opinion) Islam. The remainder(rest) of the population follows either animist and indigenous(native to an area) beliefs (25%) or Christianity (5%). Islam predominates in the north, while traditional indigenous beliefs (Animism) and Christianity are dominant in the south.
 

Government and politics

Officially, the country is a federal presidential representative democratic republic. The President of Sudan is Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces(the military forces of a nation, such as the army, navy, air force and marines) in a multi-party system. Legislative power(the power to make a law) is vested in both the government and in the two chambers, the National Assembly (Lower House) and the Council of States (Upper House). The judiciary(the court system and judges considered collectively) is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court. However, Sudan is widely recognised as an authoritarian state where all effective political power is obtained by President Omar al-Bashir and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
 

Economy

The Sudanese economy is growing. Currently oil is the country's main export. Rich mineral resources are available in Sudan including: petroleum, natural gas, gold, silver, chromite, asbestos, zinc, iron, lead, uranium, copper, granite, nickel, tin, aluminum. Agriculture production remains Sudan's most important sector, employing 80% of the workforce(all the workers employed by a specific nation) .
 
 

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