المستخلص: |
In the period 1821-1882 the Sudan was under the Turko-Egyptian rule. The Ottoman Archives in Istanbul includes a number of documents relating to the above period. In this article, eight among these documents (originally written in Ottoman Language (Old Turkish)) have been selected, translated, presented and analyzed. Some of them are in the form of reports while others are correspondences between the Ottoman embassies in Europe (precisely, England, France and Austria) and the headquarters in Istanbul. Their content ranges from geographical description of some regions in the Sudan (mainly Kordofan) to issues related to the Ottoman policy vis-a-vis the Sudan, most important being suggestion to appoint the Mahdi as Governor of Kordofan, Zubeir Pasha as successor of Gordon Pasha, and the British House of Common being worried upon hearing that Gordon Pasha permitted slave trade. The article concludes that the Ottoman documents on Sudan provide further insights on this chapter of the modern history of the Sudan. They also indicate that the importance of the Sudan in international politics is deeply rooted.
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