“The Inhabitants Might Almost Be Described as Non-Existent”: Britain and the Collapse of Northern Nilotic Sudan, 1882-1896

Abstract

In the late nineteenth century, the population of Northern Nilotic Sudan collapsed leading to a radical reorganization of agricultural production and a redefinition of gender roles in the region. A system of production that employed male slaves to produce surpluses of grain for market became a system in which free women produced just enough for their own subsistence. This presentation will locate the causes of this collapse in British policy in the region. Following the ‘Urabi revolt (1882), British advisors required the Turko-Egyptian government to implement a number of administrative and budgetary reforms. This policy forced the government to cease financially and militarily supporting the indigenous communities of Northern Nilotic Sudan who were actively opposing the invading Mahdist army. Rather than confront their enemy without government support, tens of thousands of indigenous agriculturalists abandoned their land and sought refuge in Egypt. The ensuing spiral of declining agricultural productivity lasted until the British-led re-conquest in 1896 and structured indigenous resistance to and collaboration with British imperial designs.

About the Speaker

Steven Serels is a PhD candidate in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill.