About Sudan

Formal Name: Republic of the Sudan (Jumhuriyat as-Sudan).
Term for Citizen(s): Sudanese.
Capital: Khartoum.
Other Major Cities: Omdurman, Khartoum North, Port
Sudan, Kassala, Al Ubayyid, and Nyala (according to decreasing size, 1993 census).
Sudan gained independence from the United Kingdom and Egypt on January 1, 1956.

Climate: The climate varies from tropical wet and dry seasons in the South to arid desert in the North. Annual temperatures vary little at any single location. The rainy season is April to November.
Natural Resources: Petroleum and agriculuture. The country also has small deposits of chromium ore, copper, gold, iron ore, mica, silver, tungsten, and zinc.
Time Zone: Local time in Sudan is Greenwich Mean Time plus three hours.

Currency : Sudanese pound SDG

Total Area: 1,886,068 km2

Population : 30,894,000 ( 2008 census )

Maps : for sum gud maps check this website :

www.openstreetmap.org

The Hisotry of Sudan :
The term “Sudan” derives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān“land of the Blacks”, and is used more loosely of West and Central Africa in general, especially the Sahel region.The modern Republic of Sudan was formed in 1956 and inherited its boundaries from Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, established 1899. For times predating 1899, usage of the term “Sudan” for the territory of the Republic of Sudan is somewhat anachronistic, and may also refer to the more diffuse concept of the Sudan regionThe early history of what is now northern Sudan, along the Nile River, known as the Kingdom of Kush, is intertwined with the history of ancient Egypt, with which it was united politically over several periods. By virtue of its proximity to Egypt, the Sudan participated in the wider history of the Near East inasmuch as it was Christianized by the 6th century, and Islamized in the 7th. As a result of Christianization, the Old Nubian language stands as the oldest recorded Nilo-Saharan language (earliest records dating to the 9th century).
Read more on :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sudan