Gezira State

History

The region was once occupied by the Kingdom of Kush. An indigenous Meroitic-speaking community lived in the Gezira. The area was at the southern end of Nubia and little is known about its ancient history and only limited archaeological work has been conducted in this area. It was part of the kingdom of Alodia for several centuries, and with that state's collapse in the early sixteenth century, it became the centre of the Funj Sultanate.

Katfia in Gezira was the place where the Wad Habuba Revolt took place in April 1908. The Gezira Scheme was a program launched in 1925 to foster cotton farming. At that time the Sennar Dam and numerous irrigation canals were built. Al Jazirah became the Sudan's major agricultural region with more than 2.5 e6acre under cultivation.

The administrative state of Gezira was established on 1 July 1943, after the Blue Nile state was divided into three. The initial development project was semi-private, but the government nationalized it in 1950. Cotton production increased in the 1970s but by the 1990s increased wheat production has supplanted a third of the land formerly seeded with cotton.

The ongoing War in Sudan that begun in 2023 has caused a refugee crisis in the state, with an estimated 250,000 fleeing the state due to an offensive waged by the RSF on December 15, 2023 by December 18 of the same year. The RSF took control of most of the state, including Wad Madani until11, January 2025, when the Sudanese army recaptured the state leaving RSF in control of very little areas in the northwest part of the state.

In October 2024, the state was affected by the widespread massacres.

Districts and populated places

The capital of Gezira is Wad Madani.

The state is divided into seven districts, namely:

• Al Kamlin
• East al Gazera
• North al Gazera
• Al Managil
• South al Gazera
• Um al Gura
• Wad Madani

Populated places include:

• Abushneib

• Al-Hasahisa

• Al Hilaliya

• Buwaidhaa

• El Manaqil

• Rufaa

• Tanub

• Wad Al-Noora Other villages include:

• Al-Sireha

• El Buweida

• Deim Elias

• Maknun

• Tambul

• Safita al-Ghunomab

• Saqiaah

• Zurqa

• Wad Rawah

• Hajj Abd Allah

References

References

1. (23 November 2023). "Burhan reshuffles Sudanese cabinet, dismissed several governors".
2. "Archived copy".
3. "Sub-national HDI – Area Database – Global Data Lab".
4. "Archived copy".
5. (2003–2013). "Home – Al-Gezira State". Sudan Tribune.
6. Brass M. (2014). "The Southern Frontier of the Meroitic State: The View from Jebel Moya". Afr Archaeol Rev.
7. Hyslop, J. (1952). "The Sudan Story". Naldrett Press.
8. (2023-12-18). "At least 250000 flee fighting in Sudan's El Gezira state -IOM".
9. (2024-10-26). "UN official calls for more attention to Sudan's 'forgotten' war amid fresh atrocities".