Khartoum

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Khartoum Capital of Sudan, at the junction of the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers. Khartoum was founded in the 1820s by Muhammad Ali and was besieged by the Mahdists in 1885, when General Gordon was killed. In 1898, it became the seat of government of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and from 1956 the capital of independent Sudan. Industries: cement, gum arabic, chemicals, glass, cotton textiles. Pop. (1993) 924,505.

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