Egypt and Sudan

Britain intervened in 1881 to make Egypt into an informal protectorate under a consul-general. Within the client state the joint hierarchy of British and Egyptian officials improved finances and infrastructure; the Egyptian army came under British command. An intricate political game between Lord Cromer and the Khedivate aimed at securing ministerial clients and power over public offices and preserving strategic, commercial and dynastic interests in a colonial protectorate from 1914. In 1936 Britain ended this balancing act, retaining responsibility for the defence of the Canal, until the abolition of the monarchy by a military coup in 1952. After reconquest, the Sudan was run by British officers, using Egyptian auxiliaries and Sudanese clients recruited from sedentary and nomadic tribes to administer tax collection and courts. A parallel hierarchy of leaders from religious and urban elites competed for power and excluded the segmentary societies of the Southern Sudan after 1956.

Ancient history · Colonial rule · Colonialism · Geography · Hierarchy · Indirect rule · Monarchy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Protectorate · State (computer science) · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law