Kodok or Kothok ( ar, كودوك), formerly known as Fashoda, is a town in the north-eastern
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
ese
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Upper Nile State
Upper Nile is a state in South Sudan. The White Nile flowes through the state, giving it its name. The state also shares a similar name with the region of Greater Upper Nile, of which it was part along with the states of Unity and Jonglei. It ...
. Kodok is the capital of
Shilluk country, formally known as the
Shilluk Kingdom
The Shilluk Kingdom, dominated by the Shilluk people, was located along the left bank of the White Nile river in what is now South Sudan and southern Sudan. Its capital and royal residence was in the town of Fashoda. According to Shilluk folk h ...
. Shilluk had been an independent kingdom for more than sixteen centuries. Fashoda is best known as the place where the British and French nearly went to war in 1898 in the
Fashoda Incident
The Fashoda Incident, also known as the Fashoda Crisis ( French: ''Crise de Fachoda''), was an international incident and the climax of imperialist territorial disputes between Britain and France in East Africa, occurring in 1898. A French exped ...
.
According to Shilluk belief, religion, tradition and constitution, Fashoda serves as the mediating city for the
Shilluk King. It is a place where ceremonies and the coronation of each new Shilluk King takes place. For over 500 years, Fashoda was kept hidden and acted as a forbidden city for the Shilluk King, but as modern educations and traditions emerge, Fashoda is now known to the outside world. Fashoda is believed to be a place where the spirit of Juok (God), the spirit of Nyikango (the founder of Shilluk Kingdom and the spiritual leader of Shilluk religion), the spirit of the deceased Shilluk kings and the spirit of the living Shilluk King come to mediate for the Kingdom of Shilluk's spiritual healing. Fashoda is preserved as a quiet place for the spirit of God, where the sounds and speeches of God (Juok) can be heard and received by the King, leaders, and elders. For the
Shilluk, Fashoda is a city of mediation and peace.
History
![Pachodo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Pachodo.png)
An Egyptian military post was established at Fashoda in 1865. It was then a trading station of some importance, including a slave trade. Between 1883 and 1884 the place fell into the hands of the
Mahdists. However, historically Fashoda is chiefly known for being the site of the 1898
Fashoda Incident
The Fashoda Incident, also known as the Fashoda Crisis ( French: ''Crise de Fachoda''), was an international incident and the climax of imperialist territorial disputes between Britain and France in East Africa, occurring in 1898. A French exped ...
between the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The British were attempting to create a solid block of influence from
southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...
through
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historical ...
to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, which was already under British control. Meanwhile, the French were attempting to expand from
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
along the southern border of the
Sahara Desert
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
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in order to control all of the trade through the
Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
. The intersection of these lines of intended control passed through Kodok, and a standoff between armed expeditionary forces led the two countries to the brink of war. The outcome in Britain's favour contributed to the stabilisation of colonial claims and the eventual end of the "
Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonisation of Africa, colonization of most of Africa by seven Western Europe, Western European powers during a ...
". The incident gave rise to what is known as the "
Fashoda syndrome Fashoda syndrome, or a 'Fashoda complex', is the name given to a tendency within French foreign policy in Africa, giving importance to asserting French influence in areas which might be becoming susceptible to British influence. It refers to the Fas ...
" in French foreign policy. In 1904, the development of the Anglo-French
Entente Cordiale
The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial de ...
prompted the British to change the town's name to Kodok (Kothok) in the hope of obliterating the memory of the incident.
The Evangelical
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
(CMS) was assigned in 1898 by the British colonial administration to Kodok awarded to the missionary, after they had been denied the location of Khartoum.
The Catholic Verona Fathers were also given the area west of the Nile and the
Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
(USA) the east to the Ethiopian border. From 1900, the missionaries were in low numbers and encountered territorial disputes, but in the 1920s, complaints were made by the CMS about the expansion of the Catholics on their territory. In January 1933, a Catholic Mission was established in Kodok and since 1974 has been classified under the
Diocese of Malakal
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Malakal ( la, Malakalen(sis)) is a diocese in Malakal in the Ecclesiastical province of Juba in South Sudan.
History
* January 10, 1933: Established as Mission “sui iuris” of Kodok from Apostolic Vicariate of K ...
. From the 1930s, Kodok was also a centre of the Presbyterians, so Kodok has a major Christian influence.
In 1955, the population of Kodok was about 9,100. During the
First Sudanese Civil War
The First Sudanese Civil War (also known as the Anyanya Rebellion or Anyanya I, after the name of the rebels, a term in the Madi language which means 'snake venom') was a conflict from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the sou ...
in 1964, during the reign of
Muhammad Ahmad Mahjub
Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub ( ar, محمد أحمد المحجوب; 17 May 1908 – 23 June 1976) was both Foreign Minister and then the 6th Prime Minister of Sudan. He was also an important Sudanese literary writer, who published several volumes o ...
, Kodok was the scene of a massacre by the military in Khartoum. Similar massacres in 1964 and 1965 also took place in other cities in southern Sudan.
South Sudan: A History of Political Domination – A Case of Self-Determination, (Riek Machar)
/ref>
In the 1990s, Kodok suffered a serious famine and saw many charities brought to the region, especially Operation Lifeline Sudan. In the years 2004 and 2005, at the end of the Second Sudanese Civil War
The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originate ...
, many refugees returned but the security situation in 2004 was still very critical.
Today the inhabitants of Kodok are mainly involved in subsistence farming
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
and grow as a staple of their diet millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...
and rear cattle. From the mid-1990s they began marketing gum arabic
Gum arabic, also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the '' Acacia'' tree, ''Senegalia sen ...
, obtained from '' Acacia seyal'' and sold to Arab traders from the north. There are also ongoing local disputes in the area between Kodok and the south of Malakal on the Nile for land rights and water distribution.
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in Upper Nile (state)
Greater Upper Nile