North Darfur State ( ar, ولاية شمال دارفور Wilāyat Šamāl Dārfūr; ''Shamal Darfor'') is one of the

wilayat A wilayah ( ar, وَلاية, wālāya or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu and fa, ولایت, ''velâyat''; tr, vilayet) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", " province" or occasionally as " governorate". The word comes ...

or states of Sudan. It is one of the five states composing the Darfur region. It has an area of 296,420 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,583,000 (2006).

Al-Fashir Al Fashir, Al-Fashir or El Fasher ( ar, الفاشر) is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. It is a large town in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan, northeast of Nyala, Sudan. "Al-Fashir" (description) ''Encyclopædia Brit ...

is the capital of the state. Other significant towns include Ailliet, Kebkabiya,"ولاية شمال دارفور (The state of North Darfur)"
Sudanese Government site, in Arabic, accessed 9 September 2010

Kutum Kutum is a town in the Sudanese state of North Darfur. It lies northwest of the state capital, Al-Fashir. The town is located along a wadi and therefore also known as Wadi Kutum. It lies north along the Marrah Mountains; the Kutum volcanic fi ...

, Mellit (Malit), Tawilah and Umm Keddada (Umm Kadadah).

Geography

North Darfur occupies more than half of the territory of the Darfur region, and includes part of the Marrah Mountains (''Jebel Marra''). The northern part is entirely desert. To the south there is slightly more rainfall with the eastern side being plains with low sandy hills, while the volcanic Marrah Mountains occupy most of the western side of the south. In the southern portion the most important crops are millet, maize and peanuts. North Darfur is bounded on the northwest by

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

, on the north by Northern State, on the east by Northern State and

North Kurdufan North Kordofan ( ar, شمال كردفان, Šamāl Kurdufān) is one of the 18 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 185,302 km2 and an estimated population of 2,920,890 (2008 census) (3,340,000 (2011 estimate)). El-Obeid is the ...

, on the southeast by South Kurdufan, on the south by

South Darfur South Darfur State ( ar, ولاية جنوب دارفور Wilāyat Ǧanūb Dārfūr; Janob Darfor) is one of the wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the five states that compose the region of Darfur in western Sudan. Overview Prior to the ...

, and on the west by

West Darfur West Darfur State ( Wilāyat Ḡarb Dārfūr) is one of the states of Sudan, and one of five comprising the Darfur region. Prior to the creation of two new states in January 2012, it had an area of 79,460 km² and an estimated population of ...

and the

Republic of Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic t ...

History

North Darfur shares much of the

history of Darfur Throughout its history, Darfur has been the home to several cultures and kingdoms, like the mythical Tora or the Daju and Tunjur kingdoms. The recorded history of Darfur begins in the seventeenth century, with the foundation of the Fur Sultanat ...

. It was the center of the

Sultanate of Darfur The Sultanate of Darfur was a pre-colonial state in present-day Sudan. It existed from 1603 to October 24, 1874, when it fell to the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr and again from 1898 to 1916, when it was conquered by the British and integr ...

and contained both its capital al-Fashir and its biggest trading city Kobbei. Former lieutenant general, Armed Forces Chief of Staff, and defense minister Ibrahim Suleiman Hassan served as governor of North Darfur 2001–2003, until being dismissed by al-Bashir.

Notes and references

External links

State profile

"Fresh hopes for North Darfur"
by Julie Flint, ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' From Our Correspondent, 14 June 2007 {{Authority control States of Sudan Darfur