Atbara

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For the river, see Atbara River.
Atbara
Atbara,british house.jpg
Atbara is located in Sudan
Atbara
Atbara
Location in Sudan
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country Flag of Sudan.svg Sudan
Admin. division River Nile State
Population (2007)
 • Total 111,399

Atbara (sometimes Atbarah) (Arabic: عطبرة‎‎ ʿAṭbarah) is a town of 111,399 (2007) located in River Nile State in northeastern Sudan. [1] It is located at the junction of the Nile and Atbara rivers. It is an important railway junction and railroad manufacturing centre, and most employment in Atbara is related to the rail lines. It is known as the "Railway City' and The National Railway Company's headquarters are actually located here in Atbara.

History

The confluence of the Nile and its most northern tributary, the Atbara (Bahr-el-Aswad, or Black River) was a strategic location for military operations. In the Battle of Atbara, fought on 8 April 1898 near Nakheila, on the north bank of the river, Lord Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army defeated the Mahdist forces, commanded by Amir Mahmud Ahmad. Kitchener's strengthened position led to a decisive victory at the Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898,[2] giving the British control over the Sudan.[3]

The first trade union in Sudan formed in 1946 among railroad workers in Atbara. The city also is home to one of Sudan's largest cement factories (Atbara Cement Corporation). The town was the centre of the Sudanese railway industry. Few trains are made here now and rail traffic is much reduced. The original station and unusual dome-shaped houses of railway workers remain.

Perhaps because of the influence of the railway unions, Atbara is also considered by many to be the home of Sudanese communism. Jaafar Nimeiri, Sudan's president throughout the 1970s, alternated between communism, rabid capitalism and Islamic fundamentalism - depending on who he was trying to get on his side and extract money from - and the communist phase had its stronghold around Atbara.

Atbara is made up of several districts including Umbukole district which has the First Higher School in Atbara. Other districts include the railway district, Almurabaat, Alsawdana and Almatar.

Umbukole was originally the name given to a capital city in a northern state in Kurti county. It is now mostly remembered as the name of a small district in Atbara. A well-known resident is Mandour Elmahdi who wrote about the History of the Sudan.

Like Khartoum further upstream, Atbara is also at the confluence of two major rivers.

Location of Atbara within Sudan

Climate

Atbara has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). Atbara is located in one of the hottest and sunniest areas on the planet, and it's just at the southern edge of the driest vast region on the globe. The annual mean temperature reaches over 30 °C (86 °F) and the averages highs exceed 40 °C (104 °F) during 7 months of the year. The annual average rainfall hardly reaches 60 mm, and this total only falls from July - August while all the other months stay almost absolutely rainless. The area is almost always sunny year-round and there is barely a cloud in the sky.

Another chart with different averages is shown below.

Climate data for Atbara (2000–2015)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 31.2
(88.2)		 33.4
(92.1)		 36.6
(97.9)		 40.4
(104.7)		 43.0
(109.4)		 44.2
(111.6)		 42.8
(109)		 42.1
(107.8)		 42.3
(108.1)		 40.5
(104.9)		 36.0
(96.8)		 32.7
(90.9)		 38.77
(101.78)
Daily mean °C (°F) 23.3
(73.9)		 24.7
(76.5)		 27.8
(82)		 31.1
(88)		 35.4
(95.7)		 36.2
(97.2)		 34.4
(93.9)		 34.7
(94.5)		 35.6
(96.1)		 33.1
(91.6)		 28.1
(82.6)		 24.6
(76.3)		 30.75
(87.36)
Average low °C (°F) 15.2
(59.4)		 16.0
(60.8)		 18.9
(66)		 22.3
(72.1)		 27.4
(81.3)		 28.2
(82.8)		 27.3
(81.1)		 27.3
(81.1)		 29.1
(84.4)		 25.3
(77.5)		 20.1
(68.2)		 16.3
(61.3)		 22.78
(73)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 3
(0.12)		 1
(0.04)		 18
(0.71)		 27
(1.06)		 7
(0.28)		 2
(0.08)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 58
(2.29)
Source #1: Global climatology for Atbara, Sudan[5]
Source #2: Rainfall/Precipitation in Atbara, Sudan[6]

Demographics

Year Population
1956 36.300
1973 66.116
1983 73.009
1993 87.878
2007 (Estimate) 111.399

One of the major districts of Atbara is Al-Dakhla (الداخلة)in Arabic. Some still use the name Al-Dakhla referring to Atbara.

See also

Atbara Railway Station

References

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Other sources

  • "'Atbarah, or Atbara (The Sudan)" (description), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007, webpage: EB-Atbara.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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  1. ↑ "'Atbarah, or Atbara (The Sudan)" (description), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007, webpage: EB-Atbara.
  2. ↑ Chisholm 1911, p. 823.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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