States of Sudan

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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-9 was published on 2007-11-28. It drops West Kurdufan from the list of states. All other codes remain unchanged.

Sorin Cosoveanu and Lucas Klausner have written me about changes in Sudan. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Khartoum government and the southern rebels was signed on 2005-01-09. On 2005-07-09, a new Constitution for Sudan took effect, marking the beginning of a six-year Interim Period of autonomy for Southern Sudan. On 2005-08-16, President Bashir decreed that South Kordufan would revert to its boundaries as of 1974. This was done by splitting West Kordufan into two parts. Judging from some maps on the UN Sudan Information Gateway , its districts of En Nuhud and Ghebeish merged with North Kordufan, while oil-rich Abyei, Es Salam, and Lagawa merged with South Kordufan. As part of the agreement, the capital of South Kordufan will alternate between Kadugli and the former capital of West Kordufan, Al-Fula. Abyei was to hold a referendum to determine its future. For more background, see this UNMIS CPA Monitor  page and this Wikipedia article .

On 2005-04-01, Bahr-al-Jabal state changed its name to Central Equatoria. A UNHCR report of 2006-06-29 says that the national government plans to make Yei the capital of Central Equatoria, and Juba the government headquarters for all of South Sudan. A story in the Juba Post for 2006-07-27 says that the state government is opposed to the move.

Country overview: 

From just before 1900 until its independence on 1956-01-01, Sudan was a condominium of Egypt and the United Kingdom.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: Jamhuryat es-Sudan (formal)
2. Danish: Sudan
3. Dutch: Sudan, Republiek Sudan (formal)
4. English: Republic of the Sudan (formal), Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (obsolete)
5. Finnish: Sudan
6. French: Soudan m
7. German: Sudan m
8. Icelandic: Súdan
9. Italian: Sudan m
10. Norwegian: Sudan, Republikken Sudan (formal)
11. Portuguese: Sudão, República f do Sudão m (formal)
12. Spanish: Sudán, República f del Sudán m (formal)
13. Swedish: Sudan

Origin of name: 

from a native word for black (people)

Primary subdivisions: 

Sudan is divided into 25 wilayat (states).

Postal codes: 

The Universal Postal Union document says that Sudan uses five-digit postal codes. (An earlier version of the document said they were four digits; quite possibly a new system was introduced in between.)

Further subdivisions:

The states are subdivided into districts.

Territorial extent: 

Red Sea includes Sudan's Red Sea islands, such as Mukawwar and the Suakin Archipelago.

The administrative boundary between Sudan and Egypt deviates from the legal boundary. There is a small region in Sudan, south of 22°, administered by Egypt, and a larger triangle in Egypt, north of the parallel, administered by Sudan (in Red Sea state). Similarly, there is a triangle adjacent to the Kenya border that is administered by Kenya but part of Sudan (Eastern Equatoria state).

Origins of names: 

1. Bahr el Ghazal: Arabic "river of the gazelles"
2. Darfur: Arabic dar fur: home of the Fur (ethnic name)
3. Equatoria: area closest to the Equator, although nowhere farther south than 3° N. latitude
4. Gezira: Arabic al-gazira: the island, referring to area between the White Nile and Blue Nile
5. Khartoum: means "the snout," from shape of land where the White and Blue Nile meet

Change history: 

1. 1919: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ceded a roughly triangular area in the northwest to Libya. The division of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan into eight mudiriyas (provinces) was poorly defined at first, but by the start of World War II, they were well established.
2. 1948: Bahr el Ghazal province split from Equatoria. The division of Sudan into provinces was now:

1. 1972-03-27: Southern region (capital Juba) established under the Addis Ababa agreement.
2. 1973-01-01: Red Sea province split from Kassala.
3. 1974-07-01: Darfur province divided into Northern Darfur and Southern Darfur; El Gezira and White Nile provinces split from Blue Nile; Kordofan province divided into Northern Kordofan and Southern Kordofan; Nile province created from parts of Kassala and Northern.
4. ~1976: El Buheyrat province split from Bahr el Ghazal; Equatoria province divided into Eastern Equatoria and Western Equatoria; Junglei province split from Upper Nile. This was the resulting division:

1. 1991: Sudan adopted a federal system with nine states, matching the nine provinces that had existed from 1948 to 1973. FIPS apparently assigned new codes (SU10-SU25, which I haven't been able to find a source for) to the provinces as they were created or subdivided from 1973 onward. When the states appeared, FIPS dropped the entire set of codes and assigned new codes to the states (SU26-SU34, as shown in the F-84 column above). The states were subdivided into 66 provinces, and then into 281 local government areas.
2. 1994-02-14: Sudan reorganized into twenty-six wilayaat (states). Each one was a subset of one of the former nine states. Most, but not all, states were a subset of one of the eighteen provinces.
3. 2005-04-01: Name of Bahr-al-Jabal state changed to Central Equatoria.
4. 2005-08-16: West Kordufan split into two parts. The northern part merged with North Kordufan, and the southern part with South Kordufan. The capital of South Kordufan will alternate between Kadugli and the former capital of West Kordufan, Al-Fula. West Kordufan's data before this change were: HASC code SD.WK; ISO code 10; FIPS code SU48; Area 111,373 km.². The areas of North and South Kordufan were respectively 185,302 and 79,470 km.² before this change, and their FIPS codes were SD.NK and SD.SK. In the table under Primary subdivisions, I have reverted their areas to what they were in 1976, although the total is 4,110 km.² higher than it should be.

Other names of subdivisions: 

The article al is sometimes transliterated el. Before certain consonants, it is usually assimilated, as in Ash Shamaliyah (instead of Al Shamaliyah).

Provinces:

1. Blue Nile: Al Wusţá, Al Awsat (Arabic-variant); An Nil al Azraq (Arabic); Central (variant)
2. Darfur: Darfour (French); Dārfūr (Arabic)
3. Equatoria: Al Istiwā'ī, Al Istiwā'īyah (Arabic); Equatória (Portuguese)
4. Kassala: Ash Sharqī, Ash Sharqīyah (Arabic-variant); Eastern (variant)
5. Khartoum: Al Kharţūm, Al Khurţūm (Arabic); Cartum (Portuguese); Jartum (Spanish); Khartum (German, Italian, Norwegian)
6. Kordofan: Cordofão, Kordofam (Portuguese); Kòrdofan (Italian); Kurdufān (Arabic)
7. Northern: Ash Shamālī, Ash Shamālīyah (Arabic); Nord (French)
8. Upper Nile: A`ālī an Nīl (Arabic); Alto Nilo (Portuguese)

States:

1. Blue Nile: An Nīl al Azraq (Arabic); Nil Bleu (French); Nilo Azul (Portuguese)
2. Central Equatoria: Bahr el Gabel, Bahr-al-Jabal (obsolete)
3. East Equatoria: Al Istiwā'īyah ash Sharqīyah, Sharq al Istiwā'īyah (Arabic); Équatoria oriental (French)
4. Gedarif: Al Qadarif, Gadarif, Gedaref, Gederaf (variant)
5. Gezira: Al Jazīrah, El Gezira, Gezeira (variant)
6. Jungoli: Jonglei, Jonglie, Jonqley, Junglei, Junqalī (variant); Jongley (French)
7. Kassala: Cassala (Portuguese); Kessala (variant)
8. Lakes: Al Buhairat, Al Buḥayrah, Buheirat, El Boheirat, El Buhayrat (variant); El Buheyrah (French)
9. North Bahr-al-Ghazal: North Bahr-al-Gazal, North Bahr el Ghazal (variant); Shamal Bahr al Ghazal (Arabic)
10. North Darfur: Dārfūr ash Shamālīyah, Shamāl Dārfūr (Arabic); Darfur septentrional (French)
11. North Kordufan: Kordofan septentrional (French); Kurdufān ash Shamālīyah, Shamāl Kurdufān (Arabic); North Kordofan (variant)
12. Red Sea: Al Baḥr al Aḥmar (Arabic); Mar Rojo (Spanish); Mar Rosso (Italian); Mar Vermelho (Portuguese); Mer Rouge (French); Röda havet (Swedish); Rødehavet (Norwegian); Rotes Meer (German)
13. River Nile: an Nīl, Nahr an Nīl (Arabic); Nil (French, German); Nile, Nile River (variant); Nilen (Norwegian, Swedish); Nilo (Italian, Portuguese)
14. Sennar: Sinnar (variant)
15. South Darfur: Dārfūr al Janūbīyah, Janūb Dārfūr (Arabic); Darfur méridional (French); Southern Darfur (variant)
16. South Kordufan: Janūb Kurdufān, Janub Kurdufun, Kurdufān al Janūbīyah (Arabic); Kordofan méridional (French); South Kordofan (variant)
17. Unity: Al-Wahdah, Wahda (variant)
18. Upper Nile: a`Ālī an Nīl (Arabic); Nil supérieur (French)
19. Warap: Warab, Warrab (variant)
20. West Bahr-al-Ghazal: Bahr al-Ghazāl al Gharbīyah, Gharb Bahr al-Ghazāl (Arabic); Bahr el-Ghazal occidental (French); Western Bahr el Ghazal (variant)
21. West Darfur: Dārfūr al Gharbīyah, Gharb Dārfūr (Arabic)
22. West Equatoria: Al Istiwā'īyah al Gharbīyah, Gharb al Istiwā'īyah (Arabic); Équatoria occidental (French)
23. West Kordufan: Gharb Kurdufān, Gharb Kurdufun, Kurdufān al Gharbīyah (Arabic); Western Kordofan (variant)
24. White Nile: An Baḥr al Abyad, An Nīl al-Abyad (Arabic); Nil Blanc (French); Nilo Branco (Portuguese)