or Kurdufan
Region, central Sudan.
Lying west of the White Nile River , it was originally inhabited by Nubian-speaking peoples. Controlled by the Christian Tungur dynasty (900–1200 AD), it was later taken by Arabs, and in the 17th century a sultanate was established. Egyptian rule began in the 1820s. The slave trade played an important part in the region's economy until its eradication in 1878 by Charles George Gordon . Egyptian rule was ended by a revolt in 1882 led by al- Mahdī . Kordofan became a province of The Sudan in 1899.