El Obeid

El Obeid stands at the northern foot of Jebel Kordofan, on the route between the Nile and Darfur. A caravan stop before the nineteenth century, it became a principal market of Kordofan. Gum, ivory, cattle and ostrich feathers passed through the town, and its position made it a meeting place for traffic crossing the Sudanese interior.

Under the Musabba'at rulers, El Obeid prospered as a stopping place for caravans. Control of Kordofan later passed to the sultans of Darfur. In 1821 Muhammad Ali of Egypt sent an army to seize the province, and Egyptian troops garrisoned El Obeid. The town subsequently grew as a centre of the new administration, while its place on the overland routes continued to connect the Nile valley with Darfur.