Kandaka — The Sudan Knowledge Platform

Named for the Kandakas — the warrior queens of ancient Nubia — this site brings their spirit of clarity and resolve to today's questions about Sudan. Articles and analysis on the country's economy and development, alongside reflections on its past, culture, and the people who shape its future.

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Latest Articles

Latest News

English
France 24 Africa War & Security

Sudan’s war escalates as UN warns of wider regional crisis

In tonight’s edition: Sudan’s brutal war continues to take a devastating regional toll, as a drone strike in Abyei reportedly …

ReportingNational EN
Sudan News

Fire destroys homes, displacing families in North Darfur village

A major fire swept through Um Darsay Diko village in the Ain Siro area of The post Fire destroys homes, displacing families in …

ReportingDarfur EN
War & Security

Sudan Founding Alliance ‘Tasees’ claims 21 civilians killed in West Kordofan airstrikes

The RSF-alligned Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasees) has accused the Sudanese Armed Forces of carrying out... The post Sudan Founding …

ReportingKordofan EN
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العربية
العربي الجديد اقتصاد

إغلاق سوق أبيي ضربة لاقتصاد السودان

تفجر مجزرة سوق أميت في أبيي أزمة معيشية واقتصادية خانقة، وسط مخاوف من قطع إمدادات الغذاء والوقود عن ملايين السكان في السودان وجنوب …

تغطية صحفيةNational AR
الحرب والأمن

نقابة الصحفيين السودانيين تطالب الدعم السريع بالإفراج عن صحفيين

الخرطوم 21 أكتوبر 2026 – طالبت نقابة الصحفيين السودانيين، الأربعاء، قوات الدعم السريع بالإفراج الفوري عن الصحفيين مصطفى فضل المولى …

تغطية صحفيةKhartoum · Darfur AR
أخبار السودان

تأسيس: مقتل 21 مدنيا في قصف لمنطقتي الأضية وأبوزبد بغرب كردفان

غرب كردفان- 21 أكتوبر 2026- راديو دبنقاقال تحالف السودان التأسيسي ( تأسيس) أن مدينة الأضية... The post تأسيس: مقتل 21 مدنيا في قصف …

تغطية صحفيةKordofan AR
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Digital reading selections

From Nile Bookstore

Nile Bookstore is separate from Kandaka’s editorial work. These clearly identified links are promotional.

Arabic edition cover of Bulletman number 1

Arabic Comics

Illustrated stories and restored comics presented for Arabic readers in accessible digital editions.

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Cover of Meroë, the City of the Ethiopians, featured in Sudan & the Nile

Sudan & the Nile

Explore books on Sudan and the Nile, including John Garstang’s illustrated account of ancient Meroë.

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Sudan in Images

New photographs are discovered daily; additions are reviewed weekly before publication in Arabic and English. Photo dates appear in titles and captions; historical images do not show current conditions.

Sandstone doorway with a winged sun disc, carved columns and arched openings at Naqa.
Hathor chapel at Naqa, 2016

The carved entrance of the Hathor chapel at Naqa, Sudan, photographed by Nina R on 26 March 2016. The columns, arched openings and winged sun-disc decoration match the chapel documented by the Naga excavation team. The source file's title and description incorrectly refer to pyramid reliefs at Meroe; Kandaka has corrected that identification. This photograph records the monument in 2016, not its present condition.

Nina R, via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons; image unmodified · CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia Commons
Dark round-bottomed pottery jar with a short neck and impressed geometric decoration.
Decorated Meroitic jar from Nubia

A Meroitic jar with a rounded base and comb-impressed decoration, held by the Finnish Heritage Agency (KM17000:39:119:3). Its catalogue gives a broad date of 300 BCE–400 CE and links it to Nubia, listing both Egypt and Sudan rather than a clear modern-country findspot. The maker and photographic date are unrecorded. This entry uses the actual object photograph, not the accompanying archaeological drawing.

Finnish Heritage Agency, Archaeological Object Collection; photographer not named · CC BY 4.0 Finnish Heritage Agency
Historical group photograph beside a display of animal skulls, horns and skins in a courtyard.
Hunting trophies in a Khartoum courtyard, early twentieth century

A historical display of hunting trophies in a Khartoum courtyard, dated by the Náprstek Museum to the early twentieth century. The catalogue names Machulka and tentatively identifies Štorch, retaining a question mark; other people and the photographer are unnamed. The image documents historical hunting and collecting, not an endorsement of those practices. No precise capture year or species identification is asserted.

Photographer unknown; National Museum – Náprstek Museum, Bedřich Machulka photographic collection, Af I 808 · CC BY 4.0 National Museum / eSbírky

Art & Visual Heritage

Weekly artwork selections — New additions are scheduled each Saturday, prioritizing Sudanese artists, with creator credits and source links.

A curated companion to the photo stream: contemporary and historical art, photography, crafts, posters and book arts, with Sudan first and room for the wider world.

Nubian wall painting of the Virgin and Child beside Bishop Marianos in decorated ecclesiastical robes

Historical wall painting · Sudan / Nubia

Madonna and Child with Bishop Marianos

Painter unrecorded (Faras) · 1005–1036

Tempera on plaster from Faras, now in the National Museum in Warsaw. The source dates the painting to 1005–1036; this is the artwork date, not the photograph date. The individual painter is unrecorded.

View artwork & source ↗ National Museum in Warsaw · Photograph uploaded by Vert, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Unmodified reproduction
Nubian Christian wall painting depicting the three youths in the fiery furnace

Historical painting · Sudan / Nubia

Three youths in the fiery furnace — Nubian church painting

Painter unrecorded · Historical painting; photograph published 2005

A Nubian church painting photographed at the museum in Khartoum. The descriptive title identifies the scene from Daniel 3; the record does not name the original painter or date the artwork.

View artwork & source ↗ Wikimedia Commons · Photograph by Ibrahim Omer / ancientsudan.org · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Unmodified

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From the Library

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Lost Port of the Red Sea: Ancient Sudanese Maritime Trade

Marek Woźniak · 2021

Discusses evidence for locating an ancient port between Berenike and Ptolemais Theron on the western Red Sea …

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Patterns of Economic Growth and Poverty in Sudan

Adam Hessain Yagoob, Ting Zuo · 2016

Traces rural poverty in Sudan to a persistent urban bias in development strategy since independence that …

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Ancient Egypt and Nubia

James Weldon Johnson

Overview of the relationship between ancient Egypt and Nubia covering trade, warfare, cultural exchange, and …

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