ABSTRACT
A major problem facing the Sudanese authorities in 1877–79 was the eruption of local revolts and civil unrest in several provinces. The causes of these insurgencies varied, but none of them was religiously motivated or in protest against the rule of the Christian and foreign Gordon. Each had specific characteristics and was dealt with in a different way. The struggle to suppress the slave trade played a major role in the revolt in the Bahr al-Ghazal, a smaller one in the revolts in Dar Fur and Kordofan, and none at all in the revolt that took place on the Somali Coast. Unrest in the Sennaheit region and in parts of the Somali Coast region of the Red Sea province was generated mainly by heavy taxation and improper administration. These episodes confronted the Sudanese government with a dangerous challenge, but despite numerous objective difficulties in dealing with them – mainly widespread scope and topographical obstacles, their parallel timing and the lack of reliable, motivated and trained military forces – they were all suppressed by the army and by administrative measures, such as tax reduction and dismissal of incompetent local officials.
