History of Sudan association with the single largest political grouping, the [[National Umma Party Sudan|Umma Party]] (once led by a descendant of the Mahdi, [[Sadiq al Mahdi]]). Taking advantage of conditions resulting from Ottoman-Egyptian exploitation and maladministration, the Mahdi led a nationalist revolt culminating in the fall of [[Khartoum]] on 26 January 1885. The interim governor-general of the Sudan, the British Major-General [[Charles George Gordon]], and many of the fifty thousand inhabitants of Khartoum were massacred. The Mahdi died in June 1885. He was followed by [[Abdallahi ibn Muhammad]], known as the [[Caliph|Khalifa]], who began an expansion of Sudan's area into Ethiopia. Following
Khartoum Egypt). There is some speculation that they learned their craft at an academy in the south of Egypt from which the city takes its name. In 1821, Khartoum was established north of the ancient city of Soba, by Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Egypt's ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who had just incorporated Sudan into his realm. Originally, Khartoum served as an outpost for the Egyptian Army, but the settlement quickly grew into a regional centre of trade. It also became a focal point for the slave trade. Later, it became the administrative center of Sudan and official capital. On 13