Siege of Khartoum currency to the post of Governor-general in January 1884 and arrived at Khartoum on 18 February 1884, less than one month prior to the siege. Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, self-proclaimed Mahdi, engaged in an 18-year Mahdist War (1881–99) against the British Empire (Khedivate of Egypt), the Ethiopian Empire, the Congo Free State, and the Kingdom of Italy. In a series of telegrams in early March, 1884, Gordon informed the British government that the Mahdi were closing the roads, cutting off supplies and severing telegraph communications. As the fighting drew closer to the city walls, and the blockade tightened, the siege
Khartoum North Khartoum North Khartoum North or Bahri (, "al-Kharṭūm Baḥrī") is a neighborhood in the northern region of Khartoum, the capital of the Republic of Sudan. It is located on the north bank of the Blue Nile and east bank of River Nile near its confluence with the White and bridges connect it with Khartoum to its south and Omdurman to its west. It is thought to have a population of over a million, but the last Sudanese census occurred in 1993 when its population was only 900,000. The original settlement at Khartoum North, Halfaya, was long the largest settlement in