Muhammad Ahmad's sermons attract an increasing number of followers.

Among them is Abdullah ibn Muhammad, a Baqqara from southern Darfur, whose planning capabilities are to prove of great value.

Muhammad Ahmad reveals himself as al-Mahdi al-Mun­tazar ("the awaited guide in the right path," usually seen as the Mahdi), sent from God to redeem the faithful and pre­pare the way for the second coming of the Prophet 'Isa (Jesus).

The Mahdist movement that he founds demanded a return to the simplicity of early Islam, abstention from alcohol and tobacco, and the strict seclusion of women.

The Mahdi proclaims a jihad against the Turkiyyah while he was at Aba Island, a Mahdist base on the White Nile south of Khartoum, in May 1881.

At the time, Sudanese authorities dismiss him as a reli­gious fanatic.

After denouncing tax collectors, the Mahdi and his follow­ers, known as the Ansar, flede to Kordofan to avoid arrest.

Once there, he gains a large number of recruits, especially among the Baqqara, and the support or neutrality of all religious orders except the pro-Egyptian Khatrniyyah.

Merchants and Arab tribes who had depended on the slave trade, along with the Hadendowa Beja, rally to the Mahdi's cause.

The Ansar, armed with spears and swords, over­whelm a seven thousand-man Egyptian force near Al-Obeid early in 1882 and seize their rifles and ammunition.

The Mahdi now lays siege to Al-Obeid and starves it into submission.

The thirty thousand-man Ansar army then defeats an eight thousand-man Egyptian relief force at Sheikan.

Next, the Mahdi cap­tures Darfur and imprisons Rudolf Slatin, an Austrian in the khe­dive's service, who will later become the first Egyptian-appointed governor of Darfur Province.

The Ansar advance and the Beja rising in the east imperils commu­nications with Egypt and threatens to cut off garrisons at Khartoum, Kassala, Sinnar, and Sawakin (also seen as Suakin) and in the South.

To avoid being drawn into a costly intervention, the British govern­ment orders an Egyptian withdrawal from Sudan.

Gordon, who has been reappointed governor-general, arranges to supervise the evacua­tion of Egyptian troops and officials and all foreigners from Sudan.

However, after reaching Khartoum in February 1884, Gordon realizes that he cannot extricate the garrisons.

As a result, he calls for rein­forcements from Egypt to relieve Khartoum and recommends that al­Zubayr, an old enemy whom he recognizes as an excellent military commander, succeed him so disaffected Sudanese can have a leader other than the Mahdi to whom they can rally.

London rejects this plan, but Gordon argues that Sudan is essential to Egypt's security and that allowing an Ansar victory will invite the movement to spread elsewhere.

British popular support for Gordon eventually forces Prime Minis­ter William Gladstone to deploy a relief force under Lord Gamet Joseph Wolseley's command.

A "flying column" sent from Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian frontier bogs down at Abu Tulayh (com­monly called Abu Klea), where the Hadendowa Beja break the British line.

An advance unit sent by river arrives at Khartoum on January 28, 1885, only to learn that two days earlier the Ansar had slaughtered the garrison, killed Gordon, and delivered his head to the Mahdi's tent.

Kassala and Sinnar fall soon after, and by late 1885 the Ansar have moved into the southern region.

In all Sudan, only Sawakin, reinforced by Indian army troops, and Wadi Halfa remain in Anglo-Egyptian hands.

The Mahdiyyah (Mahdist regime) imposes traditional Islamic laws.

Sudan's new ruler also authorizes the burning of lists of pedigrees and books on law and theology because of their links to the old order.

The Mahdiyyah is known as the first genuine Sudanese nationalist govern­ment.

The Mahdi maintains that his movement is not a religious order that can be accepted or rejected at will but rather a universal regime that challenges man to join or to be destroyed.

The Mahdi also persuades his followers that loyalty to him is essential to true Islamic belief.

Moreover, service in the jihad replaces the hajj, or pil­grimage to Mecca, as a duty incumbent on the faithful.

Amsgiving becomes the tax paid to the state.

The Mahdi justified his policies by claiming he has received instructions from God in visions.

Interior East Africa (1888–1899 CE): Imperial Conquests, Resistance, and the Struggle for Sovereignty

From 1888 to 1899, Interior East Africa became a focal point for intense colonial rivalries, marked by fierce local resistance, significant European military engagements, and reshaped political landscapes. Conflicts escalated between European colonial powers—Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal—and indigenous states, profoundly transforming regional dynamics and setting the stage for colonial domination.

Ethiopia and the Mahdist Conflict

The Ethiopian Empire, under Johannes IV, faced ongoing threats from the Mahdist State in Sudan, led by the Khalifa, who pursued aggressive Islamic expansion. In 1888, a Mahdist Ansar army numbering around 60,000 invaded Ethiopian territory, penetrating as far as Gondar and causing widespread devastation. In response, Johannes IV launched a counterattack at Qallabat in March 1889 but was killed in battle, resulting in an Ethiopian withdrawal. The Khalifa’s forces, attempting further expansion into Egypt, faced decisive defeats by British-led Egyptian troops at Tushki (1889) and later by the Italians at Akordat (1893), effectively ending Mahdist ambitions toward Ethiopia.

Following Johannes IV’s death, a period of confusion allowed the Shewan king Menelik II to assert dominance. By 1889, Menelik became emperor, though he was forced to accept significant territorial losses to Italy, which consolidated control over Eritrea. Ethiopia lost its maritime access until after the Second World War.

The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Fashoda Crisis

Following the Mahdist Revolt, southern Sudan descended into chaos, culminating in the loss of Egyptian control over Equatoria by 1889. The strategic importance of the Upper Nile region triggered the Fashoda Incident (1898), a near-war confrontation between British forces led by General Kitchener and a French expeditionary force seeking to assert French claims. France eventually withdrew, leaving Britain and Egypt to jointly administer the newly created Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, though Northern and Southern Sudan were governed separately within this condominium.

Buganda and Bunyoro: Religious Wars and British Conquest

Buganda faced intensified internal turmoil as Protestant and Catholic factions, initially allies against Islam, turned violently against each other. Conflict erupted openly in 1892, culminating in British captain Frederick Lugard employing Maxim machine guns to decisively aid Protestant converts. This ensured British supremacy in Buganda, expelled French Catholic missionaries, and ended Germany’s brief interest in the region.

Buganda subsequently aligned strongly with British interests, aiding Britain in conquering neighboring kingdoms, notably the powerful and unified kingdom of Bunyoro, under Kabalega. After a brutal five-year conflict, Bunyoro fell under British rule, losing half its territory to Buganda (the “lost counties”), creating lasting regional grievances.

By 1897, the Uganda Protectorate emerged, uniting diverse polities such as Acholi, Busoga, and Ankole through treaties or military conquest. A rebellion by Nubian mercenaries (1897–1899) briefly threatened British control but was suppressed with help from loyal Baganda Christian allies, prompting Britain to grant Buganda special autonomy within the protectorate.

Rwanda, Burundi, and German East Africa

In the Great Lakes region, Germany rapidly consolidated its colonial presence. Following the establishment of the German East Africa Company (1884), Germany intervened militarily to crush revolts and secure its colonial authority. By 1891, company rights were transferred directly to the German government, forming the colony of German East Africa, encompassing Rwanda (Ruanda), Burundi (Urundi), and mainland Tanzania (Tanganyika).

German explorer Gustav Adolf von Götzen was notably active in 1894, exploring Rwanda and establishing relations with its king. German colonial policy emphasized indirect rule, strengthening existing monarchies and hierarchical structures rather than dismantling them. Gitega in Burundi became a key administrative center for the colonial region known as Ruanda-Urundi.

French Somaliland and Djibouti

France firmly established its colonial administration around the Gulf of Tadjoura, an area previously governed by Somali and Afar sultans, through treaties signed between 1883 and 1887. By 1894, Governor Léonce Lagarde founded the city of Djibouti, proclaiming the region the colony of French Somaliland (officially established in 1896), solidifying French influence at this strategic Red Sea location.

British and Portuguese Rivalry in Southern East Africa

The British South Africa Company (BSA Company) under Cecil Rhodes aggressively pursued mineral and territorial rights throughout southern Interior East Africa. In 1888, the company secured significant mineral concessions from the Lozi king (Litunga) in present-day Zambia, and by 1899 established the protectorate Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia. American scout Frederick Russell Burnham discovered valuable copper deposits along the Kafue River (1895), furthering the company's interests.

Concurrently, to counter Portuguese ambitions in Nyasaland (Malawi), Britain dispatched consul Harry Johnston in 1889 to secure treaties with local rulers. Britain proclaimed the area the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1891, consolidating its influence.

Colonial Administration and Resistance in Rhodesia

In Mashonaland and Matabeleland (present-day Zimbabwe), the BSA Company imposed separate administrative regimes following occupation in 1890 and the subsequent defeat of the Matabele king Lobengula (1893). Indigenous resistance, notably the Mwari-led uprising of 1896, was violently suppressed by the British, leading to tightened colonial administration by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, in North-Eastern Rhodesia, company agents like Joseph Thompson and Alfred Sharpe forcibly subdued indigenous groups. The area was effectively pacified after the defeat of Mpezeni’s Ngoni rebellion (1897), solidifying British colonial control by 1899.

Consequences and Long-term Impact

By the century’s end, Interior East Africa was effectively partitioned among European powers, transforming indigenous political structures, economies, and societies profoundly. Resistance persisted, but the era marked a decisive turning point toward sustained colonial rule. Long-term grievances—such as the division of Bunyoro and the presence of European enclaves in Ethiopia—would resonate through subsequent decades, shaping future anti-colonial movements and nationalist aspirations.

A major colonial incident has meanwhile occurred in Southern Sudan.

The French, in a race with the British to claim territory in Cen­tral Africa, send an expeditionary force across Southern Sudan, arriving on the Nile at Fashoda, just north of modern Malakal, in July 1898 and claiming the Upper Nile region for France.

Following defeat of the Mahdi's army, Kitchener and his Anglo-Egyptian force march south along the Nile and confront  the French, provoking a major diplo­matic and military crisis.

In the negotiations that follow, the French decided that considerations in Europe outweigh those in Sudan and withdraw westward, leaving Britain in control of the Upper Nile basin.

From 1898, the United Kingdom and Egypt administer all of present-day Sudan as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, but northern and southern Sudan are administered as separate provinces of the condominium.

Regional relations remain tense throughout much of the Mahdi­yyah period, largely because of the Khalifa's commitment to jihad as the means to extend his version of Islam throughout the world.

For example, the Khalifa rejects an offer of an alliance against the Europe­ans by Ethiopia's Yohannes IV, a Christian monarch.

In 1888 a sixty thousand-man Ansar army invades Ethiopia and penetrates as far as Gondar, cap­turing prisoners and booty.

The Khalifa's refusal to conclude peace prompts an Ethiopian attack on Qallabat in March 1889; however, after Yohannes IV falls in battle, the Ethiopians withdraw.

The same year, the Khalifa's best general invades Egypt, but British-led Egyptian troops defeat him at Tushki, a victory that ends the Ansar's reputa­tion of invincibility.

The Belgians prevent the Mahdi's men from conquering Equatoria, and in 1893 the Italians repulse an Ansar attack at Akordat in present-day Eritrea, forcing the Ansar to withdraw from Ethiopia.

The British government authorizes Kitchener to launch a campaign in 1895.

The Anglo-Egyptian Nile Expeditionary Force includes twenty-five thousand eight hundred men, eighty-six hundred of whom are British; the remainder belong to Egyptian units that include six battalions recruited in Southern Sudan.

An armed river flotilla escorts the force, which also has artillery support.

The British establish their headquarters at Wadi Halfa and extend their defenses around Sawakin.

Kitchener launches the campaign in March 1896.

In September he captures Dongola.

The British now build a rail­road from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad, and a southward extension parallel to the Nile as far as Barbar, to transport military forces.

Anglo-Egyptian units fight a sharp action at Abu Hamad, but there is little other sig­nificant resistance until Kitchener reaches Atbarah and defeatesthe Ansar.

Hereafter, Kitchener's soldiers march and sailed to Omdur­man, where the Khalifa makes his last stand.