PORT SUDAN

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 134 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: POL-PRE

PORT SUDAN , a town and harbour on the west coast of the Red Sea, in 190 37' N. 370 12' E., 700 in. by boat S. of Suez and 495 M. by rail N.E. of Khartum. Pop. (1906), 4289. It is the principal port of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the headquarters of the customs administration. The coral reefs fringing the coast are here broken by a straight channel with deep water giving access to the harbour, which consists of a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of natural
channels and basins. The largest basin is 900 yds. long by 500 broad and has a minimum depth of 6 fathoms. On the north side of the inlet are quays (completed 1909), fitted with electric cranes, &c. Here are the customs-

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

, coal sheds and goods station. The town proper lies on the

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

side of the inlet, connected with the quays by a railway bridge. Besides government offices the public buildings include hospitals, and a branch of the Gordon College of Khartum. Beyond the bridge in the upper waters of the inlet is a dry dock. The climate of Port Sudan is very hot and

damp

DAMP

and fever is common. Adjacent to the town is an arid plain without vegetation other than mimosa thorns. Some 10 m. west is a line of hills parallel to the coast.
The port

dates

DATES

from 1905. It owes its existence to the desire of the Sudan administration to find a harbour more suitable than Suakin (q.v.) for the commerce of the country. Such a place ' was found in Mersa Sheikh Barghut (or Barud), 36 m. north of Suakin, a harbour so named from a saint whose tomb is prominent on the northern point of the entrance. When the building of the railway between the Nile and the Red Sea was begun, it was determined to create a port at this harbourwhich was renamed Port Sudan (Bander es-Sudan). Up to the end of 19o9 the total expenditure by the government alone on the town and harbour-works was E914,320. The railway (which has termini both at Port Sudan and Suakin) was opened in January 1906 and the customs-

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

in the May following. Port Sudan immediately attracted a large trade, the value of goods passing through it in 1906 exceeding 470,000. In 1908 the imports and exports were valued at about 750,000. It is a regular port of

call

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

of British, German and Italian steamers. The imports are largely

cotton

goods, provisions, timber and cement; the exports gum, raw

cotton

, ivory, sesame, durra, senna, coffee (from Abyssinia), goat skins, &c.

Forty

FORTY

miles north of Port Sudan is Mahommed Gul, the port for the mines of Gebet, worked by an English company.
The Foreign Office Report, Trade of Port Sudan for the Year 1996, by T. B. Hohler, gives a valuable account of the beginnings of the port. A chart of the harbour was issued by the British Admiralty in 1908. See also SUDAN: Anglo-Egyptian.

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