Gezira State

{{Other uses|Jazira (disambiguation){{!}}Jazira}}

{{Infobox settlement

|name = Gezira

|native_name =ولاية الجزيرة

|other_name = Al Jazirah

|settlement_type=State

|image_skyline = G3A9907.jpg

|image_flag =

|image_seal = Seal of Gezira State.png

|image_shield =

|image_map = File:Al Jazirah in Sudan (Kafia Kingi disputed).svg

|mapsize = 299px

|map_caption = Location in Sudan

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = {{flag|Sudan}}

|subdivision_type1 = Region

|subdivision_name1 = Butana

|subdivision_type2 = No. of counties:

|subdivision_name2 =

|seat_type=Capital

|seat=Wad Madani

|government_type =

|leader_title = Governor

|leader_name = Al-Taher Ibrahim Al-Khairhttps://sudantribune.com/article279666/

|established_title =

|established_date =

|area_magnitude =

|area_total_km2 = 27549

|population_as_of = 2018

|population_note =

|population_total = 5096920{{Cite web |url=http://cbs.gov.sd/files/Pop._Proj._by_satates137.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2019-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312172126/http://cbs.gov.sd/files/Pop._Proj._by_satates137.pdf |archive-date=2017-03-12 |url-status=dead }}

|population_density_km2 = 179

|population_rank = 2nd in Sudan (16%)

|timezone =CAT

|utc_offset = +2

|coordinates = {{coord|14|30|N|33|30|E|region:SD|display=inline,title}}

|elevation_m =

|elevation_ft =

|postal_code_type = ISO 3166-2

|postal_code = SD-GZ

|area_code =

| blank_name_sec2 = HDI (2017)

| blank_info_sec2 = 0.547{{Cite web|url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/|title=Sub-national HDI – Area Database – Global Data Lab|website=hdi.globaldatalab.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-13}}
{{color|#900|low}}

|website = http://www.gazirastate.gov.sd/

|footnotes =

}}

Gezira ({{Langx|ar|ولاية الجزيرة|Wilāyat Al Ǧazīra}}), also spelt Al Jazirah, Al Jazeera and Al Jazira, is one of the 18 states of Sudan. The state lies between the Blue Nile and the White Nile in the east-central region of the country. The state has a population of 5,096,920 as of 2018,{{Cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://cbs.gov.sd/files/Pop._Proj._by_satates137.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312172126/http://cbs.gov.sd/files/Pop._Proj._by_satates137.pdf |archive-date=2017-03-12 |access-date=2019-01-02}} and an area of 27,549 km².{{cite web |date=2003–2013 |title=Home – Al-Gezira State |url=http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?mot1903 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520044916/http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?mot1903 |archive-date=May 20, 2014 |access-date=March 19, 2013 |publisher=Sudan Tribune}}

The state's capital is Wad Madani. Gezira is known as an irrigated cotton-producing state as it is a well-populated area that is suitable for agriculture. The state's name comes from the Arabic word for island.

History

Image:Sudan Gezira Plain 1997 e.jpg, from space]]

The region was once occupied by the Meroitic Kingdom. An indigenous Meroitic speaking community lived in the Gezira.Brass M. The Southern Frontier of the Meroitic State: The View from Jebel Moya. Afr Archaeol Rev. 2014;31(3):425-445. doi: 10.1007/s10437-014-9164-5. Epub 2014 Sep 2. PMID: 27158178; PMCID: PMC4851119.The area was at the southern end of Nubia and little is known about its ancient history and only limited archaeological work has been conducted in this area. It was part of the kingdom of Alodia for several centuries, and with that state's collapse in the early sixteenth century, it became the centre of the Funj Sultanate.

Katfia in Gezira was the place where the Wad Habuba Revolt took place in April 1908. The Gezira Scheme was a program launched in 1925 to foster cotton farming. At that time the Sennar Dam and numerous irrigation canals were built. Al Jazirah became the Sudan's major agricultural region with more than {{convert|2.5|e6acre|km2|order=flip}} under cultivation.

The administrative state of Gezira was established on 1 July 1943, after the Blue Nile state was divided into three. The initial development project was semi-private, but the government nationalized it in 1950. Cotton production increased in the 1970s but by the 1990s increased wheat production has supplanted a third of the land formerly seeded with cotton.{{cite book | title=The Sudan Story | publisher=Naldrett Press | author=Hyslop, J | year=1952 | page=The Bounteous River}}

The ongoing War in Sudan that begun in 2023 has caused a refugee crisis in the state, with an estimated 250,000 fleeing the state due to an offensive waged by the RSF on December 15, 2023 by December 18 of the same year.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-18 |title=At least 250000 flee fighting in Sudan's El Gezira state -IOM |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-250000-flee-fighting-sudans-el-gezira-state-iom-2023-12-18/ |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=Reuters}} The RSF took control of most of the state, including Wad Madani until January 2025, when the Sudanese army recaptured the state leaving RSF in control of very little areas in the northwest part of the state.

In October 2024, the state was affected by the widespread massacres.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-26 |title=UN official calls for more attention to Sudan’s ‘forgotten’ war amid fresh atrocities |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2576815/middle-east |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=Arab News |language=en}}

Districts and populated places

The capital of Gezira is Wad Madani.

The state is divided into seven districts, namely:

Populated places include:

Other villages include:

References

Category:States of Sudan