ATDTDA (1): "that Khartoum business" (29:37)

[Tim Strzechowski]

"Just missed you boys once, over there in that Khartoum business," the genial skyfarer informed them, "trying to make it out of town a couple steps ahead of the Mahdi's army -- saw you sailing overhead, wished I could've been on board, had to settle for jumpin in the river and waiting till the clambake subsided a little" (p. 29 - 30).

Khartoum [...] is the capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the point where the White Nile, flowing north from Uganda, meets the Blue Nile, flowing west from Ethiopia. The merger of the two niles is known as "the Mogran". The merged Nile flows north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. [...]

Khartoum was founded in 1821 by Muhammad Ali , the ruler of Egypt, as an outpost for the Egyptian army, but grew as a regional center of trade, including the slave trade. Troops loyal to the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad laid siege to Khartoum starting on March 13, 1884 against the defenders led by British General Charles George Gordon, resulting in the massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison.

The heavily damaged city fell to the Mahdists on January 26, 1885. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khartoum

http://lexicorient.com/sudan/khartoum.htm


[...] Believing himself to be the long awaited Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi declared a jihad, raised an army, and led a successful religious war to topple the secular Ottoman-Egyptian-British military occupation. His principal opponent was the British general Charles George Gordon whom he eventually defeated in battle, captured, and beheaded at the battle of Khartoum. He died soon after his capture of Khartoum. Without the religious certainty of Muhammad, Mahdism lost much of its momentum and never spread beyond the frontiers of Sudan. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ahmad

http://www.pbase.com/travelling_terry/the_mahdis_tomb


And on January 26, 1885 (we just missed an anniversary):

http://brainyhistory.com/events/1885/january_26_1885_61506.html


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