Surprisingly and without warning, the city of Marawi has become a “trend” on Sudan’s social media as it has topped the search engines in recent hours after tensions escalated between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Where is this city located?
Meroe is located in northern Sudan and is one of the oldest cities in Sudan and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The inhabitants of the city, like the vast majority of the northern population, are peaceful and strongly attached to the land and palm trees, which are planted on farms and in houses and rarely pruned.
They use its stems and branches to roof their houses. Dates are the best-known cash crop in these regions. Sudan is the eighth largest date producer in the world. The number of palm trees in the northern state is estimated to be about half that of Sudan. At the same time, it produces 63% of the total production of Sudanese dates at the rate of 60 kg per tree.
Among the most famous date varieties in Sudan are Al-Kandila, Al-Barkawi, Al-Tamuda and Al-Kalima, which are distinguished by their very large size, excellent quality and ability to be stored in a dry state.
In addition to soft dates such as Al-Madina and semi-rutaba dates such as Mashrek Wad Lakai and Mashrek Wad Khatib.
Later, some international varieties were introduced, such as Medjul, Barkhi, Sagay, Sukkari and others, which have achieved outstanding success, especially in early ripening.
Human activities in the northern state also include horticulture and fishing, which began to expand after the construction of the Merowe Dam.
Marawi Air Base
In parallel, Meroe Airport is considered a strategic airport to support the Khartoum Civilian Airport in emergencies and includes a military air base to support the first military airport in Khartoum, which includes air defenses for northern, central, western and eastern Sudan. .
Marawi is also an alternative air force base area. It includes two of the largest agricultural projects in the northern state that have been established since the days of British colonialism, in addition to the Merowe Dam, the largest hydroelectric power plant in Sudan. The population of Meroe is about 120 thousand people.
In the same context, the city’s most notable landmark is the Merowe Dam, which was completed in March 2009. It is located in the Hamdab district, 350 kilometers north of Khartoum and 40 kilometers from Merowe city centre. .
The city includes the sacred Jebel Barkal, which is an important archaeological site of the ancient Nubian or Kushite civilizations, as it houses 31 temples, is closely associated with religious traditions and folklore, and has remained a sacred religious center for periods throughout ancient times. civilization of Sudan.
UNESCO declared Jebel Barkal and the Barkal Pyramids one of the world heritage sites twenty years ago, namely in 2003.
Kissinger archipelago 99 islands
In addition, Meroe includes the Kasinger Island chain or “Kasinger Archipelago”, consisting of 99 sandy islands scattered on the surface of the waters of the Nile River in the distance between the Merowe Dam and the bend of the Nile at Nuri, Karimah Nuri. West and Karima East.
These sandy islands have natural beauty and aesthetic scenery beyond description, and Kasinger’s name has been associated with Hajj al-Mahi, the most famous eulogist of the Prophet Muhammad in nineteenth-century Sudan.
Tanbur and folk singing
On the other hand, the musical instrument tanbur was closely associated with popular singing in the city of Meroe and other cities in northern Sudan.
Research and archaeological discoveries have proven how deeply rooted it is in this region.
Although the names of this instrument vary in different regions of Sudan, its strings are decorated with various Sudanese rhythms.
Tanbur is an ancient stringed musical instrument similar to (harp) or harp, it was first used by the Nubians in Northern Sudan, who called it kisar (from the word harp).
As for the beji in eastern Sudan, it is known as (Askqub).
