Sudanese Memory: Shendi from the People of Thamud to the Renaissance of Agro-Industrial Development

Mohamed Elsheikh Hussein
It is narrated that Sayyid Al-Hassan Al-Mirghani Abjalabiyah (may Allah be pleased with him and grant us benefit through him) believed that the land of Shendi, in northern Sudan, forms part of the blessed land once inhabited by a branch of the people of Thamud. He associated this with the Qur’anic verse: “Leave her to graze in Allah’s land” (Qur’an 7:73).
As for the customary invocation—”may Allah be pleased with him and grant us benefit through him”—which accompanies the mention of Sayyid Al-Hassan’s name, the distinguished Sudanese scholar Professor Abdullah Al-Tayeb regarded it favourably. He recounts the story behind this practice in his book From the Train Window (Min Nafidhat Al-Qitar).
Professor Al-Tayeb also relates that Wad Al-Faki Ali and Al-Faki Al-Sayyid Wad Al-Tahir (may Allah have mercy upon them) believed that a branch of the people of Thamud fled to the Wadi Al-Hawad and its surrounding region—a place where archaeological excavations, they observed, have yet to receive the attention they deserve.
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Modern-day Shendi presents a very different picture. Today it is a town alive with the hardships of daily life and the powerful emotions of patriotism, shaped by the large numbers of displaced people and by residents who have borne the deepest scars of the atrocities committed during the war in Khartoum and its surrounding areas. These are stories that have yet to be written.
Only a few years ago, under the leadership of its former Commissioner, Hassan Omar Al-Huwaij, Shendi had become a modern town where flowers seemed to dance during its tourism and shopping festivals.
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This transformation should come as no surprise, for during the medieval period Shendi was one of the largest commercial centres in north-eastern and western Africa. Caravan routes leading to the Red Sea converged there, including the pilgrimage caravans arriving from West Africa. The town also received merchant caravans from southern and central Sudan, as well as from the kingdoms of Abyssinia.
No one has described Shendi more vividly than the English explorer James Bruce in his book Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile. During a brief stay in Shendi in 1772, while returning from Abyssinia, Bruce described it as:
“A prosperous town with flourishing commerce. Its market is filled with goods and merchandise, surrounded by orchards and irrigated agricultural fields along the banks of the River Nile.”
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Bruce further observed that:
“The weekly market at Shendi is the largest of its kind in Nubia.”
Situated at the intersection of two major trade routes, it received livestock, horses, gum arabic, ivory, enslaved people, tobacco, honey, coffee, sheepskins, and numerous other commodities from central and southern Sudan, as well as from the western lowlands of Abyssinia via Sennar. Caravans also arrived from south-western Darfur and northern Kordofan across the desert, while sugar, white cotton, and brass reached the town from Egypt through Berber.
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Spices were imported from India, while glassware and confectionery arrived from Europe through the Red Sea port of Suakin.
Among Bruce’s more curious observations was that Shendi at the time was ruled by a woman named Satna.
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To understand these developments properly, one must begin at the beginning.
Shendi first emerged when early human communities settled along the banks of the Nile during the transition from the Stone Age to the era in which agriculture and animal husbandry were first practised.
The area stretching between today’s Al-Kawthar Hotel in the north of the town and Shanan Fortress in the south has witnessed continuous human settlement for approximately four thousand years.
Its location near the river, combined with its relatively elevated ground above the low-lying floodplains known locally as al-karo, protected it from seasonal flooding while making it ideal for continuous agriculture. The abundance of natural grasses also supported livestock rearing, creating the ideal conditions for the emergence and long-term development of an urban settlement.
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This distinguished history prompts the author to offer a quiet suggestion to Sudan’s Defence Industries System, which, during the war, laid the foundation for a food-processing industry in Shendi as part of a broader agro-industrial development project.
The agricultural component of this initiative, he argues, should include:
Diversifying crop production.
Expanding agricultural extension and plant protection services.
Introducing modern irrigation technologies.
Encouraging farmers to establish greenhouse cultivation.
Promoting agricultural cooperatives to address fragmented landholdings.
Providing horticultural support and expanding date-palm cultivation.
These, the author argues, are fundamental responsibilities of an industrial system whose ultimate objective is to create the conditions necessary for increasing both agricultural production and productivity.
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The legitimacy of this proposal stems from the fact that the initiative itself began under the slogan:
“One hand builds while the other carries arms.”
Following this principle, the Defence Industries System launched Tanmiyat Al-Sadir (Export Development), the largest agro-processing complex in Shendi Locality.
The project covers approximately 30,000 feddans.
It was accompanied by the construction of refrigerated storage facilities with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes, which are already operational.
Five additional factories are due to become operational after the completion and delivery of their machinery, including:
an onion drying factory;
a French fries processing plant;
a tomato paste factory;
a juice concentrate production plant; and
an export station for fruit and vegetables.
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Taken together, these facilities represent a significant addition not only to Shendi and the wider state but also to Sudan’s agricultural exports, particularly fruit, vegetables, and processed agricultural products.
They are also expected to create thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities.
According to the author, implementing such a major project during wartime demonstrates both the resilience of the Sudanese economy and the enduring strength of the Sudanese state under the most difficult circumstances.
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The author expresses confidence in the project’s prospects, pointing to the example of India, which, he states, exports approximately US$6 billion worth of moringa annually.
He concludes by suggesting that this figure exceeds any export revenues Sudan can realistically expect to generate at present, underscoring the potential of agro-industrial development as a driver of future economic growth.

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