The British had occupied Egypt in 1882, shortly after the emergence of the first Egyptian patriotic rebellion, known as the Uräbï rebellion after its leader, Colonel Ahmad Uräbï. Although the incorporation of Egypt into the British empire was informal, it was efficiently executed. Two years later, a Sudanese religious leader known as the Mahdï completed his revolt, seizing Khartoum and evicting Egypt from territory it had ruled since 1821.The British occupation remained confined to Egypt until 1898, when British-led armies invaded the regions of the Sudan held by the Mahdist government and again annexed them to Egypt.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 55