The Sudan constituted another, crucial aspect of the bridge being con- structed by al-Tahtawï in the service of Muhammad Alï and his successors. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Egyptian rule in the Sudan was changing.After twelve years (1826–1838) of effective administration on the part of Khurshid Pasha (the hikimdar of the Sudan, who Muhammad Alï had encouraged to make the expedition that eventually was completed by Selim Qapudan), Khartoum had transformed into a city: an international community of merchants had settled there, as had the consuls of European governments; permanent barracks for the military had been constructed and dockyards built along the Nile. By 1842, the Egyptian administration extended to the ports of Suakin and Massawa, thus reaching as far as the Red Sea coast, and, thanks to Selim Qapudan, a route was opened up to the southern Sudan along the White Nile.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 225