The Turkish taxation system and its impact on agriculture in the Sudan

Abstract

The Turkish period in the Sudan started with the conquest of this country by Mohammed Ali Pasha, the Wali of Egypt, in 1821 and lasted until 1883 when it came to an end at the hands of the Mahdists. The motives behind the conquest were many, but hunt for slaves and the lure of riches headed the list. Mohammed Ali was obsessed with an illusory abundance of gold and minerals in the Sudan, but what he found did not come up to expectation. Moreover, the government was always chronically short of ready cash, and in its own fashion it attempted to make the Sudan pay its own way. To aggravate matters, the government of the Sudan during this period of 60 years was subject in matters of policy and finance to an outside authority, the viceroys of Egypt who except for two fleeting visits, preferred to stay in Cairo and rule by 'remote control' through a body of corrupt and ignorant governors. They ruled empirically by trial and error, and thus were bound to make mistakes which showed clearly in their fiscal policy. Disillusioned by the scarcity of gold, continually harassed by the European anti-slavery organisations, and unable to develop the resources of the country because of the lack of capital, the Khartoum government began to levy taxes on every possible object to meet the cost of administration. The voracity of the Turks for taxes and their brutal and unconventional methods of collection indeed left an indelible mark on the memory of the Sudanese which survives until today. In no other field did this rapacious taxation system leave its imprint more heavily than in the field of agriculture, on which the people depended as their main source of livelihood. This paper is an attempt to show the effect of this taxation system on the agriculture of the Sudan with special reference to the northern riverine areas.