Egyptian Equatoria

خط استواء (Ottoman Turkish)
Hatt-ı İstivâ (Ottoman Turkish)
Mudiriyah of the Khedivate of Egypt
1871–1889

Equatoria and its districts c.1882
CapitalIsmailïa
Government
Müdir 
• 26 May 1871 - August 1873
Samuel White Baker
• August 1873 - March 1874
Muhammad Rauf Pasha
• March 1874 - October 1876
Charles George Gordon
• October 1876 - May 1877
Henry Prout Bey
• May 1877 - August 1877
Alexander Mason Bey
• August 1877 - 1878
Ibrahim Pasha Fawzi
• July 1878 - 1889
Emin Pasha
History 
• Annexation of Gondokoro
1871
• Mahdist conquest
1889
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Bari kingdoms
Mahdist State

Equatoria was a Mudiriyah of the Khedivate of Egypt in the late 19th century. It was located in modern-day South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda.[1][2][3] Equatoria, as an Egyptian province, was created on the 26th of May, 1871, following the formal annexation of Gondokoro by Egypt, which was organized by Samuel Baker. Throughout its early existence, the provincial administration in Gondokoro was plagued by instability, as conflict with slave traders and the native Bari tribes meant that the governor only controlled the areas around the capital and the forts. However, during its later existence, Equatoria experienced a “golden period”, where the province was self-sufficient, prosperous, and the Egyptians under Emin Pasha maintained positive relations with both the interlacustrine kingdoms, and the surrounding tribes.[4] Ultimately however, the outbreak of the Mahdist War in the Sudan which severed communications with Khartoum and Cairo, led to the fall of Equatoria, as Mahdist offensives led by Karam Allāh Muḥammad Kurkusāwī surrounded the Egyptian forts, which forced Emin to withdraw south to Wadelai, until he finally abandoned the province in early 1889, following an expedition sent to relieve his forces.

  1. ^ Kramer, Robert S. (2011). "Egypt's African Empire: Samuel Baker, Charles Gordon and the Creation of Equatoria (review)". Book review. Michigan State University Press. 11 (2): 145–147. doi:10.1353/nas.2011.0005. S2CID 144735093.
  2. ^ Tignor, Robert L. (2011). "THE CREATION OF THE EQUATORIA PROVINCE - Egypt's African Empire: Samuel Baker, Charles Gordon and the Creation of Equatoria. By Alice Moore-Harell. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2010. Pp. V+250. £49.95/$74.95 hardback (ISBN 978-1-84519-387-4)". Book review. The Journal of African History. 52 (1). Cambridge University Press: 132–133. doi:10.1017/S002185371100017X. S2CID 163855533.
  3. ^ Equatoria under Egyptian rule : the unpublished correspondence of Col. (afterwards Major-Gen.) C. G. Gordon with Ismaïl, Khedive of Egypt and the Sudan, during the years 1874-1876 / with introduction and notes by M. F. Shukry. Cairo : Cairo University Press. 1953.
  4. ^ Demirayak, Reyyan (July 2023). "The Late Ottoman Imperialist Endeavor in Central Africa: The Province of Equatoria (Hatt-ı İstiva)" (PDF).