Rabak
Rabak
ربك | |
|---|---|
  Rabak Location in Sudan | |
| Coordinates: 13°10′46″N 32°45′07″E / 13.17944°N 32.75194°E | |
| Country |  Sudan |
| State | White Nile |
| District | Rabak[1] |
| Elevation | 400 m (1,312 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (CAT) |
Rabak (Arabic: ربك) is a city in south-eastern Sudan and the capital of the Sudanese state of White Nile. Numerous factories are based in the industrial-oriented city, including the Nile Cement Company.
Geography
[edit]The city is located on the eastern bank of the White Nile, facing Kosti on the western bank. It lies some 362 meters above sea level. Rabak is approximately 260 kilometres (160 mi) south of Khartoum and 340 kilometres (210 mi) west of the Ethiopian border. It is linked to the north of Sudan via the Khartoum–Rabak road; and it is linked by road eastward to Sennar and westward to Al-Ubayyid.
Climate
[edit]Rabak has a hot arid climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), despite receiving over 350 millimetres or 14 inches of rainfall annually, owing to the extremely high potential evapotranspiration.
| Climate data for Rabak (altitude 381 metres or 1,250 feet, 1981-2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 41.0 (105.8) |
42.8 (109.0) |
46.0 (114.8) |
47.5 (117.5) |
46.2 (115.2) |
44.4 (111.9) |
45.0 (113.0) |
41.0 (105.8) |
44.0 (111.2) |
42.5 (108.5) |
42.2 (108.0) |
40.5 (104.9) |
47.5 (117.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 33.7 (92.7) |
34.9 (94.8) |
39.1 (102.4) |
41.9 (107.4) |
42.2 (108.0) |
39.8 (103.6) |
36.3 (97.3) |
34.5 (94.1) |
35.8 (96.4) |
38.4 (101.1) |
37.4 (99.3) |
34.6 (94.3) |
37.3 (99.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 24.3 (75.7) |
25.8 (78.4) |
29.3 (84.7) |
32.6 (90.7) |
33.6 (92.5) |
32.3 (90.1) |
29.8 (85.6) |
28.8 (83.8) |
29.7 (85.5) |
31.2 (88.2) |
29.0 (84.2) |
25.8 (78.4) |
29.2 (84.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 16.5 (61.7) |
17.0 (62.6) |
20.3 (68.5) |
23.5 (74.3) |
25.5 (77.9) |
25.3 (77.5) |
23.7 (74.7) |
23.3 (73.9) |
23.2 (73.8) |
23.7 (74.7) |
21.1 (70.0) |
17.9 (64.2) |
21.6 (70.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 9.4 (48.9) |
7.4 (45.3) |
12.0 (53.6) |
11.9 (53.4) |
16.3 (61.3) |
15.0 (59.0) |
17.4 (63.3) |
17.2 (63.0) |
18.9 (66.0) |
18.9 (66.0) |
12.0 (53.6) |
7.5 (45.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0.4 (0.02) |
0.0 (0.0) |
2.5 (0.10) |
3.8 (0.15) |
16.7 (0.66) |
39.2 (1.54) |
95.7 (3.77) |
116.6 (4.59) |
72.1 (2.84) |
8.9 (0.35) |
1.8 (0.07) |
0.3 (0.01) |
358 (14.1) |
| Source 1: Meteo Climat[2] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Meteo Climat [3] | |||||||||||||
Demographics
[edit]| Year | Inhabitants |
|---|---|
| 1973 (Census) | 18,399 |
| 1983 (Census) | 26,693 |
| 1993 (Census) | 59,261 |
| 2007 (Estimate) | 152,711 |
History
[edit]Prehistory
[edit]The Rabak locality contains a Neolithic settlement on a riverbank terrace approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) east of the present White Nile river. The site has cultural deposits 60–80 cm (24–31 in) in depth, including fish bones and other food waste. The radiocarbon dates sur veyed hints to possible human settlement of the area around c. 6000 and 4500 BP, with the earliest levels contemporary with Khartoum Neolithic sites.[4]
Modern history
[edit]In 1910, the construction of a one-way bridge near the city, likely on the Nile, began. It was mainly a railway line, with only one lane for vehicles.
By the 1980s, a newer bridge was started, being built to connect the town to the rest of the country, with the bridge carrying more vehicles and pedestrians. In a survey conducted in the city from 2007–2010, 3.5% of the respondents said that the implementation of the new bridge likely contributed in its rapid urban growth.[5]
Rabak was made the capital of the White Nile State[6] in 1994.[7]
Economy
[edit]Rabak is one of major commercial cities in Sudan owing to its unique location in the country and its transportation links to the other major Sudanese states. In the city, there is a cement processing company named Nile Cement Company, which produced 50,200 tons in 2001 and 41,000 tons in 2002. There is a calcite mine nearby the locality, as well as industrial facilities including the Kenana Sugar Factory, Asalaya Sugar Factory, oil refineries, and other manufacturing plants.
The city is built on a major highway where the settlements of Sennar and Kosti are also connected to.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Sudan: White Nile administrative map (June 2021)". OCHA. ReliefWeb. June 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ "Soudan moyennes 1981-2010 (Temperature Averages)" (in French). Meteo Climat. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
- ^ "Station Rabak (Precipitation Normals (1971-2000) and Record High and Low Temperatures)" (in French). Meteo Climat. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ^ Haaland, Randi (1989). "The Late Neolithic culture-historical sequence in the Central Sudan". In Krzyżaniak, Lech; Kobusiewicz, Michał (eds.). Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara. Studies in African Archaeology. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum. pp. 360–361. Retrieved 2026-04-22.
- ^ a b El Kheir Ahmed El Mustafa Mahmoud (2017). "Rapid Urban Growth and its Environmental Impacts in Rabak Town" (PDF). Al-Imam Al-Mahdi University Scientific Journal. 9. Department of Geography, El Imam El Mahdi University: 328–329. ISSN 1858-6449. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ "OCHA Sudan: White Nile State Profile (March 2023)". OCHA. ReliefWeb. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ Vagen, Tor G.; Musili, Faith (2020). Identifying and mapping areas that are particularly vulnerable to changes in climate - White Nile and North Kordofan States, Sudan (PDF). Climate Technology Centre and Network (Report). p. 3. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
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