---

Sudan has historically suffered devastating famines that have powerfully reshaped its society. This study shows that food crises were the result of exploitative processes that transferred resources to a small group of beneficiaries, including British imperial agents and indigenous elites who went on to control the Sudanese state at independence.

---

1. Introduction 2. Famine and the Making of Sudan´s Northern Frontier, 1883-1896 3. The Red Sea Grain Market and British Strategy in Eastern Sudan and the Red Sea Hills, 1883-1888 4. The Sanat Sitta Famine in Eastern Sudan and the Red Sea Hills and the Decline of Bija Autonomy, 1889-1904 5. Slavery, Anglo-Egyptian Rule and the Development of the Unified Sudanese Grain Market, 1896-1913 6. Cotton and Grain as the Drivers of Economic Development, 1913-1940 7. Food Insecurity and the Transition to Independence, 1940-1956 8. Conclusion

---

Steven Serels is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Weatherhead Initiative on Global History at Harvard University, USA. He is also a Research Associate at the Indian Ocean World Centre, McGill University, Canada.

---