BERBER  , a

town and mudiria (province) of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . The town is on the right bank of the Nile, 1140 ft. above sea-level, in 18° 1' N., 330 59' E., and 214 M. by rail N.W. of Khartum . Pop. about 6000 . Berber derived its importance from being the starting-point of the caravan route, 242 M. long, across the Nubian desert to the Red Sea at Suakin, a distance covered in seven to twelve days . It was also one of the principal stopping-places between Cairo and Khartum . The caravan route to the Red Sea was superseded in 1906 by a railway, which leaves the Wadi Halfa-Khartum line at the mouth of the Atbara . Berber thus lost the Red Sea trade . It remains the centre and market-place for the produce of the Nile valley for a considerable distance . East of the town is an immense plain, which, if irrigated, would yield abundant crops . Berber, or El Mekerif, is a town of considerable antiquity . Before its conquest by the Egyptians in 182o its ruler owed allegiance to the kings of Sennar . It was captured by the Mandists on the 26th of May 1884, and was re-occupied by the Anglo-Egyptian army on the 6th of September 1897 .

It was the

capital of the mudiria until 1905, in which year the head-quarters of the province were transferred to Ed Darner, a town near the confluence of the Nile and Atbara . At the northern end of the mudiria is Abu flamed (q.v.), important as a railway junction for Dongola mudiria . The best-known of the tribes inhabiting the province are the Hassania, Jaalin, Bisharin and Kimilab . During the Mandia most of these tribes suffered severely at the hands of the dervishes . In 1904 the total population of the province was estimated at 83,000 . It has since considerably increased . The riverain population is largely engaged in agriculture, the chief crops cultivated being durra, barley, wheat and cotton .