Sudan is a country in north-east Africa, south of Egypt and west of Ethiopia. The capital is Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet and become one river. For a long time Sudan was the largest country in Africa by land. That changed in 2011: after decades of civil war between the mostly Muslim, Arabic-speaking north and the mostly Christian and traditional-religion south, the south voted to leave and became a separate country, South Sudan. Since then Algeria is Africa's largest country, and Sudan is third. Note that older books and dictionaries still say Sudan is the biggest — they were written before the split. The country has had a hard modern history: famine, long wars, the fighting in the western region of Darfur from 2003, and more war again from 2015 within the north. Oil made the conflict worse rather than better, because most of the oil fields ended up in the south while the pipelines and the port were in the north. In English you usually say 'the Sudan' or just 'Sudan' — the older style keeps 'the', and modern news usually drops it. Both are heard.