In 1811, Muhammad Ali Pasha, an official of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in Egypt, conquered the city of Sennar. He established Egyptian rule (Turkiya) in Sudan. Huge amounts of money from the people were demanded and the food people needed for their family was forced to be given to the Egyptian army. Then in the 1844, the son of a boat builder from Dunqulah was born. His name was Muhammad Ahmad ibn al Sayyid abd Allah. In the 1880's Muhammad Ahmad began to preach for the restore of purified Islam. He was determined to drive the Turks out of Sudan so he instigated (urged forward) a war to liberate all of Sudan from the Egyptian forces. His popularity grew and he was known as the Mahdi or in other words: al-Mahdi al-Muntazar (the Awaited Guide in the Right Path).In 1882, the Mahdi and his approximate 30,000 followers started an armed rebellion...