Khartoum • Kush • Nile River • Nubia
• Sahara
A village sits close to a branch of the Nile
River in southern Sudan.
A Sudanese man herds his cattle through a
forest.
Facts About
SUDAN
Population
(2008 estimate)
39,445,000
Area
966,757 sq mi
(2,503,890 sq
km)
Capitals
Khartoum (executive);
Omdurman
(legislative)
Form of
government
Military regime
Major cities
Omdurman,
Khartoum, Khartoum
North, Port
Sudan, Kassala
200 Sudan BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is a waterway that links
the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
It separates the continents of Africa and
Asia. It cuts thousands of miles from the
routes of ships traveling between Europe
and Asia.
The Suez Canal is in Egypt. It extends
101 miles (163 kilometers) through a
narrow piece of land called the Isthmus
of Suez. Port Said, a city on the Mediterranean
Sea, is at the northern end. The
port city of Suez is at the southern end.
It lies on the Gulf of Suez, a part of the
Red Sea. From the Red Sea, ships can
reach the Indian Ocean.
Before the Suez Canal was built, ships
sailing between the Mediterranean Sea
and the Indian Ocean had to sail all the
way around the southern tip of Africa.
The canal allows ships to pass directly
between the Mediterranean and the
Indian Ocean. Before the canal, the voyage
from London, England, to Mumbai
(Bombay), India, was 12,400 miles
(19,950 kilometers). The canal shortened
the trip to 7,250 miles (11,670
kilometers).
A French-owned company built the
Suez Canal between 1859 and 1869. For
many years France and Great Britain
together owned the canal. They agreed
that the canal should be open to ships of
all countries in times of both peace and
war. But in 1956 Egypt took over the
canal. France and Britain, helped by
Israel, tried to take back the canal by
force. They failed.War between Egypt
and Israel closed the canal between 1967
and 1975. Today the canal is one of the
world’s busiest shipping routes.
#More to explore
Egypt • Mediterranean Sea • Red Sea
Sugar
Sugar is the most widely used sweetener
in the world. It makes things such as
The first step in making sugar from sugarcane
is to chop the stalks into short lengths.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Sugar 201
candy and soda taste good. The sugar
most people use is called sucrose.
Sucrose is found in almost all plants.
Sugarcane and sugar beets are the best
producers of sucrose. Most of the
world’s sugar comes from them. Sugarcane
is a giant, thick grass. Major producers
of sugarcane include Brazil,
India, and China. The sugar beet is a
type of beet. Sugar is stored in its white
root. France and Germany are leading
producers of sugar beets.
Sugar is made from the juice of these
plants. The juice is boiled until it starts
to thicken and sugar crystals begin to
form. The crystals are then removed.
What is left is a syrup called molasses.
The sugar crystals go through several
more steps, including washing. They are
then packaged and sold around the
world.
Slight differences in the process can produce
other kinds of sugar. For example,
a bit of the molasses is left on sugar to
create brown sugar.
Doctors tell people to watch how much
sugar they eat. Kids who eat lots of sugar
may have trouble settling down. This is
known as being hyperactive. Too much
sugar can cause people to gain weight. It
also can lead to tooth decay.
Today some people use artificial
sweeteners—such as saccharin and
aspartame—instead of sugar. These
sweeteners are especially popular with
people who are trying to lose weight.
However, some doctors think that certain
artificial sweeteners are not safe.
#More to explore
Beet • Crystal • Grass
Sun
The sun is the star at the center of the
solar system. It is a hot ball of gases that
gives off great amounts of energy. Life
on Earth depends on light and heat
from the sun.
The sun is about 93 million miles (150
million kilometers) away from Earth.
The next-closest star to Earth is about
250,000 times farther away. That is why
the sun is by far the brightest object in
the sky.
The sun is the largest object by far in the
solar system. Its diameter, or distance
through its center, is about 865,000
miles (1,392,000 kilometers). This is
Wet sugar crystals pour out of
machinery in a factory. The
sugar is ready to be dried, packaged,
and shipped to users.
202 Sun BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
about 109 times bigger than Earth’s
diameter.
The Sun’s “Furnace”
The sun consists mostly of the gases
hydrogen and helium. Its core is very
hot, probably reaching about
28,080,000° F (15,600,000° C). The
hydrogen is packed in tightly at the core.
Great pressure squeezes the hydrogen,
causing it to change into helium. This
process releases huge amounts of energy.
Every second the sun changes, or
“burns,” more than 600 million tons of
hydrogen fuel into helium.
The sun has been shining for at least 4
billion years. It is now mostly hydrogen
with some helium. Billions of years in the
future, the sun will use up all its hydrogen
fuel. Eventually it will stop shining.
Surface and Atmosphere
Like the core, the surface of the sun is
made of gases. The surface temperature
is about 10,000° F (6,000° C). Sometimes
