Sudan

Historical eventJanuary 201991

Sudan

Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.

Everything on January 20Original source

In context

When
Sunday, January 20 199135 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1990s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1991.

What happened

Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 51.8 million people as of 2025 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum.

January 20 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1990Red Army
  2. 1990Black January
  3. 1991Sudan
  4. 1992Air Inter Flight 148
  5. 2001President of the Philippines
  6. 20092008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis
  7. 2009Iceland
  8. 2009First inauguration of Barack Obama
  9. 20182018 Inter-Continental Hotel Kabul attack
  10. 2018Taliban
  11. 2018Syrian civil war

Also in 1991

  • September 9TajikistanTajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
  • September 11Continental Express Flight 2574Continental Express Flight 2574 crashes in Colorado County, Texas, near Eagle Lake, killing 11 passengers and three crew.
  • March 14EscondidaEscondida, one of the most productive copper mines in the world, was officially inaugurated.
  • September 12Space Shuttle DiscoveryNASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-48 to deploy the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.
  • September 17EstoniaEstonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
  • September 17LinuxThe first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
  • September 5Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
  • October 201991 Uttarkashi earthquakeAn earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.

Everything we record for 1991 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Sudan”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/sudan-1991-january-20, accessed October 27, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Sudan happen?

January 20 1991 — 35 years ago, on a Sunday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

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