KORDOFAN, a country of Africa, bounded N. and W. by Nubia and Darfur, E. by Senaar. Mountains and forests to the S. separate it from regions little explored. The general surface is flat, the chief exceptions being in the N. and S., and there is no perennial stream but the Bahr-el-Abiad, which divides it from Senaar. The extremes of temperature are great; the heat in the dry season reaching 122° Fahr. in the shade, while the cold of the nights is severe. During the rainy season, which lasts from April to September, the face of the earth undergoes that rapid and striking change characteristic of tropical countries, the scorched and brown line of the plains gives place to a lively green, and the soil, which seemed hopelessly baked and lifeless, gives forth grass and corn, fruits and flowers. The principal grains cultivated are durra and sesamum. Among the natural productions, one of the most valuable is the Acacia, producing the finest species of gum-arabic. Among the wild animals are the elephant, rhinoceros, lion, leopard, giraffe, hyena, antelope, ostrich, &c. The wandering Bedouins rear excellent horses, as well as camels and cows; sheep and goats are bred in great numbers in the hilly country of the south. The inhabitants are chiefly of three races,—negroes, the indigenous race, Arabs so called, and emigrants from Dongola. The last have most of the trade in their hands, and, together with the Arabs, bear no good character for honesty; the aborigines are a simple and hospitable people. The only manufacture carried to any degree of excellence is the tanning of sheepskins. Iron is also wrought to some extent. The most important export is gum-arabic, of which there is a government monopoly, as well as of hides and senna. Cattle, sheepskins, ivory, gold and silver, ostrich eggs and feathers, &c., are also exported. The capital of the country is Obeid, a straggling mud-built place, of about 5000 inhabitants. Kordofan was subdued by Mohammed Ali, viceroy of Egypt, in 1820. It had for some time been subject to Darfur, and previously to Senaar. Before the Egyptian conquest, Obeid is said to have been a place of considerable trade.