{ "id": "epraatpb7r", "slug": "closed-districts-ordinance", "title": "Closed Districts Ordinance", "updated": "2026-10-21", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history" }, { "id": "society.history.other", "label": "Other history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.other" }, { "id": "society.history.other.middle-east", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.other.middle-east" }, { "id": "society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant", "label": "Egypt, Sudan, and the Levant (1798 to 1950)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant" }, { "id": "society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant.sudan-to-1950", "label": "Sudan to 1950", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant.sudan-to-1950" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 1800 to 1945: Egypt, Sudan, and the Levant (1798 to 1950)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant", "path": [ { "id": "geo.mena", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1800", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1800.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800.society" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1800.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other", "label": "Other history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other.middle-east", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other.middle-east" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant", "label": "Egypt, Sudan, and the Levant (1798 to 1950)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1800.society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant" } ] }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1946.society.history.other", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 1946 to 2000: Other history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1946.society.history.other", "path": [ { "id": "geo.mena", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1946", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1946.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1946.society" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1946.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1946.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t1946.society.history.other", "label": "Other history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t1946.society.history.other" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Closed Districts Ordinance, also known as the Passport and Permits Ordinance, was a 1922 British law of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan controlling entry into closed districts through permits.", "snippet": "The Closed Districts Ordinance, also known as the Passport and Permits Ordinance, was a 1922 British law of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan controlling entry into closed districts through permits.", "node": "society.history.other.middle-east.nahda-egypt-levant.sudan-to-1950", "markdown": "# Closed Districts Ordinance\n\nThe Closed Districts Ordinance (قانون المناطق المغلقة) was a law of the [Anglo-Egyptian Sudan](https://www.edgepedia.org/anglo-egyptian-sudan), issued by the British administration in September 1922, that empowered the Governor-General to declare any part of the Sudan a closed district and to control entry into it through a system of permits.[1](http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf) • [2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) It is also known as the Passport and Permits Ordinance, and under it most of the southern Sudan was declared a closed district, insulated from the north and from the outside world.[3](https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Date | 1922[1](http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf) • [2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) |\n| Core provision | The Governor-General could declare any district closed and regulate entry by permit[1](http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf) • [3](https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710) |\n| Areas closed | Most of the South (Renk District excluded), and parts of Blue Nile, the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, Kassala, and the White Nile[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) • [3](https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710) |\n| Stated purposes | Combating the residual slave trade and controlling movement for security[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) • [3](https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710) |\n| Related policy | The Southern Policy memorandum of 1930, building self-contained racial and tribal units[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) |\n| End | Policy declared obsolete and revised from December 1946[4](https://dlib.indiana.edu/collections/nuer/edward/nasir.html) • [2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) |\n\n## Origin: issuer and date\n\nThe ordinance was issued by the British administration of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in September 1922.[1](http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf) The historian Douglas H. Johnson describes the Closed Districts Ordinance as first introduced in 1922 to reinforce the new system of Native Administration in the South.[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) \n\n## Contents and provisions\n\nThe ordinance gave the Governor-General the authority to declare any part of the Sudan a closed district.[1](http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf) • [3](https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710)\n\nThe permit system gave the issuing authority wide discretion. Permits could be refused without reason or canceled without notice, and a person whose permit was not renewed had to close out his affairs and depart the district.[3](https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710) • [1](http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf)\n\n## Implementation and revision\n\nDistricts were declared closed usually as a means of combating the surreptitious slave trade still conducted in the 1920s, which Egypt and Britain, as members of the [League of Nations](https://www.edgepedia.org/league-of-nations), were committed to eradicating.[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) \n\nThe 1930 policy memorandum, issued by the civil secretary in Khartoum, stated the government's aim as building \"a series of self-contained racial and tribal units with structure and organization based, to whatever extent the requirements of equity and good government permit, upon indigenous customs, traditional usage and beliefs.\"[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/)\n\nThe Southern Policy, issued in 1930, lasted sixteen years. It was abandoned in 1946, when the government adopted a policy of self-government and self-determination for the whole of the Sudan in order to prevent Egypt from asserting sovereignty.[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/)\n\n## Political influence\n\nThe ordinance placed tight controls on access to the South, the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, and Southern Blue Nile, whose peoples, after \"pacification,\" were regarded by the administration as needing \"protection.\"[5](http://www.sudanupdate.org/REPORTS/Slavery/slavery%20report/slv11.htm) The ordinance also reinforced the system of Native Administration in the South.[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/)\n\n## Reception and assessment\n\nScholars including Beshir, Collins, Mahdi, Mirghani, and Turabi often cite the Southern Policy and Christian missionaries as causes of disunity between the north and the south of [Sudan](https://www.edgepedia.org/sudan-epxxa9ftsz), between Arabs and African ethnic groups, and between Muslims and Christians. Johnson argues that the divisions attributed to the policy should be kept in proportion: the southern provinces remained part of the same administrative system as the whole of Sudan, sharing the same administrative personnel and subject to the same regulations, so the Policy emphasized North-South differences rather than administering the South as a separate territory.[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/) He also records that application varied: in Bahr el-Ghazal's [Western District](https://www.edgepedia.org/western-district), British officials went to extremes, creating a No-Man's Land with Darfur around Kafia Kingi, expelling certain Darfur peoples, and even eliminating Arabic personal names, an application he describes as unique rather than typical.[2](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/)\n\n## References\n\n1. \"العدد 65 حزيران، 2024,\" Journal of Education and Science, vol. 16, no. 65, http://www.becj-iq.org/journal/uploads/344-374.pdf\n2. Douglas H. Johnson, \"British policy in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan bears some responsibility for the deep-rooted divisions between North and South,\" Africa at LSE, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2012/07/02/british-policy-in-anglo-egyptian-sudan-bears-some-responsibility-for-the-deep-rooted-divisions-between-north-and-south/\n3. \"Colonial Sudan: The Separate Administration of The South (1920-1933)\", https://doi.org/10.52919/translang.v15i2.710\n4. \"Native Administration in the South and the Beginnings of the Nasir Station,\" Indiana University Digital Library, https://dlib.indiana.edu/collections/nuer/edward/nasir.html\n5. Sudan Update slavery report, http://www.sudanupdate.org/REPORTS/Slavery/slavery%20report/slv11.htm\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Other history › Middle East and North Africa › Egypt, Sudan, and the Levant (1798 to 1950) › Sudan to 1950*\n\n*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Closed Districts Ordinance\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Closed Districts Ordinance](https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance](https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Closed Districts Ordinance\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/closed-districts-ordinance. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Closed Districts Ordinance, also known as the Passport and Permits Ordinance, was a 1922 British law of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan controlling entry into closed districts through permits." }