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Omdurman was the place the Imam Al Mahdi chose as a camp before the siege of Khartoum on 26^th of January 1885, while his followers moved there after the liberation of Khartoum. Al Mahdi lived in a small room next to the Grand Mosque in Omdurman which later became the site of his burial tomb.

During Al Khalifa Abdullah’s rule, the mosque where Al Mahdi was buried became the nucleus around which the city of Omdurman formed. Al Khalifa built a domed shrine for Al Mahdi and built his own house next to it. Others followed suit, building their homes out of mud and bricks around the tomb hoping that proximity would bestow blessings upon them.

Members of the same tribe preferred to live in adjacent houses which led to the creation of various neighbourhoods in four directions. Each neighbourhood developed around a particular tribe, and related tribes settled in specific areas of the city. The city then expanded north and south along the length of the Nile with daily life and activities revolving around the ports.

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