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Wau (Arabic: ??? Waw; also Wow or Waw) is a town in southern Sudan
Sudan

Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest in the African continent and the Arab World, and List of countries and outlying territories by total area by area....
 on the western bank of the Jur River
Jur River

The Jur River is a river in southwestern Sudan, flowing through the Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions. About long, it flows north and northeast, joining the Bahr al-Ghazal on the western side of the Sudd wetlands....
, and is the capital of the West Bahr al Ghazal
West Bahr al Ghazal

Western Bahr el Ghazal is one of the 26 States of Sudan or states of Sudan. It has an area of and is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. Western Bahr el Ghazal is divided into three counties: Raja, Jur River, and Wau County.Wau, Sudan is the capital of the state....
 state.

Overview
Initially established as a zariba (fortified base) by slave-traders in the 19th century, it became an administrative center during the time of Anglo
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
-Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ian condominium rule in Sudan. Wau is a culturally, ethnically, and linguistically mixed town.






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Encyclopedia


Wau (Arabic: ??? Waw; also Wow or Waw) is a town in southern Sudan
Sudan

Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest in the African continent and the Arab World, and List of countries and outlying territories by total area by area....
 on the western bank of the Jur River
Jur River

The Jur River is a river in southwestern Sudan, flowing through the Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions. About long, it flows north and northeast, joining the Bahr al-Ghazal on the western side of the Sudd wetlands....
, and is the capital of the West Bahr al Ghazal
West Bahr al Ghazal

Western Bahr el Ghazal is one of the 26 States of Sudan or states of Sudan. It has an area of and is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. Western Bahr el Ghazal is divided into three counties: Raja, Jur River, and Wau County.Wau, Sudan is the capital of the state....
 state.

Overview


Initially established as a zariba (fortified base) by slave-traders in the 19th century, it became an administrative center during the time of Anglo
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
-Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ian condominium rule in Sudan. Wau is a culturally, ethnically, and linguistically mixed town. Its residents include peoples of Fertit, Dinka, Luo, and Arab origin.

During the recent civil war
Second Sudanese Civil War

The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983, although it was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. It took place, for the most part, in southern Sudan and was one of the longest lasting and deadliest wars of the later 20th century....
 it was a government-held garrison town, and was the scene of extensive fighting in the spring of 1998. Battles erupted again in the town in the spring of 2007, killing several hundred people.

It has a University and many secondary schools.

It is the birthplace of NBA
National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is North America's premier professional men's basketball league, composed of thirty teams: twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada....
 players Luol Deng
Luol Deng

Luol Michael Deng is a United Kingdom professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls and the Great Britain national basketball team....
 and Deng Gai
Deng Gai

Deng Gai is a Sudanese professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA. He plays as a Power forward ....
 and British model
Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who poses or who is displayed for the purpose of art, fashion, or other product s and advertising....
 Alek Wek
Alek Wek

Alek Wek is a Sudanese Model who first appeared on the catwalks at the age of 19 in 1995, sparking a career lasting to date. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in the Sudan, but in 1991 she and some family members fled to Britain to escape the civil war between the Muslim north and the Christian south of the Sudan....
.

Burr and Collins (1994, pp. 74) describe Wau in these terms:

No one has ever been “at home” in Wau. Situated on the fringe of the Dinka country, it is surrounded by a host of disorganized and diverse peoples . . . It was and remains a town belonging to no single ethnic group, deriving its importance only from its position as a commercial and administrative center . . . Located in the midst of the vast Nilotic plain hundreds of miles from nowhere, it was miserable under the best of circumstances . . .


Transport


Wau is the terminus of a narrow gauge
Narrow gauge

A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of or less....
 branch line of the Sudan Railways.

Wau airport (code WUU) has a 1506 m (4940 ft) earthen runway.

Geography

Wau has two seasons: a dry season from December to April, and a rainy season the rest of the year.

Demographics

Year Population
1973 52,752
1983 58,008
1993 84,000
2007 (Estimate) 136,179


See also


  • Transport in Sudan
    Transport in Sudan

    Transport in Sudan during the early 1990s included an extensive railroad system that served the more important populated areas except in the far south, a meager road network , a natural inland waterway—the Nile River and its tributaries—and a national airline that provided both international and domestic service....