Sudan is a country in north eastern Africa south of Egypt around the Nile. For centuries it has been on the frontier of the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa, which played a large role in the many ethnic conflicts the country endured in its recent history. The name Sudan comes from the Arab name for sub-Saharan Africa 'bilād as-sūdān' meaning 'land of the blacks'.
During the days of the Egyptian Pharaohs, the area now known as Sudan was known as Nubia, which had a similar but distinct culture compared to the Egyptians. Around 1700 BC, the Kingdom of Kush was established in Nubia and would survive for around 2000 years. The pyramids of Meroe are a famous UNESCO site probably visited by only few as Sudan is not a very comfortable tourist destination.
In the centuries after, the area was chritianised under Byzantine influence until Arab influence started to spread from Egypt. In the 16th century the Funj Empire ruled Sudan until in 1821 Egyptian leader Muhammad Ali Pasha invaded and conquered Sudan. The Sudanese revolted in 1882 and the Egyptians asked the British for help and they took control of what would later become the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
Sudan was now ruled by Egyptians but in effect a British colony. After Nasr took power in Egypt, he let go of the Egyptian claim to annex Sudan and Britain granted its independence in 1956. Years before it was already decided to keep the southern Equatorian province with Sudan, despite it culturally being much closer to Uganda. South Sudan fought two very long civil wars but emerged as an independent nation in 2011.
Sudan itself is ruled by Omar Al-Bashir who took power in a bloodless coup in 1989. He is accused of fostering an apartheid style regime favouring the Sudanese Arabs over all minorities. The atrocities committed during the Darfur War on Sudan's Chadian border is seen as a genocide and Al-Bashir is sought after by the International Peace Tribunal.
All in all Sudan's history is very troubled and the Darfur War continues to claim casualties and the border disputes with South Sudan are far from solved.
Sudan used Egyptian currency in the 19th century but during the Mahdist revolt in the 19th century (during which the British slaughtered a 50,000 strong enemy with artillery and machine guns in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898) some Sudanese coins were issued. These are extremely rare.
In 1956 the Sudanese Pound replaced the Egyptian Pound at par and pegged to the US Dollar at $2.87 per Pound. From 1978, the currency underwent successive devaluations until in 1992 the Dinar replaced the Pound at a 10 to 1 rate. In 1995 the Dinar was worth around 500/$ dropping to 2000/$ in 2001, when the second Pound was introduced worth 1000 Dinars. This second Pound stayed relatively stable and trades around 6 to the USD in 2015.
Sudanese coins come in many variants, some of which were extensively discussed in the forum. The first series depicted a camel (with variant background mountains for the ones that love to collect almost similar looking coins with different KM#) and the second the Sudanese eagle. In 1987 and 1989 further distinctive series were minted. The Dinar is known to me as the coins with really low quality strikes, comparable to the appalling coin striking abilities of the Indian mint. There is only one modern Pound series with a bimetallic 50 Piastres and commemorative 1 Pound.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/soudan-1.html