Sudan is the third largest country in Africa. Located in the Northeast of the continent, and possessing a history that ranges back to the Pharaonic period, the country has been challenged with political instability since its independence from Britain in 1956. In the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, the Funj sultanate ruled the eastern and central areas, Darfur controlled the west, and the Ottomans controlled the north. From 1820–1874, the Muhammad Ali dynasty conquered the entire area. After revolt in the 1880s, the Caliphate of Omdurman controlled the region, but the British took over the state in 1898 and governed it with Egypt. Approximately 70 languages are native to Sudan, but over 400 languages and dialects are spoken.