Khar·toum also Khar·tum (kär-to?om?) The capital of Sudan, in the east-central part of the country at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. Founded c. 1821 as an Egyptian army camp, it was destroyed by Mahdists in 1885. Lord Kitchener retook the city in 1898 and oversaw its rebuilding.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Khartoum (k???tu?m) or Khartumn (Placename) the capital of Sudan, at the junction of the Blue and the White Nile: with adjoining Khartoum North and Omdurman, the largest conurbation in the country; destroyed by the Mahdists in 1885 when General Gordon was killed; seat of the Anglo-Egyptian government of Sudan until 1954, then capital of the new republic. Pop: 4 495 000 (2005 est)Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014Khar?toum or Khar?tum (k?r?tum) n. the capital of the Sudan, at the junction of the White and Blue Nile rivers. 924,505. Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.