History of South Sudan

Shilluk Kingdom, 1490–1865 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Shilluk Kingdom, dominated by the Shilluk people, was located along the left bank of the White Nile in what is now South Sudan and southern Sudan. According to Shilluk folk history and neighboring accounts, the kingdom was founded by Nyikang, who probably lived in the second half of the 15th century. A Nilotic people, the Shilluk managed to establish a centralized kingdom that reached its apogee in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during the decline of the northern Funj Sultanate. In the 19th century, the Shilluk were affected by military assaults from the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the destruction of the kingdom in the early 1860s.

Seat of power: Kodok

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1899–1956 Draft, not yet reviewed

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt between 1899 and 1956, corresponding to the territory of what is now both Sudans and parts of southeastern Libya. From 1924 onwards, the British essentially divided Sudan into two separate territories, a predominantly Muslim Arabic-speaking north, and a predominantly Animist and Christian south, where the use of English was encouraged by Christian missionaries, whose main role was instructional. At a conference held in Juba in 1947, it was decided to integrate the administration of the southern provinces with those of the north. In 2011, the south of Sudan itself became independent as the Republic of South Sudan.

Seat of power: Khartoum

South Sudan, 2011 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. The Second Sudanese Civil War broke out in 1983 and ended in 2005 with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, following 98.8% support for independence in a January 2011 referendum.

Seat of power: Juba

Rulers

• Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of South Sudan, 2011 to today