South Sudan, officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. The country gained its independence from (North) Sudan in 2011, making it the newest country (as of March 2018). Its capital and largest city is Juba.
South Sudan is bordered by Sudan to the north, Ethiopia to the east, Kenya to the southeast, Uganda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and the Central African Republic to the west. It includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd, formed by the White Nile and known locally as the Bahr al Jabal. With Nilotic peoples forming the majority of its population, the nation is also referred to as the Nilotic Republic, as a homeland and supposedly the place of origin for the Nilotic race.
The territories of modern South Sudan and the Republic of the Sudan were occupied by Egypt under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, and later governed as an Anglo-Egyptian condominium until Sudanese independence was achieved in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. A second Sudanese civil war soon broke out, and ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that year, southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed. South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, following a referendum that passed with 98.83% of the vote.
South Sudan has a population of 12 million, with Christianity the majority religion. It is a United Nations member state, and a member state of the African Union, of the East African Community, and of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. In July 2012, South Sudan signed the Geneva Conventions. South Sudan has suffered ethnic violence and has been in a civil war since 2013. As of 2017, despite not being ranked bottom in the latest World Happiness Report, it had the highest score on the Fragile States Index (formerly, the Failed States Index), surpassing Somalia.
