South Sudan is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa.
The official name of the country is the Republic of South Sudan.
It 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.
The official language is English.
As of 1 January 2017, the population of South Sudan was estimated to be 13,134,871 people.
It is the 41st largest country in the world in terms of land area with 619,745 square kilometers (239,285 square miles).
Juba is the capital and largest city of the Republic of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and functions as the seat and metropolis of Juba County. The city was established on the site of a small Bari village, called Juba, where the Church Missionary Society had established a mission and the Nugent Memorial Intermediate School in 1920-21.
The landscape of South Sudan is primarily made up of tropical forests, swamps and grassland.
The Sudd swampland is considered to be one of the world’s largest wetlands, and within the Nile basin is the largest freshwater wetland. During the wet season, the Sudd extends some 130,000 square kilometers (50,193 square miles).
The Imatong Mountains are located in the southeast of South Sudan in the erstwhile state of Eastern
Equatoria, and extend into Uganda. Mount Kinyeti is the highest mountain of the range at 3,187 meters (10,456 feet), and the highest in the whole of South Sudan.
The network of protected areas in Ethiopia covers about 15.5% of the national territory. It is made up of 10 national parks, plus other types of protected areas.
The Bandingilo National Park, sometimes spelled Badingilo, is located in South Sudan. Situated in a wooded area near the White Nile River, it is over 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 square miles) in size. Earth‘s second-largest annual animal migration (largest is the Serengeti migration), involving multiple species of antelope including reedbuck, tiang, and white-eared kob, takes place in the park, which is also home to iconic African megafauna like the Nubian giraffe.
Boma National Park is a protected area in eastern South Sudan. It was established in 1986 and covers 22,800 square kilometers (8,800 square miles) of grasslands and floodplains. The park is an important refuge for white-eared kob, tiang and Mongalla gazelle. Other large mammals iclude buffalo, elephant, African leopard, giraffe, oryx, hartebeest, cheetah, eland, hartebeest, zebra, waterbuck, Grant’s gazelle, bongo, lion, and Nile lechwe.
The St. Theresa Cathedral or Cathedral of Juba, is the name given to a religious building in the Unity Avenue in Bahr al Jabal (Central Equatoria) in the district of Kotor in the town of Juba. It serves as the seat of the Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Juba. During the civil war in southern Sudan about 5,000 people took refuge in the cathedral in Juba, which was kept for days by violent clashes between rival factions of the national army.
Historically, what is now South Sudan was dominated by Central Sudanic speaking peoples, but the presence of Nilotic peoples can be assumed from prehistoric times as well.
Since about the 14th century, following the collapse of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, the Nilotic peoples gradually came to dominate the region.
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.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 agreement that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war.
Following the civil war that broke out in December 2013, a peace agreement signed in August 2015 provided for the creation of a transitional power-sharing government that would include members of the current administration as well as members from the rebels.
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.
The economy of South Sudan is one of the world’s weakest and most underdeveloped. South Sudan exports timber to the international market. The region also contains many natural resources such as petroleum, iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, diamonds, hardwoods, limestone and hydropower. The country’s economy, as in many other developing countries, is heavily dependent on agriculture.
Religions followed by the South Sudanese include traditional indigenous religions, Christianity and Islam.
Due to the many years of the civil war, South Sudan’s culture is heavily influenced by its neighbours. Many South Sudanese fled to Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda where they interacted with the nationals and learned their languages and culture.
Many traditional and modern games and sports are popular in South Sudan, particularly wrestling and mock battles.