Note: The area of South Sudan was part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; it became part of the Republic of the Sudan when independence from Britain was achieved in 1956. It was independent from northern Sudan 1972-1983, then known as Southern Sudan Autonomous Region, following the first Sudanese civil war. It again achieved independence in 2011, following a second Sudanese civil war, which ended in 2005. In the more distant past, the area shares the same history as Sudan general region. South Sudan is composed of more than 200 ethnic groups, making it very linguistically diverse, although many languages have small numbers of speakers. The official language is English, but colloquial Arabic and pidgin Juba Arabic are rather widely spoken.
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