History UsefulNotes / SouthSudan

South Sudan is an East UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}n country and the newest country in the world as of 2011. As one might expect, it broke off from the country of UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}}, following a long civil war and a vote in which over 95% of the people voted to split off. The reasons for the civil war and split are ethnic, religious, and economic: Sudan is mostly Arab and Muslim, while South Sudan is mostly non-Arab and Christian.[[note]]Some reports call the South Sudanese "black" or "African" to distinguish them from northern Sudanese people, but the implications here are highly misleading. Most Sudanese Arabs are in fact "black" in that they have very dark skin and distinctly African features. You couldn't tell Sudanese Arabs from, say, Chadians just by looking at them. Much like "Latin American/Latino/Hispanic", "Arab" is a cultural and linguistic identity rather than a racial one. Some Arabs have such light skin and Europeanesque features that you'd think they were Russian or German if they didn't tell you otherwise; some Arabs in countries like Sudan and Egypt are black; and other Arabs are every shade in between. And of course, Sudan is still in Africa and a member of the African Union.[[/note]] Furthermore, most of the oil in Sudan was located in the South, without which the government of Sudan would have a very hard time operating. Currently, there is an agreement to share the oil revenues between South Sudan (which is where the oil itself is located) and with Sudan (which has the pipelines which transport the petroleum to a port in their territory.)

* '''Highest point:''' Kinyeti (3187 m/10,456 ft) (58th)

* '''Highest point:''' Kinyeti (3187 m/10,456 ft) (77th)

* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' SS