This post is long overdue. Over the weekend, the world received its newest nation, South Sudan. People in the streets shouting and celebrating this historic moment. To know the significance of this moment in history, one must look at the history of Sudan itself.
Neolithic cultures settled the region during the 8th millennium BC. Their structures were of mud-brick and were made to be very strong. Hunting, fishing, and farming were part of their way of living. They were settling into a sedentary way of living. Grain gathering and cattle were also part of their way of life. The Dinka raise cattle today.
Around 1070 BC, the Kingdom of Kush was established where the Blue Nile, White Nile, and Atbara rivers meet. Kush started out as part of ancient Egypt but later became a kingdom. It had its own trade with Egypt, with grain being brought from Egypt, and ivory, incense, and hides being brought back from Kush. Kush would later to Meroe.
In the 6th century AD, Christianity would arrive in Nubia, making this a Christian kingdom
Later on, Islam would arrive with Arab invaders trying to conquer the region.
The history of southern Sudan has been a history of many nomadic peoples, particularly the Dinka, Luo, Shillik, and Azande settling in this region. Some of the semi-nomadic peoples and the Funj people united and formed the Sultanate of Sennar. The Sultanate of Darfur would be established later on. Taqali would be established in the Nuba hills.
In the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire would later have control over the northern portion of Sudan. Egypt also claimed the entire portion of Sudan and established the province of Equatoria.
In the late 19th century, there was a scramble for Africa. A Belgian expedition laid claim to South Sudan as a exclave of the Congo. After the death of King Leopold II, the British took over in 1909. The French claimed the remaining part of the nation, but later ceded it to Anglo-British Sudan in 1899, run by the British Empire. From this point until Sudan's independence, Egypt and the British Empire controlled Sudan. The nature of colonialism is this: Borders are drawn, without any say from the people living there. This has been known to cause strife among people living in many places. This is very true for Africa.
The UK and Egypt would agree to let Sudan have self rule, and in 1956, Sudan became an independent nation. The Khartoum government promised southern Sudan to create a federal system of government, but back out on its promise to South Sudan. This created outrage and led to a civil war for almost 2 decades. This would not be Sudan's first civil war. There has also been a genocide in Darfur, of the people in that region, basically led by Janjaweed. This has pitted the nomadic peoples against persons living in a fixed environment. This has also been a racially motivated genocide, with Black African people concentrated in the south being killed and raped. President Omar al-Bashir has done nothing to stop this genocide. In fact, I suspect he supports it. One aspect of the genocide is division. There are divisions between north and south, Black and Arab, Muslim, Christian, and animist.
For this reason, South Sudan getting its independence is a step towards peace. Sudan was only formed by the Berlin Conference of 1884. The locals weren't asked about this or included. It was all one big scramble. And then when independence did come, the Khartoum government broke its promise and problems arose from this. Perhaps South Sudan becoming its own nation will make things more peaceful. It appears that al-Bashir had no intentions of stopping a genocide. Little has been done in general.
I know this. South Sudan is where alot of oil is located. I can be a critic of oil, but these oil resources could prove to be important to South Sudan. However, the USA cannot buy this oil because Sudan as listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the USA government. This means if South Sudan wants to sell its oil to the USA, then the Khartoum government cannot get any share of the oil revenue. Most of the oil fields in South Sudan are owned by Chinese oil companies and by Malaysia's Petronas, for which the Petronas Towers are named. South Sudan has a long way to go to carve out its own way, but I hope things work out for South Sudan, that they can get their economy going and they can progress as a nation.
This was all the pre-colonial history. Now for the colonial history. In 1827, Ali Khurshid Pasha was making a conquest on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. This quest for what is now South Sudan was later abandoned.
Sources:
http://www.goss.org
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1073
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sudan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janjaweed
