The history of South Sudan comprises the history of the territory of present-day South Sudan and the peoples inhabiting the region.
South Sudan's modern history is closely tied to that of Sudan. These ties began in the 19th century with the southward expansion of the Ottoman Khedivate of Egypt and the establishment of Turco-Egyptian Sudan with the land that makes up modern South Sudan remaining part of Sudan through the Mahdist State, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Republic of Sudan up until South Sudan's independence in 2011.
South Sudan is mostly inhabited by Nilo-Saharan speaking peoples, with Niger-Congo speaking minorities in the western regions. Historically, what is now South Sudan was dominated by Central Sudanic and Koman speaking peoples. Proto-Nilotic speaking peoples migrating southwards started arriving in the northernmost regions of South Sudan (Upper Nile state) in 3,000 BC. 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.
Early history Roman Expedition For many years the Sudd Marsh, and especially its thicket of vegetation, proved an impenetrable barrier to navigation along the Nile. In 61 AD, a party of Roman soldiers sent by Emperor Nero proceeded up the White Nile but were not able to get beyond the Sudd, which marked the limit of Roman penetration into equatorial Africa. For the same reasons in later times the search for the source of the Nile was particularly difficult; it eventually involved overland expeditions from the central African coast, so as to avoid having to travel through the Sudd.
Nilotic expansion out of the Sudd
Linguistic evidence shows that over time Nilotic speakers, such as the Dinka/Jieng, Nuer/Naath, Shilluk, and Luo, took over. These groups spread from the Sudd marshlands, where archaeological evidence shows that a culture based on transhumant cattle raising had been present since 3000 BC, and the Nilotic culture in that area may thus be continuous to that date. Archaeological evidence, as well as the physical evidence in the livelihood of the Nilotes including their dome-shaped houses and tukuls, shows that they may have made an enormous contribution to the governance and wealth of the Nubia Kingdom before and during the 25th Dynasty.Peter Robertshaw. "Prehistory in the upper Nile Basin." The Journal of African History (1987), 28: 177-189.Cambridge University Press
The Nilotic expansion from the Sudd Marshes into the rest of South Sudan seems to have begun in the 14th century. This coincides with the collapse of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia and the penetration of Arab traders into central Sudan. From the Arabs, the South Sudanese may have obtained new breeds of humpless cattle. Archaeologist Roland Oliver notes that the period also shows an Iron Age beginning among the Nilotics. These factors may explain how the Nilotic speakers expanded to dominate the region.
Central Sudanic Presence
Until about 1500 vast parts of South Sudan were controlled by speakers of Central Sudanic languages. A few Central Sudanic groups remain such as the Madi and the Moru.
Shilluk
By the sixteenth century, the most powerful group among the Nilotic speakers were the Shilluk, who spread east to the banks of the White Nile under the leadership of the semi-legendary Nyikang, who is said to have ruled the Shilluk c.1490 to c.1517.Patricia Mercer. "Shilluk Trade and Politics from the Mid-Seventeenth Century to 1861." The Journal of African History 1971. Page 410 of 407-426 The Shilluk gained control of the west bank of the river as far north as Kosti in modern Sudan. There they established an economy based on cereal farming and fishing, with permanent settlements located along the length of the river."Shilluk." Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Volume 1 Infobase Publishing, 2009 The Shilluk developed an intensive system of agriculture, and the Shilluk lands in the 17th century had a population density similar to that of the land around the Nile in Egypt.Nagendra Kr Singh. "International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties." Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 2002 pg. 659
It is theorized that it was pressure from the Shilluk that drove the Funj people north where they would establish the Funj Sultanate. The Dinka remained in the Sudd area, maintaining their transhumance economy."Dinka." Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Volume 1 Infobase Publishing, 2009
While the Dinka were protected and isolated from their neighbors, the Shilluk were more involved in international affairs. The Shilluk controlled the west bank of the White Nile whilst the other side was controlled by the Funj Sultanate with regular conflict between the two. The Shilluk had the ability to quickly raid outside areas by war canoe and had control of the waters of the Nile. The Funj had a standing army of armored cavalry, and this force allowed them to dominated the plains of the Sahel.
Shilluk traditions tell of King Odak Ocollo who ruled c. 1630 and led them in a three-decade war with the Funj over control of the White Nile trade routes. The Shilluk allied with the Sultanate of Darfur and the Kingdom of Taqali against the Funj. The capitulation of Taqali ended the war in the Funj's favor. In the later 17th century the Shilluk and Funj allied against the Jieng, a group of Dinka who rose to power in the border area between the Funj and Shilluk. The Shilluk political structure gradually centralized under a king or reth. The most important is Reth Tugo who ruled c. 1690 to 1710 and established the Shilluk capital of Fashoda. The same period saw the gradual collapse of the Funj Sultanate, leaving the Shilluk in complete control of the White Nile and its trade routes. The Shilluk military power was based on control of the river.
Azande The non-Nilotic Azande people, who entered southern Sudan in the 16th century, established the region's largest state. The Azande are the third largest nationality in southern Sudan. They are found in Maridi, Iba, Yambio, Nzara, Ezon, Tambura and Nagere Counties in the tropical rain forest belt of western Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal. In the 18th century, the Avongara people entered and quickly imposed their authority over the Azande. Avongara power remained largely unchallenged until the arrival of the British at the end of the 19th century.
The Azande developed kingdoms dominated by families of Avongara aristocrats that enacted assimilationist policies that were built on the strength of converting conquered peoples into subjects of the king and noble class. This was done through a system of conscription that allowed for the king's subjects to be conscripted as soldiers in regiments, or as cultivators that allowed for food surplus that enabled redistribution for those that needed it. The Zande kingdoms used trial by ordeal as a means of assessing guilt or innocence when administering justice and law through the use of a poison that was used as an oracle. Dynastic succession under the Zande was a complicated system in which the sons of kings would be given frontier provinces of the kingdom, which allowed for princes to expand their holdings and project authority outwards, creating their own kingdoms. These conquests would lead to the incorporation of Sudanic, Bantu, and Nilotic elements within their kingdoms that were further assimilated via adoption of the Zande language, these kingdoms would span from modern the Central African Republic, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to modern South Sudan.
Geographical barriers prevented the spread of Islam into the region. The Dinka people were especially secure in the Sudd marshlands, which protected them from outside interference, and allowed them to remain secure without a large armed forces. The Shilluk, Azande, and Bari people had more regular conflicts with neighbouring states.
19th century
Turko-Egyptian conquest under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty
In 1821 the Funj Sultanate to the north collapsed in the face of an invasion by Egypt under the Ottoman Governor Muhammad Ali. The Turko-Egyptian forces then began to move southward after consolidating their control over Kurdufan, and Funjistan. In 1827 Ali Khurshid Pasha led a force through the Dinka lands and in 1830 led an expedition to the junction of the White Nile and the Sobat. The most successful expeditions were led by Admiral Salim Qabudan who between 1839 and 1842 sailed the White Nile, reaching as far south as modern-day Juba.
The Turko-Egyptian forces attempted to set up forts and garrisons in the region, but disease and defection quickly forced them to abandon them. While claimed by the Ottoman Khedives of Egypt, they could not exert any real authority over the region. In 1851, under pressure from foreign powers, the government of Egypt opened the region to European merchants and missionaries.
The Europeans found a large supply of ivory, but found the local Bari had little interest in anything they were selling. As a result, the merchants often turned to force, seizing the ivory, even this proved not to be economical and the merchant ventures had little success. Christian missionaries also established posts in the region, with the Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa, that dotted the landscape. The missionaries also had little impact on the region in the early 19th century.
Al-Zubayr's trading empire
The lack of formal authority was filled in the 1850s by a set of powerful merchant princes. In the east Muhammad Ahmad al-Aqqad controlled a large amount of land, but the most powerful was Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur who came to control the Bahr el Ghazal and other parts of South Sudan. Al-Zubayr was a merchant from Khartoum, who hired his own private army and marched south.
Al-Zubayr and other merchants set up a network of trading forts known as zaribas throughout the region, and from these forts controlled local trade. The most valuable commodity was ivory. In previous centuries Sudanese merchants had not placed a high price on ivory, but the period of Egyptian rule coincided with a great increase in global demand as middle class Americans and Europeans began to purchase pianos and billiard balls.
Slavery was a foundational component of the zariba economy during this period, with the merchants maintaining retinues of slaves as soldiers and laborers. "Turks," Arab-Sudanese merchants, Europeans, and local chiefs all engaged in the slave trade through slave raiding or purchasing from raiders, in order to satisfy their personal demands, as well as to profit by supplying the demand for slaves in Egypt and the wider Ottoman Empire. Engaging successfully in the slave trade also allowed the merchants to pay off debts to their creditors. Long-distance slave trading from South Sudan grew from the 1850s to the 1870s despite abolitionist pressures - one estimate is that 30,000 slaves per year were kidnapped and sent abroad by the mid-1870s.
As such, to manage the Ivory trade al-Zubayr needed labour, and Al-Zubayr captured a significant number of slaves. To his mercenary force, he also conscripted a large slave army. Due to trade disputes with Darfur, al-Zubayr went to war against them and in 1874 defeated their forces and killed Ibrahim, the last Fur sultan prior to the restoration of Ali Dinar.
Equatoria
The Ottoman Khedive of Egypt, Isma'il Pasha, was concerned over the growing power of al-Zubayr, and established the province of Equatoria and planned to colonize the area. Isma'il hired the British explorer Samuel Baker in 1869 to govern the area, and supplied him with soldiers and financing, but Baker was unable to extend Turko-Egyptian power over the area.