Happy Birthday, South Sudan

The world's newest nation becomes independent today. Sudan was always a bizarre construction, its boundaries determined by British and French colonial policy. It straddles the boundary between north and central Africa; the north is Muslim, the south used to follow ancient African religions and is now mostly Christian. The nation was so obviously unwieldy that at independence the south Sudanese were only persuaded to stay in by promising them the right to a referendum on independence if things didn't work out. They didn't work out, and last year after a decade of civil war they finally got their referendum. More than 99 percent voted for independence. This gives you an idea how hard the Sudanese government in Khartoum, a vicious lot, worked to make the southerners feel welcome. The new nation will be one of the world's poorest, since the long civil war wiped out most of whatever development there was. There is oil, which will provide the money for setting up a government. But there isn't much else besides skinny cows. South Sudan will have around 8 million people, its area just bigger than Spain and Portugal combined.

The BBC has a bunch of maps that show the geography of Sudan. This is a satellite image showing that the north is desert, except for the Nile valley, while the south is grassland and forest.

This map of dominant ethnic groups shows the ethnic distinctiveness of the south, dominated by groups (Dinka, Nuer, etc.) that are completely absent in the north. Incidentally the conflict between north and south has nothing to do with the situation in Darfur, which will remain in the north; in fact, soldiers from Darfur were accused by southerners of committing atrocities against them, so there was little sympathy in the south for Darfur when Khartoum started using the same tactics against them.

This map of known oil fields shows that they are concentrated near the boundary between the two Sudans, which is one reason why some people fear renewed war. People are also worried about civil war within South Sudan, since the Dinka and the Nuer fought each other as well as the government during the war. So far, though, the split has been mostly peaceful.

Welcome to the community of nations, South Sudan; may the next twenty years be better for you than the last twenty.