Communities of South Sudan
South Sudan Population. Estimated Distribution
Communities of South Sudan
The communities and natives of the nascent nation of South Sudan are richly diverse. They are often grouped into 64 tribes or ethnic communities and sometimes further categorized into 80 distinct peoples.
Source: OCHA.
Many of these communities share a common culture, with closely-linked cultural traits and intelligible languages, forming distinct larger family units. The communities are also broadly grouped into: Nilo-Sudanic, Nilo hamiets, Bantu, Eastern Sudanic, Central Sudanic and Ubangian tribes.
Eastern and Central Sudanic languages are a subset of the Nilo-Saharan languages, which constitute the major language family in South Sudan. Ubangian is mostly associated with the Bantu people, who represent the second major language family in South Sudan. Although there are no official statistics regarding the prominent religions in South Sudan, it is estimated that majority of the people (51%) practice their local traditional religions, while Christianity and Islam are practiced by 31% and 18% of the people, respectively.
Mapping major ethnic groups in South Sudan
The Dinka
Source: Africa 101 Last Tribes.
The Dinka (Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ or Jieng) are the largest ethnic group in South Sudan. They are a Nilotic ethnic group and constitute one of the branches of the River Lake Nilotes, primarily sedentary agropastoral people of the Nile Valley and the African Great Lakes region who speak Nilotic languages, including the Nuer and Luo.
They mostly reside along the Nile, from Bor to Renk, covering seven out of the 10 states of South Sudan in the regions of Bahr el Ghazal (including the states of Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Lakes) and the Upper Nile (including the states of Upper Nile, Jonglei and Unity), as well as the Abyei Area inhabited by the Ngok Dinka. Although the Dinka are generally agro-pastoralists, cattle play a critical role in their lives and livelihoods, sometimes referred to as the lifeblood of the Dinka.
The Dinka are divided into sub-ethnic groups and lack a centralised political authority. Instead, they comprise many independent but interlinked clans with effective traditional authorities and a strong chieftainship structure that provides communal mechanisms for security, safety, justice and conflict resolution. Some of these clans traditionally provide ritual chiefs, known as the "masters of the fishing spear" or beny bith, who offer leadership for the entire community and appear to have at least a partial hereditary basis. The Dinka also have robust age-set group systems that maintain social order and provide protection to the communities and their assets, particularly cattle.
The Nuer
Source: Africa 101 Last Tribes.
The Nuer (Naath) are a Nilotic ethnic group concentrated in three out of the 10 states of South Sudan, in the Greater Upper Nile region (the states of Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei), and they also live in the Ethiopian region of Gambella. They inhabit a vast Savanna land that stretches from the Ethiopian border to the west of the Nile River.
The Nuer speak the Nuer language (Thok Nath), which belongs to the Nilotic language family. The spirit of Ngundeng, and his shrine in Weideng, is central to the spiritual heritage of the Nuer people. They are the second largest ethnic group in South Sudan and are divided into sub-ethnic groups, sharing common traditional values and norms. Like the Dinka, the Nuer are agro-pastoralists who herd cattle for a living. Cattle serve as their companions, defining their lifestyle and structuring their entire culture. The endemic warfare that has afflicted the Nuer has made guns prominent in their communities to the extent that guns have acquired, paradoxically, much of the symbolic and ritual importance previously held by cattle.
The Nuer have decentralized and flexible political authority, and they have a distaste for centralised authority. Indeed, their traditional authorities and chieftainships are effective in maintaining social order, security, safety and peace.
The Nuer are distinctively known for having one of the strongest community defense groups known as the White Army, which consists of armed youths often operating autonomously on tribal elders' authority. The persistent violent conflicts have transformed the White Army into, perhaps, the best-known and most feared of all South Sudan’s non-state fighting forces. In 2006, the White Army resisted the disarmament programme implemented by the government of South Sudan and refused to lay down their weapons.
The Shilluk
Source: Africa 101 Last Tribes.
The Shilluk (Chollo) are a major Luo Nilotic ethnic group in South Sudan, residing on both banks of the Nile River in Upper Nile state. Before the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Shilluk also inhabited settlements on the northern bank of the Sobat River, near its confluence with the Nile. They rank as the fourth largest ethnic group in South Sudan, following the Dinka, Nuer and Zande. Their language, called Dhøg Cøllø, belongs to the Luo branch of the Western Nilotic subfamily of the Nilotic languages.
The Shilluk are predominantly sedentary agriculturalists, but they usually keep small herds of cattle, together with larger flocks of sheep and goats. Some members of the ethnic group are adeptly dedicated to fishing, exploiting the resources of the rivers along which they reside.
Unlike the Dinka and Nuer, the Shilluk established the politically centralised Shilluk Kingdom in South Sudan in 1454. They have a history of a patriarchal monarchy led by a Reth from the divine lineage of the cultural hero Nyikang. Their society was once hierarchical, with castes of royals, nobles, commoners and slaves, and they boasted of being one of the strongest community defense forces in southern Sudan. This force resisted the invasion of the Sudanese Mahdist State (1885 – 1895) and fought with the Funj people who established the Sultanate of Sennar.
The Second Sudanese Civil War (1983 – 2005), and the first and second civil wars (2013 – 2015, 2016 – 2018) in the new state of South Sudan, have devastated the Shilluk Kingdom, resulting in massive displacement that even affected the Shilluk Reth. Despite the impacts of persistent violent conflict, the Shilluk manage to maintain their traditional centralised kingdom with its community defense forces, which sustain social order, safety, peace and justice.
The Azande
Source: Africa 101 Last Tribes.
The Zande, also known as the Azande Kingdom, is predominantly populated by the Zande people. The term ‘Azande’ means "the people who possess much land", reflecting their history as conquering warriors. The Azande language is similar to other Bantu languages.
They are believed to have formed through military conquest during the first half of the 18th Century. Unlike the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk, the Azande are not Nilotic but belong to the Bantu group and can be found in the south-eastern part of the Central African Republic, north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the south-central and south-western parts of South Sudan. They rank as the third largest ethnic group in South Sudan and inhabit Western Equatoria state, Central Equatoria state and Western Bahr el Ghazal state.
The Azande are predominantly agriculturalists. Similar to many African kingdoms, the Azande Kingdom operates as a centralised political system, in which the ruler is responsible for social command and security. The kingdom boasts of some of the most feared warriors, and all unmarried men are expected to serve as labourers and warriors. The kingdom is divided into provincial states, with the king governing the central province and appointing governors, among whom his eldest son holds significant influence, to oversee the surrounding provinces of his realm.
One prominent ruler of the kingdom in South Sudan was King Gbudwe, who reigned from 1870 to 1905. The Zande resisted the British administration, and the power of their kingdom remained largely unchallenged until the arrival of the British at the end of the 19th Century. Despite persistent violent conflicts, the Zande maintain their kingdom, with the current king, Atoroba Peni Rikito, crowned in 2022. He is the great-grandson of Gbudwe.
The Latuka
The Latuka (Otuho) are one of the largest Nilotic-Hamitic ethnic groups in South Sudan, closely related to the Bari people on the western bank of the Nile and the Iteso people of Eastern Uganda. They speak the Otuho language, which belongs to the Eastern Sudanic language group of the Nilo-Saharan language family.
They reside in Eastern Equatoria state, in a region characterised by a plain and surrounded by mountains on all sides. The Imotong Mountains, the highest in South Sudan, form a range, running on an east-west axis to the east of the Nile River, with the Dongotona Mountains to the east and the Omia Mountains to the north-east, running on a north-south axis. The area inhabited by the Latuka resembles an open-sided coliseum, with the plain representing the pitch and the mountains acting as walls.
The Latuka are predominantly agro-pastoralists, engaging in subsistence agriculture and rearing cattle and goats. The land is collectively owned by the community and not by any single individual. Unlike some other Nilotic ethnic groups, the Latuka live in large, fortified villages, often consisting of several hundreds of huts divided into quarters. Similar to other Nilotic ethnic groups, the Latuka recognise the authority of hereditary rainmakers who control an elaborate age-set system. However, unlike these groups, the Latuka, together with other Nilotic-Hamitic societies, lack centralised chieftaincy or any other form of centralised state control.
Kinship, lineage and clan hold little political importance among the Latuka people. Instead, it is the age-set system that forms the foundation of their political structure, maintaining social order, peace, security and justice. This unique and robust age-set system has endured despite persistent violent conflicts, continuing to provide stability and security to the Latuka community.
The Latuka religious system centers around belief in a supernatural force known as Ajyok (God). The witchdoctor serves as the intermediary between humans and the supernatural realm, possessing exceptional knowledge in traditional medicine. Witchdoctors command great respect, as their profession is considered challenging. Additionally, there are chiefs and village headmen responsible for averting diseases and other calamities, often receiving revelations during sleep rather than through diagnostic methods applied by witchdoctors.
Culturally, the Latuka have experienced relatively little change in recent decades. Despite the arrival of missionaries in Latuka territory in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Latuka resisted the changes advocated by the missionaries and the government. The majority of the community remained committed to traditional religious practices.
The Bari
Source: Africa 101 Last Tribes.
The Bari are a tribe of Karo, Nilotic people living along the banks of the Nile River in Juba County in the Central Equatoria state, including Juba, the capital city of South Sudan. They live in small villages scattered across the Nile Valley. The Bari economy is based on subsistence mixed farming; their domestic livestock (small and large) are mainly raised for supplementing food, but mostly as a socio-economic and financial investment. The language spoken by the Bari is called ‘Bari’, one of the Eastern Sudanic languages of the Nilo-Saharan language family. A considerable number of ethnic groups neighbouring the Bari speak languages with substantial vocabulary as the Bari language. These ethnic groups include the Kakwa, Mondari (Mandari, Mundari), Kuku, Fajulu (Pöjulu), Nyangbara and Nyepu (Nyepo).
The Bari have many ‘big men’ rather than a single chief. The people were differentiated primarily into the Lui (free people) and the Dupi (serfs) – who were mainly artisans, hunters and fishermen. Traditionally, the kimak (chiefs) and the komonye-kak (fathers of the land) hailed from the Lui. These constituted the kworiniko or aristocratic class of wealthy cattle owners. The ‘Dupi’ used to be a hereditary class of serfs who lived under obligations of service to the Lui. The Bari society has divisions based on status: the lupudyöt (young boys), the kö’disi (young girls), the kalipinök (the initiates), the teton (young men, often the warriors) and the temejik (the elders). Both men and women undergo initiation by the extraction of the lower incisors and by scarring. The men then enter age-sets that have distinctive names and ornaments.
The Bari believe in a god who has two attributes – benevolent god who dwells in the sky and produces rain, and malevolent god who lives in the earth and is associated with cultivation. Sacrifices are made to the spirits of the dead. Unlike other ethnic groups in South Sudan, the Bari have a child-naming ritual marked with an important traditional ceremony. Immediately upon delivery, the mother normally gives the child a name. The names are specific to the serial order of birth. Thus, the names for a first-born boy or girl are specific, and, likewise, children born after the firstborns are given specific names.
