Family research · Phase 12 of the world atlas

Flags of South Sudan

South Sudan is the world's newest widely-recognized sovereign state, born in 2011 after more than fifty years of near-continuous conflict with the government in Khartoum — two full civil wars, from 1955 to 1972 and again from 1983 to 2005, fought over the south's place within a unified Sudan its Nilotic peoples had never really chosen. A 2011 referendum settled the question about as decisively as a vote can: roughly 98 percent in favor of independence.

Its flag, adopted at that independence, is built directly from the flag of the SPLM, the movement that led the south's fight for self-determination for over two decades.

Scope of this page: the lands of present-day South Sudan, Ottoman-Egyptian era–present, five political entries. The country's own internal civil war since 2013 is noted briefly in the final entry rather than given a separate one, since the page's core scope is the flag lineage through the 2011 independence moment. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

Five eras, one real border

South Sudan's own present-day border, traced whole and used retrospectively — the territory's own recorded history doesn't split into two further sub-regions of its own; what changes is only who held it. Press play, or drag the slider.

This page doesn't split internally. The region's defining split — south versus north within a unified Sudan — is between this territory and the rest of Sudan, not inside it, so it belongs on the map as a change of ruler, not an internal partition. See Sudan's own page for the northern side of that same story.

before c. 1821

Stateless Nilotic peoples

Real traced border (South Sudan's present-day extent, used retrospectively) — no internal partition; see the rule box above.

black-red-green bands with white fimbriation, blue hoist triangle with a gold star

9 July 2011 – present

Republic of South Sudan

Republic, independentSalva KiirSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: southern returnees from SudanEmigration: refugees fleeing the 2013– civil war

Who & why: the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending the Second Sudanese Civil War, grants the south six years of autonomy and a promised independence referendum; that vote, held in January 2011, returns an overwhelming result — roughly 98 percent in favor — and South Sudan becomes independent on 9 July 2011 under President Salva Kiir, the SPLM's leader since John Garang's death in 2005. It is the world's newest widely-recognized sovereign state. Independence does not bring lasting internal peace: a political split within the SPLM erupts into a further civil war from December 2013, formally ended by a 2018 peace agreement whose implementation has continued unevenly since.

What it represents: black for the people, red for the blood shed in the long struggle, green for the land, separated by white fimbriation for peace, with a blue hoist triangle for the Nile and a gold five-pointed star for the unity of South Sudan's peoples — adapted directly from the flag flown by the SPLM/SPLA throughout the second civil war.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutBlack-red-green horizontal bands, thin white fimbriation between each; blue hoist triangle bearing a gold five-pointed star.

Black#050505

Red#A4302A

Green#1E7A4A

Blue#1A3A6B

Gold star#F9D616

independent Sudan's flag flown over the south, through two long civil wars

1956 – 2011

South within independent Sudan (two civil wars)

Civil war / state collapseJohn GarangIslam (Sharia imposed by Khartoum)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: refugees from decades of civil warEmigration: "Lost Boys" resettled to the United States

Who & why: Sudan becomes independent from Britain and Egypt on 1 January 1956, incorporating the south into a single unified state, but southern fears of northern political and cultural domination trigger the First Sudanese Civil War, which actually begins in 1955, just before independence itself, and runs until 1972, when the Addis Ababa Agreement grants the south regional autonomy. That autonomy is revoked in 1983 when President Nimeiry imposes Sharia law nationwide, triggering the Second Sudanese Civil War, fought largely by the SPLA/SPLM under John Garang against Khartoum's government for the next twenty-two years — one of Africa's longest and deadliest conflicts — ended by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which sets the terms for the 2011 independence referendum.

What it represents: independent Sudan's own national flag (red-white-black horizontal bands with a green hoist triangle, adopted 1970) is the flag under which the south nominally sits throughout this period, though real effective control of much of the south passes back and forth with the fighting; the SPLM's own separate flag, adopted from the 1980s, is the direct ancestor of independent South Sudan's flag.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutRed-white-black horizontal bands, green hoist triangle, simplified here.

Green#1E7A4A

White#F4EFE1

Black#050505

Union Flag flown by the Condominium's dominant British administration

1899 – 1956

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Colonial ruleLord Kitchener (founding Governor-General)No official state religion (Christian missions encouraged)

Ruling house:House of Muhammad Ali (Egypt)House of Windsor

Who & why: after defeating the Mahdist State, Britain and Egypt establish the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium over Sudan in 1899 — nominally joint rule, in practice administered mainly by Britain. Colonial policy treats the south differently from the Arabic-speaking, Muslim-majority north for much of this period (the "Southern Policy," restricting northern administrative and missionary influence in southern provinces until the early 1940s), a distinction that later feeds directly into southern anxieties about union with the north at independence.

What it represents: the Union Flag, flown as the dominant administering power's own flag over the Condominium, alongside the Egyptian flag in its nominal co-sovereign role; no distinct southern Sudanese flag existed in this period.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2, standard Union Flag.

LayoutUnion Flag, flown alongside the Egyptian flag under the Condominium's nominal joint sovereignty.

Union blue#00247D

Union red#CF142B

no single flag survives for the south specifically under either regime

c. 1821 – 1899

Ottoman-Egyptian expansion & the Mahdist State

Colonial ruleMuhammad Ahmad (the Mahdi)Sunni Islam (Mahdist / Ottoman-Egyptian)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: peoples trafficked north by the slave tradeConquered by: Ottoman Egypt, then the Mahdist State

Ruling house:House of Muhammad Ali (Egypt)

Who & why: Ottoman Egypt pushes military expeditions up the Nile from the 1820s, gradually extending nominal control (and a brutal ivory-and-slave trading frontier) into the southern regions, including the era of Anglo-Egyptian officials like Charles Gordon serving as governor in the 1870s-80s. A large-scale religious and political uprising under Muhammad Ahmad, who declares himself the Mahdi, overthrows Egyptian control across most of Sudan from 1881, establishing the Mahdist State, which holds power (including over much of the south) until an Anglo-Egyptian army defeats it in 1898, leading to the Condominium the following year.

What it represents: no single flag with confirmed authority over the southern regions specifically survives from either the Ottoman-Egyptian administration or the Mahdist State; this entry is shown honestly without an invented banner.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no flag with confirmed authority over the south specifically.

placeholder maroon field — stateless Nilotic peoples, no flag survives

before c. 1821

Stateless Nilotic peoples of the upper Nile

Fragmented / pre-stateNo single ruler documentedTraditional Nilotic religion (no state establishment)

Ruling house:House of Chollo (Shilluk reth)

Who & why: before Ottoman-Egyptian expansion up the Nile, the region that becomes South Sudan is home to Nilotic peoples — the Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk, and others — organized through cattle-based kinship, age-set, and chiefdom-level structures rather than centralized states. No single authority governs the region as a whole in this period.

What it represents: no securely documented unified flag survives for this era. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Fragmented / pre-state — no single ruling authority

Colonial rule — imperial or condominium administration

Civil war / state collapse — sustained armed conflict over the region's status

Republic, independent — modern sovereign republic

Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start

State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

Find the records

Family history research for South Sudan lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.

Search Record Atlas for South Sudan →

More of the atlas

This page is one lineage in a larger set. See the region-wide hub and the other countries here:

Flags Atlas indexSearch every country and hub East Africa hubEleven countries, one region