Sudan is located in northeastern Africa. The name Sudan derives from the Arabic expression bilād al-sūdān (“land of the blacks”), by which medieval Arab geographers referred to the settled African countries that began at the southern edge of the Sahara. For more than a century, Sudan—first as a colonial holding, then as an independent country—included its neighbor South Sudan, home to many sub-Saharan African ethnic groups.  Since ancient times, the Sudan region has been an arena for interaction between the cultural traditions of Africa and those of the Mediterranean world.  Islam and the Arabic language achieved ascendancy in many northern parts of the region, while older African languages and cultures predominated in the south.

The country became independent in 1956 and has had numerous changes in government since then. Successive regimes found it difficult to win general acceptance from the diverse political constituencies. Costly and divisive civil wars have prevailed in this region over the years. Then in 2005, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended the warfare. It granted southern Sudan semiautonomous status and stipulated that a referendum on independence for the south would be held in six years. The results of the vote, held in January 2011, were overwhelmingly in favor of independence, and South Sudan was declared an independent country on July 9, 2011.