South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace .jpg)
deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.
An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa's first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.
The new nation stands to benefit from inheriting the bulk of Sudan's oil wealth, but continuing disputes with Khartoum and a lack of economic development cloud its immediate future.
Geography
Formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, South Sudan is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile.
It is highly diverse ethnically and linguistically. Among the largest ethnic groups are the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.
Unlike the predominantly Muslim population of Sudan, the South Sudanese follow traditional religions, while a minority are Christians.
Geography
Formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, South Sudan is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile.
It is highly diverse ethnically and linguistically. Among the largest ethnic groups are the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.
Unlike the predominantly Muslim population of Sudan, the South Sudanese follow traditional religions, while a minority are Christians.
History
As Sudan prepared to gain independence from joint British and Egyptian rule in 1956, southern leaders accused the new authorities in Khartoum of backing out of promises to create a federal system, and of trying to impose an Islamic and Arabic identity.
In 1955, southern army officers mutinied, sparking off a civil war between the south, led by the Anya Nya guerrilla movement, and the Sudanese government.
The conflict only ended when the Addis Ababa peace agreement of 1972 accorded the south a measure of autonomy.
But, in 1983, the south, led by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and its armed wing, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), again rose in rebellion when the Sudanese government cancelled the autonomy arrangements.
At least 1.5 million people are thought to have lost their lives and more than four million were displaced in the ensuing 22 years of guerrilla warfare. Large numbers of South Sudanese fled the fighting, either to the north or to neighbouring countries, where many remain.
The conflict finally ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, under which the south was granted regional autonomy along with guaranteed representation in a national power-sharing government.
The agreement also provided for a referendum in the south on independence in 2011, in which 99% of southern Sudanese voted to split from Sudan.
Economy
Long based on subsistence agriculture, South Sudan's economy is now highly oil-dependent. While 
an estimated 75% of all the former Sudan's oil reserves are in South Sudan, the refineries and the pipeline to the Red Sea are in Sudan.
Under the 2005 accord, South Sudan received 50% of Sudan's oil proceeds, which provide the vast bulk of the country's budget. But that arrangement was set to expire with independence.
Despite the oil wealth, South Sudan is one of Africa's least developed countries. However, the years since the 2005 peace accord ushered in an economic revival and investment in utilities and other infrastructure.
Conflicts
Alongside the oil issue, several border disputes with Sudan continue to strain ties. The main row is over border region of Abyei, where a referendum for the residents to decide whether to join south or north has been delayed over voter eligibility.
The conflict is rooted in a dispute over land between farmers of the pro-South Sudan Dinka Ngok people and cattle-herding Misseriya Arab tribesmen.
Another source of conflict is the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan's South Kordofan state, where violence continues between the largely Christian and pro-SPLA Nuba people and northern government forces.
Inside South Sudan, several rebel forces opposed to the SPLM-dominated government have appeared, including the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) of Peter Gadet and a force led former SPLA general George Athor. Juba says these forces are funded by Sudan, which denies the accusation.
President: Salva Kiir Mayardiit
Salva Kiir Mayardit became president of South Sudan - then still part of Sudan - and head of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in 2005, succeeding long-time rebel leader John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash.
Mr Kiir was re-elected as president in multiparty polls in the south in April 2010.
Prior to independence, he was also vice-president of Sudan, under the power-sharing arrangements put in place in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Having fought in the south's first civil war in the 1960s, Mr Kiir joined the Sudanese army after the 1972 peace agreement. He defected to the rebels again on the resumption of fighting in 1983, later emerging as the SPLM's military leader.
Born in 1951 in Bahr al-Ghazal state, he is a Christian and - like his, predecessor John Garang - a member of the Dinka, the largest ethnic group in South Sudan.
Widely thought to lack Mr Garang's charisma, Mr Kiir has a reputation for intelligence, integrity and being able to reconcile ethnic or political opponents.
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1899-1955 - South Sudan is part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, under joint British-Egyptian rule.
1956 - Sudan gains independence from joint British-Egyptian rule.
First civil war
1962 - Civil war led by the southern seperatist Anya Nya movement begins with north.
1969 - Group of socialist and communist Sudanese military officers led by Col Jaafar Muhammad Numeiri seizes power; Col Numeiri outlines policy of autonomy for south.
1972 - Government of Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri concedes a measure of autonomy for southern Sudan in a peace agreement signed in Addis Ababa.
1978 - Oil discovered in Unity State in southern Sudan.
Second civil war
1983 - Fighting breaks out again between north and south Sudan, under leadership of John Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), after Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri abolishes South Sudan's autonomy.
1988 - Democratic Unionist Party - part of Sudan's ruling coalition government - drafts cease-fire agreement with the SPLM, but it is not implemented.
1989 - Military seizes power in Sudan.
1993 - Revolution Command Council dissolved after Omar Bashir is appointed president of Sudan.
2001 - Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi's party, the Popular National Congress, signs memorandum of understanding with the southern rebel SPLM's armed wing, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Mr Al-Turabi is arrested the next day.
Sudanese government accepts Libyan-Egyptian initiative to end the Sudanese civil war after failure of peace talks between SPLM leader John Garang and President Omar Bashir in Nairobi.
2002 - SPLA and Sudanese sign agreement on six-month renewable cease-fire in central Nuba Mountains - a key rebel stronghold.
Talks in Kenya lead to a breakthrough agreement between southern rebels and Sudanese government on ending the civil war. The Machakos Protocol provides for the south to seek self-determination after six years.
North-south peace deal
2005 January - North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ends civil war; deal provides for a permanent ceasefire, autonomy for the south, a power-sharing government involving rebels in Khartoum and a south Sudanese referendum on independence in six years' time.
2005 July - Former southern rebel leader John Garang is sworn in as first vice-president. A new Sudanese constitution which gives the south a large degree of autonomy is signed.
2005 August - South Sudanese leader John Garang is killed in a plane crash. He is succeeded by Salva Kiir Mayardiit. Mr Garang's death sparks deadly clashes in the capital between southern Sudanese and northern Arabs.
2005September - Power-sharing government is formed in Khartoum.
2005 October - Autonomous government is formed in South Sudan, in line with the January 2005 peace deal. The administration is dominated by former rebels.
Fragile peace
2006 November - Hundreds die in fighting centred on the southern town of Malakal - the heaviest between northern Sudanese forces and former rebels since the 2005 peace deal.
2007 October - SPLM temporarily suspends participation in national unity government, accusing Khartoum of failing to honour the 2005 peace deal.
2007 December - SPLM resumes participation in national unity government.
2008 March - Tensions rise over clashes between an Arab militia and SPLM in the disputed Abyei area on the north-south divide - a key sticking point in the 2005 peace accord.
Tension over Abyei
2008 May - Dominic Dim Deng, defence minister in southern Sudan's autonomous government, is killed in a plane crash.
Intense fighting breaks out between northern and southern forces in disputed oil-rich town of Abyei.
2008 June - Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir and Sudanese President Omar Bashir agree to seek international arbitration to resolve dispute over Abyei.
2008 October - Allegations that Ukrainian tanks hijacked off the coast of Somalia were bound for southern Sudan spark fears of an arms race between the North and former rebels in the South.
2009 June - Khartoum government denies it is supplying arms to ethnic groups in the south to destabilise the region.
South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir warns his forces are being re-organised to be ready for any return to war with the north.
Ex-foreign minister Lam Akol splits from South's ruling SPLM to form new party, SPLM-Democratic Change.
2009 July - North and south Sudan say they accept ruling by arbitration court in The Hague shrinking disputed Abyei region and placing the major Heglig oil field in the north.
Independence referendum
2009 December - Leaders of North and South reach deal on terms of referendum on independence due in South by 2011.
2010 January - President Omar Bashir says he would accept referendum result, even if South opted for independence.
2011 January - The people of South Sudan vote in favour of full independence from Sudan.
2011 February - Clashes between the security forces and rebels in southern Sudan's Jonglei state leave more than 100 dead.
Fighting breaks out near Abyei.
2011 March - Government of South Sudan says it is suspending talks with the North, accusing it of plotting a coup.
2011 May - North occupies disputed border region of Abyei.
2011 June - Governments of north and south Sudan sign accord to demilitarize the disputed Abyei region and let in an Ethiopian peacekeeping force.
2011 9 July - Independence day.
2011 August - UN says at least 600 people are killed in ethnic clashes in the state of Jonglei.
2011 September - South Sudan's cabinet votes to designate Ramciel - a planned city in Unity State - as the future capital.
2011 October - President Salva Kiir makes historic first visit Khartoum since independence. South Sudan and Sudan agree to set up several committees tasked with resolving their outstanding disputes.
At 75 people are killed when rebels of the South Sudan Liberation Army attack the town of Mayom, in Unity State.
2011 November - South Sudan blames Sudan for the aerial bombardment of a refugee camp in Yida, in Unity State; Sudan's army denies being responsible.
2012 January - South Sudan declares a disaster in Jonglei State after some 100,000 flee clashes between rival ethnic groups.
2012 February - Sudan and South Sudan sign non-aggression pact at talks on outstanding secession issues, but Sudan then shuts down the South's oil export pipelines in a dispute over fees. South Sudan halves public spending on all but salaries in consequence.
2012 April - After weeks of border fighting, South Sudan troops temporarily occupy the oil field and border town of Heglig before being repulsed. Sudanese warplanes raid the Bentiu area in South Sudan.
2012 May - Sudan pledges to pull its troops out of the border region of Abyei, which is also claimed by South Sudan, as bilateral peace talks resume.
2012 July - Country marks first anniversary amid worsening economic crisis and no let-up in tension with Sudan.
2012 August - Some 200,000 refugees flee into South Sudan to escape fighting between Sudanese army and rebels in Sudan's southern border states.
South Sudan strikes a deal with Sudan over export of oil through Sudan's pipelines.
2012 September - The US warns the UN Security Council that Sudan's refusal to accept an African-Union-brokered border deal with South Sudan could spark an "outright conflict".
