Jonglei

On October 2, 2015, the President of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit decreed the creation of Jonglei State along with 27 other states replacing 10 previous states. Jonglei comprises three counties of Bor, Twic East and Duk and is the largest state by area, with approximately 122,581 km², as well as the most populous according to the controversial 2008 census conducted during present-day South Sudan's second period of autonomy. Bor is the capital of the state.

The current governor of Jonglei State is Colonel Philip Aguer Panyang. Jonglei seceded from Sudan as part of the Republic of South Sudan on 9 July 2011. In the 21st century, Jonglei has been marred by clashes between tribes of the region which the UN estimated in May 2012 had affected the lives of over 140,000 people, and has been heavily influenced by the broader South Sudanese conflict since December 2013.

History

20th century

The capital of the state, Mading Bor, became an administrative centre under the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899 -1956) for the Dinka people. It was in Malek, a small settlement, about 19 kilometres (12 mi), south of Msding Bor that the first modern Christian mission in present-day South Sudan was established by Archibald Shaw in December 1905. Bor became the first area to host a Church Missionary Society station in 1905. Shaw opened the first primary school in Malek. This school produced the first indigenous Anglican bishop to be consecrated in Dinkaland, Daniel Deng Atong. John Aruor became the first legend to be baptized in 1916 in Mading Bor. In 1912, the British established Pibor Post, a colonial era outpost which was originally called Fort Bruce in the eastern part of Jonglei. From 1919 to 1976, the territory of today's state of Jonglei belonged to the state of the Upper Nile in what was initially Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.