Juba
Juba (Arabic: جوبا) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of South Sudan. It also serves as the capital of Central Equatoria, one of the ten states of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and functions as the seat and metropolis of Juba County.
History
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1922–1956
Sudan 1956–2011
South Sudan 2011–present
In the 19th century, a trading post and a mission, called Gondokoro, was located in the vicinity of Juba. It was the southernmost outpost of the Egyptian garrison, supported by a handful of soldiers, mostly ill due to the malaria and blackwater fever that was dominant in the region. Gondokoro was also the base of the explorers and campaigners (Sir) Samuel and Florence Baker during their expeditions to what is now South Sudan and northern Uganda from 1863 to 1865, and from 1871 to 1873.
Juba itself was established in 1922 as a small town by a number of Greek traders which were mostly supplying the British Army at the time. Although their number never exceeded 2,000 inhabitants, together with a much larger number of the native Bari tribe with whom they had an excellent relationship, the Greeks contributed in what is today visible structures downtown Juba Market area as well as the Greek Quarters (named by the British), a small suburb which today is called Hai Jalaba. Examples of the development by the Greeks are public buildings such as the beautiful stone buildings of Ivory Bank, Notos Lounge, the old Sudan Airways Building, Paradise Hotel, Nile Commercial Bank and Buffalo Commercial Bank, among others. The building of Central Bank was also built at a later stage in the mid '40s as well as the famous Juba Hotel in the mid '30s.
