Draw South Sudan from Memory
Test your geography knowledge by drawing South Sudan from memory on a blank canvas. Shape comparison scoring is coming soon — practice South Sudan's outline in the meantime.
Related Countries in Africa
Why South Sudan Looks the Way It Does
In 2011 a border that had lived only on paper became a real one. A referendum in January of that year produced about 99 percent in favor of leaving, and South Sudan declared independence that July, the end of a war with Khartoum that had run, with one truce in the middle, for more than half a century: 1955 to 1972, then 1983 to 2005.
The lines themselves were never negotiated by anyone in Juba. They are condominium cartography, inherited whole from maps drawn when Britain governed north and south as separate problems; a policy of the 1920s went so far as to require permits for southerners traveling north, and the old provincial boundaries simply hardened into international ones. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Central African Republic and the rump Sudan all keep edges fixed by officials who never expected them to be borders between states, and in the southeast the Ilemi triangle, administered by Kenya but claimed by both Sudans, remains one of the continent's unsettled lines.
At the center sits the Sudd, one of the world's great wetlands, where the White Nile spreads into papyrus flats and shifting channels that defeated every attempt at through navigation; a canal begun to drain it was abandoned unfinished during the war. The marsh is a large part of why the south stayed apart from Khartoum for a century, and on a blank page it is the outline's only soft feature: a plain quadrilateral with a faint outward bulge around the wet heart is close enough.
Quick Facts: South Sudan
- Capital
- Juba
- Continent
- Africa
- Bordering countries
- 5 countries — Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Central African Republic
- Area
- 619,745 km²
What is "Drawing South Sudan from Memory"?
Drawing South Sudan from memory means sketching South Sudan's border on a blank canvas without looking at a map. Focus on the country's distinctive features and overall shape — that's what pushes your accuracy score up.
South Sudan sits in Africa and is rated ★★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — a trickier outline with more detail to remember. It connects to 5 neighboring country pages on this site. Border comparison scoring for South Sudan is coming soon — the shape tips below will get your mental map sharp before it lands.
South Sudan is a young, landlocked country in East-Central Africa, its outline a rough, boxy quadrilateral. The White Nile runs through its marshy center, and its borders touch Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Central African Republic.
How to Draw South Sudan from Memory
Step 01
Sketch South Sudan as a boxy, roughly four-sided country with no coastline at all, tucked right in the heart of East-Central Africa. It is one of the youngest countries on the map, so the outline is simple and unpolished; draw it as a broad, slightly irregular quadrilateral with no dramatic features at all to hang a memory on.
Step 02
Give the box its interior character with the White Nile, which flows north through the middle of the country, widening into the vast Sudd marshlands. You won't draw the river itself on the outline, but letting the eastern and western sides bow slightly outward around that watery center keeps the shape true, so keep the bulge gentle rather than obvious.
Step 03
Lock the sides with the surrounding countries: Sudan caps the long northern border, Ethiopia holds the east, Kenya and Uganda the south, and Central African Republic the west. Keep those frontiers long and mostly straight, and South Sudan's youthful quadrilateral falls into place, a fresh, simple young block among older, more jagged states.
A boxy new country born in 2011, landlocked south of the old Sudan, its straight sides hemmed by the Nile and the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda.
How South Sudan Is Scored
When you hit Reveal & compare, your sketch is measured against South Sudan's real border, point by point, in the same canvas space. Three numbers come back:
Matched — the share of the real border your drawing covered. 100% means you traced every part of the outline.
Extra — how much of your drawing fell outside the true border. This catches sketches that are too big, mispositioned, or drifting off.
Missed — the border you didn't reach, the flip side of Matched.
The three combine into a single 0–100 accuracy score. The rating names give you a target: 80+ is Cartographer, 60+ is Border patrol, 40+ is Getting there, and below 40 is Try again.
Automated scoring for South Sudan is coming soon. When it ships, drawing large and centered will be the fastest way to raise your score, because a small sketch overlaps less of the true border.
FAQ
- Which countries are South Sudan's neighbors?
- South Sudan connects to 5 neighboring country pages on this site: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Central African Republic. Once you've drawn South Sudan, try a neighbor next — drawing two shapes side by side locks both into your mental map.
- How hard is it to draw South Sudan from memory?
- South Sudan is rated ★★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — a trickier outline with more detail to remember. Automated scoring is coming soon, so use the shape tips below to practice in the meantime.
- How is my South Sudan drawing scored?
- Once South Sudan's border data goes live, your sketch will be compared with the real border point by point. You'll get a 0–100 score built from Matched, Missed, and Extra, plus a clear overlay showing where you nailed it and where you drifted.
- Can I draw South Sudan on mobile?
- Yes — South Sudan works on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Draw with your finger on touchscreens; no app download is required and it runs directly in your browser.