[3] From the 13th century, with the disintegration of Alodia, the Dinka began to migrate out of Gezira, fleeing slave raids, military conflict, and droughts.

Cultural practices, such as beer-drinking rituals during sowing and harvesting dhurra, reflect similarities to Nubian traditions noted by Ibn Selim el-Assouani, indicating a continuity of influence from Alwa.

Shared Nilotic traditions, such as human sacrifice and ceremonial regicide, further indicate a cultural heritage influenced by Nubian practices.

Additionally, 13th-century accounts by Ibn Sa'id al-Andalusi describe the Damadim, who were engaged in conflict with the Alodians, highlighting interactions between Nilotic groups and Nubian territories.

Archaeological evidence, including the tradition of king-killing, links the Dinka to later groups who lived in Alodia's successor state Fazughli where the custom persisted into the 19th century.

[7] The political instability of Alwa coincided with the rise of slave raiding, creating social pressures that may have prompted Dinka migration south.

Lastly, Dinka oral traditions recounting southward migrations align with their historical narrative in the Gezira, reinforcing the significance of their interactions with Nubian cultures.

Collectively, these factors support the argument that the ancestors of the Dinka were closely connected to the kingdom of Alwa, shaping their cultural practices and historical trajectory.

[3] They were reported to live southwest of Alodia, possibly in the Southern Gezira or around the Bahr al-Ghazal and Sobat regions of South Sudan.

Despite these evolving relations, the Dinka continued to expand into western and southern territories, solidifying their presence and dominance in much of modern South Sudan.

Since the independence of South Sudan, the Dinka, led by Salva Kiir Mayardit, engaged in a civil war with the Nuer and other groups, who accuse them of monopolising power.

[15] Between 2013 and 2014, forces led by the breakaway Riek Machar faction deliberately killed an estimated 2,000 civilians from Hol, Nyarweng, Twic east and Bor[16][1][17] and wounded several thousand more over two months.

Vast oil areas are present to the south and east on the flood plain, a basin in southern Sudan into which the rivers of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia drain from an ironstone plateau that belts the regions of Bahr El Ghazal and Upper Nile.

The terrain can be divided into four land classes: The ecology of the large basin is unique; until recently, wild animals and birds flourished, rarely hunted by the agro-pastoralists.

They begin moving around May–June, at the onset of the rainy season, migrating to their settlements of mud and thatch housing situated above flood level, where they plant their crops of millet and other grains.

The Dinka also grow okra, sesame, pumpkin, cow peas, maize, cassava, ground nuts, different types of beans, water melons, tobacco and millet.

Wealth is acquired when a man and his family produce a small surplus of crops which they convert into a more stable and valuable resource, cattle.

However, those Dinka male members of a clan who possess animals bought with grain, rather than acquired by way of marriage payments, are more honored and given more respect because their wealth is perceived as being more stable.

Hump backed cattle were considerably stronger than the previous humpless breeds in southern Sudan and are capable of withstanding long-distance transhumance patterns.

There was a long series of droughts that plagued Southern Sudan during this time period intensified the reliance on cattle for the people of the region, since livestock are indispensable in bad years when crop failure occurs.

The introduction of this new breed by the Dinka was a significant causative factor in the spread of modern patterns of Nilotic pastoralism in Southern Sudan.

These mounds were built in the form of a cone and the material used was cattle ashes, cow dung, cotton soil, clay, and debris.

The pyramid is located north of the Paliang region in the Bahr el-Ghazal, and local Dinka estimate that it pre-dates the Egyptian colonial period (1821) and hence is at least over 200 years old.

During the harvest season of each year it was cleared of grass, more earth was added to it, and the surface smoothed by women who made stripes along the pyramid with large quantities of durra (flour).

During the celebrations the people gathered together for communal offerings to the spirit of Ayuong Dit and a “new fire” ceremony was performed in which eight bulls were sacrificed to bring fertility to the women."

Aliab Dinka Parmena Awerial Aluong recounts a different oral history that suggests that the mound was built on the orders of Ayuel Longar himself.

According to historical accounts there were many years of toil in the early days during which Ayuel, who had reached the Nile and Sobat Rivers, ordered his people to construct a large monument.

Note that these divisions are further divided into several subdivisions; for example, Dinka Rek is subdivided into Aguok, Kuac, and many other things, but they speak the same language; only the pronunciation is slightly different.

The Atuot people can be divided into Apaak and Reel, Bor, Twic, Nyarweng and Hol[39][17] and Panaruu into Awet and Kuel and Jieng into Ador and Lou.