Originally a province of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, it also contained most of northern parts of present-day Uganda, including Lake Albert and West Nile.

It was an idealistic effort to create a model state in the interior of Africa that never consisted of more than a handful of adventurers and soldiers in isolated outposts.

The region has been troubled with violence during both the First and Second Sudanese Civil Wars, as well as the anti-Ugandan insurgencies based in Sudan such as the Lord's Resistance Army and West Nile Bank Front.

They live in the counties of Budi, Ezo, Juba, Kajo-keji, Kapoeta, Magwi, Maridi, Lainya, Mundri, Terekeka, Tombura, Torit, Yambio, and Yei.

The following tribes occupy the three states of Greater Equatoria: Acholi, Avukaya, Baka, Balanda, Bari, Didinga, Kakwa, Keliko, Kuku, Lango, Lokoya, Narim, Lopit, Lugbwara, Lulubo, Madi, Makaraka or Adio, Moru, Mundari, Mundu, Nyangwara, Otuho, Pari, Pojulu, Tenet, Toposa and Azande.

Some of these tribes like Bari, Pojulu, Kuku, Kakwa, Mundari and Nyangwara share a common language, but their accents, and some adjectives and nouns do vary; the same applies to Keliko, Moru and Madi.

Many musicians from Equatoria use English, Lingala, Kiswahili, Arabi Juba (Arabic Creole), their language or dialect or a mix of all.

Baker's attempt to create additional trading posts and control Equatoria was unsuccessful because villages surrounding Gondokoro were frequently bypassed by Arab invaders who wanted to impose their culture and way of life on the people.

In 1881, Muhammad Ahmad Abdullah, a Muslim religious leader, proclaimed himself the Mahdi ("expected one") and began a holy war to unify the tribes of Western and Central Sudan, including Equatoria.

The British sent the explorer Henry Morton Stanley and who led a relief expedition, called the "Advance," in February 1887 to rescue Emin.

The government actions created resentment in the south that led to a mutiny by a group of Equatorians sparking the 21 year civil war (1955–1972 and 1983–2004).

The origins of Sudan's civil war dates back to 1955, a year before independence, when it became clear the Arabs were going to take over the national government in Khartoum.

Equatoria gave its name to the southernmost unit of the British Sudan Defence Force, formed during the Anglo-Egyptian administration.

2 Company had been ordered to make ready to move to the north, but instead of obeying, the troops mutinied, along with other Southern soldiers across the south in Juba, Yei, Yambio, and Maridi.

The Khartoum government sent other Sudan Defence Force units to quell the rebellion and many mutineers of the Equatoria Corps went into hiding rather than surrender.

The rebellion that emerged from the Equatoria Corps was later called Anya Nya and the leaders were separatists, who demanded the creation of a separate South Sudanese nation, free from Arab domination.

By the early 1960s civilians believed to be Anya Nya sympathizers were arrested and shipped to Kodok concentration camp where they were tortured and killed.

By the late 1960s, the war had resulted in the deaths of half a million people and several hundred thousand southerners escaped to hide in the forests or to refugee camps in neighboring countries.

On May 25, 1969, Colonel Gaafar Muhammed Nimeiri led a military coup and overthrew General Ibrahim Abboud's regime.

In 1971 Joseph Lagu, from the Madi ethnic group, became the leader of the southern forces opposed to Khartoum government and founded the South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM).

The national government would maintain authority over defense, foreign affairs, currency, and finance, and economic and social planning, and interregional concerns.

The new regime began negotiations led by Colonel John Garang de Mabior, the leader of the Sala, but failed to reach an agreement to end the southern insurgency.

In January 2020, the National Alliance for Democracy and Freedom Action (NADAFA) sought to join talks in Rome seeking to resolve political rifts within South Sudan.

NADAFA sought a power-sharing arrangement in the new national government, with "People’s Constitutional Conventions" held in Equatoria, Upper Nile and Bahr al Ghazal.