Two nations, one date: Argentina and South Sudan both mark independence on July 9

Argentina and South Sudan both mark their independence day on 9 July, despite their founding declarations coming almost two centuries apart on different continents.

Argentina’s independence dates to 9 July 1816, when the Congress of Tucumán declared the country’s independence from Spanish colonial rule, under the name of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. The declaration, signed at the house of Francisca Bazán de Laguna, followed a decade of upheaval that began with the repulsion of British attacks on Buenos Aires in 1806 and continued through the crisis triggered by Napoleon Bonaparte’s occupation of Spain. The day, known as “Nueve de Julio,” remains a federal holiday marked by parades, fireworks and speeches.

South Sudan’s independence is far more recent: on 9 July 2011, the country formally separated from Sudan, becoming Africa’s 54th independent state after a January 2011 referendum in which 98.8 per cent of voters backed independence. The vote followed a 2005 peace agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War, a conflict that killed an estimated two million people. South Sudan joined the United Nations as its 193rd member state on 14 July 2011.

The shared date is coincidental, but it means 9 July carries distinct national significance in both South America and East Africa.

Elsewhere, 9 July is also marked in Canada as Nunavut Day, commemorating the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, and in the United States as the anniversary of the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868.