Sudan is ethnically diverse and physically vast. It has endured many years of violent civil war between the Arab/Muslim North and the Black/Christian South. In 2011, South Sudan gained its independence from the North so that two governments now rule; however, the conflict has continued. There are at least 10 different ethnic groups among the refugees from Sudan that have resettled in the United States. Since 2003, New York State has resettled 897 Sudanese refugees, with 164 in the 2013 fiscal year. Many of these refugees have settled in Buffalo.