When two sentences are combined in a way that shows they are of equal importance, the result is a compound sentence. Such a sentence contains two complete subject-predicate constructs.
Each of the subject-predicate constructs could be an independent sentence; however, once they are connected, we call them independent clauses.
To connect the independent clauses, we use one of the following:
A coordinate conjunction (and, but, or, nor, yet, so, for)
A conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, moreover, nevertheless, meanwhile)
A punctuation (semicolon , colon)