Sub-Saharan Africa is the areas and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territories that are situated fully in that specified region, the term may also include polities that only have part of their territory located in that region, per the definition of the United Nations (UN). This is considered a non-standardised geographical region with the number of countries included varying from 46 to 48 depending on the organisation describing the region (e.g. UN, WHO, World Bank, etc.). The African Union (AU) uses a different regional breakdown, recognising all 55 member states on the continent—grouping them into five distinct and standard regions.
The term serves as a grouping counterpart to North Africa, which is instead grouped with the definition of MENA (i.e. Middle East and North Africa) as it is part of the Arab world, and most North African states are likewise members of both the Arab League and the AU. However, while they are also member states of the Arab League, the Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, and Somalia (and sometimes Sudan) are all geographically considered to be part of sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, the UN Development Programme applies the "sub-Saharan" classification to 46 of Africa's 55 countries, excluding Djibouti, SADR, Somalia, and Sudan.
Since around 3900 BCE, the Saharan and sub-Saharan regions of Africa have been separated by the extremely harsh climate of the sparsely populated Sahara, forming an effective barrier that is interrupted only by the Nile in Sudan, though navigation on the Nile was blocked by the Sudd and the river's cataracts. The Sahara pump theory explains how flora and fauna (including Homo sapiens) left Africa to penetrate Eurasia and beyond. African pluvial periods are associated with a "Wet Sahara" phase, during which larger lakes and more rivers existed.
Nomenclature and conceptual criticism Geographers historically divided the region into several distinct ethnographic sections based on each area's respective inhabitants. The concept of "sub-Saharan Africa" has been criticised as a racist construction intended to separate Africa. Critics from various countries have provided arguments supporting the interconnectedness of continental Africa, pointing to historical and cultural connections, as well as trade between North, West, and East Africa. Another source of criticism has been that traditional racial taxonomy which has arbitrarily divided separated Africa into a white "northern" Africa and black "southern" Africa, has overlooked common genetic links and regional diversity across the continent.p.516-517- "Interestingly, and for some unexpectedly, in terms of older ideas about living African populations and ‘race’, the P2 mutation is a distant descendant of M96, deep within the E haplogroup family tree. P2’s (E1b1’s) immediate ancestors and their siblings are all found in tropical Africa. This is important in that it shows a primary connection between males from all over Africa, including supra-Saharan western Africa and Egypt. Significantly, the E haplogroup does not split at its base into two different macro-populations that occupy different sides of the Sahara, as might be anticipated based on old ideas about African human variation – a ‘white’ and ‘black’ Africa – and traditional ‘racial’ taxonomy."p.526 - "Interestingly, and for some unexpectedly, in terms of older ideas about living African populations and ‘race’, the P2 mutation is a distant descendant of M96, deep within the E haplogroup family tree. P2’s (E1b1’s) immediate ancestors and their siblings are all found in tropical Africa. This is important in that it shows a primary connection between males from all over Africa, including supra-Saharan western Africa and Egypt. Significantly, the E haplogroup does not split at its base into two different macro-populations that occupy different sides of the Sahara, as might be anticipated based on old ideas about African human variation – a ‘white’ and ‘black’ Africa – and traditional ‘racial’ taxonomy."
Commentators in Arabic in the medieval period used the general term bilâd as-sûdân ("Land of the Blacks") for the vast Sudan region (an expression denoting Central and West Africa), or sometimes extending from the coast of West Africa to Western Sudan.Nehemia Levtzion, Randall Lee Pouwels, The History of Islam in Africa, (Ohio University Press, 2000), p. 255. Its equivalent in Southeast Africa was Zanj ("Country of the Blacks"), which referred primarily to the Swahili coast.
The geographers drew an explicit ethnographic distinction between the Sudan region and its analogue Zanj, from the area to their extreme east on the Red Sea coast in the Horn of Africa. In modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea was Al-Habash or Abyssinia,Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, (Tsehai, 2003), p. 30. which was inhabited by the Habash or Abyssinians, who were the forebears of the Habesha.Jonah Blank, Mullahs on the mainframe: Islam and modernity among the Daudi Bohras, (University of Chicago Press, 2001), p. 163. In northern Somalia was Barbara or the Bilad al-Barbar ("Land of the Berbers"), which was inhabited by the Eastern Baribah or Barbaroi, as the ancestors of the Somalis were referred to by medieval Arab and ancient Greek geographers, respectively.F.R.C. Bagley et al., The Last Great Muslim Empires, (Brill: 1997), p. 174Bethwell A. Ogot, Zamani: A Survey of East African History, (East African Publishing House: 1974), p. 104James Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Part 12: V. 12, (Kessinger Publishing, LLC: 2003), p. 490
List of countries and regional organisation Sub-Saharan Africa is composed of 49 countries. Only six African countries are not geopolitically a part of sub-Saharan Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara (claimed by Morocco); they form the UN subregion of Northern Africa, which also makes up the largest bloc of the Arab World. Nevertheless, some international organisations include Sudan as part of North Africa. Although a long-standing member of the Arab League, Sudan has around 30% non-Arab populations in the west (Darfur, Masalit, Zaghawa), far north (Nubian) and south (Kordofan, Nuba),Towson.edu and a large mixed native Nubian and Arab population (not just Arabized), that represents the majority at 70% hence its inclusion in North Africa. Geopolitically, culturally, historically and economically, Sudan has long standing relationships with the wider Arab world. It's most notable connections flow North to Egypt and East across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Sudan is seen as a geostrategic Red Sea state in the wider Middle East and North African region.. Mauritania and Niger only include a band of the Sahel along their southern borders. All other African countries have at least significant portions of their territory within sub-Saharan Africa. + African countries by region Region Subregion Country Capital Currency Language(s) Central Africa Economic Community of Central African States Luanda Angolan kwanza (Kz) Portuguese Gitega Burundian franc (FBu) Kirundi, French, English Kinshasa Congolese franc (FC) French São Tomé São Tomé and Príncipe dobra (Db) Portuguese CEMAC Yaoundé Central African CFA franc (FCFA) English, French Bangui Central African CFA franc (FCFA) Sango, French N'Djamena Central African CFA franc (FCFA) French, Arabic Brazzaville Central African CFA franc (FCFA) French Ciudad de la Paz Central African CFA franc (FCFA) Spanish, French Libreville Central African CFA franc (FCFA) French East Africa Economic Community of Central African States / Horn Khartoum Sudanese pound (£S.) Arabic (Sudanese Arabic), English Juba South Sudanese pound (£) English, Arabic (Juba Arabic) Mogadishu Somali shilling (So.Sh) Somali, Arabic Nairobi Kenyan shilling (KSh /=) Swahili, English Kampala Ugandan shilling (USh /=) Swahili, English Kigali Rwandan franc (RF) Kinyarwanda, English, French, Swahili Dodoma Tanzanian shilling (TSh /=) Swahili, English Gitega Burundian franc (FBu) Kirundi, French Asmara Eritrean nakfa (Nfk) Tigrinya, Arabic, Italian, English Djibouti Djiboutian franc (Fdj) Arabic, French Southern Africa Southern African Development Community Luanda Angolan kwanza (Kz) Portuguese Gaborone Botswana pula (P) Tswana, English Moroni Comorian franc (FC) Comorian, Arabic, French Mbabane Swazi lilangeni (L/E) SiSwati, English Maseru Lesotho loti (L/M) Sesotho, English Antananarivo Malagasy ariary (Ar.) Malagasy, French Lilongwe Malawian kwacha (MK) English Port Louis Mauritian rupee (Re/Rs) English Maputo Mozambican metical (MTn) Portuguese Windhoek Namibian dollar (N$) English Victoria Seychellois rupee (Re/Rs) Seychellois Creole, English, French Pretoria / Cape Town / Bloemfontein South African rand (R) 11 official languages Lusaka Zambian kwacha (ZK) English Harare Zimbabwean dollar ($) English West Africa ECOWAS Yamoussoukro / Abidjan West African CFA franc (CFA) Banjul Gambian dalasi (D) Accra Ghanaian cedi (GH₵) Conakry Guinean franc (FG) Monrovia Liberian dollar (L$) Nouakchott Mauritanian ouguiya (UM) Abuja Nigerian naira (₦) Freetown Sierra Leonean leone (Le) West African Economic and Monetary Union Porto-Novo West African CFA franc (CFA) Ouagadougou West African CFA franc (CFA) Yamoussoukro / Abidjan West African CFA franc (CFA) Bissau West African CFA franc (CFA) Bamako West African CFA franc (CFA) Niamey West African CFA franc (CFA) Dakar West African CFA franc (CFA) Lomé West African CFA franc (CFA)
History
Prehistory
According to palaeontology, early hominid skull anatomy was similar to that of their close cousins, the great African forest apes, gorilla and chimpanzee. However, they had adopted a bipedal locomotion and freed hands, giving them a crucial advantage enabling them to live in both forested areas and on the open savanna at a time when Africa was drying up, with savanna encroaching on forested areas. This occurred 10 million to 5 million years ago.Shillington, Kevin(2005). History of Africa, Rev. 2nd Ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 2, .
By 3 million years ago several australopithecine hominid species had developed throughout Southern, East, and Central Africa. They were tool users rather than tool manufacturers. The next major evolutionary step occurred around 2.3 million BCE, when primitive stone tools were used to scavenge the carcasses of animals killed by other predators, both for their meat and their marrow. In hunting, H. habilis was most likely not capable of competing with large predators and was more prey than hunter, although H. habilis likely did steal eggs from nests and may have been able to catch small game and weakened larger prey such as cubs and older animals. The tools were classed as Oldowan.Shillington, Kevin(2005). History of Africa, Rev. 2nd Ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 2–3, .