Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara. ^{[1] [2]} It contrasts with North Africa, which is considered a part of the Arab world. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

The Sahel is the transitional zone between the Sahara and the tropical savanna (the Sudan region) and forest-savanna mosaic to the south. The Horn of Africa and large areas of Sudan are geographically part of sub-Saharan Africa, but nevertheless show strong Middle Eastern influence and, with the exception of Ethiopia, are also part of the Arab world. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]}

Since around 5,400 years ago, ^[11] 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 interrupted by only the Nile River in Sudan, though the Nile was blocked by the river's cataracts. The Sahara Pump Theory explains how flora and fauna (including Homo sapiens) left Africa to penetrate the Middle East and beyond to Europe and Asia. African pluvial periods are associated with a "wet Sahara" phase during which larger lakes and more rivers exist. ^[12]

Sub-Saharan Africa has a wide variety of climate zones or biomes. South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular are considered Megadiverse countries.

• The Sahel cuts across all of Africa at a latitude of about 10° to 15° N. Countries that include parts of the Sahara proper in their northern territories and parts of the Sahel in their southern region include Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan.
• South of the Sahel, there is a belt of savanna, ( Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic) widening to include most of Southern Sudan and Ethiopia in the east ( East Sudanian savanna).
• The Horn of Africa includes arid semi-desert along its coast, contrasting with savanna and moist broadleaf forests in the interior of Ethiopia.
• Africa's tropical rainforest stretches along the southern coast of West Africa and dominates Central Africa (the Congo) west of the African Great Lakes
• The Eastern Miombo woodlands are an ecoregion of Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.
• The Serengeti ecosystem is located in north-western Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya.
• The Kalahari Basin includes the Kalahari Desert surrounded by a belt of semi-desert
• The Bushveld is a tropical savanna ecoregion of Southern Africa.
• The Karoo is a semi-desert in western South Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa is historically known as "Ethiopia" or "Aethiopia". ^[13]

The East African Rift region is the presumed area of human origins. Homo sapiens appeared some 250,000 years ago, and spread within Africa, to Southern Africa ( L1) and West Africa ( L2), before also migrating out of Africa some 70,000 years ago ( L3).

Between 13,000 and 11,0000 BCE wild grains began to be collected as a source of food in the cataract region of the nile, south of Egypt. The collecting of wild grains as source of food spread to Syria, parts of Turkey and Iran by the eleventh millenium BCE. By the tenth and ninth millenia southwest Asians domesticated their wild grains, wheat and barley after the notion of collecting wild grains was spread from the nile.

The Bantu expansion is a major migration movement originating in West Africa around 2500 BC, reaching East and Central Africa by 1000 BC and Southern Africa by the early centuries AD.

After the Sahara became a desert, it did not present a totally impenetrable barrier for travelers between North and South due to the application of animal husbandry towards carrying water, food, and supplies across the desert. Prior to the introduction of the camel, ^[14] the use of oxen for desert crossing was common, and trade routes followed chains of oases that were strung across the desert. It is thought that the camel was first brought to Egypt after the Persian Empire conquered Egypt in 525 BC, although large herds did not become common enough in North Africa to establish the trans-Saharan trade until the eighth century AD. ^[15]

The distribution of the Nilo-Saharan linguistic phylum is evidence of a certain coherence of the central Sahara, the Sahel and East Africa in prehistoric times. Ancient Nubia appears to have acted as a link connecting Ancient Egypt to sub-Saharan Africa, based on traces of prehistoric south-to-north gene flow. ^[16] Kush, Nubia at her greatest phase is considered sub-saharan Africa's oldest urban civialization. Nubia was a major source of gold for the ancient world. Accordingly, the Old Nubian language is itself a member of the Nilo-Saharan phylum. Old Nubian (arguably besides Meroitic) represents the oldest attested African language outside the Afro-Asiatic group.

The Axumite Empire spanned the southern Sahara and the Sahel along the western shore of the Red Sea. Located in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, Aksum was deeply involved in the trade network between India and the Mediterranean. Emerging from ca. the 4th century BC, it rose to prominence by the 1st century AD. It was succeeded by the Zagwe dynasty in the 10th century.

Parts of northwestern Somalia came under the control of Ethiopian Empire in the 14th century, until in 1527 a revolt under Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi led to an invasion of Ethiopia. The Ajuran dynasty ruled parts of East Africa from the 16th to 20th centuries.

Kenya's proximity to the Arabian Peninsula invited colonization, and Arab and Persian settlements sprouted along the coast by the 8th century. During the first millennium AD, Nilotic and Bantu-speaking peoples moved into the region, and the latter now comprise three-quarters of Kenya's population. In the centuries preceding colonization, the Swahili coast of Kenya was part of the east African region which traded with the Arab world and India especially for ivory and slaves. Swahili, a Bantu language with many Arabic, Persian and other Middle Eastern and South Asian loan words, developed as a lingua franca for trade between the different peoples.

In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first European to reach the East African coast, and by 1525 the Portuguese had subdued the entire coast. Portuguese control lasted until the early 18th century, when Arabs from Oman established a foothold in the region. Assisted by Omani Arabs, the indigenous coastal dwellers succeeded in driving the Portuguese from the area north of the Ruvuma River by the early 18th century.

The Nok culture is known from a type of terracotta figure found in Nigeria, dating to between 500 BC and AD 200. There were a number of medieval kingdoms of the southern Sahara and the Sahel, based on trans-Saharan trade, including the Ghana Empire and the Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, the Kanem Empire and the subsequent Bornu Empire. The Benin Empire was a pre-colonial state of Nigeria (1440–1897).

The kingdoms of Ifẹ and Oyo in the western block of Nigeria became prominent about 700–900 and 1400 respectively. Another prominent kingdom in south western Nigeria was the Kingdom of Benin whose power lasted between the 15th and 19th century. Their dominance reached as far as the well known city of Eko which was named Lagos by the Portuguese traders and other early European settlers. In the 18th century, the Oyo and the Aro confederacy were responsible for most of the slaves exported from Nigeria. ^[17]

Following the Napoleonic wars, the British expanded trade with the Nigerian interior. In 1885, British claims to a West African sphere of influence received international recognition and in the following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George Taubman Goldie. In 1900, the company's territory came under the control of the British Government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On January 1, 1901, Nigeria became a British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world power at the time.

at Urewe, in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. There follow a series of southwards advances, establishing a Congo nucleus by the end of the 1st millennium BC. In a final movement, the Bantu expansion reaches Southern Africa in the 1st millennium AD.

Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples, who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen, were already present south of the Limpopo River by the 4th or 5th century (see Bantu expansion) displacing and absorbing the original Khoi-San speakers. They slowly moved south and the earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoi-San people, reaching the Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape Province.

Monomotapa was a medieval kingdom (c. 1250–1629) which used to stretch between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers of Southern Africa in the modern states of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It enjoys great fame for the ruins at its old capital of Great Zimbabwe.

In 1487, Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to reach the southernmost tip of Africa. In 1652, a victualling station was established at the Cape of Good Hope by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, the slowly-expanding settlement was a Dutch possession.

Great Britain seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1795, ostensibly to stop it falling into the hands of the French but also seeking to use Cape Town in particular as a stop on the route to Australia and India. It was later returned to the Dutch in 1803, but soon afterwards the Dutch East India Company declared bankruptcy, and the British annexed the Cape Colony in 1806.

The Zulu Kingdom (1817–79) was a Southern African tribal state in what is now Kwa-Zulu Natal in south-eastern South Africa. The small kingdom gained world fame during and after the Anglo-Zulu War.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world, suffering from the effects of economic mismanagement, corruption in local government, and inter-ethnic conflict.^{[ citation needed]} The region contains most of the least developed countries in the world. The sub-Saharan African countries form the bulk of the ACP countries. Malaria is a chronic impediment to economic development. The disease slows growth by about 1.3% per year through lost time due to illness and the cost of treatment and prevention measures. According to the World Bank, the region's GDP would have been 32% higher in 2003 had the disease been eradicated in 1960. ^[18]

The population of sub-Saharan Africa was 800 million in 2007. ^[19] The current growth rate is 2.3%. The UN predicts for the region a population of nearly 1.5 billion in 2050. ^[20]

Sub-Saharan African countries top the list of countries and territories by fertility rate with 40 of the highest 50, all with TFR greater than 4 in 2008. All are above the world average except South Africa. Figures for life expectancy, malnourishment, infant mortality and HIV/AIDS infections are also dramatic. More than 40% of the population in sub-Saharan countries is younger than 15 years old, as well as in the Sudan with the exception of South Africa. ^[21]

Sub-Saharan Africa has a very high child mortality rate. While in 2002, one in six (17%) children died before the age of five, ^[22] by 2007 this rate had declined to one in seven (15%). ^[23] The leading cause of death was malaria infection. ^[18]

• 
  Life expectancy has fallen drastically in Southern Africa since the 1990s as a result of HIV.
• 
  Map of Africa indicating Human Development Index (2004). All 22 countries ranking below 0.5 in the report on 2005 were in Sub-Saharan Africa. The highest value is that of Gabon at 0.677.

In 1987, the Bamako Initiative conference organized by the World Health Organization was held in Bamako, and helped reshape the health policy of sub-Saharan Africa. ^[24] The new strategy dramatically increased accessibility through community-based healthcare reform, resulting in more efficient and equitable provision of services. A comprehensive approach strategy was extended to all areas of health care, with subsequent improvement in the health care indicators and improvement in health care efficiency and cost. ^{[25] [26]}

As of October 2006, many governments face difficulties in implementing policies aimed at tackling the effects of the AIDS pandemic due to lack of technical support despite a number of mitigating measures. ^[27]

Speakers of Bantu languages (part of the Niger-Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and east Africa proper. But there are also several Nilotic groups in East Africa, and a few remaining indigenous Khoisan (' San' or ' Bushmen') and Pygmy peoples in southern and central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon and southern Somalia. In the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from " Hottentots") have long been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.

South Africa has the largest populations of whites, Indians and Coloureds in Africa. The term " Coloured" is used to describe persons of mixed race in South Africa and Namibia. People of European descent in South Africa include the Afrikaner and a sizable populations of Anglo-Africans and Portuguese Africans. Madagascar's population is predominantly of mixed Austronesian ( Pacific Islander) and African origin. The area of southern Sudan is inhabited by Nilotic people.

List of major languages of Sub-Saharan Africa by region, family and total number of native speakers in millions:

East Africa

• Afro-Asiatic
  • Amharic: 35-42
  • Somali: 15
  • Tigrinya: 7
  • Oromo: 30-35
• Niger-Congo, Narrow Bantu:
  • Swahili: 5-10
  • Chichewa: 9
  • Gikuyu (Kenya): 5
  • Luhya: 4

West Africa

• Niger-Congo
  • Volta-Congo
    • Benue-Congo
      • Yoruba: 25
      • Ibibio (Nigeria): 8-12
      • Igbo (Nigeria): 20-25
    • Akan (Ghana): 19
    • More: 5
  • Fula-Wolof
    • Fula (West Africa): 10-16
    • Wolof: 3
• Afro-Asiatic
  • Hausa: 24
• Nilo-Saharan
  • Kanuri: 4

Southern Africa

• Niger-Congo, Narrow Bantu
  • Zulu: 10
  • Xhosa: 8
  • Shona: 7
  • Sotho: 5
  • Tswana: 4
  • Umbundu (Angola): 4
  • Northern Sotho: 4
• Afrikaans: 6-7

Central Africa

• Niger-Congo, Narrow Bantu
  • Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) 7
  • Kongo: 7
  • Tshiluba: 6
  • Kirundi: 5

North Africa is strongly dominated by Islam, while Sub-Saharan Africa—with the exception of the predominantly Muslim Horn of Africa, ^[28] Sudan, and the Sahel -- is mostly Christian or home to many traditional African religions.

Only six African countries are not geographically a part of Sub-Saharan Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara (claimed by Morocco). Together with the Sudan, they form the UN subregion of Northern Africa. 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.

ECCAS ( Economic Community of Central African States)

• Angola (also in SADC)
• Democratic Republic of Congo (also in SADC)
• Rwanda (also in EAC)
• Burundi (also in EAC)
• São Tomé and Príncipe

CEMAC ( Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa)

• Republic of Congo
• Central African Republic
• Cameroon
• Chad
• Equatorial Guinea
• Gabon

• Southern Sudan (autonomous region of Sudan with independence referendum in 2011)

• Kenya
• Tanzania (also in SADC)
• Uganda
• Rwanda (also in ECCAS)
• Burundi (also in ECCAS)

• Ethiopia
• Eritrea
• Djibouti
• Somalia

• Angola (also in ECCAS)
• Botswana
• Comoros
• Lesotho
• Madagascar (sometimes included, not part of the African continent)
• Malawi
• Mozambique
• Mauritius
• Namibia
• Seychelles
• South Africa
• Swaziland
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

• Mauritania

ECOWAS ( Economic Community of West African States)

• The Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Liberia
• Nigeria
• Sierra Leone

UEMOA ( West African Economic and Monetary Union)

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Guinea-Bissau
• Mali
• Niger
• Senegal
• Togo

• Geography of Africa
• Equatorial Africa
• Black people

• Taking Action to Reduce Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank Publications (1997), ISBN 0821336983.

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