26 Sub-Saharan Africa
How do we define this region?
After a having a complicated time in defining North Africa and the Middle East (NAME), we find a much simpler task in defining Sub-Saharan Africa.
Duh!
Essentially the name speaks for itself. Sub-Saharan Africa is Africa that is sub or below the Sahara Desert, though technically we should reference it as south of the Sahara Desert. Earth doesn’t really have an up or down, an above or below; instead, we point west or east, north or south. Perhaps the region ought to be called South Africa to reference it as other to North Africa; however, this would be confusing as there is a country named South Africa.
In defining North Africa, we sought to include all of the Sahara Desert. This proved to be complicated only in a few cases. Sudan efficiently cut itself in half, solving that regional problem for us – Sudan is in North Africa, while South Sudan is in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mali and Chad have similar dichotomies between north and south, but remain single countries. Shall we add them to Sub-Saharan Africa or place them in North Africa? This remains undecided.
Otherwise, all the countries not in North Africa, but on the African continent, are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Island countries closest to Sub-Saharan African countries are included in the region. Madagascar is by far the largest of these islands, but also in the Indian Ocean are Mauritius, the Seychelle Islands, and the Comoros Islands. In the Atlantic Ocean, we add Cape Verde. There are other African islands, but jurisdictionally they belong to countries on the African continent.
So, that’s the plan. Pretty straightforward. As usual, in the upcoming chapters, we will learn about various specific aspects of Sub-Saharan Africa. In overview Chapter 37, we will summarize the overall physical and human characteristics of the region.
Did you know?
Cited and additional bibliography:
Matthies, Fernando Reig. Seychelles. December 4, 2004. Photo. https://www.flickr.com/photos/freig/6948558/. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
