sub-Saharan

Of, relating to, or situated in the region of Africa south of the Sahara.

This entry is a subtopic of Africa.

By 1450, sub-Saharan Africa was characterized by kingdoms, federations, and decentralized lineage-based polities loosely linked to different environmental, economic, and geographic configurations. In the Sahel region immediately south of the Sahara, the kingdoms of Mali and Songhay thrived off the trans-Saharan trade in gold, slaves, salt, and forest produce. On the fertile Ethiopian highlands, the royal Solomonid dynasty traced its ancestry to the biblical union between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Peoples of the rainforests of central and west Africa, by contrast, organized themselves in decentralized units led by "big men." On the savannah, south and east of the rainforest, rulers of centralized polities prospered from gold, iron, and copper production; the vast herds of cattle that they managed to amass measured their wealth and status. On the east African littoral, elegant Swahili towns had ties with Persia, south Asia, and China.

Contact between these African polities and Europeans increased dramatically from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. While the Atlantic slave trade is the best-known aspect of the early modern European-African encounter, recent historical research suggests that ties were diverse and complicated. Only in the eighteenth century did exports of slaves begin to dominate trade and define the political, economic, and cultural encounter.

Extent and Items of Trade

Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) pioneered ties with the Sahel and west Africa to spread Christian rule and to gain access to African gold. Legends of vast quantities of African gold were common since stories of the Malian King Mansa Musa's (ruled 1307–1332) fabulous riches, displayed during his pilgrimage to Mecca (1324–1325), circulated around the Mediterranean world. Portuguese fleets reached the Senegal River in 1445 and began to exchange slaves and manufactured goods for gold with Akan and Guinea Coast gold traders. By 1455 Portugal declared a monopoly over the west African trade routes, a policy that was further elaborated in the papal treaties of Alcaçovas (1479) and Tordesillas (1494).

In 1498 the Portuguese Captain Vasco da Gama (c. 1460–1524) reached India after Swahili navigators instructed him on the use of the Indian Ocean monsoon winds. King Manuel I of Portugal (ruled 1495–1521), who declared himself "Lord of Conquest and Commerce of India and all Adjacent Lands," sent a number of expeditions to establish trading centers on the east African coast that would help to monopolize trade between India and Europe and would also benefit from existing Indian Ocean trade networks. In 1505 Dom Francisco d'Almeida and his fleet razed the Swahili coastal entrepôt of Kilwa, leading to the surrender of a string of Swahili coastal towns and the establishment of Portuguese naval bases at Sofala, Mozambique, Zanzibar, and Mombasa. Huge and over-loaded Portuguese trading vessels participating in the eighteen-month round voyage between Lisbon to Goa, termed the carreira da India, frequently shipwrecked off the dangerous southeastern African coast. In 1698 Omanis conquered Mombasa and Kilwa and precipitated the decline of Portuguese authority on the central and northeastern African coast. The Portuguese turned to the slave and ivory trade from the southeastern port of Sofala and the Zambezi base of Tete.

In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the extent and intensity of the Atlantic slave trade increased with the involvement of English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese trading companies in the lucrative "triangular trade" between Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The trade in slaves typically took place between European ships and African or Euro-African middlemen at coastal entrepôts that received slaves from a chain of trading connections reaching into the African interior. Several West African kingdoms like Benin, Kongo, Oyo, Asante, and Dahomey taxed the trade in slaves, and in some cases were able to limit its deleterious effects on their own subjects. However, rulers who sought to monopolize access to sought-after commodities became increasingly dependent on Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade goods—such as textiles, metals, alcohol, tobacco, gunpowder, and manufactured goods—to secure the economic patronage

networks upon which their political authority rested.

The demographic, political, and economic impact of the export of slaves and import of various European, American, and Asian goods is a subject of lively historical debate. It is estimated that at least thirty million slaves were captured as part of the Atlantic slave trade (although only eleven or twelve million were exported), with many more killed through slave-related raiding and warfare. While imports of foreign commodities at times challenged African productive capacity, African producers were also able to innovate and adapt to the influx of new trade goods.

Treaties, Emissaries, and Scholars

In the fifteenth century, African emissaries to the royal courts of Europe were more frequent than European emissaries to Africa. The Christian emperors of Ethiopia sent embassies to southern Europe to forge Christian solidarity in the face of Muslim expansion and to hire European artisans.

Portuguese aid for the Ethiopians against coastal Muslims in the early sixteenth century helped to narrow the rift between the Ethiopian and the Latin Christian churches; but the intransigence of dispatched papal officials toward Ethiopian Christianity led the Ethiopians to renounce papal decrees in the early 1630s.

In the 1480s, Portuguese ships brought a number of African royal emissaries to Lisbon, including those from the Kongo kingdom (1484), the kingdom of Benin (1486), and the Wolof kingdom (1487); a second Kongolese delegation set up a center for African studies where Kongolese learned European culture and religion and European missionaries were instructed in Kongolese culture and language. One outcome of this encounter was the conversion of the Kongolese royalty to Christianity and, over the next century, the spread of Christian ideas and icons throughout the central African kingdom.

A number of African scholars trained and taught at European universities. In 1652 the Ethiopian priest Abba Gregoryos studied with the German scholar Job Ludolf, whom he tutored in Ethiopian languages. Anton Wilhelm Amo, who was born on the Gold Coast, lectured in philosophy at German universities and was a participant in the German Enlightenment before he returned to his childhood home in 1748. Jacobus E. J. Capitein (1717–1747) defended his dissertation at the University of Leiden in 1742; in eloquent Latin he argued that slavery was compatible with Christianity since servitude of the body should not hinder freedom of the soul. By contrast, while not a scholarly tract, the freed slave Olaudau Equiano's autobiography, first published in 1789, was crucial in promoting the abolitionist cause.

Perceptions of the Other

By the sixteenth century, southern Europeans had extensive contact with peoples of sub-Saharan Africa—Africans made up an estimated 10 percent of Lisbon and 7.5 percent of Seville's population. Iberian perceptions of Africans were mediated by religious discourses and only gave way to racial understandings of difference in the eighteenth century. The Portuguese termed Africans of Islamic faith "Moors" whether they dwelt in the west African Sudan or on the Swahili coast. The Portuguese and Dutch used the term kaffir, adapted from Arabic, for Africans who did not follow Christianity or Islam.

Africans were less accustomed to Europeans, who were generally confined to the coast and rarely lived among them. Perceptions of white-skinned Europeans seem to have been ambivalent; Africans accused them of being wizards, cannibals, or ancestors returned from the dead; but they often welcomed them, if only to acquire their valued goods. Africans described Europeans with particular words that referred to their oceanic origins, peculiar dress, itinerancy, and cunning trade tactics.

Bibliography

Capitein, Jacobus Elisa Johannes. The Agony of Asar: A Thesis on Slavery by the Former Slave, Jacobus Elisa Johannes Capitein, 1717–1747. Translated with Commentary by Grant Parker. Princeton, 2001.

Cohen, William. B. The French Encounter with Africans: White Responses to Blacks, 1530–1880. Bloomington, Ind., 1980.

Debrunner, Hans Werner. Presence and Prestige: Africans in Europe: A History of Africans in Europe before 1918. Basel, 1979.

Equiano, Ouladah. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Edited by Vincent Carreta. New York, 1995.

Hastings, Adrian. The Church in Africa, 1450–1950. Oxford, 1994.

Lovejoy, Paul E. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. Cambridge, U.K., 1983; 2nd ed., 2000.

Miller, Joseph. Way of Death: Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade, 1730–1830. Madison, Wis., 1988.

Northrup, David. Africa's Discovery of Europe, 1450–1850. New York and Oxford, 2002.

Thornton, John. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World: 1400–1800. New York and Cambridge, U.K., 1992; 2nd ed., 1998.

—DAVID M. GORDON

Sub-Saharan Africa, referred to as "Africa" in this article, comprises the forty-two countries on the African continent south of the Sahara and the six island nations close to it. Africa's rich cultural and ethnic traditions reflect different heritages in all countries - an early Christian heritage in the Nile Basin, a strong Islamic influence in the north, and Christian influences dating from colonialism in many central and southern African countries.

Geographically and economically, Africa is diverse and fragmented. In 1999 the region's population was about 640 million. Six countries had fewer than 1 million people. Nigeria had 124 million people and Ethiopia 64 million. Within the continent, communications and travel are difficult. Gross national product (GNP) per capita averaged $500 in 1999, ranging from less than $200 in the Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, and Sierra Leone to more than $3,200 in Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius, and South Africa. On the whole, the region's GNP growth and human development indicators lag behind those of other regions.

Poverty is pervasive across the region. More than 290 million people live on less than $1 per day. With the region's rapidly growing population, 5 percent annual growth is needed to keep the number of poor from increasing. According to the World Bank, halving the incidence of poverty by 2015 would require annual per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates of at least 7 percent. Unsustainable external indebtedness has diverted scarce resources away from priority social needs. Waste in the public sector and weak governance structures continue to act as major constraints to development in many countries.

Overview

Education systems in the region reflect differences in geography, cultural heritage, colonial history, and economic development progress. The impact of French, English, and other countries' colonial policies toward education has had a lasting impact on the objectives, structure, management, and financing of education systems in the region. When African countries gained independence from colonial rule around 1960, the region lagged far behind other regions on nearly every education indicator. Dramatic progress - with large national variations - occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. Primary enrollments jumped from 11 million in 1960 to almost 53 million in 1980. Growth at the secondary and tertiary levels was even more dramatic, with secondary enrollments increasing by fifteen times and tertiary enrollments by twenty times.

The economic crisis of the 1980s severely affected education in Africa. Declining public resources and private economic hardship resulted in an erosion of quality and primary level participation rates. As of the early twenty-first century, these setbacks have not yet been reversed. At every level, education facilities are too few, while those that exist are often in poor repair and inadequately equipped. Teachers are often underpaid and underqualified and rarely receive the support and supervision they need to do an effective job. The number of hours spent in the classroom by most African students is far lower than the international standard. Instructional materials are often in desperately short supply. Not surprisingly, learning achievement is almost always far below the instructional objectives specified in the curricula. While country experiences vary a great deal, the reality for too many Africans is one of education systems characterized by low quality and limited access.

Africa has the lowest enrollment rate at every level and is the only region where the number of out-of-school children continues to rise. The average African adult has fewer than three years of schooling, lower than the attainment level for any other region. Almost one in three males and one in two females is illiterate. Gender inequalities persist at all levels of schooling. Female enrollments are about 80 percent of male enrollments at the primary and secondary levels and less than 55 percent at the tertiary level.

As disturbing as the low levels of literacy and education attainment is the marked decline in the capacity of many African countries to generate knowledge as a resource for tertiary level instruction and for research and technology development. A 1992 study estimated that Africa had only 20,000 scientists and engineers, or 0.36 percent of the world's total. In 1996 Senegal had only 3 researchers engaged in research and development per million people, Burkina Faso had only 16 and Uganda had 20, compared with 149 in India and 350 in China. Few African researchers are integrated in the worldwide scientific knowledge networks. A continuing brain drain exacerbates these problems. Reasons vary from country to country but usually relate to a lack of employment opportunities in the modern sector, limited research budgets in universities, the lack of freedom of speech, and the fear of political repression in countries with authoritarian regimes. An estimated 30,000 Africans holding doctoral degrees live outside the continent, and 130,000 Africans study in tertiary institutions outside Africa.

Social and economic progress in Africa will depend to a large extent on the scope and effectiveness of investments in education. If living standards are to be raised, sustained efforts will be needed to narrow the gaps in educational attainment and scientific knowledge between Africa and other regions and to bridge the digital divide. Decades of research and experience in Africa and elsewhere have shown the pivotal role of a well-educated population in initiating, sustaining, and accelerating social development and economic competitiveness. Numerous studies show that education, particularly primary education, has a significant positive impact on economic growth, earnings, and productivity.

But clearly, primary education cannot expand and African economies cannot grow without an education system that trains a large number of students beyond the basic cycle, including graduate students at universities. To be sustainable, educational development must be balanced. It must ensure that systems produce students at different levels with qualifications that respond to the demand of the labor market, providing a continuous supply of skilled workers, technicians, professionals, managers, and leaders.

Yet, lasting education development will take place only when the extensive armed conflicts come to an end and the HIV/AIDS pandemic stalls. Restoring peace and stability in the region is an urgent priority. At least one in five Africans lives in a country severely disrupted by war. Between 1990 and 1994 more than 1 million people died because of conflict. And in 2000, approximately 13.7 million people in Africa were refugees or internally displaced. Few opportunities for schooling exist in the African conflict zones.

Africa has been the region hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, accounting for 23 million of the 33 million people affected worldwide. By killing people in their most productive years, the pandemic is destroying the social and economic fabric of the worst affected countries and reversing hard-won human development gains. Replacing education sector staff lost to AIDS-related illnesses while national resources are being diverted from education to the health sector and providing an education to children affected by AIDS are urgent ongoing challenges.

Stalled Progress in Primary Education

Primary enrollment growth slowed in the 1980s. The gross enrollment rate (total number of children enrolled as a proportion of the number of children of the relevant age group) fell from 80 percent in 1980 to 75 percent in 1990, largely as a result of declining male participation rates, and by 1997 had recovered to only 77 percent. Yet other coverage indicators showed considerable improvement (see Table 1). Net enrollment rates (number of children of the relevant age group enrolled as a proportion of the number of children of relevant age) increased from 54 percent in 1990 to 60 percent in 1998; apparent intake rates (total number of children admitted in grade 1 as a proportion of the total number of children of the school entry age) from 70 percent to 81 percent; and net intake rates (number of children of entry age admitted in grade 1 as a proportion of the total number of children of the school entry age) from 33 percent to 43 percent. Although not available for all countries, these data suggest that more school-age children are in school, the decline in boys' participation has reversed, and more children are enrolling in first grade. But many children still enroll late (only two-thirds of the new entrants in 1998 were the official age for school enrollment), the gap in girls' initial enrollment rate has increased, and more than 40 percent of school-age children are not in school.

Country experiences vary a great deal, however. Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Namibia, the Seychelles, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe sustained education progress. Uganda and Mauritania implemented policies that resulted in a sudden increase in primary enrollments and then began struggling to deal with the consequent challenges. Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mozambique, and Senegal opted for a gradual approach. Most other countries are formulating comprehensive long-term strategies for educational development, including universal primary education.

Nevertheless, access to primary education remains problematic. Of the forty-four countries with data for 1996, only ten (Botswana, Cape Verde, Congo, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, and Zimbabwe) had a primary gross enrollment rate of 100 percent. Seven (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Niger, and Somalia) had a primary gross enrollment rate below 50 percent. And between 1985 and 1997 the primary gross enrollment rate actually declined in seventeen countries - Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, and Zambia. Together, these seventeen countries include more than half of Africa's school-age population.

The challenge is clear. In almost all countries, access has expanded far too slowly to achieve international education targets for gender equity and universal primary education. About 12 percent of the world's children aged six to eleven live in Africa, yet the region accounts for more than one-third of the world's out-of-school children. Unless these trends reverse, Africa will account for three-quarters of out-of-school children by 2015.

Participation problems are exacerbated by the absence of an environment for effective learning. Children are taught in overcrowded classrooms by underqualified and frequently unmotivated teachers who are often poorly and irregularly paid and receive little managerial support. Teacher absenteeism is widespread, disrupting learning and eroding public confidence in the value of public education. Shortages of learning materials further constrain learning. In ten of eleven countries surveyed by UNESCO (1998b), more than one-third of the students had no chalkboards in their classrooms. In eight countries, more than half of the students in the highest grade had no math books. Most African children spend roughly half the time in the classroom that children in other countries do.

Poverty-related deprivation further contributes to low educational attainment in Africa. Poor children spend more time than other children contributing to household work. As a result they are less likely to spend out-of-school hours on schoolwork, more likely to be absent from school during periods of peak labor demand, and more likely to be tired and ill-prepared for learning when they are in the classroom. More than 40 percent of children in Africa are stunted, while almost one-third are underweight. Primary school-age children are especially susceptible to illnesses that affect poor people, in particular gastrointestinal and respiratory problems. Malnourished and sick children are less likely than healthy children to learn in school and are more likely to be absent from lessons. And if private costs for education are substantial, parents in poor households are more likely to withdraw their children from school early in the school cycle. All these effects are exacerbated by the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, which affects the attendance of teachers and students and strains household resources.

Unsurprisingly, students who complete primary school often have an unacceptably low level of learning. In 1990 - 1991 Botswana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe participated in a thirty-one-country survey of ninth grade reading skills (described by Warwick B. Elley in 1992). Students in these three countries registered the lowest scores, performing considerably worse than students in the other four developing countries participating in the survey (the Philippines, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela). More recently, the Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality assessed the reading skills of sixth grade students in Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia, and Zanzibar. The average percentage of correct answers ranged from 38 percent to 58 percent.

Poor learning often results in high repetition rates and low completion rates. In fifteen countries more than 20 percent of students are repeaters - in Côte d'Ivoire more than half of all primary students are repeating a grade at any time. More than one-third of school entrants fail to reach the final grade. In the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Madagascar, and Mozambique, fewer than half the children who enroll in primary school complete five years. Many of the students drop out early in the primary cycle, before they acquire even rudimentary literacy and numeracy skills. In Chad, Ethiopia, and Madagascar more than one-third of the children who enter school never complete second grade.

Increased learning and participation will require a combination of policies, including:

• Increased funding for primary education
• Increased resource availability at the school level
• Allocation of resources to inputs that directly enhance learning
• Meaningful community participation in school development and management
• Increased responsibility of local education authorities for resource allocation, professional support, and personnel management decisions
• Explicit national responsibility for setting standards, monitoring of performance, and mobilizing adequate resources for the system

Beyond Primary Education

Few African countries provide adequate opportunities for education and training needed by twelve-to seventeen-year-olds or for adults. The gross secondary enrollment rate in 1997 was 26 percent for Africa, compared with 52 percent for all developing countries. Many Africans are looking for opportunities to either continue formal schooling or acquire skills that will equip them to enter the world of work.

Education and training for youths is not only an economic imperative. In many countries young people's dissatisfaction and disillusionment with their prospects for education and work threaten social cohesion and stability. Reaching this age group through formal and nonformal education is also vital to the success of targeted interventions in such areas as HIV/AIDS and reproductive health education and of programs to raise awareness of civic rights and responsibilities. Yet only one-fourth of youths in this age group have access to secondary education, and only 6 percent are reached by vocational and nonformal education programs. Access to new communication, information, and computer technology is limited in secondary and public-sector training institutions in Africa. The lack of instructional equipment and materials further inhibits learning. Many publicly funded skills development programs - especially those teaching vocational subjects in secondary schools - are of poor quality, depend heavily on external financing, and carry high costs per student. Such programs often are also poorly attuned to labor market demand and fail to lead to income-earning opportunities. Skillstraining programs typically are geared to formal sector employment at a time when the formal sector in most African countries absorbs only a small minority of labor market recruits. The balance of the evidence suggest that strategies need to:

• Ensure good quality primary and secondary programs as a basis for further education and skill development
• Ensure that investment in skill development programs is firmly grounded in economic and labor market analysis
• Encourage private-sector delivery by creating a favorable policy environment, strengthening employer training, and reducing regulation
• Improve publicly provided training by strengthening linkages with enterprises, improving responsiveness to market forces, increasing efficiency of resource utilization, and diversifying sources of funding beyond government subsidies

Education opportunities for adults remain equally limited. The mass literacy campaigns of the 1970s fell far short of their objectives. Only a few countries - Uganda and Ghana are examples - continue to support large-scale literacy programs. But in the late 1990s countries such as Senegal began to experiment with small-scale highly targeted programs, often implemented with the support of nongovernmental organizations. Skill development programs are delivered for the most part by private-sector institutions and sponsored by employers.

Unprecedented Expansion of Tertiary Education

In 1960 Africa (excluding South Africa) had six universities with fewer than 30,000 students. In 1995 the region supported nearly 120 universities enrolling almost 2 million. Yet, tertiary enrollment, which reached 3.9 percent for Africa in 1997, is still far below the 10 percent average for all developing countries. In many African countries universities are the only national institutions with the skills, equipment, and mandate to generate new knowledge through research and to adapt global knowledge to solve local problems. A few have long traditions and were world-class institutions through the 1970s. Yet many others are weak. Early curriculum links to religious studies and civil-service needs have often promoted the humanities and social sciences at the expense of the natural sciences, applied technology, business-related skills, and research capabilities. Inappropriate governing structures, misguided national policies, weak managerial capacity, political interference, and campus instability have further hampered effectiveness. The experience with subregional academic cooperation has been disappointing, although many institutions are too small and recruit from too small a national pool of talent to develop a high-level teaching and research capacity across a wide range of academic subjects.

Dwindling resources during a period of growing enrollments have caused a severe decline in the quality of education in many institutions. Among countries for which data are available for the years 1990 and 1996, expenditures per pupil at the tertiary level as a percentage of GNP per capita decreased in fifteen countries and increased in seven. Yet African higher education remains expensive by international standards. In 1992 public education spending per pupil as a percentage of per capita GNP was 15.1 percent at the preprimary and primary levels, 53.7 percent at the secondary level, and 507 percent at the tertiary level. This disparity makes the strategic management of higher-education resources a central concern of any educational development policy. Some universities are charging increased tuition and fees. Others have started income-generating activities. As an alternative to the traditional highereducation model of full-time study on residential campuses, several provide instruction through distance education programs and extended educational services - the University of South Africa, which enrolled 130,000 students in the mid-1990s, is actually the largest institution of this kind in the world. A number of universities are beginning to use Internet-based technologies. A consensus on reform strategies appears to be emerging, although in practice implementation has been slow and politically controversial. Key elements are:

• Encouraging differentiation of institutions and delivery modes, including the development of open and distance education universities, private institutions, and nonuniversity tertiary institutions
• Providing incentives for public institutions to diversify sources of funding, including cost sharing with students
• Targeting of social expenditures on the most needy students
• Improving the efficiency of resource utilization, with an increased share allocated to teaching and research
• Access to new technologies needed to connect universities to international scientific networks
• Increased institutional autonomy and strategic planning
• Introducing policies explicitly designed to give priority to quality and equity objectives

Private Education

The private sector is an increasingly important provider of education in Africa. Most registered private schools in Africa are nonprofit community and religious schools. Several countries are also increasing the role of private providers in delivering support services such as textbook publishing, classroom construction, and university catering. The private sector plays a small - although an increasingly important - role at the primary level, but its share in meeting secondary, vocational, and tertiary education needs has increased significantly since the mid-1980s. In Côte d'Ivoire 36 percent of general secondary students and 65 percent of technical students are enrolled in private schools. In Zambia almost 90 percent of the students taking technical and vocational examinations were trained outside public institutions.

At the tertiary level the number of private institutions has increased rapidly. In the 1990s private institutions were established in countries such as Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. In South Africa alone there are probably more that 500 private tertiary institutions.

These institutions reduce the financial burden on governments, give parents more choice and control, and improve accountability. They help to meet some of the excess demand for education, provide special programs that the government is unable or unwilling to provide and reduce geographical imbalances in provision. Nevertheless, while many private training institutions have been successful, many others are of poor quality raising important issues of accreditation or other means of quality control. Registration requirements usually call for the provision of basic infrastructure and staff. Kenya has established a Commission for Higher Education for the accreditation of tertiary institutions. In most other countries the ministry of education typically has this responsibility.

Efficiency

The efficiency of resource use varies considerably within and between countries. In some countries, especially in the Sahel (the southern fringe of the Sahara), high teacher salaries make it difficult to mobilize the resources required to reach universal primary education in the foreseeable future. In other countries teacher salaries are so low that teachers are forced to take additional jobs. Teacher deployment often creates further inefficiencies when teachers are not deployed according to rational criteria such as the number of students. For example, in Niger the teacher-student ratio in primary schools of 200 students ranges from 1:100 to 1:20.

In 1999 Keith Lewin and Francoise Caillods argued that developing countries with low secondary enrollments, including most African countries, cannot finance substantially higher participation rates from domestic public resources with current cost structures. Secondary schooling is the most expensive level relative to GNP per capita in countries with the lowest enrollment rates. In Africa secondary schools use resources such as teachers and buildings much less efficiently than primary schools. One reason may be that in the poorest countries, secondary schools are still organized along traditional lines to educate a small elite.

Limited public resources and competing public spending priorities have prevented many governments from addressing the challenges of education development. Since the mid-1980s the share of GDP spent on education has decreased in eleven and increased in twelve African countries for which data are available. Perhaps more significant, this share is still less than 3 percent in ten countries for which data is available for 1996 or after. At a given level of education spending as a share of GDP, participation and attainment levels in Africa compare unfavorably with those in other low-income countries (see Table2). Inefficient and inequitable use of scarce resources in a context of high population growth and demand for general public financing of education by politically powerful pressure groups adds to the fiscal challenge. Thus countries must set priorities for public spending and identify possible efficiency gains from and opportunities for mobilizing additional public and private resources.

Prospects

The imperative of accelerated education development in Africa is clear. Africa will not be able to sustain rapid growth without investing in the education of its people. Many lack the education to contribute to - and benefit from - high economic growth. Meeting this challenge will require a major effort by Africans and their development partners during a long period - a decade or more in many cases. Many governments will need to implement changes in the way education is financed and managed - changes that are often politically controversial. Partnership of governments, civil society, and external funding agencies will need to be established or reconfigured to ensure national ownership and sustainability of programs of reform and innovation.

Yet, at the start of the twenty-first century the opportunity to effectively address the often intractable problems of education was perhaps better than at any time in the 1980s and 1990s. The economic performance improved markedly beginning in 1995, with consecutive years of per capita growth in many countries for the first time since the 1970s. In several countries additional resources have or will become available through debt relief provided under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, the coordinated effort of the industrialized countries to bring down debtor developing countries' debt to sustainable levels. Information and communications technology offers new opportunities to overcome constraints of distance and time. Political commitment to education development is strong almost everywhere. At the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, the 185 participating countries adopted a Framework for Action toward the 2015 goal of Education for All, which gives special attention to the needs of Sub-Saharan Africa. Promising reforms and innovations have been implemented. Many funding agencies are committed to increasing their support for education in Africa. New aid relationships are being piloted in the context of sectorwide development programs replacing the increasingly ineffective individual project approach.

But progress will be achieved and sustained only where efforts are underpinned by genuine commitment to a clear set of guiding principles. First, without a relentless pursuit of quality, expanded education opportunities are unlikely to achieve their purpose - that is, the acquisition of useful knowledge, reasoning abilities, skills, and values. Second, an unwavering commitment to equity is vital to ensuring that disadvantaged groups - rural residents, the poor, and females - have equal access to learning opportunities at all levels. This will require explicitly targeted strategies for hard-to-reach groups and better analysis of the mechanisms by which people are excluded from education. Third, African countries will need to ensure education development strategies are financially sustainable. Setting spending priorities, spending the resources that have been allocated effectively, diversifying funding sources, and in many cases mobilizing additional funding from sources outside the public sector - especially for postprimary education beyond the basic level - are areas where tough decisions need to be made and then adhered to. Finally, an up-front emphasis on capacity building of institutions and of individuals is needed for accelerated education development to happen. Effective planning, implementation, and evaluation of reforms depend upon effective incentives, reasonable rules, efficient organizational structures, and competent staff. Without these, no strategy for education development can succeed.

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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Development Assistance Committee. 1996. Shaping the Twenty-First Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation. Washington, DC: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Development Assistance Committee.

Oxfam. 1999. Education Now: Break the Cycle of Poverty. Oxford: Oxfam.

Psacharopoulos, George. 1985. "Returns to Education: A Further International Update and Implications." Journal of Human Resources (U.S.) 20:583 - 604.

Saint, William. 1992. Universities in Africa: Strategies for Stabilization and Revitalization. World Bank Technical Paper, 0253-7494, no. 194. Washington, DC: World Bank.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1998a. Development of Education in Africa: A Statistical Review. Seventh Conference of Ministers of Education of African Member States of UNESCO. (MINEDAF VII). Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1998b. UNESCO Yearbook, 1998. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1998c. World Education Report, 1998. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1999a. Science and Technology in Africa: A Commitment for the Twenty-First Century. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Office of Public Information.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1999b. UNESCO Yearbook, 1999. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 2000. Education for All (2000): Report from the Sub-Saharan Africa Zone, Assessment of Basic Education in SSA. Harare, Zimbabwe: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

United Nations Children's Fund. 1999. The State of the World's Children, 1999: Education. New York: Oxford University Press.

Vawda, Ayesha, and Patrinos, Harry Anthony. 1999. "Private Education in West Africa: The Technological Imperative." Paper presented at the Fifth Oxford International Conference on Education and Development, Oxford University.

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— ADRIAAN M. VERSPOOR

Region in Africa south of the Sahara desert.

Simplified climatic map of Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa consists of the arid Sahel and the Horn of Africa in the north (yellow), the tropical savannas (light green) and the tropical rainforests (dark green) of Equatorial Africa, and the arid Kalahari Basin (yellow) and the "Mediterranean" south coast (olive) of Southern Africa. The numbers shown correspond to the dates of alliron artifacts associated with the Bantu expansion.

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]}

The Sub-Saharan region is also known as Black Africa,^[11] in reference to its many black populations. Notably, commentators in Arabic in the medieval period used a similar term, bilâd as-sûdân, which literally translates to "land of the blacks" in contrast with populations of the classic Islamic world.^[12]

Since around 5,400 years ago,^[13] 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.^[14]

Contents 1 Climate zones and ecoregions 2 History 2.1 Prehistory 2.2 East Africa 2.3 West Africa 2.4 Central Africa 2.5 Southern Africa 3 Demographics and economy 3.1 Health care 3.2 Languages and ethnic groups 3.3 Religion 4 List of countries 4.1 Central Africa 4.2 Sudan 4.3 East Africa 4.3.1 East African Community 4.3.2 Horn of Africa 4.4 Southern Africa / SADC 4.5 West Africa 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 External links

Climate zones and ecoregions

Further information: Afrotropic ecozone, Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, and List of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions

Climate zones of Africa, showing the ecological break between the desert climate of the Sahara and the Horn of Africa (red), the semi-arid Sahel (orange) and the tropical climate of Central and Western Africa (blue). Southern Africa has a transition to semi-tropical or temperate climates (green), and more desert or semi-arid regions, centered on Namibia and Botswana.

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.

History

Main article: History of Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is historically known as "Ethiopia" or "Aethiopia".^[15]

Prehistory

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 millennium BCE. By the tenth and ninth millennia southwest Asians domesticated their wild grains, wheat and barley after the notion of collecting wild grains was spread from the nile.^[16]

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,^[17] 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.^[18]

East Africa

Main article: History of East Africa

Further information: History of Ethiopia

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. Much of Ancient Egypt's culture came from sub-saharan Africa including her religion, agriculture, and language via the Red Sea Hills.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.

Further south in East Africa, 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. Increased trade (namely with Arab merchants) and the development of ports saw the birth of Swahili culture. Developed from an outgrowth of indigenous Bantu settlements^[21], the Swahili Coast of Kenya, Tanzania and northern Mozambique 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.

West Africa

Main article: History of West Africa

Further information: Sahelian kingdom

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.

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.^[22]

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.

Central Africa

Main article: History of Central Africa

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.

During the 1300, the Luba Kingdom in Southeast Congo near Lake Kisale came about under a king, whose political authority came from religious spiritual legitimacy and is seen as a spiritual guardian. The kingdom controlled agriculture and trade in the region of salt and iron from the north, copper from the Zambian/Congo copper belt.^[23]

Rival kingship factions who split from the Luba Kingdom later moved among the Lunda people, marrying into its elite and laying the foundation of the Lunda Empire in the 1500s. The ruling dynasty centralised authority among the Lunda, under the Mwata Yamyo or Mwaant Yaav. The Mwata Yamyo's legitimacy, like the Luba king, came from being viewed as a spiritual religious guardian. This system of religious spiritual kings was spread to most of central Africa by rivals in kingship migrating and forming new states. Many new states kings received legitimacy by claiming descent from the Lunda dynasties.^[23]

Another significant kingdom in west central Africa was the Kingdom of Kongo, which existed from the Atlantic west to the Kwango river to the east. During the 1400s, the Bakongo farming community was united with the capital at Mbanza Kongo, under the king title , Manikongo.^[23]

Southern Africa

Main article: History of Southern Africa

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.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, most sub-saharan African nations achieved independence from imperialist rule.^[24]

Demographics and economy

Main articles: Demographics of Africa and Economy of Africa

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.^[25]

The population of sub-Saharan Africa was 800 million in 2007.^[26] The current growth rate is 2.3%. The UN predicts for the region a population of nearly 1.5 billion in 2050.^[27]

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.^[28]

Sub-Saharan Africa has a very high child mortality rate. While in 2002, one in six (17%) children died before the age of five,^[29] by 2007 this rate had declined to one in seven (15%).^[30] The leading cause of death was malaria infection.^[25]

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.

Besides bad news in Zimbabwe, Congo, Sudan, and Kenya, most African governments have become more transparent and democratic. Most African governments were elected by the people and enjoys the support of the populace. Last year 54 million Africans voted in 19 peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections.

Foreign direct investment in Africa has grown at an average of 146 per cent a year over the last 22 years to reach US$36 billion in 2007, while trade between Africa and the rest of the world particularly Asia has been steadily increasing. Most notable, bilateral trade between China and Africa jumped 45 per cent in 2008 to reach US$107 billion, the bulk of which went to sub-saharan Africa.

Real economic growth in 2 out of 5 sub-Saharan countries was triple that of the US economy last year, on a pace that rivals that of Southeast Asia in 1980. African economies from Senegal to Benin to the Democratic Republic of Congo are more diversified. Growth in the region is expected to hit 6.5 percent.^[31]

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will probably expand 1.3 percent this year, down from 5.5 percent in 2008, and compared with a forecast of 1.5 percent made by the IMF in July. Growth will rebound to 4.1 percent in 2010 as global trade improves.^[32]

Sub-Saharan Africa is rich in minerals. The region is a major exporter to the world of bauxite, iron ore, copper, and manganese. South Africa is a major exporter of manganese.^[33] Sub-saharan Africa produces 33% of the world's bauxite with Guinea the major supplier.^[34] Zambia is a major producer of copper.^[35]

Sub-saharan Africa produces 49% of the world's diamonds.

Health care

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.^[36] 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.^[37][38]

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.^[39]

Languages and ethnic groups

Linguistically, sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by the Niger-Congo phylum (distribution shown in yellow), with pockets of Khoi-San in Southern Africa, Nilo-Saharan in Central and East Africa, and Afro-Asiatic in the Horn of Africa

Further information: Languages of Africa, African people, List of African ethnic groups, and Ethnic groups of the Middle East

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

Tigre women

Borana women

A Maasai traditional dance.

• 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

A Hausa harpist

Fulani women in the East Province of Cameroon

• 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

Zulus in traditional garment.

A San tribesman.

• 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

Religion

Further information: Religion in Africa

In terms of religion, North Africa is strongly dominated by Islam (shown in green), while Sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of the Horn of Africa,^[40][41] is mostly Christian (shown in red; besides traditional African religions

Traditional African religions can be broken into linguistic cultural groups, with common themes. Among the Niger-Congo are the belief in a creator God; ancestor spirits; territorial spirits; evil caused by human ill will and neglecting ancestor spirits; priest of territorial spirits. Among the Nilo-Saharan are the belief in Divinity; evil is caused by divine judgement and retribution; prophets as middlemen between Divinity and man. Among Afro-Asiatic speakers is henotheism(belief in ones own gods but accepts the existence of other Gods); evil is caused by malevolent spirits. Khoisan religion is non-theistic but a belief in a Spirit or Power of existence which can be tapped in a trance-dance; trance-healers.^[42]

North Africa is strongly dominated by Islam, while Sub-Saharan Africa—with the exception of the predominantly Muslim Horn of Africa,^[40] Sudan, Swahili coast, and the Sahel -- is mostly Christian or home to many traditional African religions.

West Africa

• Akan mythology
• Ashanti mythology (Ghana)
• Dahomey (Fon) mythology
• Efik mythology (Nigeria, Cameroon)
• Igbo mythology (Nigeria, Cameroon)
• Isoko mythology (Nigeria)
• Yoruba mythology (Nigeria, Benin)

Central Africa

• Bushongo mythology (Congo)
• Bambuti (Pygmy) mythology (Congo)
• Lugbara mythology (Congo)

East Africa

• Akamba mythology (East Kenya)
• Dinka mythology (Sudan)
• Lotuko mythology (Sudan)
• Masai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania)

Southern Africa

• Khoikhoi mythology
• Lozi mythology (Zambia)
• Tumbuka mythology (Malawi)
• Zulu mythology (South Africa)

List of countries

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.

Central Africa

     Central Africa      Middle Africa (UN subregion)      Central African Federation (defunct)

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

Sudan

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

East Africa

     Eastern Africa (UN subregion)      East African Community      Central African Federation (defunct)      Geographic East Africa, including the UN subregion and East African Community

East African Community

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

Horn of Africa

• Ethiopia
• Eritrea
• Djibouti
• Somalia

Southern Africa / SADC

     Southern Africa (UN subregion)      geographic, including above      Southern African Development Community (SADC)

• 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

West Africa

     Western Africa (UN subregion)      Maghreb

• 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

See also

• Geography of Africa
• Equatorial Africa
• Black people

References

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2. ^ Sub-Saharan Africa
3. ^ ^{a b} Arab League Online: League of Arab States
4. ^ ^{a b} UNESCO - Arab States
5. ^ ^{a b} Centre for Marketing, Information and Advisory Services for Fishery Products in the Arab Region
6. ^ ^{a b} Khair El-Din Haseeb et al., The Future of the Arab Nation: Challenges and Options, 1 edition (Routledge: 1991), p.54
7. ^ ^{a b} Halim Barakat, The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State, (University of California Press: 1993), p.80
8. ^ John Markakis, Resource conflict in the Horn of Africa, (Sage: 1998), p.39
9. ^ Ḥagai Erlikh, The struggle over Eritrea, 1962-1978: war and revolution in the Horn of Africa‎, (Hoover Institution Press: 1983), p.59
10. ^ Randall Fegley, Eritrea, (Clio Press: 1995), p.xxxviii
11. ^ so e.g. Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (1999, ISBN 0852558147), p. xxi: "what is usually called Black Africa - that is the former European colonies lying south of the Sahara".
12. ^ Edward Geoffrey Parrinder, African mythology, (Hamlyn: 1982), p.7
13. ^ Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started By Changes In Earth's Orbit, Accelerated By Atmospheric And Vegetation Feedbacks
14. ^ Van Zinderen Bakker E. M. (1962-04-14). "A Late-Glacial and Post-Glacial Climatic Correlation between East Africa and Europe". Nature 194: 201–203. doi:10.1038/194201a0. 
15. ^ Thompson, Lloyd A. (1989). Romans and blacks. Taylor & Francis. p. 57. ISBN 0415031850. http://books.google.com/books?id=7MQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=%22Sub-Saharan+Africa%22+Ethiopia+Aethiopia&source=bl&ots=F3A9cVjQD_&sig=J8OgLF3yTesv_9mwX3p2H_vEVw8&hl=en&ei=VRbmSsbSHoqutge1_sDAAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
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17. ^ Stearns, Peter N. (2001) The Encyclopedia of World History, Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 16. ISBN 0-395-65237-5.
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20. ^ Fox, C.L., 'mtDNA analysis in ancient Nubians supports the existence of gene flow between sub-Sahara and North Africa in the Nile Valley', in Annals of Human Biology, 24, 3, 217–227. (abstract).
21. ^ African Archaeological Review, Volume 15, Number 3, September 1998 , pp. 199-218(20)
22. ^ The Slave Trade
23. ^ ^{a b c} Shillington, Kevin(2005). History of Africa, Rev. 2nd Ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 138,139,142, ISBN 0-333-59957-8.
24. ^ M.Martin, Phyllis and O'Meara, Patrick(1995). Africa 3rd edition, Bloomington and Indianapolis:Indiana University Press, p. 156, ISBN 0-253-32916-7.
25. ^ ^{a b} "Africa's Malaria Death Toll Still "Outrageously High", Afshin Molavi, National Geographic News, June 12, 2003.
26. ^ [1]
27. ^ World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision Population Database
28. ^ According to the CIA Factbook: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia
29. ^ Goal: Reduce child mortality, Unicef, retrieved February 24, 2009.
30. ^ Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality, worldbank.org, retrieved 7-8-2009
31. ^ http://independent.co.ug/index.php/business/business-news/54-business-news/1940-are-investors-missing-out-on-sub-sahara-africa
32. ^ http://insidesomalia.org/200910102449/News/Business/Sub-Saharan-Africas-Per-Capita-Income-to-Fall-IMF-Forecasts.html
33. ^ http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/manganese/mcs-2009-manga.pdf
34. ^ http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/bauxite/mcs-2009-bauxi.pdf
35. ^ http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/copper/mcs-2009-coppe.pdf
36. ^ "User fees for health: a background". http://www.eldis.org/healthsystems/userfees/background.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-28. 
37. ^ "Implementation of the Bamako Initiative: strategies in Benin and Guinea". http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10173105&dopt=Abstract. Retrieved 2006-12-28. 
38. ^ "Manageable Bamako Initiative schemes". http://www.medicusmundi.ch/mms/services/bulletin/bulletin200201/kap01/07kuechler.html. Retrieved 2006-12-28. 
39. ^ Xinhua - English
40. ^ ^{a b} The Middle East, nos. 135-145, (IC Publications ltd.: 1985), p.13
41. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=MyGjpyNAur0C&pg=PA383 Lloyd E. Hudman, Richard H Jackson, Geography of Travel & Tourism, 4 edition, (Delmar Cengage Learning: 2002), p.383
42. ^ Christopher Ehret, (2002). The Civilizations of Africa. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, pp. 102-103, ISBN 0-8139-2085-x.,

Sources

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

External links

• USAID
• UNFPA
• UNAIDS
• IMF
• World Bank
• USA State department travel tips

Articles Related to Sub-Saharan Africa v • d • e History of Africa Sovereign states Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt1 · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) · Madeira (Portugal) · Mayotte / Réunion (France) · Puntland · St. Helena (UK) · Socotra (Yemen) · Somaliland · Southern Sudan · Western Sahara · Zanzibar (Tanzania) Italics indicate an unrecognised or partially recognised country. 1 Transcontinental country.  v • d • e Geography of Africa Sovereign states Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt1 · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) · Madeira (Portugal) · Mayotte / Réunion (France) · Puntland · St. Helena (UK) · Socotra (Yemen) · Somaliland · Southern Sudan · Western Sahara · Zanzibar (Tanzania) Italics indicate an unrecognised or partially recognised country. 1 Transcontinental country.  v • d • e Languages of Africa Sovereign states Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt1 · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Italics indicate an unrecognised or partially recognised country. 1 Transcontinental country.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - område sydligt for Sahara

Nederlands (Dutch)
ten zuiden van de Sahara

Français (French)
adj. - sub-saharien

Deutsch (German)
adj. - südlich der Sahara gelegen

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - νοτίως της Σαχάρας

Italiano (Italian)
a sud del Sahara

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - subsaariano

Русский (Russian)
район, расположенный на границе пустыни и оазиса

Español (Spanish)
adj. - de las regiones de Africa al sur del Sahara

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - typiskt för det som är söder om Sahara

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
撒哈拉沙漠以南的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 撒哈拉沙漠以南的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 사하라사막 이남의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - サハラ以南の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) دون الصحراء (جغرافيا)‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של חבלי הארץ דרומית לסהרה‬

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