‘Sub-Saharan’ or ‘south Saharan’ Africa?

Physically, Africa is a ‘continent’ or, rather, one of the five parts of the world, and for the United Nations Organisation (UNO) a ‘region’, with its own international structure, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), having its seat in Addis Ababa. But, nevertheless, it is currently subdivided – on anthropological, cultural and geopolitical grounds – into two distinct spheres, separated by the barrier of the Sahara, which isolates North Africa from Black Africa. North Africa, oriented towards the Mediterranean sea, is characterised by its sub-arid temperate climate, and its populations, overwhelmingly Arabian and Islamic, are tied to those of the Asian Middle East, who have historically shared the same great area of civilisation. Black Africa, where Black African population predominates, extends from the Sahara through the tropical and equatorial climatic zones to the far south of the continent. Due to this major climatic, anthropological and cultural divide, separated by the Saharan desert, Black Africa is currently referred to as ‘sub-Saharan’, which is a rather inexact characterisation, because it literally means ‘immediately bordering the Sahara’. Thus, because of its continuation for thousands of kilometres to the south, it would be more appropriate to name it ‘South Saharan’.

Whatever would be the designation, this southern part of Africa, having its own anthropological, historical, cultural and political homogeneity, is markedly other than that of the North Saharan one, and may in turn be divided into two groups.