North African region encompassing modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan (excluding Egypt) traces the origin of the name “Africa” to Phoenician roots, initially applied by the Romans to their province in Tunisia and later extended to the entire northern part of the continent.

The region is characterized by the dominance of the Sahara Desert, with periods of abundant precipitation in the past. The Atlas Mountains play a crucial role in the region’s history, though settlements historically favoured plains and valleys due to the intractability of the mountainous terrain.

The coastal areas are inhospitable, with few natural harbors and limited communication lines into the interior. Despite cultural diversity, political unity has been rare due to geographical factors, including the elongated shape of the settlement area and the presence of mountain barriers.

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Central Africa is a sub-region of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Middle Africa is an analogous term used by the United Nations in its geo scheme for Africa and consists of the following countries: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

These eleven countries are members of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Six of those countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo) are also members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and share a common currency, the Central African CFA franc.

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Southern Africa is home to a number of river systems; the Zambezi River is the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola all the way to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, the Zambezi River flows over the mighty Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world based on selected criteria and is a major tourist attraction for the region.

Southern Africa includes both type B and type C climates. The Tropic of Capricorn runs straight through the middle of the region, indicating that the southern portion is outside the tropics. The Kalahari Desert, which lies mainly in Botswana, is an extensive desert region with an arid mixture of grasslands and sand. When there is adequate rainfall, the grasslands provide excellent grazing for wildlife.

Precipitation varies from three to ten inches per year.

The Kalahari is home to game reserves and national parks. Large areas of dry salt pans stretch over ancient lake beds. The salt pans fill with water after heavy rainfall but are dry the remainder of the year.

The Namib Desert, found along the west coast of Namibia, receives little rainfall. Moderate type C climates are found south of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa, where conditions are suitable for a variety of agricultural activities, including fruit orchards and an expanding wine industry.

The countries on the Southern African mainland share many of the demographic qualities of the rest of Africa: large family size, agrarian economies, multiple ethnic groups, rural populations, political instability, and a high rate of rural-to-urban shift.

Southern Africa is set apart from other Sub-Saharan African regions because of its mineral resources, including copper, diamonds, gold, zinc, chromium, platinum, manganese, iron ore, and coal.

Countries in Southern Africa are quite large in physical area, except three smaller landlocked states: Lesotho, Swaziland, and Malawi. The larger countries—South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Angola—all have extensive mineral deposits.

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Western African continent comprises of countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

The region is demographically and economically one of the fastest growing on the African continent. Early history in West Africa included a number of prominent regional powers that dominated different parts of both the coastal and internal trade networks, such as the Mali and Gao Empires.

West Africa sat at the intersection of trade routes between Arab-dominated North Africa and further south on the continent, the source of specialized goods such as gold, advanced iron-working, and ivory. After European exploration encountered rich local economies and kingdoms, the Atlantic slave trade built on already existing slave systems to provide labor for colonies in the Americas.

After the end of the slave trade in the early 19th century, European nations, especially France and Britain, continued to exploit the region through colonial relationships. For example, they continued exporting a number of extractive goods, including labour-intensive agricultural crops like cocoa and coffee, forestry products like tropical timber, and mineral resources like gold.

Since independence, many West African countries, like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, have played important roles in the regional and global economies.

West Africa has a rich ecology, with strong biodiversity and several distinct regions. The area’s climate and ecology are heavily influenced by the dry Sahara to the north and east, which provides dry winds during the Harmattan, as well as the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, which provides seasonal monsoons. This mixture of climates gives West Africa a rich array of biomes, from biodiversity-rich tropical forests to drylands supporting rare and endangered fauna such as pangolins, rhinoceros, and elephants. Because of the pressure for economic development, many of these ecologies are threatened by processes like deforestation, biodiversity loss, overfishing, pollution from mining, plastics and other industries, and extreme changes resulting from climate change in West Africa.

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Eastern Africa, a significant part of sub-Saharan Africa, comprises two primary regions: East Africa, encompassing Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and the Horn of Africa, including Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

Geographically, Eastern Africa is characterized by expansive plateaus with some of Africa’s highest elevations. The region features prominent highlands such as those in Ethiopia and Kenya, where peaks reach heights of 6,500 to 10,000 feet (2,000 to 3,000 meters). It is traversed by the East African Rift System, which includes the Great Rift Valley extending from the Red Sea’s junction with the Gulf of Aden through Ethiopia and Kenya into Tanzania, and the Western Rift Valley along Uganda’s and Tanzania’s borders. Between these rifts lies a plateau that encompasses Uganda and western Tanzania, including Lake Victoria. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak at 19,340 feet (5,895 meters), stands in northeastern Tanzania. Coastal plains dominate the Horn of Africa, notably in Somalia.

Eastern Africa’s climate is predominantly tropical, moderated by its high elevations. Precipitation patterns vary significantly with elevation: Uganda, Tanzania, and western Kenya receive ample rainfall, while Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, and northeastern Kenya are much drier. Vegetation ranges from woodlands and grasslands in wetter areas to thornbushes in semi-arid regions. The grasslands of Kenya and Tanzania are renowned for their diverse wildlife, including large migratory herds and predators.

The region is culturally diverse, home to over 160 distinct ethnic groups. Languages spoken include Cushitic languages in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya; Nilo-Saharan languages in Uganda and parts of Kenya and Tanzania; and Bantu languages across much of the region. Major ethnic groups include the Oromo and Somali in Ethiopia and Somalia respectively, the Tigray and Tigre in Eritrea, and various smaller groups in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Eastern Africa’s history spans ancient times through the 20th century, marked by rich cultural and ethnic diversity, significant geological features, and varied climatic conditions that have shaped its societies and landscapes over millennia.

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