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| Southeast Africa | |
|---|---|
| Name | Southeast Africa |
Southeast Africa is a regional designation encompassing the southeastern portion of the African continent, characterized by a convergence of Indian Ocean littoral states, highland plateaus, and major river basins. The region has long-standing connections to the Indian Ocean trade network involving Persian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, and Indian Ocean trade partners, and later to European maritime empires such as Portuguese Empire, British Empire, and Dutch East India Company. Its modern configuration reflects boundaries shaped by colonial treaties like the Berlin Conference and postcolonial organizations such as the African Union.
Southeast Africa comprises diverse physiographic features including the Great Rift Valley, the East African Rift, the Zambezi River, the Limpopo River, and the Mozambique Channel coastlines near Madagascar, Comoros, and São Tomé and Príncipe influences. Highland areas include the Ethiopian Highlands fringe, the Drakensberg Mountains, and the Maloti Mountains, while lowland zones encompass the Limpopo Basin, the Okavango Delta fringes, and the Maputo Bay estuary. Political boundaries have been influenced by colonial-era demarcations such as the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 and the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty, and by modern regional bodies like the Southern African Development Community.
States commonly included are Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia (eastern regions), and parts of South Africa; island states with historic ties include Madagascar, Comoros, and Mauritius. Subnational divisions feature provinces such as Maputo Province, Nampula Province, Lusaka Province, Gaza Province, and Matabeleland North. Regional institutions shaping political coordination include the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Indian Ocean Commission, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Precolonial societies in the region included states and polities like the Great Zimbabwe, the Kingdom of Mutapa, the Swahili city-states along the coast including Kilwa Kisiwani, and the Sultanate of Kilwa. Inland chiefdoms and societies featured the Shona people polities, the Nzima, and the Lozi Kingdom at the upper Zambezi. Archaeological cultures such as the Iron Age communities at Mapungubwe and the Later Stone Age sites at Blombos Cave testify to long human occupation. Trade networks connected the region to Zanj and to Omani Empire elites at Zanzibar, while itinerant merchants from Persia and India established commercial links.
European contact intensified with the Portuguese Empire coastal forts at Mozambique Island and Sofala, followed by competition from the Dutch Empire at Cape Colony and the British Empire via Natal and Rhodesia. Colonial administration produced entities like Portuguese Mozambique, British Malawi, Northern Rhodesia, and Southern Rhodesia. Resistance movements included campaigns led by figures associated with Samora Machel in Mozambique Liberation Front, Julius Nyerere-linked networks in the broader region, and nationalist parties such as African National Congress influences and ZANU–PF emergence. Decolonization involved key events like the Lancaster House Agreement, the Mozambique Civil War, and international diplomacy at the United Nations.
The population comprises diverse ethnic groups including the Shona, Nyanja (Chewa), Tsonga, Venda, Nguni groups (including Zulu and Xhosa diasporas), Sotho–Tswana peoples such as Basotho, and Makonde communities. Linguistic landscapes include families represented by Bantu languages such as Shona language, Chichewa, Xitsonga, Kiswahili as a lingua franca in parts of the coast, and Malagasy on Madagascar. Colonial languages like Portuguese language, English language, and French language remain official in various states, while religious adherence features traditions linked to Islam in Africa, Christianity in Africa, and indigenous belief systems tied to figures such as ancestral spirits recorded in ethnographies by researchers at institutions like the British Museum.
The regional economy historically relied on trade in commodities such as gold from Great Zimbabwe fields, ivory linked to networks with Arab traders, and agricultural exports including cashew and sugar from plantations tied to Portuguese Mozambique and British South Africa Company concessions. Modern economies feature mining of coal, chromium, platinum, and copperbelt operations associated with Zambia and DR Congo supply chains, along with petroleum exploration offshore in the Mozambique Basin. Infrastructure projects include the Beira Corridor, the Nacala Corridor railway, and ports like Maputo and Beira. Development finance involves actors such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and emerging partners like the China–Africa relations framework.
Biodiversity hotspots include Kruger National Park-adjacent ecosystems, the Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands biodiversity, the Miombo woodlands, and wetlands such as Lake Malawi and Okavango Delta fringes. Conservation initiatives operate through organizations like World Wildlife Fund partnerships, protected areas such as Gonarezhou National Park, and transfrontier conservation areas such as the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Environmental challenges include deforestation in the Eastern Arc Mountains and coral reef pressures in the Mozambique Channel, with climate impacts noted in studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and regional adaptation programs supported by the African Development Bank.
Category:Regions of Africa