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| Sudano-Sahelian zone | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sudano-Sahelian zone |
| Region | Africa |
Sudano-Sahelian zone is a transitional ecological band of tropical Africa linking the Sahara and the Guinean Forests of West Africa. It stretches across multiple sovereign states including Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ghana, and sits between the Sahel proper and the Sudanian savanna. The region has shaped historical polities such as the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, the Kanem–Bornu Empire and later contacts with French West Africa and British colonialism.
The zone lies north of the Guinea Highlands and south of the Tanezrouft Basin and Darfur plateaus, bounded west-to-east by the Atlantic Ocean corridor near Dakar to the Red Sea watershed near Khartoum. Major rivers that traverse or border it include the Niger River, Senegal River, Volta River, Chari River and the tributaries feeding the Lake Chad basin. Topography ranges from the Adrar des Ifoghas massifs and the Aïr Mountains in Niger to the low plateaus around Ouagadougou and the floodplains of the Inner Niger Delta near Timbuktu. Administrative regions overlapping the zone include Tillabéri Region, Maradi Region, Kassala State, Borno State and Maroua. The corridor also hosts trade routes historically linked to the Trans-Saharan trade, Camels of the Sahara, and caravan centers such as Gao and Agadez.
Climate is seasonal with a distinct wet season driven by the northward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and a long dry season influenced by the Harmattan winds and the Saharan Air Layer. Annual rainfall typically ranges from about 150 mm per year in the north to 900 mm per year in the south, creating gradients described in climatology studies alongside Köppen climate classification maps used by organizations like the World Meteorological Organization. Ecological zones intergrade from Sahelian Acacia savanna to Sudanian woodland and patchy gallery forests along riparian corridors such as the Niger Inner Delta, with seasonal floodplains comparable to those of the Okavango Delta in hydrological importance.
Soils include ferralsols, vertisols and arenosols, with lateritic duricrusts and alluvial deposits in river basins like the Niger Delta (inland); notable pedons occur near Mopti, Zinder, Kano and Maradi. Land use is a mosaic of rainfed cereal fields, agroforestry parklands featuring species introduced during the Green Revolution era, pastoral rangelands used by groups such as the Fulani and Tuareg, and peri-urban agricultural belts around cities like Niamey, Kano, Ouagadougou and Abuja. Irrigation projects on the Senegal River and diversions for schemes like the Office du Niger illustrate contested water management linked in policy arenas with the Nile Basin Initiative and regional development banks such as the African Development Bank.
Vegetation is characterized by drought-tolerant grasses, thorny shrubs and scattered trees including species such as Acacia senegal, Faidherbia albida, Balanites aegyptiaca, and remnants of Parkia biglobosa parklands. Fauna includes large herbivores historically present like African elephants and West African giraffe, endemic and migratory birds using flyways including the East Atlantic Flyway, and carnivores such as lions and leopards in refugia. Wetland-dependent species in the Inner Niger Delta and Lake Chad basin support populations of Nile crocodile and migratory waterfowl monitored by groups like the Ramsar Convention and researchers at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and ICRAF.
Ethnolinguistic diversity includes speakers of Hausa, Zarma, Songhai languages, Mande languages such as Bambara, Fulfulde of the Fulani, Kanuri, Tubu, Tamashek (Tuareg), Djerma, Moors and numerous smaller groups. Urban centers with rich cultural heritages include Timbuktu, Kano, Agadez, Zinder, Katsina and Bobo-Dioulasso, which have historic ties to Islamic scholarship at institutions like the old Sankore Madrasa and trade guilds similar to those chronicled in accounts by Ibn Battuta and Leo Africanus. Music, crafts and oral traditions connect to figures and movements such as Griots, the Sufi brotherhoods like the Tijaniyya, and contemporary artists from Mali and Niger engaged in global networks via festivals linked to organizations like UNESCO.
Staple crops include millet, sorghum, cowpea, maize in wetter pockets, and groundnut in cash-crop zones; tree crops such as oil palm persist in southern margins. Pastoralism by Fulani and transhumant groups complements sedentary cultivation, with livestock species including zebu cattle, goats and sheep. Markets in Kano, Katsina, Zinder and Ouagadougou connect to regional trade corridors tied historically to the Trans-Saharan trade and modern corridors to Abidjan and Lagos. Development initiatives from the World Bank, FAO and regional NGOs implement programs on drought-resistant varieties, rangeland management and microfinance used by cooperatives modeled on examples like the Tontine.
The zone faces desertification pressures linked to shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, population growth in cities like Niamey and Kano, and crises around the shrinking Lake Chad documented by UNEP and the International Committee of the Red Cross in humanitarian reports. Land degradation, overgrazing, and conflict involving groups such as insurgencies in northern Mali and Boko Haram affect conservation and livelihoods. Responses include reforestation programs like the Great Green Wall initiative, protected areas such as Waza National Park and community-based management in places studied by CIFOR and IUCN, alongside climate adaptation projects funded by the Green Climate Fund.
Category:Ecological regions of Africa