thumb|249px|Satelitska kompozitna slika Afrike koja prikazuje ekološki prijelom između sjevernih i subsaharskih regija

'''Subsaharska Afrika''' je područje u Africi koje se nalazi južno od Sahare, a koristi se za označavanje zemalja Afrike koje se ne smatraju dijelom Sjeverne ili nekih područja Zapadne Afrike. U Europi i Americi tijekom 19. stoljeća Subsaharska Afrika je bila poznata kao '''Crna Afrika''' ili '''Tamna Afrika''', dijelom zbog rase urođeničkih naseljenika, a dijelom zbog velikog dijela koji Zapadnjaci nisu u potpunosti kartirali ili istražili (Afrika je ponekad u cijelosti bila označena kao "crni kontinent"). Ti su termini danas zastarjeli, te su se često smatrali uvredljivima. Hegel i ostali pisci toga vremena preferirali su neutralnu frazu obalnim regijama.

Od završetka posljednjeg ledenog doba sjeverna i subsaharska regija Afrike bile su odvojene ekstremno surovom klimom koja je karakterizirala raštrkano naseljenu Saharu. Ta klima je formirala učinkovitu prepreku koju je prekidao jedino tok rijeke afrotropski, koja se koristi za raznolikost regionalne ekologije. Kad bi se taj termin ipak strogo primijenio, onda bi on isključivao Južnu Afriku čija se većina nalazi izvan pojasa obratnica.

Podjela Afrike na ove dvije, široke regije također se uzdigla iz povijesnih i geopolitičkih razmatranja. Na Zapadu su se sjevernoafrički naseljenici općenito percipirali da su pretežito crnaca iz Subsaharske Afrike.

Štoviše, ljudi Sjeverne Afrike govore jezicima koji su blisko povezani i pripadaju afroazijatskoj jezičnoj obitelji za razliku od ostatka kontinenta u kojem stanovništvo pretežito govori nilosaharskim i nigerokongoanskim. Sjeverna Afrika se integrirala unutar Bliskog istoka i Istočnog Mediterana još od razdoblja antike. Egipat je primjerice Jugozapadnoj Aziji. Uvođenje istočnog kršćanstva i islama u regiju još je jače utvrdilo ovu percepciju i samopercepciju.

Problematično grupiranje afričkih država u geopolitičke regije zajedno s percepcijama pripisanim takvim podjelama--posebice one utemeljene na idejama rase i etniciteta--ispunjene su inherentnim paradoksima. Sudan se primjerice smatra sjevernoafričkom zemljom, iako su njegovi stanovnici pretežito crnački Afrikanci.

Uz malene iznimke Južne Afrike subsaharska je Afrika poput ostatka kontinenta jedna od najsiromašnijih regija na svijetu koja još uvijek pati od naslijeđa kolonijalnog osvajanja i okupacije, neokolonijalizma, inter-etničkih konflikata i političkog razdora. U regiji se nalaze brojne zemlje koje pripadaju najslabije razvijenim zemaljama na svijetu. (Vidi ''Ekonomija Afrike''.) 

== Države subsaharske Afrike ==

Točan položaj razdijelne linije između dviju regija nije jasno definiran zbog diskontinuiranih i nejasnih prijelomnih točaka između državnih granica, ekologijâ i etnicitetâ. Subsaharska Afrika prema jednoj klasifikaciji dviju regija uključuje četrdeset osam država. Od ukupnog se broja njih četrdeset i dvije nalaze na afričkom kopnu. Ostalih šest država, koji se također smatraju dijelom subsaharske Afrike, čine četiri otočne države u jugozapadnom dijelu Indijskog oceana (Madagaskar, Komori, Mauricijus i Sejšeli) i dvije otočne države u Atlantskom oceanu (Zeleni Rt i São Tomé i Príncipe). Prema toj klasifikacijskoj shemi, zemlje Subsaharske Afrike su:

=== Istočna Afrika ===
* Burundi (ponekad se također smatra dijelom Srednje Afrike)
* Kenija
* Mozambik (ponekad se također smatra dijelom Južne Afrike)
* Ruanda (ponekad se također smatra dijelom Srednje Afrike)
* Tanzanija
* Uganda

=== Južna Afrika ===
* Angola (ponekad se također smatra dijelom Srednje Afrike)
* Bocvana
* Južna Afrika
* Lesoto
* Malavi
* Mozambik (ponekad se također smatra dijelom Istočne Afrike)
* Namibija
* Svaziland
* Zambija (ponekad se također smatra dijelom Srednje Afrike)
* Zimbabve

=== Sjeveroistočna Afrika ===
* Džibuti
* Eritreja
* Etiopija
* Somalija (uključujući Somaliland)
* Sudan (često se smatra dijelom Sjeverne Afrike)

thumb|300px|Simplified climatic map of Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa consists of the arid [[Sahel and the mediterranean" south coast (olive) of iron artefacts 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.<ref>http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/images/subsaharan.jpg</ref><ref>http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/subsaharanafrica</ref>

It contrasts with North Africa, which is part of the Arab world.<ref name="Arab League Online">[http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/index.jsp Arab League Online: League of Arab States]</ref>

The ''Sûdân'' region) and forest-savanna mosaic to the south. 

The Horn of Africa and Southern Sudan are geographically part of sub-Saharan Africa, but nevertheless show strong Middle Eastern influence and are also part of the Arab world.<ref name="Arab League Online"/>

The Sub-Saharan region is also known as '''Black Africa''',<ref>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".</ref> in reference to its "black" populations, in contrast to the "Caucasoid" or "Melanochroi" inhabitants of North Africa. The term ''bilâd as-sûdân'' itself literally translates to "land of the blacks".

==Geography==
Sub-Saharan Africa covers an area of 24.3 million square kilometers.[http://devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?PTYPE=CP&CCODE=SSA]

Since around 5,400 years ago <ref>[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started By Changes In Earth's Orbit, Accelerated By Atmospheric And Vegetation Feedbacks<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, 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 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.<ref></ref>  

===Climate zones and ecoregions===

thumb|249px|[[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 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 tropical savanna ecoregion of Southern Africa.
* The Karoo is a semi-desert in western South Africa.

==History==

===East Africa===

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. Ancient 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.

Somalia was under the control of Ethiopian Empire until 1527, when 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.

Persian settlements sprouted along the coast by the slaves. Arabic, Persian and other Middle Eastern and South Asian loan words, developed as a ''lingua franca'' for trade between the different peoples.

In 1498 Portuguese had subdued the entire coast. Portuguese control lasted until the early 18th century, when Arabs from 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===

The Nok culture, known from a type of terracotta figure found in Nigeria, dating to 500 BC - AD 200.

There are 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 and the Aro confederacy were responsible for most of the slaves exported from Nigeria.<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/7.htm The Slave Trade]</ref>

Following the British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world power at the time.

===Central Africa===

The Bantu expansion has its original nucleus in West Africa, dividing into a Western and an Eastern Bantu group by about 1500 BC. The Eastern group has its nucleus 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.

===Southern Africa===

Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples, who were KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape Province.   

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, 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 (1817-1879) was a Southern African state in what is now South Africa. The small kingdom gained world fame during and after the Anglo-Zulu War.

==Demographics and economy==

Generally, sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world, suffering from the effects of colonialism, economic mismanagement, local corruption. and inter-ethnic conflict.  The region contains many of the least developed countries in the world. (See ''Economy of Africa''.) The sub-Saharan African countries form the bulk of the ACP countries.

The population of sub-Saharan Africa was 770.3 million in 2006. <ref>http://devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?PTYPE=CP&CCODE=SSA</ref> The current growth rate is 2.3%. The UN predict for the region a population of nearly 1.5 billion in 2050.<ref>http://esa.un.org/unpp</ref>

Sub-Saharan African countries top the HIV/AIDS infections are also dramatic. More than 40% of the population in sub-Saharan countries are below 15 years in life expectancy, as well as the Sudan but with the exception of South Africa.<ref>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</ref>
 
<gallery>
Image:Africa HIV-AIDS.svg|HIV infection is widespread in most of sub-Saharan Africa (ca. 7%, as opposed to 1% worldwide), with incidences above 30% in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
Image:Life expectancy in some Southern African countries 1958 to 2003.png|Life expectancy has fallen drastically in Southern Africa since the 1990s as a result of HIV.
Image:HDImap spectrum2006 Africa.png| Map of Africa indicating report on 2005 were in Sub-Saharan Africa. The highest value is that of Gabon at 0.677.
</gallery>

===Health care===
In 1987, WHO conference known as the Bamako Initiative that helped reshape the health policy of sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.eldis.org/healthsystems/userfees/background.htm
|title=User fees for health: a background
|publisher=
|accessdate=2006-12-28 
}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10173105&dopt=Abstract
|title=Implementation of the Bamako Initiative: strategies in Benin and Guinea
|publisher=
|accessdate=2006-12-28 
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.medicusmundi.ch/mms/services/bulletin/bulletin200201/kap01/07kuechler.html
|title=Manageable Bamako Initiative schemes
|publisher=
|accessdate=2006-12-28 
}}</ref>

Up to and including October 2006 many governments face difficulties in implementing policies aimed at mitigating the effects of the AIDS-pandemic due to lack of technical support despite a number of mitigating measures.<ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/04/content_5167991.htm Xinhua - English<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

===Languages and ethnic groups===
thumb|249px|Linguistically, sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by the [[Niger-Congo phylum (distribution shown in yellow), with pockets of Nilo-Saharan in Central and Afro-Asiatic in the Horn of Africa]]

Speakers of indigenous Khoisan ('San' or '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.

Anglo-Africans and Austronesian (African origin. The area of southern Nilotic people, the tallest and blackest people in the world.