The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography region in Africa. It is the Ecotone between the more humid to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a hot semi-arid climate and stretches across the tropics of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. Although geographically located in the tropics, the Sahel does not have a tropical climate.
Especially in the western Sahel, there are frequent shortages of food and water due to its very high government corruption and the semi-arid climate. This is exacerbated by very high birthrates across the region, resulting in a rapid increase in population. In recent times,
Geography
The Sahel spans from the
Atlantic Ocean in the west to the
Red Sea in the east, in a belt several hundred to a thousand kilometers (c. 600 miles) wide. It covers an area of .
Representing a climatic and ecological ecotone with hot semi-desert and steppe conditions, the Sahel region borders the more humid to its south and the Desert climate Sahara desert to the north. This ecoregion is also called the Sahelian Acacia savanna in honour of its most prominent and very drought tolerant genus of tree.
The topography of the Sahel is mainly flat; most of the region lies between in elevation. Several isolated plateaus and mountain ranges rise from the Sahel (e.g. Marrah Mountains, Aïr Mountains, Ennedi Plateau), but are designated as separate ecoregions because their flora and fauna are distinct from the surrounding lowlands (e.g. East Saharan woodlands). Annual rainfall varies from around in the north of the Sahel to around in the south.
Flora and fauna
The Sahel is mostly covered in grassland and savanna, with areas of woodland and shrubland. Grass cover is fairly continuous across the region, dominated by annual grass species such as
Cenchrus biflorus, Schoenefeldia gracilis and
Aristida stipoides. Species of
acacia are the dominant trees, with
Acacia tortilis the most common, along with
Senegalia senegal and
Senegalia laeta. Other tree species include
Adansonia digitata,
Commiphora africana,
Balanites aegyptiaca,
Faidherbia albida,
Borassus aethiopum,
Vitellaria paradoxa,
Olea europaea,
Arbutus unedo,
Phoenix canariensis,
Hyphaene compressa,
Cupressus sempervirens,
Quercus coccifera,
Quercus suber,
Pinus nigra,
Populus nigra,
Ceratonia siliqua,
Salix alba,
Afzelia africana,
Kigelia africana,
Sclerocarya birrea, and
Boscia senegalensis. In the northern part of the Sahel, areas of desert shrub, including
Panicum turgidum and
Aristida sieberiana, alternate with areas of grassland and savanna. During the long dry season, many trees lose their leaves and the predominantly annual grasses die.
The Sahel was formerly home to large populations of grazing mammals, including the scimitar oryx (Oryx dammah), dama gazelle (Gazella dama), Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas), red-fronted gazelle (Gazella rufifrons), the giant prehistoric buffalo (Pelorovis), and Bubal hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus), along with large predators, such as the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), the Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki), the Northeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii), and the lion (Panthera leo). The larger species have been greatly reduced in number by over-hunting and competition with livestock, and several species are vulnerable (Dorcas gazelle, cheetah, lion and red-fronted gazelle), endangered (Dama gazelle and African wild dog), or extinction (the Scimitar-horned oryx is probably extinct in the wild, and both Pelorovis and the Bubal hartebeest are now extinct).
The seasonal wetlands of the Sahel are important for moving within Africa and on the African-Eurasian flyways.
Climate
The Sahel has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification
BSh). The climate is typically hot, sunny, dry and somewhat windy all year long. The Sahel's climate is similar to, but less extreme than, the climate of the
Sahara desert located just to the north.
The Sahel mainly receives a low to very low amount of precipitation annually. The steppe has a very long, prevailing dry season and a short rainy season. The precipitation is also extremely irregular, and varies considerably from season to season. Most of the rain usually falls during four to six months in the middle of the year, while the other months may remain absolutely dry. The interior of the Sahel region generally receives between 200 mm and 700 mm of rain yearly. A system of subdivisions often adopted for the Sahelian climate based on annual rainfall is as follows: the Saharan-Sahelian climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 100 and 200 mm (such as Khartoum, Sudan), the strict Sahelian climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 200 and 700 mm (such as Niamey, Niger) and the Sahelian-Sudanese climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 700 and 900 mm (such as Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso). The relative humidity in the steppe is low to very low, often between 10% and 25% during the dry season and between 25% and 75% during the rainy season. The least humid places have a relative humidity under 35%. Annual rain levels were measured to fall between 20-40% in a span of two decades from 1931-1960 and 1968-1990; the levels recovered slightly in the mid-1990s in some areas, especially in central and eastern areas as far as Senegal.
The Sahel is characterized by constant, intense heat, with an unvarying temperature. The Sahel rarely experiences cold temperatures. During the hottest period, the average high temperatures are generally between (and even more in the hottest regions), often for more than three months, while the average low temperatures are around . During the "coldest period", the average high temperatures are between and the average low temperatures are between .
The Sahel has a high to very high sunshine duration year-round, between 2,400 hours (about 55% of the daylight hours) and 3,600 hours (more than 80% of the daylight hours). The sunshine duration in the Sahel approaches desert levels, and is comparable to that in the Arabian Desert, for example, even though the Sahel is only a steppe and not a desert. The cloud cover is low to very low. For example, Niamey, Niger has 3,082 hours of bright sunshine; Gao, Mali has near 3,385 hours of sunshine; Timbuktu, Mali has 3,409 sunny hours, and N'Djamena, Chad has 3,205 hours of sunlight.
Recent droughts
For hundreds of years, the Sahel region has experienced frequent droughts and
. One megadrought lasted from 1450 to 1700, 250 years.
There was a major drought in the Sahel in 1914 caused by annual rains far below average, leading to large-scale famine. From 1951 to 2004, the Sahel experienced some of the most consistent and severe droughts in Africa.
The 1960s saw a large increase in rainfall in the region, making the northern drier region more accessible. There was a push, supported by governments, for people to move northwards. When the long drought period from 1968 through 1974 began, grazing quickly became unsustainable and large-scale denuding of the terrain followed. Like the drought in 1914, this led to a large-scale famine, but this time somewhat tempered by international visibility and an outpouring of aid. This catastrophe led to the founding of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
2010 drought
Between June and August 2010, famine struck the Sahel.
Niger's crops failed to mature in the heat, 350,000 faced starvation, and 1,200,000 were at risk of famine.
In Chad the temperature reached on 22 June in
Faya-Largeau, breaking a record set in 1961 at the same location. Niger tied its highest temperature record set in 1998, also on 22 June, at 47.1 °C in
Bilma. That record was broken the next day, when Bilma hit . The hottest temperature recorded in Sudan was reached on 25 June, at in
Dongola, breaking a record set in 1987.
Niger reported on 14 July that
diarrhoea, starvation,
gastroenteritis,
malnutrition and respiratory diseases had sickened or killed many children. The new
military junta appealed for international food aid and took serious steps to call on overseas help.
On 26 July, the heat reached near-record levels over Chad and Niger,
and in northern Niger about 20 people reportedly died of dehydration by 27 July.
Desertification and soil loss
The Sahel region faces environmental issues that are contributing to
global warming. If the change in climate in the Sahel region "is not slowed-down and desertification possibly reversed through sustainable practices and any form of
reforestation, it is only a matter of time before countries like Niger lose their entire landmass to desert due to unchecked unsustainable human practices.
, over-grazing,
over-population of marginal lands, and natural
soil erosion have caused serious
desertification of the region.
[Schmidt, Laurie J. (18 May 2001). "From the Dust Bowl to the Sahel". NASA.] This has affected shelter construction, making it necessary to change the used materials. The Woodless Construction project was introduced in Sahel in 1980 by the Development Workshop, achieving since then a high social impact in the region.
A major initiative to combat desertification in the Sahel region via reforestation and other interventions is the Great Green Wall.
Major are a frequent occurrence as well. During November 2004, a number of major dust storms hit Chad, originating in the Bodélé Depression.
Following the drought period of the 1970s and 1980, however, the Sahel began to experience increased rainfall.
Protected areas
Protected areas in the Sahel include Ferlo Nord Wildlife Reserve in Senegal, Sylvo-Pastoral and Partial Faunal Reserve of the Sahel in Burkina Faso, Ansonga-Ménake Faunal Reserve in Mali,
Tadres Reserve in Niger, and Waza National Park in Cameroon.
Culture
Traditionally, most of the people in the Sahel have been semi-
, farming and raising livestock in a system of
transhumance. The difference between the dry north with higher levels of soil nutrients and the wetter south with more vegetation is exploited by having the herds graze on high-quality feed in the north during the wet season, and trek several hundred kilometers to the south to graze on more abundant, but less nutritious, feed during the dry period.
In Western Sahel, polygamy and child marriage are common.
Language
French
French is spoken widely in the Sahel, as many of its nations are former French colonies, with two adopting French as an official language and many more using it colloquially.
The Sahel includes parts of
Senegal,
Mauritania,
Burkina Faso,
Mali,
Niger,
Nigeria,
Chad,
Sudan and
Eritrea, where French is employed to varying degrees.
Colonial History
The French language in the Sahel, as in much of Africa, is a remnant of colonial history and a foreign import to a region characterized by linguistic diversity.
After establishing French culture in northern Senegal in the mid-19th century, colonial governors like General
Louis Faidherbe pushed deeper into the Sahel's interior, facing opposition from regional leaders. Despite resistance, territory was accrued and placed under the control of lieutenant governors who extracted resources and labor from local populations.
The greater Sahel was subsequently organized into the massive territory of French West Africa in 1895, noted for its linguistic diversity.
Status of the French Language
French has been the official language of most Sahel countries at various points in their history, but the trend of removing its official status has gained momentum since the end of French military intervention in the region in 2022. Since then, the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have stripped French from being an official language, punctuating a broader theme of the Sahel's self-isolation from Paris.
Although there is evidence of its use in nearly every Sahel country, research suggests that French is more often a Lingua franca of business among the elite and educated classes than a conduit of practical everyday dialogue.
West African and Sahel loanwords have entered the lexicon of modern standard French, usually in the context of vernacular or slang elocution. This trend is mostly understood by the wave of African migrants to France since the end of the colonial era, but has intensified since the explosion of the youth population of Africa. Sahel loanwords are challenging the historic rigidity of the French language and its corresponding cultural norms.
Linguistic Specificities
Code-switching and linguistic blending is extremely common among French speakers in the Sahel, like other regions known for their linguistic diversity. Loanwords and phonetic irregularities derived from local languages have permeated Sahel French:
-
Overt influence of English and even Chinese words in Burkinabè French, such as enjoy "take pleasure/enjoy" and chao/ mao "old."
-
Ligidi is a Mooré loanword meaning "money."
-
C' nekh comes from the French expression c'est bon but replaces bon with the Wolof language word nekh, meaning "good" or "pleasant."
-
The phoneme /y/ is pronounced more closely to /i/ by most French locutors in the Western Sahel.
-
The apical trill pronunciation of /r/, once common in metropolitan France, continues in West Africa despite the more common use of the uvular trill pronunciation by standard French speakers.
-
Less phonetic variation exists between the vowels /ø/, /ə/, and /e/ among French speakers in Burkina Faso and Niger; /e/ characterizes the majority of these pronunciations.
Etymology
The term "Sahel" is borrowed from the
Arabic language name for the region, الساحل
. literally means "coast, shore",
which has been explained as a figurative reference to the southern edge of the vast Sahara.
However, such use is unattested in
Classical Arabic, and it has been suggested that the word may originally have been derived from the Arabic word سهل
"plain" instead.
History
Early agriculture
Around 4000 BC, the climate of the Sahara and the Sahel started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace. This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing
desertification. This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and caused migrations of farming communities to the more humid climate of
West Africa.
Sahelian kingdoms
The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of monarchies centered in the Sahel between the 9th and 18th centuries. The wealth of the states, like the legendary
Mali Empire at the time of
Mansa Musa, came from controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes across the desert, especially with the
Maghreb. Their power came from having large
like camels and horses that were fast enough to keep a large empire under central control and were also useful in battle. All of these empires were quite decentralized with member cities having a great deal of autonomy.
The larger Sahelian kingdoms emerged from 750 AD and erected several large cities in the Niger River region, including Timbuktu, Gao and Djenné.
Due to the wooded areas to their south, the Sahelian states were hindered from expanding into the north Akan state of the Bono state and , as mounted warriors were all but useless in the forests. In addition, the horses and camels were susceptible to the humidity and diseases of the tropics.
Colonial period
The Western Sahel fell to France in the late 19th century as part of French West Africa.
was added in 1900 as part of French Equatorial Africa. The French territories in the Sahel were decolonised in 1960.
The Sahel's easternmost region did not fall to the European powers but to the Khedivate of Egypt when it was conquered by Muhammad Ali in the 1820s. By 1899 it came under British rule until granted independence at Egypt's behest in 1956.
Independence
Instability and violence
Terrorism
According to
The Economist, in recent years the Sahel has become the epicenter of
Terrorism, contributing to 35% of all global deaths from terrorism by 2021, with Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, identified as the world's fastest-growing terrorist organization.
In 2023, fatalities from conflict in the central Sahel rose by 38%, according to data from the research organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
In the wake of the Libyan Crisis beginning in 2011,
As of 2024, a wave of new military juntas in Africa, favoring Russian mercenaries over Western forces and UN peacekeepers, has intensified violence. This led Mauritania and Chad to disband the G5 Sahel, an anti-terrorism alliance, after the military regimes in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali withdrew.
According to the BBC, the Sahel region has become the global epicenter of terrorism, accounting for over half of all terrorism-related deaths, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI). In 2023, the region recorded 3,885 fatalities out of a global total of 7,555, marking a nearly tenfold increase since 2019. The surge in extremist violence is attributed to the expansion of groups like the Islamic State's affiliate in the Sahel and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), who compete for land and influence while imposing strict Sharia-based governance. Political instability, weak governance, and the rise of military juntas following coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger have further fueled the insurgency. These groups sustain their operations through ransom kidnappings, illicit gold mining, and drug trafficking, with the Sahel now a major route for cocaine smuggling from South America to Europe. Meanwhile, governments in the region have shifted their alliances from Western nations to Russia and China, relying on paramilitary groups like the Africa Corps (formerly Wagner) for security assistance, though with limited success. The violence is increasingly spilling into neighboring countries such as Togo and Benin, raising concerns about the broader destabilization of West Africa.
Human rights issues and political instability
On 9 July 2020, the
United States raised concerns over growing number of allegations of human rights violations and abuses by state security forces in Sahel.
The US response came after Human Rights Watch released documents regarding the same on 1 July.
Reports in March 2022 show militants are expanding and spreading out south of the Sahel.
The area has also seen Coup Belt, with currently ruling in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Sudan.
Other challenges
The violent herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria, Mali, Sudan and other countries in the Sahel region have been exacerbated by
climate change,
land degradation, and rapid population growth.
Droughts and food shortages have been also linked to the
Mali War.
The Sahel is experiencing more severe weather due to climate change, exemplified by the extreme heatwave of March–April 2024 in Burkina Faso and Mali.
See also
-
2012 Sahel drought
-
Community of Sahel–Saharan States
-
Pan Sahel Initiative
-
Rainwater harvesting in the Sahel
-
Sudan (region)
-
Sahara Conservation Fund
-
Tipping points in the climate system#Sahel greening
-
Trans-Sahelian Highway
Sources
Further reading
-
.
-
The Growing Crisis in Africa's Sahel Region: Joint Hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade of the Committee in Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, May 21, 2013
-
Moseley, W.G. 2008. "Strengthening Livelihoods in Sahelian West Africa: The Geography of Development and Underdevelopment in a Peripheral Region." Geographische Rundschau International Edition, 4(4): 44–50. [4]
-
Simon, L., A. Mattelaer and A. Hadfield (2012) "A Coherent EU Strategy for the Sahel". Brussels: European Parliament (DG for External Policies).
External links
