Map of the Sahel

Description:

This Map of the Sahel shows seas, islands, governmental boundaries, countries, lakes, capitals and major cities.
Size: 1600x1027px / 519 Kb
Author: Ontheworldmap.com

The Sahel region, or Sahelian Acacia savanna, is a biogeographic region in Africa. It is a transition zone between the wetter savannahs of Sudan in the south and the drier Sahara in the north. The Sahel is characterized by a hot, semi-arid climate and extends in the southernmost latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. Although geographically the Sahel is located in the tropics, the climate is not tropical.

Especially in the western part of the Sahel, there are often food and water shortages due to very high government corruption and a semi-arid climate. This is exacerbated by the very high birth rate in the region, resulting in rapid population growth. Recently, many countries in the Sahel, especially in the former Francafrique, have experienced various coups, insurgencies, terrorism and foreign interventions.

The Sahel stretches 3,670 mi (5,900 km) from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, in a belt a few hundred to a thousand kilometers (c. 600 mi) wide. It covers an area of 1,178,850 square miles (3,053,200 sq km). Today, the Sahel zone includes the territory of states such as Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, and Sudan.

Since 2014, the Sahel Five, an international regional grouping of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Mali, has existed to coordinate the actions of the Sahel States. In 2024, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger joined the Confederation of Sahel States.

Major and principal cities in the Sahel include N'Djamena, Asmara, Nouakchott, Niamey, Dakar, and Khartoum.