You could make the same observation for much of Central Asia, and still…
Well, you have to remember that parts of the Sudan were heavily connected to the ancient Egyptians - Kush was located in Nubia which is South of Egypt. There was trading, mercenary hiring and even invasions of Egypt.
I need to clarify my terms here. THE Sudan is the transition zone from the south Sahara desert to the grasslands of (mainly) west Africa. This is the area I’m asking about.
SUDAN is the country immediately south of Egypt, and this is what you’re talking about.
The Sudans are the nations of Sudan and South Sudan. They were the same country for most of modern history, but there was a war between the Arabs in the North and maybe 20 Black African tribes in the south, from the mid 80s until 2005. South Sudan became an independent nation in 2011.
All of the southern Sahara is technically some kind of Sudan. Mali, far to the west and almost touching the Atlantic, was known in colonial times as French Sudan. It can get a little complicated, but remember how little of the Americas actually calls itself “America” and you’ll get the point.
O.k., then what’s the difference between “The Sahel” and The Sudan"? I’d heard Sahel used as the term for what you’re calling “The Sudan.” (Not that I’ve studied Africa in any great detail)
Thanks for the follow-up clarifications too, kitap and MrDibble.
Sahel is a geographic term. Newworlddictionary.com calls it a “transitional ecoregion”. Years ago when I took a course on Africa it got defined as the ecosystem between the desert and the savannah or other ecosystem, roughly. So it shrinking is a bad thing because it means the desert is expanding.
The Sahel is the transitional zone between the Sahara and the African savanna. It stretches from the west coast of Africa all the way across the continent to the east coast. Its name derives from the Arabic term for coast or shore, as the Shahel is figuratively the “shore” of the desert “sea” of the Sahara.
The Sudan, as it is being used in this thread, is a now largely-obsolete term for a geographic region with rather vague boundaries, but usually understood to mean the western portion of the Sahel, primarily inhabited by “black” Africans. Its name derives from the Arabic term for, roughly, “land of the Blacks”. As Arabs expanded south of the Sahara, they mainly did so along the east coast of Africa, so everything west of them was “the land of the Blacks”.
Confusingly, the modern state of Sudan, sometimes also referred to as “the Sudan”, lies largely outside of the region traditionally known as “the Sudan”. Sudan, the country, is on the east coast of Africa; only its westernmost provinces fall within the Sudan region. And it is an Arab-dominated state, with, at least until recently, a racist regime that fought a long, bloody, civil war against various “Black” tribes and groups.
So, the Sudan region is more or less a sub-region of the Sahel. Sudan the country lies mostly within the Sahel, but mostly outside the Sudan region. And (I believe) the newly formed country of South Sudan lies entirely outside of the traditional boundaries of the Sudan region.
Around a quarter of Africa is desert. That Sudanian savannah belt is still pretty arid but there’s water. It’s enough to support growing crops that are less water intensive. The natural grasses also support raising livestock. There’s not as much water as some of the more forested areas to the south but those can be more difficult for agriculture. Water and food make it reasonably valuable for people living in Africa given the options of less life friendly terrain. As a species we get kind of fussy if we don’t eat and drink enough.
We’ve also been seeing drought and desertification in the areas that border the Sahara. That’s been pushing some of the herders in the region to seek land deeper into the savannah belt. That’s where the agriculture has been focused. The fight for land between ranchers and farmers is a very old story. The changing climate has pushed that conflict to the fore.
This is the answer I was looking for, thanks!