In addition to its ecological and climatic significance, the Sahel is also considered a geopolitical space, shaped by internal instability and external strategic competition.[3][4][5]
The lush green of the Sahelian acacia savanna during therainy summer season inMali. Note the largebaobab amongst the acacia.Herders with livestock andazawakh dogs in the Sahel
The Sahel spans 5,900 km (3,670 mi) from theAtlantic Ocean in the west to theRed Sea in the east, in a belt several hundred to a thousand kilometers (c. 600 miles) wide. It covers an area of 3,053,200 square kilometers (1,178,850 sq mi).
The topography of the Sahel is mainly flat; most of the region lies between 200 and 400 meters (660 and 1,310 ft) 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 100–200 mm (4–8 in) in the north of the Sahel to around 700–1,000 mm (28–39 in) in the south.[6]
Ennedi Plateau is located at the border of the Sahara and the Sahel10 year average precipitation during the summer rainy season (May - September) in the Sahel and adjacent regions
The Sahel has ahot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSh). 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 theSahara 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 asKhartoum, Sudan), the strict Sahelian climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 200 and 700 mm (such asNiamey, Niger) and the Sahelian-Sudanese climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 700 and 900 mm (such asOuagadougou, Burkina Faso). Therelative 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%.[citation needed] 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.[7]
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 36 and 42 °C (97 and 108 °F) (and even more in the hottest regions), often for more than three months, while the average low temperatures are around 25 to 31 °C (77 to 88 °F). During the "coldest period", the average high temperatures are between 27 and 33 °C (81 and 91 °F) and the average low temperatures are between 15 and 21 °C (59 and 70 °F).[8] Everywhere in the Sahel, the average mean temperature is over 18 °C (64 °F).
The Sahel has a high to very highsunshine 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 theArabian Desert, for example, even though the Sahel is only a steppe and not a desert. Thecloud 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, andN'Djamena, Chad has 3,205 hours of sunlight.[9][10][11][12]
For hundreds of years, the Sahel region has experienced frequent droughts andmegadroughts. One megadrought lasted from 1450 to 1700, 250 years.[13] 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.[14] 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 theInternational Fund for Agricultural Development.
Between June and August 2010, famine struck the Sahel.[15] Niger's crops failed to mature in the heat, 350,000 faced starvation, and 1,200,000 were at risk of famine.[16] In Chad the temperature reached 47.6 °C (117.7 °F) on 22 June inFaya-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 inBilma. That record was broken the next day, when Bilma hit 48.2 °C (118.8 °F). The hottest temperature recorded in Sudan was reached on 25 June, at 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) inDongola, breaking a record set in 1987.[17] Niger reported on 14 July thatdiarrhoea, starvation,gastroenteritis,malnutrition andrespiratory diseases had sickened or killed many children. The newmilitary junta appealed for international food aid and took serious steps to call on overseas help.[18] On 26 July, the heat reached near-record levels over Chad and Niger,[19] and in northern Niger about 20 people reportedly died of dehydration by 27 July.[citation needed]
The Sahel region faces environmental issues that are contributing toglobal warming. If the change in climate in the Sahel region "is not slowed-down anddesertification possibly reversed through sustainable practices and any form ofreforestation, it is only a matter of time before countries like Niger lose their entire landmass to desert due to unchecked unsustainable human practices."[20]: 9 Over-farming, over-grazing,over-population of marginal lands, and naturalsoil erosion have caused seriousdesertification of the region.[21][22] 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.[23] A major initiative to combat desertification in the Sahel region via reforestation and other interventions is theGreat Green Wall.
Majordust storms are a frequent occurrence as well. During November 2004, a number of major dust storms hitChad, originating in theBodélé Depression.[24] This is a common area for dust storms, occurring on average on 100 days every year.[25]
Following the drought period of the 1970s and 1980, however, the Sahel began to experience increased rainfall.[27] This may be due toglobal warming, which can cause changes that may result in changes in large-scale weather patterns, such as increased stronger monsoons, in turn caused by a warmer Atlantic Ocean.[28] Warming of theMediterranean Sea may also be a factor.[29]
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Traditionally, most of the people in the Sahel have been semi-nomads, farming and raising livestock in a system oftranshumance. 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.[citation needed]
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.[34] The Sahel includes parts ofSenegal,Mauritania,Burkina Faso,Mali,Niger,Nigeria,Chad,Sudan andEritrea, where French is employed to varying degrees.[35]
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.[36] After establishing French culture in northern Senegal in the mid-19th century, colonial governors like GeneralLouis 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.[37] The greater Sahel was subsequently organized into the massive territory ofFrench West Africa in 1895, noted for its linguistic diversity.[38]
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 ofFrench 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.[39]
Although there is evidence of its use in nearly every Sahel country, research suggests that French is more often aLingua franca of business among the elite and educated classes than a conduit of practical everyday dialogue.[40]
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.[41]
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 asenjoy "take pleasure/enjoy" andchao/mao "old."
C' nekh comes from the French expressionc'est bon but replacesbon with theWolof wordnekh, 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.[43]
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.[42]
The term "Sahel" is borrowed from theArabic name for the region,الساحلal-sāḥil.Sāḥil literally means "coast, shore",[44] which has been explained as a figurative reference to the southern edge of the vast Sahara.[45][46] However, such use is unattested inClassical Arabic, and it has been suggested that the word may originally have been derived from the Arabic wordسهلsahl "plain" instead.[47]
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 increasingdesertification. This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and caused migrations of farming communities to the more humid climate ofWest Africa.[48]
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 legendaryMali Empire at the time ofMansa Musa, came from controlling thetrans-Saharan trade routes across the desert, especially with theMaghreb. Their power came from having largepack animals 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.[citation needed]
Due to thewooded areas to their south, the Sahelian states were hindered from expanding into the north Akan state of theBonoman andYoruba peoples, 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.[50]
According toThe Economist, in recent years the Sahel has become the epicenter ofterrorist violence, contributing to 35% of all global deaths from terrorism by 2021, withJama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, identified as the world's fastest-growing terrorist organization.[2] 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.[56]
In the wake of theLibyan Crisis beginning in 2011,[57] terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel, includingBoko Haram,Islamic State andal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), have greatly exacerbated the violence, extremism and instability of the region.[58][59] In March 2020, the United States sent a special envoy for the Sahel region to combat the rising violence fromterrorist groups.[60] The Catholic charityAid to the Church in Need has highlighted the fact that the Sahel has become one of the most dangerous regions in the world for Christians.[61]
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 theG5 Sahel, an anti-terrorism alliance, after the military regimes in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali withdrew.[56]
According to theBBC, the Sahel region has become the global epicenter of terrorism, accounting for over half of all terrorism-related deaths, according to theGlobal 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 inMali, Burkina Faso,Guinea, andNiger 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.[62]
On 9 July 2020, theUnited States raised concerns over growing number of allegations ofhuman rights violations and abuses by state security forces in Sahel.[63] The US response came afterHuman Rights Watch released documents regarding the same on 1 July.[64] Reports in March 2022 show militants are expanding and spreading out south of the Sahel.[65]
The Sahel is experiencing more severe weather due to climate change, exemplified by the extreme heatwave of March–April 2024 inBurkina Faso andMali.[71] This event was intensified by a 1.2 °C global temperature increase from human activities.[72] Sahel is also considered as a geopolitical space as well.
^Brock-Utne, Birgit (2009).Language and Power: The Implications of Language for Peace and Development. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.ISBN9789987081462.
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.[1]Archived 11 November 2014 at theWayback Machine
World Wildlife Fund, ed. (2001)."Sahelian Acacia savanna".WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived fromthe original on 8 March 2010.
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