 | It has been suggested that this article bemerged withSudan (region). (Discuss) Proposed since November 2025. |
| Sudan bioregion بِلَادُ السُّوْدَان | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Extension of thewestern andeastern ecoregions comprising the Sudan bioregion and divided by theMandara mountains | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Afrotropical |
| Biome | Tropical savanna |
| Borders | |
| Animals | elephant,cheetah,giraffe,lion,buffalo,kob |
| Geography | |
| Area | 2,550,451 km2 (984,735 sq mi) |
| Rivers | White Nile,Niger andChari |
| Climate type | Tropical savanna (Aw) |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | Critical/endangered |
| Global 200 | priority |
| Protected | 18.1%[1][2] |
TheSudanian savanna orSudan region is a broad belt oftropicalsavanna that runs east and west across theAfrican continent, from theEthiopian Highlands in the east to theAtlantic Ocean in the west. It represents the centralbioregion within the broadertropical savanna biome of theAfrotropical realm. TheSahel acacia savanna, a belt of drier grasslands, lies to the north, forming atransition zone between the Sudanian savanna and theSahara Desertphytochorion. To the Sudan's south, the more humidforest-savanna mosaic forms a transition zone between the Sudanian savanna and theGuineo-Congolian forests that lie nearer the equator.
The nameSudan derives from Arabic بلاد السودان (bilād as-sūdān) 'Land of theBlacks', referring to Africa south of theSahel.[3]
The Sudanian savanna is one ofthe three distinctphysiographic provinces of the larger African Massive division. Physiography divides this province into three distinct physiographic sections, theNiger Basin, theLake Chad Basin, and theMiddle Nile Basin.[4]
TheWorld Wide Fund for Nature divides the Sudanian savanna bioregion into twoecoregions, separated by theMandara Plateau:
The area is predominantly aplateau withriver valleys of theWhite Nile,Chad andNiger. It extends over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) in a band several hundred kilometers wide across Africa. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean inSenegal, through southernMali (known asFrench Sudan when it was aFrench colony),Burkina Faso, southernNiger, northernGhana, northernNigeria, southernChad,Central African Republic, southernSudan andSouth Sudan to theEthiopian Highlands.
Average annual temperatures range from 23 to 29 °C (73 to 84 °F). Average temperatures in the coldest months are above 20 °C (68 °F) and above 30 °C (86 °F) in the hottest months. Daily temperatures fluctuate by up to 10–15 °C (18–27 °F). The summermonsoon brings rain from the equator. Annual precipitation ranges from 100–200 mm (3.9–7.9 in) in the north to 1,500–2,000 mm (59–79 in) in the south. During the dry winter season (KöppenAw), theHarmattan northeasterly wind is bringing hot and dry air from the Sahara.
The Sudanian savanna is characterized by the coexistence of trees and grasses. Dominant tree species are often belonging to theCombretaceae andCaesalpinioideae; someAcacia species are also important. The dominant grass species are usuallyAndropogoneae, especially the generaAndropogon andHyparrhenia, on shallow soils alsoLoudetia andAristida. Much of the Sudanian savanna region is used in the form of parklands, where useful trees, such asshea,baobab,locust-bean tree and others are spared from cutting, whilesorghum,maize,millet or other crops are cultivated beneath.[6]
Many large mammals are native to the Sudanian savanna, includingAfrican bush elephant (Loxodonta africana),northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis),giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus derbianus),roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus),African buffalo (Syncerus caffer brachyceros),lion (Panthera leo),leopard (Panthera pardus)cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), andAfrican wild dog (Lycaon pictus). Most large mammals are now very limited in range and numbers.[7]
The Sudanian savanna is used by both pastoralists and farmers. Cattle are predominantly the livestock kept, but in some areas, sheep and goats are also kept. The main crops grown aresorghum andmillet which are suited to the low levels of rainfall. With increasing levels of drought since the 1970s, pastoralists have needed to move southwards to search for grazing areas and have come into conflict with more settled agriculturalists.[8]
According to some modern historians, of all the regions of Africa, western Sudan "is the one that has seen the longest development of agriculture, of markets and long-distance trade, and of complex political systems." It is also the first region "south of the Sahara where AfricanIslam took root and flowered."[9]
Its medieval history is marked by thecaravan trade.[10] Thesultanates of eastern Sudan wereDarfur,Bagirmi,Sennar andWadai. In central Sudan,Kanem–Bornu Empire and theHausa Kingdoms. To the west wereWagadou,Manden,Songhay and theMossi. Later, theFula people spread to a wide area.[11][12] During the European colonial period,French Sudan andAnglo-Egyptian Sudan were created in the territories that now form the states ofMali, andSudan andSouth Sudan, respectively.
Early on in thefirst millennium, many people from the Sudan were used as "a steady steam of slaves for the Mediterranean world" in theSaharan slave trade. With the arrival of thePortuguese in the fifteenth century, "people were directed to theAtlantic slave trade," totaling over a thousand years for the Saharan and four centuries for the Atlantic trades. As a result, slavery critically shaped the institutions and systems of the Sudan. The Portuguese first arrived atSenegambia and found that slavery was "well established" in the region, used to "feed the courts of coastal kings as it was used in the medieval empires of the interior." Between the process of capture, enslavement, and "incorporation into a new community, the slave had neither rights nor any social identity." As a result, the identity of people who were enslaved "came from membership in a corporate group, usually based on kinship."[13]
During theperiod of European colonization,French Sudan was created in the area that would become Mali andAnglo-Egyptian Sudan was formed in what would become the present Sudanese and South Sudanese states.
West Africa may be taken as the country stretching from Senegal in the west, to the Cameroons in the east; sometimes it has been called the central and western Sudan, theBilad as-Sūdan, 'Land of the Blacks', by the Arabs.