Disputed territory of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco. It was a Spanish colony from 1884 to 1976. After Spain left, native Saharawi guerrillas (see Polisario) based in Algeria declared a government-in-exile and fought Morocco and Mauritania for control. Mauritania made peace in 1979, whereupon Morocco claimed the whole territory. A referendum on whether the territory will remain part of Morocco or become independent has been repeatedly postponed. See also Hassan II
(Coğrafya) Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara desert. Geographically, the demarcation line is the southern edge of the Sahara Desert
Group of perhaps 115 African languages spoken by more than 27 million people from Mali to Ethiopia and from southernmost Egypt to Tanzania. The concept of Nilo-Saharan as a single stock combining a number of earlier groupings was introduced in 1963 by Joseph H. Greenberg; most Africanists accepted it as a working hypothesis, though shifts have taken place. In terms of numbers of speakers, the most significant divisions of Nilo-Saharan languages include Central Sudanic, Fur, Nilotic, Nubian, Saharan, Songhai, and Surmic. Songhai is spoken by more than 2 million people in Mali and Niger, and Kanuri (a Saharan language) is spoken by about 4.5 million in northeastern Nigeria and adjacent Chad and Niger. Central Sudanic comprises languages of southern Chad, southern Sudan, and northeastern Congo (Kinshasa). Nubian languages (including the only Nilo-Saharan language with an ancient written tradition) are spoken along the Nile in northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The Nilotic languages are spoken by some 14 million people (see Nilotes), including the Dinka, Nuer, Luo, Turkana, Kalenjin, and Masai
the Sahara the Sahara Desert the world's largest desert, which covers a very large area of North Africa. Largest desert in the world, encompassing almost all of northern Africa. Covering an area of about 3,500,000 sq mi (9,065,000 sq km), it is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlas Mountains, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Sahel region. It includes portions of several countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and The Sudan. Principal topographic features include large oasis depressions, extensive stony plains, rock-strewn plateaus, abrupt mountains, sand sheets and dunes, and sand seas. Huge areas of it are empty, but scattered clusters of inhabitants survive in fragile ecological balance wherever water sources occur. Sedentary living is restricted to oasis areas. See also Libyan Desert