Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the
African continent, variably defined by geography or
geopolitics, and including several countries. The term
southern Africa or Southern Africa, generally includes
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland (Eswatini), Zambia,
and Zimbabwe, though Angola may be included in
Central Africa and Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and
Zimbabwe in East Africa. From a political perspective the region is said to be unipolar with South Africa
as a first regional power.
Definitions and usage
Another geographic delineation for the region is the
portion of Africa south of the
Cunene and Zambezi
Rivers – that is: South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland,
Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and the part of
Mozambique which lies south of the Zambezi River.
This definition is most often used in South Africa for
natural sciences and particularly in guide books such
as Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa, the
Southern
African Bird Atlas Project and Mammals of the
Southern African Subregion. It is not used in political,
economic or human geography contexts because this
definition cuts Mozambique in two.
UN scheme of geographic regions and SACU
In the United Nations scheme of geographic regions, five countries constitute Southern Africa: Botswana-
Lesotho-
Namibia-
South Africa-
Swaziland-
The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), created
in 1969, also comprises the five countries in the UN subregion of Southern Africa.
Source:
Southern Africa
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