Some Africanists work on Africa as a continent, but there are probably more who prefer to focus attention on the area to the south of the desert. The terms “Africa South of the Sahara,” and the shorter but less popular “Sub-Saharan Africa” have been invented to meet this need.

There are so many differences in historical development, climates, economic policy, education, agriculture, politics, and other aspects between the Union of South Africa and the rest of Africa, however, that one often wishes to exclude the Union or Southern Africa, as well as Northern Africa, from a research project or a discussion. “Tropical Africa” is a convenient label which is in widespread use among those dealing with such things as climate and agricultural production, as well as among some historians, and no doubt its use will continue. But it has not been accepted by the general public, perhaps because it suggests that one wishes to deal with tropical products, the zone between the two tropic lines, or tropical conditions of some kind rather than to merely exclude Northern and Southern Africa from consideration.