Sahel

Sahel, semiarid region south of the Sahara Desert, extending across north-central Africa from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. The land supports a grazing and agricultural economy with savanna-type grassland and scrub. Rainfall is 8–16 in (20–40 cm) annually, from June to August. A severe drought (1967–74) caused mass migration and the starvation of hundreds of thousands of people.