ABSTRACT
Throughout the preceding chapters, we have examined and described the diversity found in the Sahel, using a number of analytical approaches. From the point of view of nature, demography, the organisation of commercial trade or even the modes of resource exploitation, the Sahel appears fragmented, endowed with a many contrasting situations. Our initial synthesis (see Chapter 3, Figure 3.5) brought together the mosaic of local demographic particularities into a certain number of large geodemographic entities for which the spatial distribution is shown in Figure 3.6. In order to refine and explore further these situations, we now introduce new factors into this categorisation. Specifically, the diversity of modes of natural resources exploitation will be superimposed on to the sectors that illustrate the uneven population distribution.
