The Historical Construction of ‘Southern Africa’

Abstract

This chapter reveals some key elements of how Southern Africa has been historically constructed as a region by state, market, society as well as external actors. The ambition is not to make an exhaustive description of the history of Southern Africa, but rather to show how social actors and the cumulative legacies and struggles over territory, race, labour, political, economic and social goals have served to construct the heterogeneous regional space referred to as ‘Southern Africa’.