East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa is the eastern sub-region of the African continent, In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 19* territories make up Eastern Africa:[1]
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan are members of the East African Community EAC. The first five are also included in the African Great Lakes region. Burundi and Rwanda are at times also considered to be part of Central Africa.
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the disputed Somaliland – collectively known as the Horn of Africa.[2][3][4][5][6] The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent.[7]
Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean.
Réunion and Mayotte – French overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean.
Mozambique and Madagascar – often considered part of Southern Africa, on the eastern side of the sub-continent. Madagascar has close cultural ties to Southeast Asia and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – often also included in Southern Africa, and formerly constituted the Central African Federation (also known historically as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland).
South Sudan and Sudan – collectively part of the Nile Valley. Situated in the northeastern portion of the continent,[8] Sudan is also included in Northern Africa.[9] Also members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) free trade area.
Due to colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term East Africa is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.[10][11][12][13] However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
