Have these two geographical areas remained culturally and historically isolated? Explain and give examples in your answer

What will be an ideal response?

• No. In spite of the uniqueness of these two areas, there has been much contact between the two, and also between these areas and outside regions/cultures.
• For example, "North Africa and the Horn of Africa have much in common with the Mediterranean and western Asia . . . Africa south of the Sahara has never been isolated from the Old World civilizations of Europe and Asia."