The present work originated from a state examination thesis written about sub-Saharan Africa, a few months before the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, which brought the African continent to the forefront of media attention. It attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of Black Africa, with particular emphasis on the Francophone countries. The focus is on the economic dimension, although it should not be expected to be purely an economic treatise, as politics, economics, society, and French Africa policy will also receive equal attention. The primary concern is the question of why Black Africa is a subcontinent where, in recent decades, no significant successes have been achieved in improving the living conditions of broad segments of the population. This presentation, which strives to maintain the necessary analytical distance from the subject, contains information that should also be familiar to any French teacher who chooses Francophone Africa as a topic for their lessons.