South West Angola covers 213,086 square kilometres. This is approximately 17% of Angola's land surface, and over double the 92,300 square kilometres which make up the country of Portugal. About 4.5 million people or 15% of all Angolans now live in South West Angola. However, there are vast areas in which few, if any people exist. By contrast, hundreds of thousands of people are clustered into the main cities of Lubango, Moçâmedes, Ondjiva and Matala. Altitudes range between sea level and 2,100 metres above sea level. Average annual rainfall varies more than 60 times: between less than 50 millimetres in dry areas and more than 1,200 millimetres in the wettest parts. The dusty, open plains of Namibe are studded with ancient Welwitschia plants, whereas forested canopies of miombo trees shade parts of eastern Huíla. Thousands of chana water courses spring to life in Cunene when rain wakes them from years of dry dormancy. These and other examples demonstrate the extremes and the rich diversity to be seen in South West Angola. People breathe life into these landscapes. They face challenges and use opportunities to make their living in varied ways, constrained or aided by particular environmental and economic circumstances. Livelihoods are therefore diverse, each associated with different external conditions, and each characterised by different types of incomes, savings and expenditures. The book is broadly structured into four parts. The first chapters cover the physical aspects of South West Angola: its geology, topography, climate and soils. Thereafter, chapters follow to explore the natural environment and the rivers which flow as lifelines across the region. The third group of chapters focusses on people, their population dynamics, social structures, livelihoods and rural economies. All these topics are interwoven in different ways, since the natural environment and livelihoods are strongly influenced by the physical characteristics of the region. In turn, environmental wealth is often affected by the people who live off it, and shape or damage it. These linkages are apparent in maps that depict South West Angola’s geological divisions (page 42); geomorphological units (page 58); soil types (page 92); rainfall (page 118); vegetation types (page 183); livelihood zones (page 344); settlement and housing types (page 262); and the distribution of people (page 250). Fourth and finally, a selection of South West Angola’s extraordinary, attractive and enormous spaces and places are presented. These are pages filled with splendour to be admired, for South West Angola is indeed magnificent.