The data set contains a subset of the Worldwide Organic Soil Carbon and Nitrogen (Zinke et al. 1986) data set for southern Africa. The data were obtained from soil surveys by Zinke and soil survey literature. The main samples for laboratory analyses were collected at uniform soil increments and included bulk density determinations. Many samples reported in the literature did not have uniform soil increments or bulk density determinations. Only soil profiles that had been sampled either to a meter in depth or to actual depth were included in this data base from soil survey literature. In literature where bulk densities were absent, densities were estimated by regressions based on organic carbon content of the soil samples associated with the profile using 1800 soil profiles for which bulk densities were known. More information can be found at: ftp://daac.ornl.gov/data/safari2k/soils/Zinke_soil/comp/zinke_readme.pdf.