The Black-backed Jackal is endemic to Africa. This species has a disjunct distribution range, and is found in two separate populations, one in East Africa, and the other in southern Africa. Ansell (1960) notes that this species is entirely absent from Zambia and it is absent through much of central and equatorial Africa. The disjunct distribution of this species is similar to that of other endemic African species adapted to dry conditions (e.g., Aardwolf Proteles cristatus and Bat-eared Fox Otocyon megalotis). The two Black-backed Jackal ranges are separated by as much as 1,000 km and their discontinuous distribution suggests that regions of dry Acacia bush and savanna, the preferred habitat of this species, once connected south-west Africa and the Horn of Africa.

Fossils of Black-backed Jackals have been found in deposits in South Africa dating to at least two million years ago (Hendey 1974), but fossil remains have never been found north of Ethiopia suggesting that they have always been restricted to sub-Saharan Africa.