Transcript South AfricaPPT

South Africa
The Land
• South Africa’s mainland: Botswana, Lesotho,
Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia,
Zambia, Angola, Malawi.
• South Africa’s islands: Madagascar, Seychelles,
Comoros, Mauritius
• Varied terrain. Forests, Kalahari and Namib
deserts, grasslands on large plateau
• Platinum, uranium, gold, iron, diamonds
The Kimberley Diamond Mine
The Land 2
• Zambezi (Victoria Falls) main river
• Prevailing winds blow off shore. Keep
Namibia coast dry.
• Moist air from Indian Ocean blows west.
Gives eastern South Africa humid
subtropical climate
• Drakensburg Mts. create rain shadow for
Kalahari
Cultures
• Long history of migration creates diversity
• 75% of South Africans are black
• Whites are Dutch (Afrikaners), German,
British, French
• Blacks are Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele,
Temba, Pondo
• Mostly Christians. Some Islam, Hindu,
animism
• Most widely spoken language of whites is
Afrikaans.
Economy
• Most are subsistence
farmers
• Raise sorghum, cassava,
corn
• Manufacturing 2nd largest
employer
• South Africa richest country,
most industrial
• Produce cars, buses for
Africa
• Ecotourism creates jobs
Cassava
Sorghum
Early History
• Khoisan first inhabitants, then Bantu farmers
from West Africa 2,000 years ago with iron tools
• Shona built Great Zimbabwe, stone-walled
capital, in late 1,000s. Traded gold.
• 1400s Europeans looked for route to Asia
• Portuguese found Cape of Good Hope
• 1652 Dutch built Cape Town, started slavery.
• British, French, German also settled.
Descendants known as Boers
• Afrikaans language combined European,
Khoisan, Bantu tongues
Later History
• 1800s Great Britain
took over. Forced
Boers inland
• Zulu dominated inland
but British won battle
• British empire
outlawed slavery so
traded ivory tusks,
gold, diamonds
Apartheid
• Early 1900s South Africa
government made
apartheid the law. (Next
image click video)
• Blacks, Coloreds, Asians
lived in poor homelands,
travel restricted.
• Those working in city
formed township slums
• Opposed by African
National Congress 1912
• Apartheid outlawed 1992.
Nelson Mandela
president. (Next image
click video)
Culture
• Hundreds of ethnic
groups
• Many languages. Most
related to Khoisan
(clicking sounds) or
Bantu
• English official
language in Namibia,
Zimbabwe. Portuguese
in Mozambique
• Religion is Christian,
traditional beliefs
Tswana of Botswana
Today’s Issues
• Many infected with HIV/AIDS. 1 million
Zambians. Life expectancy is 40 (Next
image click video)
• Poverty, unemployment due to droughts
• South Africa’s $3,000 GDP highest in
region, but still black-white gap
• Zimbabwe in economic collapse. Dictator
Robert Mugabe took land from whites
• Wildlife tourism growing
Madagascar Physical Geography
•4th largest island in the world
•Separated from mainland Africa millions of
years ago
•12,000 plant species. 80 percent of wildlife
native only to Madagascar, such as the lemur.
(Click next image video)
•Coastal plain rises to interior mountains
•Only 5 percent of land is farmed – sugar cane,
vanilla, cassava, beans, bananas, cloves,
coffee
•Logging is deforesting the country
Madagascar Political Geography
• Indonesians came on outriggers around
700 A.D. and mixed with Bantus from East
Africa.
• French controlled it 1890-1960. Now have
republic with power-sharing government
• Once called Malagasy Republic
• Malagasy Mythology and Christianity main
religions
• Not wealthy country. Coffee exports and
tourism have dropped.
South Africa Physical Geography
• 3 times the size of Texas
• Vast plateau in center. Drakensburg
Mountains east, Kalahari north, Namib to
west, Great Escarpment (cliffs) south.
• Highveld (coarse grassland) occupies
most of plateau. Mining, wheat, corn
• Top gold and diamond exporter in world.
Has 80% world’s platinum.
South Africa Political Geography
• Iron-working tribes from Central Africa moved
here in 1500s. (Khoi, San)
• 1652 Dutch established trading post at Cape of
Good Hope.
• British invaded 1815 and drove Dutch inland
where they fought with British and native Zulus.
Black South Africans lost all land and
independence by late 1800s.
• 1910 Union of South African states and
apartheid became law
• 1991 end of apartheid. 1994 Nelson Mandela
first black president.
Zimbabwe Physical Geography
• Lies on high plateau, tropical with mild
climate
• Landlocked
• Slightly larger than Japan or Montana
• Victoria Falls straddles the border with
Zambia. Borders South Africa.
Zimbabwe Political Geography
• Walled city of Great Zimbabwe settled around 1000 A.D.
• 1888 natives gave mining rights to English
• English crushed Shona and Ndebele and became British
colony of South Rhodesia in 1923
• Independence as Rhodesia 1965 but world sanctioned
because blacks had no power
• Free elections 1979 brought president (dictator) Robert
Mugabe to power. Land redistribution to blacks ruined
the economy. Now one of poorest nations on earth with
lowest life expectancy
• (Picture with chickens to follow will automatically begin a
video)