Transcript The Geography of Africa

The Geography of Africa
What are the main ideas
concerning Africa?
• Fertile soil along the Nile River encouraged
the rise of great civilizations (ex. Egypt)
• Many geographic features in Africa have
prevented contact, trade & unity among
people
• Many of these same features limit European
knowledge of Africa “the Dark Continent”
What are the main physical
features of Africa?
• PHYSICAL
FEATURES
• Sahara Desert
• smooth coastline
• lack of navigable
rivers
• Great Rift Valley
• high plateau
• RESULT
• Groups are kept
separate - • 800 different
languages are spoken
in modern Africa
How did diversity leads to
Imperialism?
• Raw materials and resources lead to
European interest in Africa
• Africa’s geographical divisions prevents the
Africans from cooperating to resist
What are some interesting
statistics?
• 2nd largest continent- 11,700,000 square
miles!
• That’s 20.2% of the
earth
• And 3x the size of the
USA
• 778,000,000 people
• 55 countries
What is the topography?
• Deserts
– 40% of the land surface of Africa
– slows cultural diffusion - does not totally
prevent it
• Sahara -- North Africa
– 1/3 of the continent (= to the USA!!)
– majority is rock and gravel
• Kalahari--Southwest Africa
True desert spreads into semiarid regions
Problem: Desertification
Sahel Desert
(south Sahara)
malnutrition
starvation
poverty
What are the causes of
desertification?
• Farmers use semi-arid land next to desert yields poor crop
• Overgrazing by cattle and goats
• Overcutting of trees for firewood
• With no grass or tree roots, the topsoil
blows away, the desert advances
What are the solutions to
desertification?
• Crop rotation
• Terracing to prevent soil from washing
away
• Tree belts to stop erosion and hold soil in
place
What are some important
information about the mountains?
• East Africa– caused by volcanic activity
– section of the land sank - causing the Great Rift
Valley
– Atlas (NW)
– Drakensberg (SE)
– Ethiopian Highlands
– Famous peaks - Mt. Kenya & Mt. Kilimanjaro
How do the rivers impact Africa?
• Depth varies depending on the season
• Plateaus prevent easy navigation
• Therefore, the interior of Africa remained
largely unexplored
River (Nile River)
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4,180 miles long (world’s longest!!)
flows NORTH
Source - - Lake Victoria
Delta - - Egypt
Floods annually
– One of the most densely populated region in
Africa
• Waterfalls and rapids prevent easy
navigation
• Congo - 3000 miles long
• Niger - ancient civilizations flourished here
• Zambezi - Victoria Falls, used for hydroelectric power
How is the coastline of Africa?
• Smooth
• Few natural harbors - hard to land ships
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What is the climate determined
by? rainfall, latitude and
elevation
Savanna - 40%, safari!!
Tropical Rainforest - 8%,
Desert - 40%
Mediterranean - 12%, good farm land
• About 85% of the land is not suited to
farming
What are some of the Natural
Resources that are prevalent to
Africa?
• Farming
– peanuts, cotton, cocoa, coffee
• Minerals
– diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt
• Water
– hydroelectric power