AfricaAfrica

Physical GeographyPhysical Geography

• Africa is the 2nd largest continent.

• Northern countries are covered by the Sahara, the largest desert in the world

• Africa south of the Sahara also includes about 9 million square miles of mountains, valleys, and plateaus.

PlateausPlateaus

• Many geographers describe Africa as a gigantic plateau.

• Separating the plateaus are steep cliffs or slopes known as escarpments.

• The highest plateaus lie in the south and the east.

• Rivers spill over these escarpments in thundering waterfalls known as cataracts.

PlateausPlateaus

• Because of its plateaus, Africa boasts the highest average elevation in the world.

• The average elevation of Africa south of the Sahara is more than 2,000 feet above sea level.

Victoria FallsVictoria Falls

• The most famous waterfall in Africa is Victoria Falls

• It is more than twice the height of Niagara Falls.

• David Livingstone, the first European explorer to see the falls, named them after the British queen.

YouTube - Zimbabwe's Vic#14C507

Victoria FallsVictoria Falls

MountainsMountains

• The mountains south of the Sahara are mostly scattered peaks.

• The cone-shaped volcanic peaks of Kenya and Tanzania include Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain.

Video -- Kilimanjaro -- #14C538

The Great Rift ValleyThe Great Rift Valley

• The Great Rift Valley is one of the world’s natural wonders.

• It runs from the Jordan River in Southwest Asia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique.

• In East Africa, it is more than 3500 miles long and creates escarpments more than a mile high in some areas.

African Rift- The Great #14C55A

Water SystemsWater Systems

• Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh-water lake in the world.

• It is the source of the White Nile

• It is surrounded by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Water SystemsWater Systems• Four great rivers slice through

Africa:

Nile

Congo

Niger

Zambezi

• The Nile is the largest river system in the world, but the largest system south of the Sahara is the Congo.

Natural ResourcesNatural Resources

• Diamonds: some of the biggest deposits on earth.

• Gold: more than half the world’s gold• Copper• Oil• Uranium• Manganese• zinc

Climate RegionsClimate Regions

• Desert: Desert covers 2/5 of Africa’s land area. In southern Africa, the Namib and Kalahari Deserts are present.

• Planet's Best: Kalahari Desert Meerkats : Video : Animal Planet

Climate RegionsClimate Regions

• Steppe: Steppe grasslands surround the desert regions in southern Africa.

• In Africa, the steppe grasslands are called the Sahel, meaning “coast”

• The climate alternates between a long, dry season and a short, wet season.

• Unfortunately, in recent years the rainy seasons have almost disappeared bringing famine to the region.

The SahelThe Sahel

Climate RegionsClimate Regions

• Tropical Savannas: Also called tropical grasslands.

• Savannas also alternate between wet and dry seasons, but receive considerably more rain than the Sahel.

• Some parts of the savannas are used for grazing livestock

• ……Savannas continued

To protect wildlife, governments have created huge game preserves such as Tanzania’s Serengeti Plains and Kenya’s Nairobi National Park.

• Extinction: the disappearance or end of a species of plant or animal.

• HowStuffWorks Videos "Survival Guide: Serengeti: Serengeti National Park"

Climate RegionsClimate Regions

• Tropical Rainforest: This region covers only 8% of Africa

• Temperatures hover around 80°F, and rain falls daily

• The heavy rains leach, or wash away the nutrients in the soil.

• Deforestation: The loss or destruction of forests.

• Cocoa, rubber, and palm-oil plantations take more and more land.

• Logging companies take the trees for their profit

• This climate region could someday disappear.

Climate RegionsClimate Regions

• Moderate Climates: There are several other moderate climates.

• These are heavily populated because they have fertile soil, adequate rain.

• These are good conditions for farming.

• Moderate Climates Include:

Mediterranean

Humid Subtropical

Marine West Coast

Highland

Human CharacteristicsHuman Characteristics

• Population: 625 million people

• Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest birthrate and the world’s shortest life expectancy

• The physical geography causes the population to be unevenly distributed.

• Economics and Population: • Food production has dropped nearly 20% since

1970, yet the population has tripled.• Famine and poor nutrition claim many lives,

especially infants and children.• Impure water is another cause of death. Only

about 40% of sub-Saharan Africans have clean water to drink.

• Economics and Population:

• Insects such as the tsetse fly carry diseases that kill cattle, horses, and people.

• AIDS has reached epidemic proportions in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Economics and Population:

• The 625 million people of sub-Saharan Africa generate a GDP of $150 billion.

• This is comparable to the small country of Belgium of 10 million people

• Economics and Population:

• In Chad, the per capita income, or average per person income is around $220.

• This varies throughout Africa.

• Urbanization: The movement of people from rural areas into the cities.

• Africa is the least urbanized continent, but it is urbanizing at the world’s fastest rate.

• Economic hardships have driven millions of people to seek better opportunities in the cities.

• Population Diversity:

• Africa is home to hundreds of different ethnic groups, or people with similar histories and cultures.

• Kenya, for example is home to over 100 ethnic groups by itself.

• Language:

• Today, Africans speak more than 800 languages.

• Swahili is one of the major languages spoken throughout Africa

• This makes Swahili a lingua franca, or a universal language because it is understood almost everywhere in Africa.

• Religion

48%

41%

11%

ChristianMuslimTraditional

• Family Life: Africans place great emphasis on extended families, or households made up of several generations.

• In some places, families are organized into clans, or large groups of people related to each other.

• It is the clan’s responsibility to safeguard traditions by passing them down from one generation to the next.

EducationEducation

• Literacy rates: the percentage of people who have the ability to read and write.

Obstacles for EducationObstacles for Education

• 1. Low standard of living: many people simply cannot afford to send their children to school.

• 2. Some parents still believe that their children will benefit more from learning survival skills, such as hunting or farming.