Africa’s Geography

The Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert• Largest desert in the world• Consists of basically two sub-climates, a dry

subtropical climate in the north and a dry tropical climate in the south

• One characteristic of the vegetation found in the Sahara is that these species must be able to adapt to unreliable precipitation and excessive heat

• Covers over 3.5 million square miles and has only 2.5 million inhabitants - roughly 1 person per square mile (0.4 sq km)- which is one of the lowest population densities on earth

• The Sahara is one of the harshest environments known to man

The Nile River

The Nile River• Longest river in the world

• Used for irrigation, food, transportation, drinking water

• Flows through 9 countries

• Source/originates in Burundi

• Mouth/empties in the Mediterranean

• Used for hydroelectricity

The Sahel

The Sahel

• One of the poorest regions in the world

• Continuous soil erosion, insufficient irrigation, deforestation, overpopulation, and drought cause this area to be one of the most environmentally damaged places on Earth

• Covered mostly in grasses, shrubs, and small trees

• Terrorism is increasing in this region

The Serengeti• Highly popular for tourism…safaries

• Flat land mainly used for migration and grazing of wild animals such as giraffe, zebra, deer, lions, small rodents, hyena, elephants, cheetah

• Has areas of dense population

The Congo• Low elevation land, 2nd largest river basin

• Used to drain the rainforest and central western Africa

• Major conflict area in Africa, children often abducted and made to become military or slaves

• 2nd largest rain forest in the world

Mt. Kilimanjaro

• 4th largest mountain in the world

• Inactive volcano that has 3 volcanic cones

• It is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world

Great Rift Valley• This is a geologic system that extends from

Syria to central Mozambique

• The valley ranges in elevation from 1,300 feet below sea level to 6,000 feet above sea level

• At the lowest elevation you will find the Dead Sea

• As the two tectonic plates move away from each other the Atlas mountains and Ethiopia highlands are created

Directions

• Cardinal Directions-North, South, East, West

• Intermediate Directions-Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest