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 semi-arid regions

P rob lem : D esertifica tion

m a ln u trit ion s ta rva tion p overty

S ah e l D esert(sou th S ah ara )

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 With no grass or tree roots, the topsoil blows away, the desert advancesblows 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 Therefore, the interior of Africa remained largely unexplored largely unexplored

River (Nile River)

• 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 hydro-electric power

How is the coastline of Africa?

• Smooth

• Few natural harbors - hard to land ships

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 About 85% of the land is not suited to farmingfarming

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