Wrg 11e lecture_ch08

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 8 Lecture

World Regional

Geography

A Developmental Approach

11th Edition

Africa South of

the Sahara


Chapter Learning Outcomes

• Gain knowledge of the ancient, medieval, and colonial history of

Africa South of the Sahara.

• Understand the human causes of environmental degradation in sub-

Saharan Africa.

• Develop appreciation for the environmental, sociocultural, and

economic diversity of Africa’s regions.

• Identify the multidimensional aspects of human development and

the underlying factors accounting for patterns of income inequality

and poverty.

• Discover the development strategies that address poverty and

human development issues in Africa South of the Sahara.

• Acquire an understanding of the unique human and physical

geographies that characterize the countries of West, Central, East,

and Southern Africa.

• Know how intraregional trading groups in West and Southern Africa

have evolved and how they have contributed to regional

development.


Map


Map


Landforms


Natural Regions of Africa South of the

Sahara


Tropical Rainforest

• Equatorial portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Gabon

• Republic of Congo

• South and Central Cameroon

• Coastal strips of West Africa

• Portions of Kenya

• Mean temperatures above 64 degrees

• 60–80 inches of rain annually on average

• Some places up to 160 inches of rain

• This supports lush rainforest vegetation.


Tropical Savanna

• Inland

• Rainfall

– Average rainfall is 40–60 inches annually in heaviest wooded

sections.

– 20–40 inches annually in grassland regions of drier regions

– Central African Republic, Southern Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda,

Burundi, Northern Angola, Southern Congo, and Gabon

• Home to most famous national parks and game reserves

• Serengeti National Park—A “World Heritage Site”

• Ecotourism becoming an economic development draw


Steppe

• Climatic transition zones between savanna grasslands and true deserts

• Soil is primarily entisol.

• Fragile ecology of Kalahari Desert in Southwestern Africa and Sahel zone on south side of Sahara constantly threatened– Soil degradation

– Desertification

• Rainfall 10–20 inches annually

• 87°–100° range in temperatures


Desert

• Sahara Desert is the largest desert region

of Africa.

• Temperatures regularly exceed 100°.

• Parts of Central Sahara receive less than

four inches of rain annually.

• Southwest coast of Namibia—Temperatures

are cooler.

• Lack of soil moisture restricts vegetation.


Highlands

• Isolated mountain areas of southern and

eastern sections of sub-Saharan Africa

• Varied temperatures, rainfall, and soil

conditions

• Environmental conditions vary with

altitude.


Climate

• The ITCZ is a major determinant of sub-

Saharan Africa’s wind patterns and rainfall

regimes.


Population


Settlements

• Population

– 788 million population

– 2.5 percent population growth per year

– 805 million projected by 2010

– 1.1 billion by 2025

• Two zones of dense settlement

1. West African coastal belt stretching from Dakar,

Senegal to Libreville, Gabon

• Most of regions are urban, economic, and political centers

2. North–south belt from Ethiopian highlands down

through Lake Victoria, copper belt of Democratic

Republic of Congo and Zambia, to Witwatersrand

district of South Africa


Ancient Civilizations


Pre-Colonial

• Long and rich history prior to European colonization

• Ancient civilizations emerged in central part of Nile River Valley.

– Meroe–Capital of black kingdom of Kush

• Western Africa

– Kumbi and Saleh in Ghana

– Timbuktu, Djenne, and Gao in Songhai

– Emerged between 700–1600 as great centers of learning and trade

• Central African urban civilizations beget modern states.

– Congo

– Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire)

– Angola

– Zambia

– Rwanda

– Burundi

• Less urbanized as they lacked centralized empires and intricate trade networks

• Coastal East Africa

• Mogadishu (Somalia)

• Kenya

– Malindi

– Gedi

– Mombasa

• Tanzania

– Zanzibar

– Kilwa


European Colonialism

• The early period—1400–1880

• Portuguese

– Sea route to India

– Initial contact in 1420

– Confined their activities to the coast

• Other colonial establishers

– Spanish

– English

– French

– Dutch

• Trade in goods and commodities until 1492

• Shipment of African slaves to the New World



• 1884 Berlin Conference marked the formal

era of African colonization.

• European powers met without African

consent or participation.

• Allocate territory amongst themselves

• European colonizers felt free to impose

their values, policies, and institutions on a

fragmented and disunited continent.




Independence

• Independence movements– Starts in 1950s; some didn’t take place until late 1970s and onward.

– World War II had taken a toll on European economies.

– United Nations espousing “self-determination”

– Increasing exposure of dehumanizing and exploitative nature of colonialism

• Impact of colonialism– Political boundaries drawn by Europeans

• Imposed or forced ethnic hostilities to share territory

• Divided ethnicities between countries

– Small-sized and landlocked states

– Lack of extensive transportation network

– Dual or triple heritages

– Neocolonialism—Retaining some economic relationships with European colonial ruler


Language


Language

• More than 1,000 languages

• Most do not have a written form or tradition

• Forty languages are spoken by more than one million

people.

• Niger-Kordofanian is the largest group with two branches.

– Kordofanian

– Niger-Congo

• Afro-Asiatic covers much of North Africa.

• Malay-Polynesian family introduced to Madagascar

2,000 years ago.

• Afrikaans—Derivative of Dutch, dates back to 1602 when

Boers arrived in South Africa

• No possibility of a lingua franca


Religion


Religion

• Islam in northern regions

• Christianity in central and southern sections

• Strong Roman Catholic presence

– Rwanda

– Burundi

– Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Anglican

– Ghana

– Nigeria

– Kenya

• Presbyterians in Malawi

• Coptic Christians in Ethiopia and North Africa


Family and Kinship Relations

• Unilineal descent—Focus on patriarchal

• 3.4 percent of African societies are patrilineal.

• Traditional African society views marriage as a

union of two extended families.

• Bride wealth—Contractual exchange

• Common customs and traditions

– Extended family

– Respect for elderly

– Socialization between elderly and young

– Significance of ancestors


Village Life and Traditional Agriculture

• Seven out of ten reside in rural areas

• Smallest unit of residence is village compound or homestead.

• Rural residents rely on agriculture for livelihood and sustenance.– Shifting cultivation—Farmers move every few years in

search of new land after soil in existing plots become exhausted.

– Rotational bush fallow system—Cultivated area rotates around a fixed area.

• Pastoralism—Grassland and semiarid regions of Africa


Urbanization

• Rural-to-urban migration

• 275 million (35%) live in urban areas now.

• Least urbanized in the world

• Highest urbanization growth rate in the world

• African cities exert strong force of primacy.

• Economic opportunity is a strong pull.

• Effects– Inadequate water supply and sewage disposal

– Inefficient public transportation

– Weak basic infrastructure

– Measured by the City Development Index (CDI)


Trading Partners


Economic Dimensions of Development

• Poor performance

• Structural problems in key productive sectors

• Low levels of investment

• Poor export performance

• Declining terms of trade

• Severe debt burdens

• Inefficient resource use

• Low levels of technological capacity

• Highly protectionist policies—Import substitution

industrialization


The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Development


Uneven Patterns of Development

• Dualistic patterns

• Extreme gaps between Africa and more

industrialized countries

• Core-periphery disparities between more

modern centers and traditional rural

peripheries


Development Strategies

• Interdependent development—Developing

cooperative and compatible arrangements to

facilitate development

– Cooperation between national and local governments

– Local and international organizations

– National and international governments/organizations

• Regional cooperation and interdependence

– Organization of African Unity (OAU, 1963)

– African Economic Community (AEC)

– Memberships in other regional blocs


Manufacturing Regions


West, Central, and East Africa:

Diversity in Development

• Thirty-two countries

• 72 percent of sub-Saharan African

land area

• 77 percent of sub-Saharan

population Benin

• More tropical environment owing to proximity to

the equator

• Lower levels of European settlement

• Less industrial capacity

• Immense geographical, cultural, and economic

diversity


West Africa

• Côte d’Ivoire

• Ghana

• Nigeria


Côte d’Ivoire: Model of African Capitalism?

• Closest to exhibiting capitalistic characteristics

• Diverse agricultural base

– Cocoa

– Coffee

– Timber

– Palm oil

• Minerals

– Diamonds

– Iron ore deposits

– Petroleum

• Certain amount of state-led capitalism since independence

• Economic jolt in 1980s led to acceptance of World Bank and

IMF structural programs


Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS)

• Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) created in 1975.

• Largest of Africa’s regional organizations

• Fifteen members

• Objectives

– Establishment of a common customs tariff

– Common trade policy

– Free movement of capital and people

– Harmonization of agricultural, communications,

energy, and infrastructural policy

– Nonaggression and mutual defense


Central Africa

• Central African Republic

• Gabon

• The Democratic Republic of Congo


East Africa

• Somalia

• Tanzania

• Ethiopia

• Kenya

• Rwanda

• Burundi


Southern Africa

• Angola

• Mozambique

• Namibia

• Botswana

• South Africa


South Africa / Spatial Development Initiative

(SDI) areas


South Africa / Historical Background

• 1806—British takeover

– Attracted by rich mineral reserves in gold and

diamonds

– Ended slavery

– Great Trek—Afrikaners migrate to NE interior

• Met resistance from Ndebele and Zulu

– Zulus eventually defeated in 1838 in Battle of

Blood River

• Annexed Orange Free State and Transvaal

territories

• Suppressed the Dutch Boers in Anglo–Boer War

from 1899–1902


South Africa / Legitimization of Apartheid:

1948–1989

• 1913 Native Land Act

– Restricted Africans to 10 percent of country’s land area

– Denied them land ownership rights outside the reserves

• Land share increased to 14 percent in 1936.

• 1948—The National Party gained control.

• Instituted a series of laws to enforce apartheid

(separateness; “apartness”)

• Petty apartheid

– Legislative acts impacting people’s lives

– Discouraging races from using same facilities

– Prohibition of mixed marriages

– Forced relocation

– Pass laws to restrict intracountry travel


South Africa / The Transition Period:

1989–1993

• End of Cold War and dissolution of

U.S.S.R. led to Cuban disengagement in

Nambia.

• Sullivan Principles had been in place

in the United States.

• Economic sanctions impacted

• Increased costs for security

• More cohesive resistance to white

majority rule


South Africa / Postapartheid South Africa

• De Klerk initiates changes.– Releases Mandela from prison

– Legalizes some banned political parties• African National Congress (ANC)

• South African Communist Party

• Pan African Congress

– New Constitution with a Bill of Rights (signed into law by Mandela in 1996)

• Essentially, De Klerk paved the way for the demise of the dominant political structure.– ANC triumphs in 2004 elections.

– He becomes one of two deputy presidents under Mandela after 1994 elections.

– A bit of tension

– The National Party, after an attempt at reinvention, is moribund and expires a few years later—a shell of its previous potent political strength.


South Africa / Postapartheid South Africa

• Land reform– Reconstruction & Development Program (1994)

– Restitution of Land Rights Act (1994)

– Masakahane Campaign

• Controversial comments/actions by President Mbeki– HIV doesn’t cause AIDS.

– AIDS is a “disease of poverty.”

– “African solutions” to “African problems”

– Attempt to broker Zimbabwean political crisis between Mugabe and Tsvangirai


Restructuring of Provinces in South Africa


Summary of Chapter

• Sub-Saharan Africa has an enduring legacy marked

by ancient civilizations that were major centers of

commerce, culture, learning, and technological

innovation.

• An immediate challenge confronting sub-Saharan

African countries is the severity of environmental and

forest degradation caused by such human-related

factors as slash-and-burn agriculture, logging, and

fuelwood consumption.

• The regions of West, Central, and East Africa, like

Southern Africa, exhibit considerable diversity in their

environmental and ethnic characteristics.