Unit 7: Africa South of the Sahara

Chapter 19: Physical Geography

Chapter 20: History & Cultural

Chapter 21: Africa South of the Sahara Today

Chapter 19: Physical Geography of Africa South of the Sahara

Physical Features

Climate Regions

Africa

• More than 2 ½ times larger than the U.S.
• The continent has the 2^nd largest population in the world at almost 1 billion people
• The hottest continent on the Earth
• Broken into 4 regions
• Eastern, Central, Western, Southern
• Includes islands off the coasts
• Madagascar-largest African island; 4^th largest in the world
• Sahara Desert to Cape of Good Hope

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Plateaus & Lowlands

• Almost all of Africa is on a plateau
• Series of plateaus
• Solid rock, usually within 20 miles of the coast
• Escarpments-steep, jagged cliffs
• Cataracts-waterfalls
• Difficult to use the rivers for transportation
• Lowlands
• Narrow plains along coastlines
• Basins-low, sunken areas; created from tectonic activity
• Congo Basin-largest lowland area

Mountains

• Eastern Highlands
• Ethiopia-Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)
• Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) & Mount Kenya-volcanic summits
• Kilimanjaro-highest mountain in Africa; glaciers are found at the summit because it is so tall even though it is found at the equator
• Drakensberg Range-South Africa & Lesotho
• “barrier of pointed spears”

Great Rift Valley

• Syria to Mozambique in southwestern Africa
• Rift valley-large depression in the Earth’s surface formed by shifting tectonic plates
• Eastern Africa-forms 2 branches, volcanic mountains rising at the edges and deep lakes
• Jagged mountains and deep lakes
• Rich volcanic soil supports farming

Lakes

• Most lakes near the Great Rift Valley
• Provide freshwater and fish
• Lake Tanganyika-longest freshwater lake in the world
• Lake Victoria-largest lake in Africa
• World’s second largest freshwater lake
• Source of White Nile River
• Lake Chad
• West-central Africa; threatened with extinction
• Water easily evaporates

Rivers

• Nile River
• Niger River
• Runs into swamps
• Zambezi River
• Many waterfalls along the way-Victoria Falls
• Congo River
• More than 30 waterfalls
• Rapids and waterfalls-obstacles to traffic
• Carve gorges-steep-sided valleys formed when rivers cut through the land

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Mineral Resources

• Mineral resources
• Iron ore, chromium, uranium, copper, platinum
• South Africa-1/2 of the world’s gold; 300 mile long deposit in Transvaal
• Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires
• Industrial diamonds-make drills, saws, grinding tools
• Oil reserves-Nigeria to Angola, Chad, Sudan
• Principle export in these countries
• Natural Gas-central Africa
• Volta River-human-made lake and supplies hydroelectric power to Africa

Tropical Wet Climate

• Warm temps, plentiful rainfall, near Equator
• Tropical rain forests
• Several different levels: mosses, palms
• Canopy-high trees form an umbrella-like covering
• Animals and tropical flowers
• Deforestation-widespread clearing of forestland
• Soil less fertile real quickly
• Ecotourism-touring a place without causing harm to the environment; increase revenue of an area

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Tropical Dry Climate

• Tropical grassland-savanna
• Hot all year, low rainfall levels
• Covers half of Africa
• Serengeti Plain-world’s largest savanna plains
• Home to exotic animals: elephants, lions, rhinos, giraffes
• Home to the fastest land animal-the cheetah
• Home to the largest land animal-the African elephant
• Home to the tallest animal-the giraffe
• Home to the largest primate-the gorilla
• Home to the world’s largest reptile-the Nile crocodile
• Set some land aside as national parks

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Desert Steppe

• Sahara
• High temps; little rain
• Barren rock/stony plains
• Namib Desert
• Temps cooler due to ocean breezes
• Succulents-plants like cacti with thick, fleshy leaves that conserve moisture
• Kalahari Desert
• Stretches of sand
• Surface dry when it rains
• Very dry, but has some animals and grasses

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• Borders the desert areas
• Desertification-process that turns fertile land into land that is too dry
• Clearing of trees
• Large amounts of livestock

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Moderate Climate Regions

• Marine, Mediterranean, and humid subtropical
• Comfortable temps, adequate rainfall
• Farm crops, forests
• Creation of vegetation belts-based on elevation
• Snow found at high elevations

Chapter 20: History & Cultural

History & Government

Cultures and Lifestyles

Early History

• Hunter-gatherers-people who moved from place to place to hunt and gather food
• Migrated towards fertile areas
• 3000 B.C.-Bantu people migrated to Africa
• Spread farming and ironworking skills
• Language, culture, technology

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East & Southern Africa

• 800 BC-Kush along Nile in present day Sudan
• Wealthy from trade (gold, ivory, iron)
• Built temples like those in Egypt
• 300 AD-Axum-Ethiopia
• King Ezana accepted Christianity
• Center of African Christianity
• Arab Muslims gained control of surrounding area
• Swahili culture-blend of Arab & African culture
• Great Zimbabwe-supplied gold, silver, ivory

West Africa’s Trading Empire

• Ghana-earliest empire
• Salt and cloth for gold and ivory
• Mali
• Wealthy from farming and gold/salt trade
• Mansa Musa-most famous ruler
• Timbuktu-center of trade, education, Islamic culture
• Songhai
• Muhammad Toure-most famous leader
• Followed Islam
• Empire ended in 1600s

Slave Trade

• Europeans DID NOT introduce slave trade
• Slave trade to the New World started in the 1500s
• African rulers had enslaved and traded prisoners
• Increased under European control
• Shipped people across Atlantic to be sold into slavery
• 12 million Africans sent to Americas
• Suffering
• Entire villages disappeared
• Kingdoms weakened

European Rule

• 1800s-Britain declared slave trade illegal
• Between 1500-1800: 11 million Africans were captured and sold into slavery
• Didn’t stop European interest
• Gold, timber, hides, palm oil to grown industries
• Missionaries wanted to convert to Christianity
• At its height from 1880-1914
• 1880s-claim Africa for economic profit and political advancement
• Created colonies dividing ethnic groups
• Ethiopia & Liberia-only territories free of European rule
• Egypt & South Africa gained their freedom before 1950

European Rule

• European Rule
• Introduced better farming practices, education, medical care
• Took natural resources out of the country
• Fewer rights; worked in harsh conditions
• 1900s-feelings of nationalism (people’s desire to rule themselves and have their own independent country)
• Frustrated with European empire

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Struggle for Freedom

• WWI-protests against discrimination (unfair and unequal treatment of a group)
• WWII-African protests against European rule
• Too weak from fighting in the war
• 1951-Libya gained independence from Britain & France
• 1956-Sudan gained independence from Britain & Egypt
• 1957-Ghana became independent from Britain
• 1958-All French colonies gained independence
• End of 1970s, most African territories gained independence (43)

After Independence

• Challenges of Freedom
• Kept colonial borders that led to violence even though they identified by tribal borders
• Enemy tribes were pushed into one country
• Single tribes were divided up into many different countries
• Civil wars between ethnic groups
• Dictators or military leaders wanted control
• Economies were set up for the colonists that had now left
• Little transportation networks
• Civil Wars
• Became refugees-people who flee to another country to escape mistreatment
• UN peacekeeping troops sent in to restore/maintain peace

South Africa & Apartheid

• White South Africans used apartheid to strengthen their rule
• Apartheid-laws that separated ethnic groups and limited the rights of blacks
• People of non-European background couldn’t vote
• Blacks started to protest the laws and speak out
• Nelson Mandela-black leader; jailed
• UN condemned apartheid; countries withdrew trade
• 1990s-ended apartheid; released Mandela from prison
• 1994-first democratic election in which different races could vote-Nelson Mandela elected as first black president

Growing Population

• Better sanitation and medical care
• High birth rate-average of 5-7 children
• Sign of wealth and prestige
• Challenges
• Overcrowding, difficult to find shelter, water and electricity
• Unable to feed the amount of people
• Farmland has been destroyed by overuse, soil erosion and droughts
• Gov’t support
• Exporting goods to boost national incomes-did not leave enough food for the population
• Teaching better farming methods
• Tried to promote smaller families

Where Africans Live

• Uneven distribution of population
• Climate and landscape
• Most live in coastal areas and lake regions
• Plentiful rainfall, milder temps, fertile soil
• Rural Africa
• Villages
• 2/3 of population live in rural areas
• Trend towards urbanization-world’s fastest rate
• Urbanization
• Find better jobs, health care, education
• Residents endure traffic jams, overcrowding, pollution and poor sanitation

Health Care

• More health clinics, hospitals, medical centers
• Drugs and medical supplies more available
• Death rate remains high
• Malnutrition-poor health due to lack of food
• Lack clean water
• Adequate sanitation-removal of waste products
• Famines killed many people in East Africa
• Malaria and tsetse fly-spread disease
• Good health care is expensive
• AIDS virus-disease has caused life expectancy to decline in some countries
• Difficult to pay the medical bills and drugs
• Loss of skilled workers
• Death of parents

Ethnic & Language Groups

• Most identify with some ethnic group
• Defined by the language they speak
• 2000-3000 different languages
• Swahili-50 million people in East Africa
• Hausa & Yoruba in West Africa
• European Languages-French, English

Religion

• Most are Christian or Muslim
• Christian Africans
• Along coastlines where contact with Europeans took place
• Muslims
• Most live in West Africa
• Traditional African religions
• Belief in a supreme being, other gods, spirits of dead ancestors-influence everyday life
• Positive events as rewards; negative events as punishment
• Nigeria & Sudan-fighting among Christians, Muslims, traditional religions

The Arts

• Religious meaning or use
• Woodcarvers-masks and statues
• Weavers
• Kente-colored African cloth
• Music and dance
• Role in dances reflect social status-position in the community
• Ceremonies called rites of passage that mark particular stages of life
• Storytelling
• Oral traditions
• Griots-storytellers; preserve history

Rural Life

• 70% of Africans
• Farming or livestock herding
• Only enough to meet family needs
• Company run farms
• Cash crops sent overseas
• Coffee, cacao, cotton, tea, peanuts, bananas
• Villages-clusters of homes
• Compound-group of houses surrounded by walls

City Life

• 30% of population
• Center of modern industry and commerce
• Rulers want more manufacturing and service industries
• Improve standard of living
• Higher standard of living than rural people
• Some are wealthy and live in luxury apartments while others are poor and live in single story homes
• Overcrowded areas
• Homes made from wood/concrete blocks with sheet metal roofs

Families

• Extended families-households made up of several generations
• Nuclear families more common in the city-husband, wife, children
• Clans-large group of people who are united by a common ancestor
• Belong to a particular lineage-larger family group with close blood ties
• Require people to marry outside their own language

Chapter 21: Africa South of Sahara Today

West Africa

Central and East Africa

Southern Africa

West Africa

Benin, Burkina Faso, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madeira Islands, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

Nigeria

• Economy
• World’s major oil producing country
• Most of country works as subsistence farmers-only enough to feed their family
• Cash crop-cacao used to make chocolate & cocoa
• Not enough food to support the population
• People
• 250+ ethnic groups
• Use English in gov’t and business
• 45% are Muslim, 45% Catholic, 10% traditional
• Abuja (capital)-planned city built in 1980s
• Gov’t
• 1967-Civil war left 2 million dead
• Federal republic with power shared by national gov’t and states
• Democracy ruled by military power and ethnic diversity threaten unity

The Sahel

• Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad
• Most don’t have access to ports
• Limited ability to develop their trading economies
• Herding livestock, but land ruined to overgrazing
• Populations are small compared to remainder of Africa
• Most live and work in small villages
• Most are Muslim

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Coast West Africa

• Cape Verde Islands
• Senegal to Benin
• Rain forests-many cleared for palm, coffee, cacao, and rubber plantations
• Deforestation
• Civil wars destroyed economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast
• Liberia was originally created to return slaves back to Africa

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Central and East Africa

Burundi, Cabinda, Cameroon, CAR, Congo, DRC, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Rugged mountains to grassy savannas
• One of the world’s largest rain forests
• Major source of copper, tin, industrial diamonds
• Difficulty with transportation
• Political unrest
• Civil wars
• 200+ ethnic groups
• French official languages

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Central Africa

• Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea
• Cacao, coffee, oil, uranium-exports
• Many in poverty due to weak gov’ts
• Islands of Sao Tome & Principe
• Cacao and coconut
• Shifted to oil production

Tanzania

• Many different ethnic groups, each with their own language
• Swahili
• Friendly relations between ethnic groups and gov’t have prevented conflict
• Coffee and sisal-plant fiber used to make rope and twine
• Tourism: view natural wonders
• Fast-growing industry
• National parks to protect wildlife
• Serengeti National Park-home to lions, zebras, wildebeests

Kenya

• Live in highlands in the center of the country
• Nairobi-capital and largest city in East Africa
• Business center
• Developing free market economy
• Raise corn, bananas, sweet potatoes, cassava (plant whose roots are ground to make porridge)
• Tourism-national parks
• Kikuyu-main ethnic group; make up ¼ of population
• Stable gov’t since independence in 1963

Highland Countries

• Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
• Rich soil and plentiful rainfall-good for farming
• Farming supports large populations
• Rwanda & Burundi-largest population densities in Africa
• Unrest and tragedy since independence
• Uganda-ruled by a cruel dictator
• Civil War between the Hutu and Tutsi
• 80% Hutu, but Tutsi run gov’t
• Genocide in the 1990s-killed many Tutsi; many surviving Tutsi became refugees

Horn of Africa

• Shaped like a horn
• Sudan, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia

Sudan

• Was largest country in Africa, until split
• Blue Nile, White Nile, Sahara
• Rely on Nile for survival
• Cotton-leading export; oil reserves
• Ruled by military leaders
• North is Arab Muslims; South is black, Christian Africans
• South Sudan
• Independence in 2011

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Ethiopia & Eritrea

• Ethiopia
• Twice the size of Texas
• Best farming region
• Coffee-major export crop
• 1980s-drought caused a famine; more than 1 million died of starvation and disease
• Large number of languages
• Oldest independent nation in Africa
• Attempting to build a democracy
• Eritrea
• Involved in warfare with Ethiopia
• Muslim country; broke away from Ethiopia in 1993
• Extremely dry climate

Somalia Djibouti

• Tip of the horn of Africa
• Long coastline, but few harbors
• Hot and dry climate
• Most are Muslims, but divided due to different clans
• Countries tried to bring in aid, but was blocked by the fighting
• No truly functioning gov’t
• Black Hawk Down & Mogadishu Mile

• Most stable country in the Horn
• Located between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
• Excellent harbor in the capital city
• Shipping and commerce
• Muslim population
• Hottest, driest places on Earth

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Southern Africa

Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe

South Africa

• Economy
• Highest developed economy in Africa
• Gold, diamonds, platinum, industry, farming
• People
• Zulu & Xhosa-Black ethnic groups: 75% of pop.
• European descent: 10%; Afrikaners-descendents of Dutch, French, and German
• Several mixed backgrounds
• History & Gov’t
• White ruled country in 1900
• 1990s-end of apartheid and wrote a constitution based on majority rule
• Suffrage to all citizens 18 years and older

Inland Southern Africa

• Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi
• Landlocked, mild climate, high plateaus
• Migrant workers-spend most of the year working out of the area and visit the families only a few times a year
• Go to South Africa for jobs
• Lesotho & Eswatini-enclaves (small territories located inside a larger country)
• Botswana-limited farming, mine & export diamonds, vast swamplands & desert land

Inland Southern Africa

• Zimbabwe
• gold, copper, iron ore & asbestos
• large plantations
• disorder and violence over land
• widespread shortages of food and supplies
• Zambia-copper
• Malawi-wetlands, lakes, mountains, forests
• visitors worldwide to national parks
• democratic nation in the 1990s

Coastal & Island Countries

• Angola & Namibia
• hilly grasslands & rocky deserts
• rich in minerals: oil and diamonds, copper
• most live in poverty and practice farming
• Mozambique
• development hindered by civil war and famine
• attracts foreign investors
• Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles-islands in the Indian Ocean
• mix of people from Africa & Asia
• agriculture, banking and tourism