Download The Shape of the Land

Africa: The Shape of the Land
Chapter Themes:
1) Geographic features have influenced where people live in Africa and contributed to the
cultural diversity of the continent.
2) Since earliest times, people, goods, and ideas have crossed the physical barriers that
divide Africa and separate it from other regions.
3) Recent evidence suggests that the first humans lived in Africa.
4) The fertile Nile valley supported one of the world’s first great civilizations.
Lesson Questions:
What is Africa’s relative location in the world?
How have landforms influenced movement across Africa?
What natural Resources are important to African nations?
I.
A Vast Continent – 2nd largest continent in the world
A. Location
1. Located near Equator and considered a great trade location between
Europe and the Middle East.
B. Regions
1. North Africa – coastal plain home of classical Carthage, divided
by the Atlas mountains which separates it from the Sahara desert
2. West Africa – Niger, Senegal, and Zaire (Congo) rivers, it had
limited water travel and small coastal plain
3. East Africa – home of the Great Rift Valley – not simply a valley
but filled with mountains and cliffs
4. Central Africa – located near equator with rain forests
5. South Africa – home of the Kalahari desert
C. Landforms
1. Cataracts- great waterfalls and escarpments – steep cliffs
2. Great Rift Valley caused by Tectonic plates
D. Rivers
1. Senegal, Nile, Limpopo River (Zimbabwe)
E. Natural Resources
1. diamonds
2. oil
3. cobalt
4. gold
5. copper
6. various cash crops
II.
Climate and Diversity
A. Latitude and elevation affect weather
B.
C.
D.
E.
III.
1. 80% located in tropics
2. Varies from place to place, higher elevation equals cooler
temperatures
Rainfall
1. alternating wet and dry seasons
2. ranges from 1 inch (2.5 cm) – 80 inches(203 cm)
3. rain fall depends on equator, thus each experiences different
rainfall
Four major climate zones – Africa has all types of differing climates
1. tropical wet – causes leaching, rainfall erodes soil
2. tropical wet and dry – unpredictable rainfall, found in savannas
and is the largest wet and dry season
3. desert- lack of rainfall, plus desertification is caused by rising
population growth and clear cutting of vegetation; examples are
the Sahara, Kalahari, and Namib
4. Moderate Mediterranean climates – it is similar to Los Angeles,
California, very pleasant minus the earthquakes!
Climate and Health
1. Insects carry diseases in the tropics
2. malaria and sleeping sickness ( kills cattle as well)
3. bilharzias – caused by snails that carry parasitic worms, it occurs
when bathing or swimming in streams
Population, Adapting to the Land, and Language
1. 763 million live there, but is not densely populated
2. A variety of cultures have developed
3. 5 basic societies, farming, herding, fishing, hunting and food gathering,
and urban
4. Savannas yield cattle herding societies and urban setting have existed
in the north
5. Over 1000 different languages, Swahili is the mixture of Bantu and
Arabic
6. Studying language families allows the study of human migration
movements and settlement patterns in Africa
Early Civilizations of Africa
A. Tracking the Evidence and Records on Stone
1. Olduvai Gorge is located on the edge of the Great Rift Valley in
Tanzania
2. 1950- Louis and Mary Leakey discovered a 2 million years bone
thought to be the ancestor of modern people
3. Geologists study rocks and Botanists study plants
4. Africa is now debated as the birth place of civilization
5. Rock art – has been found in the Sahara
6. The Sahara started to dry about 4000 years ago and most animals
and humans probably migrated to the coast or the Nile Valley
B. Nile Valley Civilization/ Religion and Government
1. after the Agricultural Revolution the most advanced civilizations
started to develop
2. 7000 years ago the fertile Nile Valley provided the “cradle of
civilization
3. 3000 B.C. powerful rulers (pharaohs) had united the villages
along the Nile
4. Egyptians were polytheistic and believed mainly in nature gods;
Amon-Re – Sun God, Osiris god of the underworld and the Nile
5. they believed deeply in an afterlife and built pyramids to house
their great rulers
C. The Gift of the Nile – the flood would bring fresh silt for fertilization
1. Season of the flood – For 100 days as the fields flood farmers
work for the pharaoh making temples and various buildings
2. Season of going out – farmers till the soil and priests hold
religious ceremonies in Osiris’ name to yield bountiful crops
3. Season of the Harvest – half of the harvest goes to taxes (pay for
the pharaoh’s court) or used in places affected by famine
D. Kingdom of Kush
1. Egypt traded with its southern neighbors of Nubia and Kush
2. Eventually Egyptians sent armies to conquer them; trade and conquest
caused Egyptian cultural diffusion
3. 750 B.C. - King Katsha of Kush led his forces north and the
conquered the Nile valley
4. The Kushites than retreated due to an invasion by the Assyrians
(Assyrians used iron weapons, stronger than bronze)
5. The Kingdom moved further south and reestablished themselves at
Meroë (old capital Napata, however debated if were two separate
kingdoms)
6. Kushites first resembled Egyptian culture but then worshipped their
own gods and developed their own forms of hieroglyphics
7. The Kushites then learned to use iron in their military to protect
themselves
8. The southern lands of the Nile provided more wood as well for iron
forges (furnace for sword making)
9. Kush continued to trade with Egypt, the Mediterranean world, Arabia,
East Africa, and India
10. 200 A.D – internal rivalries and invasions weakened Kush (1000 years
it lasted)
E. The Kingdom of Axum
1. developed in Ethiopia as the last Kush kings were alive
2. Axum traded with Egypt, India, and Arabia and usually exported
gems, spices, and ivory
3. 350 A.D. - King Azana of Axum conquered Kush
4. King Azana had converted to Christianity earlier
5. due to their remote location and isolation from the rest of Christendom
after the rise of Islam, they have remained one of the oldest churches
of Christianity
6. Ethiopians have their own sacred written language called Geëz and
today still make religious art