Download Africa: South of the Sahara

Africa
Physical Geography
• Africa is the 2nd largest continent.
• Northern countries are covered by the
Sahara, the largest desert in the world
Physical Geography
• Separating the plateaus are steep cliffs or
slopes known as escarpments.
• Rivers spill over these escarpments in
thundering waterfalls known as cataracts.
Victoria Falls
• The most famous waterfall in Africa is
Victoria Falls
• It is more than twice the height of Niagara
Falls.
Victoria Falls
Mountains
• The cone-shaped volcanic peaks of Kenya
and Tanzania include Mount Kenya and
Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest
mountain.
The Great Rift Valley
• The Great Rift Valley is one of the world’s
natural wonders.
Water Systems
• Lake Victoria is the second largest
fresh-water lake in the world.
• It is the source of the Nile River
River Systems
• The Nile is the largest river system in the
world, but the largest system south of the
Sahara is the Congo.
Natural Resources
• Diamonds: some of the biggest deposits
on earth.
• Gold: more than half the world’s gold
• Copper
• Oil
• Uranium
• Manganese
• zinc
Early Exploration
• The Portuguese were the first to explore
Africa.
• The Dutch were the first to settle in South
Africa.
• Dutch descendants in South Africa today
are called Afrikaners.
Climate
• Desert: Desert covers 2/5 of Africa’s land
area.
Climate Regions
Savannas: Tropical grasslands of
Africa.
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• Poaching: illegal hunting of wild
animals.
• Extinction: the disappearance or end
of a species of plant or animal.
• Habitat: areas that are suitable for
certain plants or animals to sustain
life.
Climate Regions
• Tropical Rainforest: This region covers
only 8% of Africa
• The heavy rains leach, or wash away the
nutrients in the soil.
• Deforestation: The loss or destruction of
forests.
Human Characteristics
• Population: Just over 1 billion
Africa has the world’s highest
birthrate and the world’s shortest
life expectancy
Reasons for Short Life
Expectancy
• Famine and poor nutrition claim many
lives, especially infants and children.
• Some hunger has been caused by corrupt
governments focusing on cash crops
rather than food crops.
• Impure water is another cause of death.
Reasons for Short Life
Expectancy
• Insects such as the tsetse fly and
mosquitos carry diseases that kill
cattle, horses, and people.
• AIDS has reached epidemic
proportions in sub-Saharan
Africa.
• Urbanization: The movement of
people from rural areas into the cities.
Human Characteristics
• Africa is home to hundreds of
different ethnic groups, or people with
similar histories and cultures.
Human Characteristics
• Today, Africans speak more than 800
languages.
• Swahili is one of the major languages
spoken throughout Africa
• This makes Swahili a lingua franca, or a
universal language because it is
understood almost everywhere in Africa.
Human Characteristics
• Christianity and Islam are the two major
religions in Africa.
• The people of Djibouti were the first to
adopt Islam.
• Animism: The belief that the spirits of
ancestors live in nature.
• Family Life: Africans place great
emphasis on extended families, or
households made up of several
generations.
• In some places, families are
organized into clans, or large groups
of people related to each other.
.
Education
• Literacy Rates: the percentage of
people who have the ability to
read and write.
Obstacles to Education
• 1. Low standard of living: many
people simply cannot afford to send
their children to school.
• 2. Some parents still believe that
their children will benefit more from
learning survival skills, such as
hunting or farming.
• 3. Location: lack of schools in rural
areas.