Download Sub-Saharan Africa

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Africa
Physical
Geography
Africa –
Introduction and Physical Geography

Africa at the center of the world?

Background and fast facts

The “Plateau continent”

Rivers of Africa

The Sahara desert and the “Sahel”

The Great Rift Valley

Resources
Africa at the Center of the
World?

Theory of Continental Drift states that all the continents
were once connected together
– Pangea:
• The “supercontinent” that existed about 250 million years ago
• Surrounded by one large ocean - Panthalassa

About 250 million years ago, Pangea begins to break apart
– The material under the Earth’s crust acts as a conveyer belt that
makes the plates move…
– Continents begin to drift apart
180 Million years ago
135 million years ago
The Plates Today
Africa: Background and Facts

Second largest continent (Asia is largest)
– Population: over 1 billion, low population density in most
places

54 total independent nations; most in world.

Oceans surround the continent
– Mediterranean, Red Seas; Atlantic, Indian oceans
– Located at the center of what is called the “land
hemisphere”
• Both separate and link Africa to the rest of the world

Has 5 different regions: North, South, Central,
East and West
– Regional differences contribute to the diversity of
the people
1000s of
Different
languages

Africa:
the
“Plateau
continent”
Africa – the “Plateau continent”

Africa is essentially a
plateau with escarpments
(continuous lines of steep
cliffs) on many sides
– “upside-down pie plate”
– Nearly all above 1000 fasl,
half above 2500 fasl

Interior dotted with deep
basins created by many
rivers
Rivers of
Africa
Most
important river =
the Nile river
Other
significant rivers = the Congo,
Niger and Zambezi rivers
of hydroelectric power – energy
created by the movement of water
Sources
cause cataracts – large
waterfalls and rapids
Escarpments
The Nile River
Longest
river in the
world – 4000 miles
Flows from south to
north
Ancient Egypt grew
around the Nile
Egypt
called “The Gift of
the Nile”
Egyptians depended on
the flooding of the Nile for
their farming
Sources of the Nile
2 sources – had been
a mystery for many
years
–Blue Nile (Lake
Turkana, Ethiopia)
–White Nile (Lake
Victoria, Uganda.)
The Aswan Dam
The Aswan Dam
Completed in 1970; 365 ft. high, 2 miles wide
 Designed to control the flooding of the Nile
River

– Positives – no flooding, water for regular
irrigation
– Negatives – relocation, decreased soil fertility,
malaria
Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser
World’s largest man-made lake
 Formed as a result of the construction of the
Aswan dam

– Forced the removal of people/buildings
– Nubians lose farmland/some artifacts at the bottom of
the lake
The Sahara
The Sahara

Largest desert in the world (3000x1200 mi.)
– Only 20% actually sand…rest is mountains, rock
formations, plains

Great temperature variations
– From 136F (day) to below freezing (night)

Most of Africa’s population lives south of the
Sahara
The Sahel
The Sahel

200-700 mile wide band of semi-arid land
– Stretches across the continent south of the Sahara
Means “shore of the desert”
 The Sahara is expanding into this region about
4-5 miles a year

– Expansion caused by desertification – creation of
desert conditions in areas adjacent to desert
**Causes – overgrazing, farming, population
The Great
Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley
Located in the eastern portion of the
continent
 Over 4000 miles long from Red Sea to
southern Africa

– Rift: deep trench formed when large sections of
earth’s crust drop between parallel faults
Shows that eastern Africa is pulling away
from the rest of Africa
**Mt. Kilimanjaro is found alongside this
geographical feature

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Largest mountain in Africa (19,340 ft.)
– Located in Tanzania
**Volcanic
Resources

Mineral Resources
– Abundant source of **diamonds (50%), gold (30%),
uranium (29%), platinum, copper, and other minerals
– Have not been used to help African societies

Other Resources
– Oil - great supply in Nigeria, Libya, others (7%)

Farming and herding
**The main economic activity of Africans
– 66% are involved in farming and herding
East Africa
North Africa
West and Central Africa
Review
What nickname is given to the continent of
Africa?
 Which river is the most important in Africa?
What do the rivers provide?
 What was created as a result of the Aswan dam?
 What is the Sahel? What is desertification?
 What does the existence of the Great Rift Valley
tell us about East Africa?
 What resources does Africa have in abundance?
