Download African Geography

Africa
Georgia Performance Standards
• SS7G1 The student will locate selected features
of Africa.
a. Locate on a world and regional political-physical
map: the Sahara, Sahel, savanna, tropical rain
forest, Congo River, Niger River, Nile River, Lake
Tanganyika, Lake Victoria, Atlas Mountains, and
Kalahari Desert.
b. Locate on a world and regional political-physical
map the countries of, Democratic Republic of the
Congo (Zaire), Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South
Africa, and Sudan.
African Geography
• Africa is a land of many contrasts: deserts,
lakes, mountains, grasslands, and
rainforests.
• With diversity in its people, culture and
languages, it is unique yet still
African Geography
• The Sahara is the world’s
largest hot desert,
covering most of Northern
Africa.
• About 3000 miles wide
and 1200 miles long, it
stretches from the Red Sea
to the outskirts of the
Atlantic Ocean and meets
the sahel.
African Geography
• The Sahara's topographical features include
shallow basins, large oasis depressions,
serirs or regs (gravel-covered plains),
plateaus, mountains, sand sheets, dunes and
sand seas (ergs).
• The highest part of the desert is at the summit
of Mount Koussi, which is 11,204 feet (3,415
m) high.
• The lowest point of the Sahara is 436 feet
(133 m) below sea level: in the Qattera
Depression in Egypt.
African Geography
African Geography
• The Sahel is the transition zone south of the
Sahara and north of the equator.
• It is between the tropical rain forests and the
Sahara desert
• Djenne and Timbukto are part of the sahel
in Mali
Djenne, Mali
Timbiktu, Mali
African Geography
• Savannas are rolling
grassland and
scattered trees and
shrubs totaling to
about 4.5 million
miles in the African
country.
• The Serengeti borders
Kenya and Tanzania
African Geography
• The Ituri Forest is a dense tropical rain forest
in the northern part of the Congo River Basin
in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(formerly Zaire).
• It covers a over 24,300 square miles (62,900
sq km) of land in central Africa.
• The geographic boundaries of the Ituri Forest
are difficult to define as the forest blends in
with other forests and swamp regions.
African Features
• The Congo is the largest river in Western Central
Africa. Its overall length of (2,720 mi) makes it the
second longest in Africa.
• The Congo River flows primarily through the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, the People's
Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic,
and partially through Zambia, Angola, Cameroon,
and Tanzania
• Surrounded by the rain forest
• It is the fifth longest in the world
African Geography
• The Nile, at 4,132 miles (6,650 km.), is the
longest river in the world.
• Begins in Burundi, south of the equator, and
flows northward through northeastern Africa,
flowing through Egypt and draining into the
Mediterranean Sea.
• The Nile receives its name from the Greek
“Neilos”, which means a valley or river valley.
The river flowed northward and flooded the
lands in Egypt, leaving behind black
sediment.
African Geography
• The Niger River - 3rd longest on the
continent, it rises in Guinea near the Sierra
Leone border and flows into Nigeria and the
Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean.
• It is a major river in West Africa
• It is 2,600 mi (4,183 sq km) long, and its
middle course is navigable for about 1,000 mi
(1,600 km).
African Geography
• The Atlas Mountains lie in northwestern
Africa between the Mediterranean Sea
and the Sahara desert.
• Located in Northern Algeria,Tunisia and
Morocco, the Atlas Mountains extend
approximately 1,500 miles.
• The highest range in the chain is to be
found in southern Morocco.
Kalahari Desert
• Kalahari, semi- arid plateau region is
located in Botswana, Namibia, and
South Africa.
• The Kalahari, a 1200 mile semi-arid
sandy area is covered largely by
reddish sand dunes that reach as high
as 200 feet and be 50 miles long.
African Geography
• Lake Taganyika is the longest lake at 420
miles as well as the 2nd deepest lake in the
world (4710 feet) after Lake Victoria.
• It is bordered on the east of central Africa by
Tanzania, on the north by Burundi, on the
west by the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (formerly Zaire), and on the south by
Zambia.
African Geography
• Lake Victoria is the headwaters for the
Nile River and the largest lake in Africa.
• The 2nd largest freshwater lake in the
world and is shallow.
• Tanzania and Congo in the Great Rift
Valley.
• Lake Victoria is bordered by Uganda,
Kenya, and Tanzania
• African Geographic
Features
Jeopardy Review
• This geographic
feature separates the
Sahara and the tropical • What is the sahel?
rain forest?
Jeopardy Review
• This lake is the 2nd
deepest in the world.
• What is Lake
Tanganyika?
Jeopardy Review
• The famous Serengeti
is part of rolling
grasslands and
shrubbery that covers
parts of Africa.
• What are savannas?