Sahel & North Africa

Vocabulary

http://messengerandadvocate.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/west-africa-ghana-mission.jpg

Terms are in green.

Definitions of the terms are in boxes.

1. export

There are many

ways to export

products.

http://www.starfireusa.com/CMSUploads/ExportServices2.JPG

To export a product, a

country needs a

way to send it out of the country.

http://www.chinasignpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sudan-map-21.jpg

1. export: send something out of the country to sell

http://www.auguricom.com/Import--and--Export.php

2. import: bring things INTO your country from outside

3. developing country

But most African countries are still

developing countries.

The U.S. is already a developed country.

http://www.fullpassport.com/Trip2001/Images11/timsuburb.jpg

Developing countries may be VERY poor, or they may be a mix

of modern and poor.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/sao%20paulo%20poverty%20wealth/wishbone98/Sao_Paulo.jpg

http://www.dictatorshipwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/poverty_children.jpg

BrazilPakistan

3. developing country: has very limited industry & technology and

often poor

4. developed country

Other examples of developed countries

are Japan and France.

The U.S. is already a developed country.

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/242/b/c/tokyo_skyline_2_by_freddy13131-d2xnqnk.jpg

Tokyo, Japan

Paris, Francehttp://d2f29brjr0xbt3.cloudfront.net/270_skyline/newyorkskyline.jpg

4. developed countries: have lots of technology and are usually wealthy

5. landlocked

http://www.harpercollege.edu/~mhealy/g101t/studygd/unit2/samer/smclosed.gif

There are only 2 landlocked countries in South America, but there are many in Europe.

http://d-maps.com/m/europemin/europemin09.gif

5. landlocked: a country that does not border the sea

http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa/thematic/maps/africa-landlocked-countries.jpg

Landlocked countries better get along with

their neighbors if they want to

export things by sea!

6. subsistence farming

Subsistence farms are small.

They don’t usually have extra to sell for profit.

There are many subsistence farmers in developing countries.

6. Subsistence farming produces just enough food to help feed the farmer’s

own family.

7. drought

Deforestation can make droughts

more severe.

7. drought: a time with very little rainfall.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photographerglen/963960046/

8. erosion

Deforestation leaves the soil with no trees and tree roots to protect it. This leads to

serious erosion.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Erosion

Deforestation and erosion leave the soil less able to absorb rainwater. So flooding

is more common during heavy rain.

Erosion by the Colorado River

formed the Grand Canyon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67307569@N00/2616398736/

8. erosion: the process of soil or rock being washed away

http://www.syngentafoundation.org/images/sahel_zone.gif

9. Sahel

It looks like this. . .

http://www.eduspace.esa.int/Background/images/Sahel1.jpe

http://www.eduspace.esa.int/Background/images/Sahel2.jpg

http://www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr/data_all/images/sahel23.gif

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/893/45020643.JPG

9. Sahel: the dry grassland on the south edge of the Sahara Desert

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41074000/gif/_41074256_africa_sahel_map203.gif

Sahara Desert

Sahel

The Sahel has a

shortage of arable

land.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7838744884_5a9323efa9_z.jpg

10. arable

10. arable: land good for farming

http://www.fernleighfarms.com/images/rows_green.jpg

http://www.eduspace.esa.int/Background/images/Sahel1.jpe

11. overgrazeWhen animals graze too long in one

area, they strip the leaves off trees and tear plants up by the roots.

This permanently kills plants and trees.

11. overgraze: letting herds eat too much in one area, permanently

damaging plants

http://geographyfieldwork.com/soiler12_small.jpg

12. slash-and-burnThis is a traditional way of clearing land for

subsistence farmers – worldwide.

http://www.listentoafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/web430-GW-G9-15NOV09-036.jpg

In an area with low population density, this works well.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/586368.JPG

They farm the land, let it grow back for many years, and eventually re-cut it.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/586368.JPG

But in modern times, high population density means they can’t

wait to let the trees grow back.

They just keep using the land – over and over – until it is no longer fertile, then

abandon it to erosion.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/586368.JPG

Slash-and-burn farming often

leads to serious soil erosion

http://photos.mongabay.com/06/1125marojejy.jpg

and deforestation.

http://www.wtamu.edu/~crobinson/Erosion/erosion7.jpg

12. slash-and-burn: cutting down trees and bushes & burning it to get

ready to farm

http://www.plexuseco.com/EPOW/EPOW-Archive/archive_2006/EPOW-060515_files/5648%20Congo%20Basin%20shift%20cultivn.jpg

13. desertificationOvergrazing, slash-and-burn farming, and

drought can all cause desertification.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/769/551267.JPG

Deforestation

Desertification

Healthy Land

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/769/588782.JPG

13. desertification: the process of land becoming desert

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/images/lithosphere/eolian/desertification_africa_fao_11638.jpg

http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~carolm/vietnampics/Reforestation_centralhighlands2.JPG

14. reforestation

In Benin, these farmers plant trees to use just for firewood and fencing.

That saves the natural growth trees.

http://www.opecfund.org/about/images/sustainable_development_4_0001.jpg

What has happened between the 1975 satellite image and the one from 2005?

http://conservationmagazine.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sahel-Satellite-sm.jpg

14. reforestation: replanting trees that have been destroyed by deforestation

http://www.africanimpact.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Token-picture-lr.jpg

15. crop rotation

GRAINS

http://moofafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/crop-rotation.png

Planting the same crop in the same field every year takes the same

nutrients out of the soil every year.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2636/3703600484_bcea1c578a_z.jpg

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5054194074518695&pid=15.1

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/Projects/JH825/previews/20221980.JPG

1 43

2

Crop rotation fixes that, since you rotate your planting – different crops in

different fields – each year.

15. crop rotation: planting different crops in different years to keep the

soil arable

http://www.bestgardening.com/bgc/images/rotation4year01.gif

Sahel & North Africa vocabulary

• Sahel

• arable

• overgraze

• slash-and-burn

• desertification

• reforestation

• crop rotation

• export

• import

• developed

• developing

• landlocked

• subsistence farming

• drought

• erosion