Unit 9 How was your weekend? Period 3 What did you do last weekend?
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FrontPage: Turn in Map activity to back box. What is one thing that you’d like to know about Africa?
The Last Word: No Homework…have a great weekend.
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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
Sources of hydroelectric power – energy created by the movement of water
Escarpments cause cataracts – large waterfalls and rapids
The Nile River
Longest river in the world – 4000 milesFlows from south to northAncient Egypt grew around the Nile
Egypt called “The Gift of the Nile”Egyptians depended on the flooding of the Nile for their farming
2 sources – had been a mystery for many years
–Blue Nile (Lake Turkana, Ethiopia)
–White Nile (Lake Victoria, Uganda.)
Sources of the Nile
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?