CHAPTER 22 WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA >

NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS CHAPTER 22 – SECTION 1

QUESTIONS  What are West and Central Africa’s main landforms and rivers?  Which climates and biomes are found here?  What are some of the region’s important resources?

COUNTRIES  West and Central Africa includes the countries of  Mauritania – Nouakchott  Senegal – Dakar  Gambia – Banjul  Guinea-Bissau – Bissau  Guinea – Conakry  Sierra Leone – Freetown  Liberia – Monrovia  Cote D’Ivoire – Yamoussoukro  Mali – Bamako  Burkina Faso - Ouagadougou

COUNTRIES  Ghana – Accra  Togo – Lorne  Benin – Porto-Novo  Niger – Niamey  Nigeria – Abuja  Chad – N’Djamena  Cameroon – Yaounde  Central African Republic – Bangui  Gabon – Libreville  Republic of the Congo – Brazzaville  Democratic Republic of the Congo - Kinshasa

LANDFORMS  __________________________________________ ____________________  A few highland areas and a few depressions.  El Djouf – a desert region in eastern Mauritania and western Mail near the Niger River.  Lake Chad lies in the middle of a depression.  Low costal plain runs along the Atlantic shoreline with few natural harbors, large sandbars and mangrove tree lines. <>

RIVERS  __________________________________________

CLIMATES  __________________________________________  Warm throughout the year.  No major mountain ranges to break up climate pattern.  Zonal pattern of climates – climate region form bands that run east to west across the region.

CLIMATES  Arid environments  ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________  Sahara extends in northern Niger, Mali, and Mauritania.  Sahel – southern end of Sahara with a semiarid climate.  Vegetation includes trees, shrubs, and grasses.  Extends from Senegal and Mauritania to Sudan.  Receives 4 to 8 inches of rainfall a year.  Population has risen causing greater erosion of soil of desertification, expanding the Sahara.

CLIMATES  Tropical environments  __________________________________________________  Winters are hot and dry while summers bring rain.  Growing population has forced decline in animal population.  Climate zone closest to equator is tropical humid.  Rain falls all year round.  Temperature rarely falls below 65 ⁰ F.  Rain forests are home to many plants, insects and animals.

NATURAL RESOURCES  __________________________________________ _______________________________  Tropical lumber, agriculture and minerals.  Most valuable is oil.  Largest producer is Nigeria.  Democratic Republic of the Congo is rich in copper, diamonds, and cobalt.  Underdeveloped due to political problems and poor transportation.  West Africa is world’s major source of cacao.  Cote d’Ivoire is world’s leading producer.

HISTORY AND CULTURE CHAPTER 22 – SECTION 2

QUESTIONS  What are the main eras in the history of West and Central Africa?  What are some features of the region’s cultures?

HISTORY  __________________________________________ ________________________  Ghana in the 800s.  Exports – gold and cloth to North Africa and slaves.  Imports - salt and Islam.  Mali replaced Ghana in the 1200s.  Tombouctou became an important city of trade and education.  To the south were the forest peoples.  Traded less as the forest provided more.

EUROPEANS  __________________________________________  Searching for a water route to Asia.  Because of diseases and unknown territory, stayed along coastlines and set up trading posts.  From 1500s to 1800s, focus changed from gold to slaves.  Traded with African kingdoms for slaves and sold them to colonies.  10 million slaves traded.  Disrupted families and societies, brought guns to Africa which gave an advantage to costal forest states.

THE COLONIAL ERA  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  Countries wanted raw material and farm products they could not get at home.  Sought political control over African territories.  Africa quit subsistence farming and worked for wages on plantations; moved to colonial cities on the coast.

THE POSTCOLONIAL ERA  ____________________________________  By 1976, all African countries in this area were independent.  After colonial era, many Africans worked in new commercial economy.  Local economies depended on the export of minerals and farm products.  Modern medicine and infrastructure improve people’s lives.  Many earned low wages or were unemployed.  Rival ethnic groups had to share power in newly independent countries.

CULTURE  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  Traditional African cultures.  Islam.  European culture.

PEOPLE, LANGUAGES, AND SETTLEMENT  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  This linguistic family has hundreds of different languages.  Arabic, French and English are widely spoken.  Most West and Central Africans live in rural areas, small villages that rely on farming.  Fastest growing populations are in the cities, especially in the capitals.  Most capitals are located on the coasts.

RELIGION AND EDUCATION  __________________________________________  Christians live between the Sahel and the Atlantic coast.  Many practice traditional African religions.  Literacy rates are generally low.  Small percentage finish high school.  Very few have a chance to go to college.

FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  Cassava, corn, yams, millet, sorghum – drought resistant.  Customs and traditions differ among ethnic groups.

THE REGION TODAY CHAPTER 21 – SECTION 3

QUESTIONS  How economically developed are West and Central African countries?  What major challenges do the countries face today?

LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  People earn less and live shorter lives.  Lower levels of education.  Dual economies – some goods are produced for export to wealthy countries while others are produced for locals.

AGRICULTURE  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  Plantations and ranches forced herders to stay in one place leading to overgrazing and erosion.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND GLOBAL TRADE  __________________________________________ __________________________________________  Many countries depend on only a few main exports.  Two main disadvantages.  Vulnerable to changes in price.  Export of primary goods is less profitable than that of manufactured goods.

CITIES  ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________  Lagos, Nigeria; Kinshasa, DRG; Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Accra, Ghana; Douala, Cameroon.  Rapid growth caused housing shortages, crowded shantytowns.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES  Economic development.  Rapid population growth.  Agricultural production has not kept up.  Wars and conflicts.  Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone.  Destruction of natural environment.  Harvest of rain forest.  Grasslands cleared for farming.  Disease.  Malaria, HIV.