Africa The Plateau Continent

Physical Features Much of central Africa is a high, dry plateau Sahara – world’s largest desert Nile River – longest river in the world Lake Victoria – world’s second largest freshwater lake

Sahara Desert

Process where grasslands change to desert through overgrazing, drought, and over cultivation Desertification:

4 million year old fossils of human ancestors have been found here. Great Rift Valley This valley is a fault – a crack in the earth’s crust that is 3,000 miles long and has many lakes and volcanoes in the area, including Mt. Kenya. 4 million year old fossils of human ancestors have been found here.

Mount Kilimanjaro 19,341 feet above sea level Largest mountain in Africa Is a dormant volcano with 3 cones

Savanna – broad grassland with few trees

Climate Zones What landform dominates Northern Africa? What is the climate type found along the equator?

Rainy SEason

Population Density Largest Cities: Cairo, Egypt Lagos, Nigeria Where is most of the population concentrated? 2. What patterns do you notice?

The Tourism in Tanzania Mwanza Zanzibar Ngorongoro Crater

Economic Activity Which natural resources are the biggest sources of fighting? What are the top 2 uses of land in most of Africa? What land use is the least common in Africa?

Workers Pan For Diamonds

Ancient Rulers

Languages of Africa Niger-Congo: spoken by one out of every two Africans, spread by Bantu migrations Afro-Asiatic: second-most-spoken on the continent, mainly in North Africa Nilo-Saharan: western bend of the Niger River through the Sahel region into parts of east Africa Khoisan: smallest number, found in Southern Africa, known as “the click languages” Because there is usually such a wide variety of languages spoken in one country, trade languages, such as Swahili, Hausa, Fulani, and Creole have developed for cross-cultural communication.

Countries oF Africa 54 countries Largest: Algeria Smallest: Seychelles At least 2,000 languages spoken in Africa Swahili and Arabic are two of the most common languages

European Colonialism Africa was divided up by 8 countries in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Europeans wanted power and strategic advantage, exploited the resources of Africa, established settlements, and converted Africans to Christianity. In general, Europeans took what they wanted from Africa with very little concern about the quality of life for Africans.

African Independence Africans fought European imperialism since its beginnings. Many Africans resented European presence. Africans desired self-rule because they were generally treated as second-class citizens by Europeans. The World Wars also demonstrated that Europeans were imperfect and raised questions about European racism.

African Independence In 1945, many prominent leaders of Africa met in Manchester, England and drafted a resolution as an appeal to their colonial powers and a warning of what would come if this appeal was ignored. By 1960, Africa had 27 independent states. That number grew to 39 six years later, and the number became 47 by 1975.

Tribal traditions Social life revolves around the extended family. Extended families are linked to clans, kin groups, and tribes. Religion and language is closely tied to the group that one joins by birth.

Agriculture Africa is largely a rural continent. Many young Africans are moving to the cities to find work, however, many Africans stay in the rural villages and practice subsistence farming and livestock raising.

Religion 46 % are Christian (mainly in West, East, Central, and Southern Africa) 40% are Muslim (mainly in North and West Africa) Over 100 million practice indigenous religions

Animism Animism is the belief that there is no separation between the spiritual and physical world – that all things have souls such as animals, plants, rocks, rivers, and all land and water forms. Examples of Animism can be found in forms of Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism, Pantheism, Paganism, and Neopaganism religions.