1. Southern Africa

2. GEOGRAPHY
Landscape- Southern Africa is a blend of forests, grasslands, and deserts.
Climate- Savanna, Steppe, and desert, with a touch of Mediterranean at the southern tip

3. Victoria Falls
Beautiful waterfall located along the Zambezi River between Zambia & Zimbabwe.
Discovered by missionary/explorer David Livingstone and named after the queen of England.
Considered by many to be one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World

4. Kalahari Desert
4th largest desert on earth. It is one of the most treacherous deserts in the world.
During the short rainy season it is full of vegetation and life.
However, the moment the rains are gone the Kalahari becomes dry and barren.

5. Cape of Good Hope The southern tip of Africa
So-named because it represented exciting trade opportunities for Portugal when they became the first Europeans to sail around it under the leadership of Bartholomew Diaz.
The Portuguese would go on to dominate trade in the Indian Ocean & Arabian Sea.

6. Other Geographic Features of Southern Africa
Main Rivers- Zambezi, Limpopo, Orange
Drakensberg Mts.
Namib Desert

7. CULTURE Religion- Mostly Christian
Ethnic groups- Lots of tribes, including the Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, Tswana, Sotho, and Shona people

8. Ethnic Groups
Zulus
A strong warrior tribe known for their beadwork, basketry, and stomping dances.
The Zulus stood up to the British when they were taking over S. Africa, and actually defeated the British in some early battles (despite the British having guns and them having bows and spears)

9. Ethnic Groups
Bushmen
The original inhabitants of Southern Africa are commonly known as Bushmen or San.
They have always lived as hunter-gatherers; hunting with bows and arrows and eating edible roots and berries. They are famous for speaking in a unique clicking language

10. Products/industries S. Africa is the world’s #1 producer of platinum
Other valuable resources in the area include diamonds, gold, and uranium

11. South Africa Early on, Bantu-speaking tribes like the Zulu lived here
In the 1600’s, the Dutch settled Cape Town. The Dutch farmers who settled there were called the Boers
Along with other European settlers they created a new language called Afrikaans.
When the British came after diamonds were discovered, they tried to push the Boers off the land that had the nice resources, resulting in the Boer War. Dutch farmers were no match for British soldiers, however.

12. The Brits and Dutch united to form the Union of South Africa in 1910, ruled by whites
Apartheid- Whites and blacks were legally segregated in 1948 by an all white govt.
Whites got top positions, good jobs, nice homes
Non-Whites got 2nd rate treatment (could not vote; often packed into cruddy reserves)

13. Nelson Mandela and African National Congress protested
Nelson Mandela and African National Congress protested. Mandela went to jail for 27 years.
Many protests led to his release.
In 1994 Mandela became South Africa’s first black president
As a result, equal rights and equal opportunity are improving.
Many non-whites still in poverty, but things are improving

14. Zambia
Lake Kariba-The largest man-made lake in the world; popular tourist site
Victoria Falls is here (shared with Zimbabwe)
Major Product- Copper (80% of nation’s income)

15. Zimbabwe Main tribe= Shona
Zimbabwe means “Big House of Stone” and contains ruins of a great ancient civilization of builders called Great Zimbabwe
Main Products- Gold & Tobacco
Poor farmers often pan for gold illegally

16. Madagascar
Home to all kinds of cool wildlife that like to “move it, move it” (like lemurs)
World’s #1 producer of vanilla beans

17. BONUS COUNTRIES!

18. Botswana Kalahari Desert & Bushmen (San) are here
Frequent drought
Lots of mineral resources and game reserves
One of Africa’s strongest democracies
Mrs. Renkas loves this place!

19. Namibia Home of Namib Desert
People like to go “sand-boarding” down the dunes
Very sparsely populated (Namib means “land without people”)
Economy comes from mineral mining and fishing/tourist resorts on the coast
Most live in poverty, however