Africa’s Geography °Africa is the second largest continent on the planet! elt has an extremely diverse geography re Moot Meg sysiom’ Agora Ube Shea Mourtaria nf , ek Oc els * ye er Cem a, # pe 2 ‘Cameroon Republic Somes. uns i lesa a, ’ 8 ¥ Indian fF Ocean Atlantic 4 Angota” ‘Melowi Zambia. SF ; Ocean on «| j Se ¥ ‘Airica yAfrica’s Geography * Africa is divided into four sections: * North: Mostly the Sahara Desert, along with the Nile River Valley * West: Much of the Sahel, a semiarid grassland that separates the Sahara from the savannas, or tropical grasslands * Central: Mostly rainforest, especially in the Congo Basin * East: Rift valleys-deep valleys that formed when Earth’s crust separated and broke apart * South: Great plateaus and the Kalahari DesertNorth Africa: Life in the Sahara * Much of North Africa is made up of arid, or very dry, deserts + Much.of the Sahara Desert receives less than 4 inches per year! It stretches 3,500 miles from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean * Daytime temperatures can climb to 130°F *10,000 years ago, the Sahara was a tropical grassland ° A process called desertification—the gradual transition from fertile to less productive land— forced people to move from northern Africa into other areas * However, a semi-nomadic people known as the Tuareg still regularly cross the Sahara to trade goods such as salt———<—_— t= North Africa: Life in the Sahara = = Tuareg Traders > The Atlas Mountains stretch along the " Mediterranean coast from Morocco.to Tunisia *Water is scarce, but the Nile River provides | Egypt with an important water supply *Countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt; The Nile River Valley a. Se othe Nile is the longest river in the world * 4,132 miles, 1,300 miles longer thanthe U.S. atits widest point! * Unlike most rivers, the Nile flows north from * Lake Tana in Ethiopia (Elevation; 6,000 feet) * Lake Victoria.in Tanzania, Ugaiide, and Kenya (Elevation: 3,720 feet) ; * Each spring, flooding leaves fich,soil on the floodplain, aslow-lying land n@xt to rivers.formed __ by flood sediment deposits Good soil and plentiful water madeithis oné of the? places humanis first developeda civilization. \ = WwThe Nile River Valley *In 1970, the Aswan High Dam was built to regulate, or control flooding *The dam generates hydroelectric power, a form of energy created using flowing water = * this dam generates 15% of Egypt’s electricity! *Today, 95% of Egypt’s population live along the Nile the rest of the gation is mostly desertEast Africa & the Rift Valley *The most important feature in East Africa is the Great Rift Valley *Formed when tectonic plates separated and created deep cracks, or rifts, in the earth’s crust *Have been forming for about 20 million years Low spots that filled with rainwater became lakes like Lake Tanganyika 5 «Second deepest freshwater lake in the world!East Africa & the Rift Valley °The rest of East Afri¢a sits mostly on plateaus # kena anzahia have vast éavarinas where & ments also created volcanoes like imanjaro (19,304 feet) and Mount ; mant, or inactive, volcanoes : Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, ; , Somalia, en me Rwanda, ee pP Tanzania , AA GTA SSWest African Steppes *West Africa runs from the Atlantic coast south of the * Saharato the interior, or inner part, of the continent * Near the coast, the climate is tropical and these countries can receive up to 10 FEET of rain each year «In the interior countries, however, desert may get as = little as 10 INCHES per year. * Landforms in West Africa include the Sahel, semiarid steppes, rainforests, and highlands, which are areas of higher mountainous land 5 * To create more farmland for a growing population, some West Africans have cut down forests,.a process called deforestation¢ _ West\African Steppes o.. Pr m > ioe Ee | The majority of the population in West Africa lives along the Atlantic coast * Lagos, Nigeria — the largest city in West Africa — one of the largest in the world! * Deserts in West Africa make the countries there poorer, and some people struggle to stay alive * In Chad, 80% of people practice subsistence farming *Countries: Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, y Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, g Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali s Niger, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad KyCentral Africa: Rainforests & Resources Saas *The Congo Basin—a region dominated by a river system—is the main feature of Central Africa * Second largest in the world (Amazon is first!) The basin holds a rain forest, a forest with warm temperatures, plentiful rain, high humidity, and thick vegetation *Central Africa has many resources, including copper, forests, diamonds, and the river itself, which provides hydroelectric power Countries: Central African Republic, Congo, Cameroon, Sao Tomé and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon 4EE tt ., Southern Plateaus & Basins id *Southern Af ‘ natural resources, and abundant wildlife ' :A large plateau covers most of southernAfrica i and ends with'the Great Escarpment, a steep Ee slope that drops from the plateau to the =? «coastal plains | The Zambezi River collects water from south | central Africa.and carries it to the Indian Ocean) EN Re