Year 8
Social Studies
A Global Perspective
LOCATION
• Africa is centrally located
on the Earth’s surface.
• It straddles the Equator,
extending for thousands
of miles north and south
of that line.
• Stands between two
major oceans, the Atlantic
Ocean to the west and
the Indian Ocean to the
east.
• The Mediterranean Sea
to the north and the Red
Sea in the northeast; also
border Africa
Africa – The Name, Some Theories
• While there are several different theories regarding
the origin of the name “Africa” most etymologists
(who are they?) believe the name derived from Afri,
the title for a group of people who dwelt in North
Africa near Carthage around the 3rd Century B.C.,
and the ca the Roman suffix for country or land.
• Ancient Greeks and Romans originally used the term
“Africa” only to the northern region of the continent.
In Latin, the word Africa means sunny and the word
Aphrike in Greek means without cold.
A Global Perspective
LOCATION
Although surrounded by ocean that separates Africa from other continents,
the geological boundaries of the ocean has played a major role in African
history, both positive and negative.
Africa’s central location places it in the middle of major global shipping
transport routes, therefore Africa became a major transportation port for
goods including human cargo.
A Satellite View
Africa’s Size
# Second largest continent after Asia
approx 18,825,300 sq. kms or
11,700,000 sq miles
# Contains more independent
nations than any other
continent in the world
# Approx 13% of the world’s
population.
# More than 3 times the size of the
U. S. covering over 20.3% of
the earth’s surface
7400
8
0
4
5
K
M
S
KMS
Mediterranean Sea
The
Libyan Desert
Tropic of Cancer
20° N
Sahara Desert
Topography
Sahel
Nile River
L. Chad-->
Of
Equator 0°
AFRICA
L. Albert-->
Δ Mt. Kenya
L. Victoria
Δ Mt. Kilimanjaro
L. Tanganyika->
Indian
Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Zambezi River
Tropic of Capricorn
20° S
Limpopo River
Orange River
Pacific Ocean
Population Facts about the African
Continent
Largest Cities (Urban
areas)
Cairo, Egypt: 16 million
Lagos, Nigeria: 13 million
Largest Country
Algeria, 2,381,740 Sq. Kms
( 2013 estimate citypopulation.de)
A Global Perspective
REGIONS
Regions are defined by distinct geographical features, although
regions themselves have unique qualities.
GEOGRAPHICAL differences often define the people who live within a
region, which contributes to a nation’s diverse and rich cultural
‘make-up’. AFRICA has many distinct regions, however the major
regions are:
• North Africa
• West Africa
• East Africa
• Central Africa
• Southern Africa
A Global Perspective
SHAPE OF AFRICA
• The Bulge
• The Horn of Africa
• The Cape of Good Hope
A Global Perspective
MAJOR LANDFORMS
• Mostly a vast plateau, Africa is edged by
Mountain Ranges such as the Atlas
Mountains (Northwest) and the
Drakensberg Mountains (Southeast)
• Narrow plains then fringe the coast.
A Global Perspective
PLATEAUS
PLATEAUS of Africa lie at different
elevations and are scattered by large
basins, swamps and lakes.
• The highest are the east and south
• The continent’s plateaus then tilt
towards the west and north.
A Global Perspective
PLATEAUS
• Towards the coast the land drops sharply, escarpments or cliffs
often divide the plateau and the coastal plain.
• The sharp drop encourages water to tumble from the plateaus
to the coast, creating cataracts or large waterfalls or rapids.
OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS, human beings have moved over
Plateaus.
Animals have followed well worn trails, migrating over
plateaus with seasonal changes.
So too, native Africans followed these nomadic patterns,
following worn trails.
So did the traders.
The plateaus and cataracts discouraged early European
explorers who found it difficult to navigate up river systems.
A Global Perspective
THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY
Slicing through the eastern part of the continent, The
Great Rift Valley was formed millions of years ago.
• A giant fault, in the Earth’s crust runs from the Red
Sea to the Zambezi River.
• The valley is a series of mountains and valleys forms
by volcanic action.
• Flanking the Rift Valley are high, cliff like walls.
• With the action of fertile soils washing down into the
valley, the Rift Valley contains some of Africa’s most
fertile farmland.
• The Rift Valley is rich in natural resources such as
minerals and metals, however the high cliffs and deep
valleys make mining and building of infrastructure
costly and dangerous.
A Global Perspective
BODIES OF WATER
Major Bodies of Water Lesser Bodies of Water
•Atlantic Ocean (West)
•Indian Ocean (East)
•Strait of Gibraltar
•Mediterranean Sea
•Red Sea
•Mozambique Channel
•Gulf of Guinea
A Global Perspective
BODIES OF WATER
What is so good about water anyway?
• Africa’s rivers provide fish, water for irrigation, a means of
transportation and a source for hydroelectric power generation;
produced by moving water.
• Deep water ports allow for trading of bulk goods
• A continent surrounded by water and centrally located between
the Americas and Europe allowed for accessible and effective
trading routes.
• Rivers that were difficult to navigate was one factor that led to
European perception of Africa as the “Dark Continent”
Major Lakes of Africa
•
Lake Chad
•
Lake Victoria
•
Lake Tanganyika
•
Lake Nyasa
Lake Victoria from Space
Major Rivers
of Africa
• The Nile (Longest
in the Galaxy)
• The Zambezi
• The Orange
• Congo (The
Amazon of Africa)
• Niger
• Sengal
• Limpopo
Mediterranean Sea
Nile River
L. Chad-->
L. Albert-->
L. Victoria
L. Tanganyika->
Indian Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Zambezi River
Limpopo River
Orange River
Pacific Ocean
The Mighty Nile River:
“Longest River in the World”
•
•
•
Flowing for 6,695 km
(approximately 4,100 miles)
northward across Africa, the
Nile River is the longest in the
world, and arguably one of the
most famous.
The Nile has played a major role
in human development, as it
provided the fertile soil and
irrigation for early Egyptian
civilisation along the Nile Valley
of northeastern Africa.
In the 1970s, the Egyptian
Government completed the
massive Aswan Dam, located on
the upper Nile. The dam
supplies hydroelectric power
and water for irrigation by
trapping the water in a vast
lake.
The Congo River Basin
#
Covers 12% of the
continent.
#
The river is fed by many
tributaries on both sides of
the Equator before emptying
into the Atlantic Ocean.
#
Provides an enormous
amount of water to people of
the Region
#
Provides hydroelectric power
#
The Basin extends over 9
countries in the Region.
#
4376 Kms (2,720 miles)
long.
The Niger River Basin
# Covers 7.5% of the
continent.
# Rises in West African
nations of Sierra Leone and
Guinea.
# Flows north towards the
Sahara, where it forms a
large inland swamp.
# Turns southeast and
plunges from the plateau
toward the ocean.
# Along the Niger, farmers pump water to
irrigate crops of rice and millet
#Local residents pole long, pointed boats
through the waters and use nets to catch fish.
#Large riverboats carry passengers and cargo
along the deeper sections of the Niger.
#Extends over 10 countries.
# 4183 Kms (2,600 miles)
long.
The Zambezi River
# Located in South Africa
approximately 2700 Kms in
length
# Sources by river systems
in Angola and Zambia
# Descends towards the sea,
the Zambezi rushes over
Victoria Falls.
# The Zambezi forms the
border between Zimbabwe
and Zambia, where Lake
Kariba and the huge Kariba
Dams are found
# Provides Hydroelectric
power to both nations under
a strict agreement.
Let’s talk Deserts
Deserts
Libyan Desert
Sahara Desert
Sahel
• Sahara
Desert
• The Sahel
• Libyan Desert
• Kalahari
Desert
• Namib Desert
The Sahara Desert
The Sahel
The Sahel is a region of
TRANSITION from the arid Sahara
to the humid plains to the south.
Scientists have learned that
DESERTIFICATION occurred in the
Sahara due to a shift in the earth’s
axis but today DESERTIFICATION
in this Sahel Region is occurring
because of man.
Mountains
&
80% of Africa’s Tallest
Mountains are in the Ethiopian
Highlands
Peaks
Ethiopian
Highlands
• The Atlas
Mountains
• The Ethiopian
Highlands
• Mt Kilimanjaro
• Drakensberg
Mountains
Δ Mt. Kenya
Δ Mt. Kilimanjaro
The Great Rift Valley
A physical feature of Geological Scale!
From the Red Sea in the North through
Eastern Africa…..
The African Plateau
Vegetation Zones
Africa:
The
“Tropical”
Continent
Tropic of Cancer
20° N
Equator 0°
Tropic of Capricorn
20° S
The African Savannah:
20.9 million sq.kms.
African Rain Forest
# Annual rainfall of up to 5.2 m.
# Rapid decomposition (very humid).
# Covers 37 countries.
# 15% of the land surface of Africa.
African Geography Vocabulary
•
•
•
•
•
•
Escarpment
Savannah
Veldt
Oasis
Sub-Saharan
Desertification
Population Density and Distribution
Why are some areas yellow?
What attracts people to the red areas?
Over 1000 languages as spoken on the
continent of Africa (40 have more than one
million speakers)
Some Sad Realities
• Africa is the poorest and most underdeveloped of all the
continents, despite its wealth of natural resources. The
average person in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to
live on just 70 cents a day.
• It Includes the fifteen least developed nations in the
world,
• Preventable disease and famine continue to kill millions
of its people each year. Approximately 90% of all cases
of malaria worldwide occur in Africa.
• Even the most basic education is denied to a large
percentage of its children.