AFRICA
GEOGRAPHY & PEOPLES
OBJECTIVES
Identify key landforms and resources.
 Locate nations and geographic features on a
map of Africa.
 Explain how geographic features have
influenced where people live and contributed to
the cultural diversity of the continent.

WARM UP

List the features you
associate with Africa’s
geography & climate.
GEOGRAPHY

Hospitable coasts
Inhospitable interior

5 geographic regions






North Africa
West Africa
East Africa
Central Africa
Southern Africa
CLIMATE, LANDFORMS, & VEGETATION



Most Africa plateau
80% tropics = warm
Rainfall decreases
w/distance from equator


Tropical Rainforests
Tropical Savanna



Drought/Desertification
Deserts
Mediterranean Climate
CLIMATE, LANDFORMS, & VEGETATION

Mountains:




Great Rift Valley


Break in Earth’s crust
Deserts:



Atlas in NW
Drakensberg in SE
Mt. Kilimanjaro – Tanzania
N.Africa – Sahara (3.2mm2)
Kalahari & Namib in south
Rivers:


Nile
Congo
Zambezi
Niger
NATURAL & ECONOMIC RESOURCES
Hydroelectric power
 Minerals – gold, diamonds, copper, uranium,
coltan (cell phones & computer chips)
 Oil – Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Angola
 Tropical woods, palm oil
 Agriculture – rubber, coffee, cotton

Underdvpt = political instability, transport issues
 Foreign co’s make $

HUMAN DIVERSITY

763 million ppl &
growing

Many ethnic groups
w/unique languages
Most live in rural areas,
in savanna
Recent migration to
cities


CLIMATE & HEALTH

Disease-carrying insects




Unclean water



Malaria
Tsetse fly
River blindness
Parasites
Diarrheal diseases
Hunger


Drought = no crops
Lack protein
ACTIVITY 1
Map :
 Label all
nations
 Color
geographic
regions
 Make key on
map
CLOSURE

What resources do
African nations export to
the world?