Africa – It’s Not A Country
Size and Climate
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Second Largest continent in the world
800 million people
15% of it is considered desert
10% of it is considered tropical rainforest
35% of it is considered
savanna/grasslands
• Climates consist of Mediterranean,
mountain, tropical wet and dry, rainy and
mild, wet and mild
Population and Diversity
• 800 Ethnic Groups (this includes Asians,
Europeans, and Arabs)
• 100 languages are spoken in Africa (40 of which
have more than one million speakers)
• Over 40% of Africans practice a wide variety of
traditional religions. (Christianity, Islam, and
Hinduism are practiced in Africa)
Agricultural Diversity
• Following crops are the main ones grown
in different regions of Africa – Rice, wheat,
maize, root crops(yams, sweet potatoes),
oil palm, tea, cocoa, coffee, wine, sugar,
tobacco, cotton, sisal (fiber for making
rope or twine)
Facts and Figures
 Largest country – Algeria
 Smallest country – Seychelles
 Largest city – Cairo (9.2 million)
 Highest point – Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340ft)
 Largest lake – Lake Victoria (second –largest
in the world)
 Deepest lake – Lake Tanganyika (second
deepest freshwater lake in the world after
Lake Baikal)
Health
 Malaria – 90% of all malaria cases are in subSaharan Africa
 3,000 children under the age of five die each day
from malaria in Africa
 1-5% of GDP in Africa covers costs of malaria
control and lost labor days
 17 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have died
of AIDS
 25 million people in Africa are HIV-positive
 12 million children have lost their parents to AIDS
Facts and Figures
• Nile River – longest river in the world
(4,132 miles) and Africa. Originates at
Lake Victoria
• Great Rift Valley – 3,000 miles from Syria
to Mozambique – two branches – the
Eastern Rift and the Western Rift
Location
• Which hemisphere is Africa
located?
• What major bodies of water
surround the continent of
Africa?
Africa is the only continent in the world
that is located in all four hemispheres!
Atlantic
Ocean
Mediterranean
Sea
Red Sea
Indian
Ocean
Quiz time ….
Which country is the only country to
border both the Mediterranean Sea and
the Atlantic Ocean?
Morocco
Which country is the only country to
border both the Indian Ocean and the
Atlantic Ocean?
South Africa
Cape of Good Hope
Cape Agulhas
Cape Agulhas – southernmost point of
African continent and dividing line
between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
Place
(What makes Africa different from other
places?)
• What types of climate does Africa have?
• What types of physical features are
there in Africa?
Mediterranean
Desert
Steppe
Rainforest
Desert
Savanna
Desert
Mediterranean
What are the
major physical
features of
Africa?
Physical features of Africa
Atlas Mountains
Sahara Desert
Horn of
Africa
Sahel
Kalahari Desert
Namib Desert
Great
Rift
Valley
Namib Desert
Stretching 1,200 miles in length, but averaging a width of only 70
miles, the Namib Desert is home to the highest sand dunes in the
world. Nicknamed the “world’s oldest desert”.
Dune 7, the highest sand dune in the world
• Dunes along the Namibian coast
Major rivers and lakes
Nile River
Niger River
Congo River
Lake Victoria
Lake
Tanganyika
Zambezi River
Lake Nyasa
Lake Victoria
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Nyasa
The Great Lakes of Africa
Lake Tanganyika
Longest lake in the world
Lake Tanganyika –As seen from space
Lake Tanganyika
• Second largest lake of Africa
• Longest lake of the world 481 miles
• Deepest lake on the African continent
• Second deepest in the world (Lake
Baikal in Russia is the deepest) 4,800
• Oldest lake in Africa.
Victoria
Falls
Located in
Zimbabwe
on the
Zambezi
River
Victoria Falls
Longest stretching
waterfall in the
world.
Victoria Falls is
twice as wide
and twice as
deep as
Niagara Falls
The Zambezi River flowing into Victoria Falls
Mountains
of Africa
Ethiopian
Highlands
Drakensberg
Mountains
Mt. Kilimanjaro
The snowcapped
mountain is
located in
Tanzania
and is the
highest
point in
Africa.
However, Kilimanjaro may not always be snow-capped! The
glaciers of Kilimanjaro are melting at an alarming rate!
Why? Humans … global warming, deforestation, and honey!
Tribal people collecting honey smoke the bees out of the hives, often starting
fires. The loss of foliage reduces moisture in the air, thus reducing much
needed cloud cover, thus letting in more sunlight that melts more ice!
If the current rate of melting continues, scientists predict that the glaciers
that have covered Kilimanjaro for over 12,000 years will be totally gone by
2020 – less than 5 years from now!
Glaciers retreating on Kilimanjaro
Arabian tectonic plate
Great
Rift
Valley
African tectonic plate
•Vast
geological
feature that
runs north to
south for
6,000 miles
•From Syria in
Southwest
Asia to
Mozambique
in East Africa
As the tectonic
plates continue to
break apart, the rift
will become bigger
and bigger until
finally breaking off
from the rest of the
continent of Africa
… in about 20 billion
years! Thus,
creating a whole
new island
continent!
A few other aspects to look at …
…enclave,
exclave, and
landlocked
Swaziland
Lesotho
What is an enclave? A country that is entirely
surrounded, or mostly surrounded, by another
country. Lesotho and Swaziland are examples.
So, what is
an exclave?
Territory of a
country that is
separated
from the main
part of the
country by
foreign
territory.
Cabinda is an
exclave of
Angola.
Landlocked
Shut in
completely
by land …
having no
direct access
to the sea …
Rwanda and
Uganda are
examples
Miscellaneous
• The world’s largest diamond was the Cullinan,
found in South Africa in 1905. It weighed 3,106.75
carats uncut.
• With a population of more than 113 million, Nigeria
is the most populated country in Africa and the
10th most populated in the world.
• The average poor person in sub-Saharan Africa is
estimated to live on just $.70 a day
• The average life expectancy on the African
continent ranges from 74 years in the island nation
of Mauritius to just under 32 years in sub-Saharan
Swaziland
Miscellaneous
• There are fewer people with internet
connections in Africa than there are in just New
York City.
• An elephant can drink up to 160 liters of water
per day and a mature elephant can carry up to
6.8 liters of water in its trunk
• The Sahara is the largest desert in the world and
is bigger than the continental USA.
• Over 90% of soils are unsuitable for agriculture
and only 0.25% has moderate to low potential
for sustainable farming.
Miscellaneous
• South Africa has a penguin colony
• Almost 40% of adults in Africa are illiterate –
two-thirds are women. Adult literacy rates are
below 50% in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad,
Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra
Leone and The Gambia.
• The world’s biggest frog is found in Cameroon –
the “Goliath Frog” – body can be as long as a
foot
• The Nile crocodile is Africa’s largest living reptile
Miscellaneous
 Over 50% of Africans are under the age of 25.
 The tallest animal on earth is the giraffe
 The Gorilla is the largest of the living primates
 Africa is the world’s poorest and most
underdeveloped continent with a continental GDP
that accounts for just 2.4% of global GDP
 The world’s largest and heaviest beetle, the
Goliath Beetle, is found in tropical Africa. It can
reach a length of 5 inches and weigh up to ¼ lb
 Africa has over 25% of the world’s bird species.