Physical Geography
The Big Idea
East Africa is a region of diverse physical features, climates,
and vegetation.
Main Ideas
• East Africa’s physical features range from rift valleys to
plains.
• East Africa’s climate is influenced by its location and
elevation, and the region’s vegetation includes savannas
and forests.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
East Africa’s physical features range from rift
valleys to plains.
The Rift Valleys
• Rift valleys are places where Earth’s crust stretches until it
breaks.
• A series of rift valleys stretches from north to south across
the center of East Africa.
• The Great Rift Valley of East Africa is the largest rift valley
in the world.
Mountains and Highlands
• East Africa has many high, snowcapped volcanic mountains,
including Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa.
• The Ethiopian Highlands are very rugged and cut by deep
river valleys.
Holt McDougal,
Physical Features of East Africa
Plains
• Tanzania and Kenya have wide plains areas.
• The Serengeti Plain in Tanzania is famous for its wildlife,
such as elephants, giraffes, lions, and zebras. The
government has made the plain a national park.
Rivers and Lakes
• The Nile, the world’s longest river, begins in East Africa. It is
formed by the joining of two rivers, the White Nile and the
Blue Nile.
• The White Nile flows out of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest
lake.
• Lakes have formed along both the eastern and western rift
valleys.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
East Africa’s climate is influenced by its
location and elevation, and the region’s
vegetation includes savannas and forests.
• East Africa’s location on the equator and its varied
elevations influence the climates found there.
• Areas near the equator receive the most rain, while
areas away from the equator experience occasional
droughts, or periods when little rain falls.
– During droughts, crops die and people suffer.
– Several droughts have affected East Africa in recent
years.
Holt McDougal,
East Africa’s Climate
South of the equator, the climate changes to tropical savanna.
• Tall grasses and scattered trees
• Rift floors are dry with grasslands and thorn shrubs.
North of the equator, plateaus and mountains have a highland
climate and dense forests.
• Temperatures are much cooler than on the savanna.
• Heavy rains make farming possible.
• Because of the rain and farming, most people in the region live in
the highlands.
East of the highlands and on the coast, the land is much lower.
• Desert and steppe climates
• Only shrubs and hardy grasses can grow.
Holt McDougal,
History and Culture
The Big Idea
East Africa is a region with a rich history
and diverse cultures.
Main Ideas
• The history of East Africa is one of religion, trade, and
European influence.
• East Africans speak many different languages and practice
several different religions.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
The history of East Africa is one of religion,
trade, and European influence.
Christianity
• Missionaries brought Christianity to Ethiopia in the AD 300s.
It moved into Nubia, now part of Egypt and Sudan, later.
• In the 1200s an emperor named Lalibela had 11 rock
churches carved out of the rocky ground.
Islam
• Islam was a major religion in North Africa by 700.
• Islam gradually spread from Egypt south into East Africa.
• Muslims also moved into East Africa from the Indian Ocean.
Cities like Mogadishu and Mombasa became Muslim centers.
Holt McDougal,
The Slave Trade
• The Indian Ocean slave trade began more than 1,000
years ago.
• East Africans, Arabs, and Europeans kidnapped Africans,
enslaved them, and shipped them to ports throughout
Africa and Southwest Asia.
– Most slaves went to Islamic countries.
• The Portuguese built forts and settlements to support the
slave trade.
• In the 1700s Zanzibar became an international slavetrading center.
• Most European countries ended slavery in the 1800s.
Holt McDougal,
European Influence and Conflict
Europeans wanted goods like gold, ivory, and rubber that came
from Africa.
• To get these goods, Europeans thought they needed to
dominate the regions of Africa that they came from.
• European countries formed colonies in Africa. Only Ethiopia
was not colonized.
• In the 1880s Britain and other countries divided Africa
among them. To maintain power in Africa, they used
imperialism, a practice that tries to dominate another
country’s government, trade, and culture.
In the 1960s most East African countries gained independence.
• Some newly independent countries were faced with ethnic
conflicts.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
East Africans speak many different languages
and practice several different religions.
Language
• Many countries speak
languages introduced by
European imperialists:
– French is an official
language in Rwanda,
Burundi, and Djibouti
– English is common in
Uganda, Kenya, and
Tanzania
• Swahili is the most widely
spoken African language.
• Ethiopians speak Amharic.
• Somalians speak Somali.
Holt McDougal,
Religion
• Most religions emphasize
honoring ancestors.
• Many East Africans are
animists. They believe that
the natural world contains
spirits.
• Most Christians in East
Africa live in Ethiopia.
• Islam is also common.
Sudan and Somalia are
mostly Muslim.
East Africa Today
The Big Idea
East Africa has abundant national parks, but most of the
region’s countries are poor and recovering from conflicts.
Main Ideas
• National parks are a major source of income for Tanzania
and Kenya.
• Rwanda and Burundi are densely populated rural countries
with a history of ethnic conflict.
• Both Sudan and Uganda have economies based on
agriculture, but Sudan has suffered from years of war.
• The countries of the Horn of Africa are among the poorest
in the world.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
National parks are a major source of income
for Tanzania and Kenya.
More than 2 million tourists visit Tanzania and Kenya
each year. One popular reason for visiting is the
safari, an overland journey to view wildlife.
Tanzania is rich in gold and diamonds.
Farming is the major activity in both countries.
Some people want to farm on national park land,
but that would hurt tourism and endanger wildlife.
Kenya also produces geothermal energy, energy
produced from the heat of Earth’s interior.
Holt McDougal,
The Cities of Tanzania and Kenya
• Both Tanzania and Kenya have large, vibrant modern
cities.
• Tanzania’s capital is Dodoma.
– The government began moving the capital there from
Dar es Salaam in the mid-1970s.
– Dar es Salaam is Tanzania’s business center.
• Kenya’s capital is Nairobi, an industrial center.
– Connected to the rest of East Africa by railways
• Both Dar es Salaam and Nairobi have been the site of
terrorist attacks. The U.S. embassies in both cities were
attacked by the al Qaeda terrorist group in 1998.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
Rwanda and Burundi are densely populated
rural countries with a history of ethnic
conflict.
• Rwanda and Burundi are populated by two main groups—the
Hutu and the Tutsi.
• Since they gained independence, Rwanda and Burundi have
seen violent conflict between the two groups.
– The borders drawn by Europeans often lumped members of the
two groups together in the same areas.
• In Rwanda in the 1990s ethnic conflict led to genocide, the
intentional destruction of a people.
– The Hutu tried to completely wipe out the Tutsi.
• Both Rwanda and Burundi today are very densely populated.
• Neither country has many resources, and both depend on
coffee and tea exports to survive.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 3:
Both Sudan and Uganda have economies
based on agriculture, but Sudan has suffered
from years of war.
Sudan
• Africa’s largest country, mainly agricultural
• For years, Muslims and Christians have fought.
• Recently, a genocide occurred in a region called Darfur. As a
result, millions of people have fled Sudan as refugees.
Uganda
• Recovering from decades of military dictatorship
• Democratic since 1986
• About 80 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture.
Coffee is the major export.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 4:
The countries of the Horn of Africa are among
the poorest in the world.
Ethiopia
• Has never been under
foreign rule
• Rich soil in the highlands
allows a profitable
agricultural industry.
• Droughts in the 1980s
caused the loss of crops.
The country has received
plenty of rain recently.
• Most people in the
highlands are Christian.
Most in the lowlands are
Muslim.
Holt McDougal,
Eritrea
• Eritrea was an Italian
colony in the 1800s and an
Ethiopian one in the
1960s.
• Eritrea broke away from
Ethiopia in 1993. Since
then the country has
worked to improve.
• Tourists are drawn to the
coasts.
• Most people are farmers or
herders. Cotton is the main
export.
Countries of the Horn of Africa
Somalia
• Mostly covered with
deserts and dry savannas
• Too dry for farming, so
most people are herders
• Most people are ethnic
Somali, practice Islam, and
speak Somali.
• Clans within Somalia have
fought over rights to lands
and cities such as
Mogadishu, the capital.
• In the 1990s drought and
civil war caused much
hardship in Somalia.
Holt McDougal,
Djibouti
• Small, desert country on
the Bab al-Mandab, the
strait that connects the
Red Sea and the Indian
Ocean.
• Was a French colony until
1977 so French is an
official language
• The capital and major
seaport is also called
Djibouti. It serves as the
main port for Ethiopia,
which is landlocked.
• Two major ethnic groups
fought for many years.