SubSaharan
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Geography
• The worlds second largest
continent
• most nations of any continent
–Newest country South Sudan
• Location and Effects
– Above and below equator
– Between two oceans; Atlantic & Indian –
linked and isolated
– Part of major trade routes since ancient times
Newest country
South Sudan
Capital: Juba
Regions
• North Africa – above the Sahara Desert
– Linked to the Middle East culturally
• Sub-Saharan Africa
– West Africa – extends into Atlantic
• Part of major slave trade routes to new world
– Central Africa – home to Africa’s tropical rain
forests
– Southern Africa – crucial to trade b/w oceans
– East Africa – Great Rift Valley, fertile land
Landforms
• The land made exploration difficult for Europeans = natural
barriers
• Africa is a continent of Plateaus
– Escarpments: steep cliffs & basins, swamps, lakes
• Mountains: edges – Atlas Mts, Drakensberg Range,
Mt. Kilimanjaro – highest mountain in Africa
• Great Rift Valley – a giant fault – Red Sea to Zambezi River
– Series of mountain, valleys, lakes
– Rich in natural resources, fertile soil
– Hard to mine and transport because of the rough terrain
– Olduvai Gorge: bone that belonged to the ancestors of
modern people
• Deserts: Sahara (largest), Kalahari
• Coastal Plains
First discovered by anthropologist Mary
Leakey on July 17, 1959
Rivers
• Provide food, transportation, irrigation and
hydroelectric power
– Cataracts: waterfalls; river rapids
• Major Rivers
–Nile, Congo (Zaire), Niger,
Zambezi
Nile River – East Africa
• Longest flowing river in the world 4,160
miles – flows north
• Home to early civilizations
– Predictable floods supported huge population
• Aswan High Dam
– Pros – Hydroelectric Power, Irrigation
– Cons – Farmers upstream now need to
purchase fertilizers
• Nile River
Route
and its
tributaries
• Zaire (Congo)
River
– Central Africa
– Provides
hydroelectric
power
– Cannot be
navigated with
boats
– Poor for trade
• Niger River
– West Africa
– Provides water
for irrigation
– Floods
predictably
Zaire (Congo) River
Niger River
Zambezi River
• Southern Africa
• Creates Victoria Falls (largest), 1 mile
wide and 420 ft. high, between Zambia
and Zimbabwe
• The Kariba Dam provides hydroelectric
power
Victoria Falls (Zambezi River)
Mosi-O-Tunya
"The smoke that thunders" is a local name
for Africa's most famous waterfall
thundering (play Thundering) over a 100m
high cliff.
How Stuff Works Video 5:00
Natural Wonders Video 1:00
PBS Video :30
Devil’s Pool and Armchair
• A famous feature is the
naturally formed "Armchair"
(now sometimes called "Devil's
Pool"), near the edge of the
falls on Livingstone Island on
the Zambian side. When the
river flow is at a certain level,
usually between September
and December, a rock barrier
forms an eddy with minimal
current, allowing adventurous
swimmers to splash around in
relative safety a few feet from
the point where the water
cascades over the falls
Devil’s Pool Video
Video
Africa’s Natural Resources
Rich source of resources
•
•
•
•
Mineral Resources (see map)
Resources unevenly distributed
Gold and Diamonds
Profits from African nations often end up in
foreign countries
• Europeans mined much of their gold from
west Africa beginning in the Age of
Discovery
• Power-Wealth-Trade
Back
Africa’s Resources Today
• Gold and Diamonds – South Africa, D.R. Congo
• Copper – Zaire and Zambia
• Platinum and Cobalt – S. Africa, Zaire, and
Botswana
• Oil – Nigeria, Botswana, Libya, Algeria, and
Gabon
• Profits from African nations often end up in
foreign countries
Adapting to the Land
• Societies developed near sources of water
– hunting and gathering
– farming
– herding
– fishing
– urban
• Major urban areas developed on the
Mediterranean Coast, western savannas,
and East Coast
Language
• More than 1,000 languages
• Groups only a few miles apart often speak
different languages
– Small tribes migrated constantly and used their
own language
• Scholars group African Languages into large
families
• Trade and diffusion created new languages
– Swahili: Bantu and Arabic
Section 1 Quiz Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
E Hydroelectric Power
D cataract
A escarpment
C Nile
B Aswan Dam
6. B the Pacific Ocean
7. A mountains
8. C 4,000 mile fault line
that splits the continent
9. B halted annual flooding
of the Nile
10. B seize a share of
Africa’s gold and
diamonds
Climate and Diversity
Climate Facts
• Latitude and Elevation = climate
– Most tropics = area between Tropic of Cancer
and Capricorn of all the continents
– Temperature is warm to hot
– Colder temperatures seen in higher elevations
• Therefore, rainfall distinguishes the
climate in Africa not temperature
• Precipitation – Less than an inch to more
than 80 inches
Climate Zones
•
•
•
•
Tropical Wet
Tropical Wet and Dry
Desert
Mediterranean
• Climate
Map of
Africa
Tropical Wet – 8% of Africa
•
•
•
•
•
Narrow strip along equator
Home of the rainforests
Average Temp – 80 F
Average Rain – 60-120 inches per year
Hard to settle
– Leaching: rain washes away nutrients and destroys
soil, unsuitable for farming
– Moisture feeds disease and destroys daily items
– Concrete and steel are expensive fixes
– Disease from insects; sleeping sickness, malaria
(Nothing But Nets)
Sleeping Sickness
• Trypanosomiasis
• Sleeping sickness occurs
only in 36 sub-Saharan
Africa countries where there
are tsetse flies that transmit
the disease.
• The people most exposed
to the tsetse fly and
therefore the disease live in
rural areas and depend on
agriculture, fishing, animal
husbandry or hunting.
• Drugs to treat
• It is caused by parasites
– organism that lives on or in a host
and gets its food from or at the
expense of its host
– cause disease in humans
• First stage entails bouts of
fever, headaches, joint pains
and itching
• Second stage the parasites
cross the blood-brain barrier to
infect the central nervous
system
– changes of behavior, confusion,
sensory disturbances and poor
coordination
– Disturbance of the sleep cycle,
which gives the disease its name,
is an important feature of the
second stage of the disease.
– Without treatment, sleeping
Sleeping Sickness
Tropical Wet and Dry – 50% of Africa
• Either side of tropical wet climate to the tropics
• Rainfall varies by season
– Summer – Hot temps & Rainy Season
– Winter – Warm temps & Dry Season
• Major Feature
– Savanna – most people - grasslands that cover half
the continent. More rain near the equator support
plant and wild life
– Sahel: semi-arid; separates Sahara from savanna
– Unpredictable rainfall makes daily life difficult
– Drought
– Desertification – land turning into deserts; causes
over grazing and drought
Deserts and Desertification
Deserts – 40% of Africa
• Sahara – Means ‘desert’ in Arabic –
Northern Africa
– Larger than the continental United States
– Rain rarely falls, less than 10 inches a year
– Temperatures reach as high as 130 F
– Traders traveled across the Sahara
• Diffusion of European, Asian, and African
cultures
• Kalahari – Southern Africa
– More rain than the Sahara allows food to grow
• Namib – Southern Africa
• The
Sahara
Desert
• Kalahari
Desert
Deserts – 40% of Africa
• Namib Desert – one of the driest places on
Earth
– One of the oldest deserts in the world: 80
million years
– Averages less than .4 inches of rain a year
– Dune 7: the highest sand dune in the world,
383 meters ~ 1200 feet
• Namib
Desert
Mediterranean - ~2%
• The Southern Tip and the Northern Coast
• Climate similar to LA
– Hot, Dry Summer
– Cool, Wet Winter
• Fertile soil good for farming
• Major travel destination
• Mediterranean
Zones are in
Purple
Section 2 Quiz Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
C Kalahari
E Sahel
A Sahara
D Tropic of Capricorn
B Tropic of Cancer
6. C Desert
7. A tropical Wet
8. D Savanna
9. D all languages spoken
in Africa belong to one
language family
10. B they carry diseases
that are fatal to human
beings
Early Civilizations of the
Nile Valley
Add from word Document
Egypt
I. Religion
-played a major role in daily
life
-polytheistic
-God’s controlled forces of
nature
-life after death
-priests and pyramids
-pharaoh
ruler of Ancient Egypt
considered a god
II. Economic Activities
-farming
-trade
III. Achievements
-hieroglyphics
-365 day calendar
-math
-medicine
-art
Crash Course Egypt
Kush
Back
Back
Back
Kush (Nubia)
I. Achievements
- 750BC
- King Kashta conquers
Nile Valley for short time
-Meroe: capital city
-adapted hieroglyphics
II. Historical Importance
-Egyptian Influence
-polytheistic
-grew rich and powerful
from iron industry
(learned from Assyrians)
-traded with Egypt and
Mediterranean world
-weakened by trade shifted,
invasion and internal
rivalries
Nubia – “Land of Gold”
• Nubia was a land of natural wealth. They
had gold mines, ivory, incense, copper
and iron ore.
Kush Becomes the Iron
Capital of the Ancient World
• Meroe is an area full of rich iron ore deposits
• This is the place where AFRICA’s first iron
industry begins
• People need iron to make weapons
• To create iron there was a need for wood to
burn in furnaces to melt down the iron ore
The Kush Capital of Meroë
• Meroë became the center of Kushite civilization.
• At its height, the city thrived as a great center of industry and
culture.
• Meroë was well known for producing iron.
– It had everything needed to make iron:
• Rich supply of iron deposits
• Forests (wood made charcoal)
– Charcoal was used to heat the iron
deposits
» Once the hot iron separated from
the rock, it was cooled in the Nile’s
waters.
– Ironworkers in Kush made a variety of
things.
•
•
•
•
•
spears
arrows
swords
axes
hoes
Meroe Pyramids
Trade Networks
Exports
• Gold
• Pottery
• Iron tools
• Slaves
• Ivory
• Leopard
skins
• Ostrich
Feathers
• Elephants
Imports
• Fine
jewelry
• Luxury
items
The Demise of Kush
• To make iron, they needed to wood to burn. They had used
up much of their wood. Their resources were dwindling.
• Kush could not produce as much iron as they had in the
past, yet demand for iron was growing. Traders began to
look elsewhere for iron.
• By 300s AD Kush lost its wealth a
military might
• The Kingdom of Axum conquers Kush
Axum
I. Achievements
- 350 AD
-King Ezana conquered
Kush
-sacred writing (geez)
-controlled port cities
(ivory trade)
II. Historical Importance
-present day Ethiopia
-center of trade
- King Ezana Conversion
to Christianity
-Ethiopic Church (one of
the oldest forms of
Christianity)
-lost power to Muslim
empires
Stele, Ezana’s Royal Tomb,
Axum (4c)
Christian Church, Lalibela
[Ethiopia]
Though Axum faded, its culture did not disappear.
Rather, its legacy survived in medieval Ethiopia.
• King Lalibela came
to power in Ethiopia
in the early 1200s.
• He directed the
building of Christian
churches, carved
down into solid rock.
Closure
What were the results of the
interaction between civilization?
• exchange of knowledge and ideas
– diffusion
Section 3 Quiz Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
E Ezana
A Pharaoh
C Hieroglyphics
D Kashta
B Olduvai Gorge
6. A too dry to support
crops
7. B Nile River Flowed
North
8. A built pyramids/ buried
w/ valuable things
9. A Assyrians invaded
Egypt
10. B destruction
Africa: Geography
and Early History
Open-Ended Questions
What is a key factor in
differentiating between Africa’s
climates because temperatures do
not vary greatly from place to
place?
• Amount of Rainfall
List 5 types of societies of Africa
•
•
•
•
•
Hunting and gathering
Farming
Fishing
Herding
Urban
Factors that influences where
people live in Africa.
•
•
•
•
Environment
Climate
Geography
Availability of water and resources
Identify Africa’s climate regions and describe ways
in which that climate has affected the ways of life
of the African people.
• Tropical Wet
– Hard to settle because of leaching, insects,
disease, mold and rot
• Tropical Wet and Dry
– Unpredictable/unreliable rainfall difficult on
farmers/herders, desertification caused by
people but still home to most Africans
• Desert
– Few areas have grasses to support herding,
not enough rain for farming
• Mediterranean
– Supports farming and herding=large
population
Describe ancient Egypt in terms in
terms of religion, economy
activities, and achievements.
• Religion
– polytheistic, connected to nature, life after
death, Pharaoh
• Economic Activities
– trade, farming
• Achievements
– hieroglyphics, 365 day calendar, math,
medicine, art, architecture
Bonus Info:
Civilization of the Nile Valley
• Kush
– Rich from iron industry
– Meroe: capital city, center of trade
• Axum
– King Ezana convert to Christianity
– Ethiopic Church
– Center for trade