SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (aka BLACK AFRICA)
This region lies south of the Sahara Desert & consists of 49 states, one territory (43 mainland &
5 island). It is poorer & more rural than the Caribbean & Latin America. It is the only region in
the world that has grown poorer over the last 25 yrs.
MAIN THEMES
Environmental Geography – wood is the main source of energy
Population & Settlement – has the world’s highest fertility rates (5.6 children) due to culture
(considered prestigious, guarantee a family’s lineage, ethnic rivalries)/rural lifestyles
(source of labor) & economic realities (social security))
Cultural Coherence & Diversity – has large & growing numbers of Muslims, Christians &
animists
Geopolitics – most countries gained their independence in the 1960s &, since then, many ethnic
conflicts have resulted due to the boundaries originally drawn by the European colonists
Economic & Social Development – with respect to trade, its connection with the world is
limited; its global links are through economic aid & loans
2
Sub-Saharan Africa
9,379,573
Area (mi )
Pop. w/ Access to Improved
Drinking Water (rural), 2002 (%) 50
Pop. w/ Access to Improved
Drinking Water (urban), 2002 (%) 85
HIV/AIDS Among Adult Pop.,
Ages 15-49, 2003-4 (%)
6.8 (i.e. 51,136,000)
Geographic Aspects
1) no common religion, language, philosophy or political system
2) unified by similar livelihoods (mostly subsistence & cash crop agriculture)& shared
colonial experience
3) ethnic identities do not conform to political boundaries
4) slave trade legacy
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
Africa is known as the plateau continent since its interior is dominated by extensive uplifted
areas
1) Plateaus & Basins
a) High Africa (plateaus bet. 2K-5K ft (600-1500m)– southern & eastern Africa
b) Low Africa (lower plateaus) – west & central Africa
3) Great Escarpment* – rims southern Africa from SW Angola to NE South Africa,
resulting in narrow coastal plains, few harbors & impeded river navigation
because of waterfalls
4) Great Rift Valley – eastern Africa is being separated from the rest of the continent;
contains the great eastern lakes (ex: Lake Turkana, Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake
Kivu, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Nyasa (Malawi)); in central eastern Africa, the rift zone
splits into 2 separate valleys with Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest body of water, world’s
3rd largest in area after the Caspian Sea & Lake Superior) in the middle; discontinuous
volcanic mts are in the southern half of the Rift Valley (e.g. Mt. Kilimanjaro (tallest) –
19K ft, 5.9K m & Mt. Kenya (2nd tallest) – 17K ft, 5.2 m)
5) Rivers – 4 major ones: Congo (2nd to Amazon in discharge), Niger, Nile (world’s longest),
Zambezi
*escarpments form where the plateaus abruptly end
CLIMATE
It lies mostly in the tropics & averages 70-80°F (22-28°C) year-round. @and largest equatorial
rainforest (Ituri) lies in the Congo Basin
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
1) Deforestation & the resulting Desertification has been human-induced (expansion of
agriculture (peanuts), overgrazing & fuel)
2) Drought is common, esp. in the Horn of Africa, parts of southern Africa and the Sahel
(ecological transition zone between the Sahara & the wetter savannas & forests)
3) Wildlife is declining due to loss of habitat. Kenya & Tanzania have wildlife reserves which
serve as major tourist attractions but poaching is a problem
POPULATION & SETTLEMENT
The projected population growth is projected to increase by 130% by the year 2050 (global
population is only expected to increase by 50%). 44% is < 15 y.o. (compared to 18% for
MDCs), 71% < 25 y.o., 3% > 65 y.o. The TFR is 5.6 children. Life expectancy is 48 yrs (partly
due to AIDS), in northern Africa it’s 68, in India it’s 62 & in China it’s 71.
6 states account for > ½ the region’s population. Nigeria is the most populous country @ 131
million people (almost 2x Egypt’s) & Lagos is the most populous city 16.9 million people.
People are widely scattered throughout the region with high concentrations in West Africa &
highland East Africa (have the best soils), & the eastern half of South Africa (due to mining).
CULTURAL COHERENCE & DIVERSITY
The region has a lack of traditional culture & political coherence because of its vast scale. The
unifying aspects are: a common history of slavery, colonialism, struggles for independence &
development, and the people define themselves as African to the outside world.
Language
Most countries are multi-lingual with an official language (Indo-European or Afro-Asiatic), a
lingua franca (ex: Swahili), and numerous indigenous languages.
Language Families
10 Niger-Congo*
Nilo-Saharan*
*unique to the region
Khoisan*
Afro-Asiatic – in N. Africa & Islamic areas
Austronesian – only on Madagascar
Indo-European – French, English, Portuguese, Spanish & Afrikaans; legacy of colonialism)
A single language has a clear majority in only a few countries (e.g. Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi,
Swaziland, Lesotho) & is partly explained by the arbitrary territorial boundaries made by the
Europeans.
Languages of the former colonial powers are used for government & higher education.
Religion
Has an animist (worship of nature & ancestors) religion tradition with Christianity & Islam
entering early, advancing slowly, but spread rapidly in the 20th C.
Christianity came to Ethiopia & the Sudan in 300 AD & to other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, via
missionaries, in the 1600s.
Islam came in 1000 AD starting in the Sahel & eastern coast.
Two most widespread nutritional deficiency diseases are:
1) kwashiorkor (west African dialect: displaced child) - from a diet high in Calories but low in
proteins (ex: tropical & subtropical countries) - stomach grows large, skin loses its tone
& discolors, hair becomes reddish, liquids collect in the swelling limbs, digestive system
fails, total apathy occurs, death closely follows; develops from malnutrition not
undernutrition
2) marasmus (Gk: to waste away) - from a diet low in Calories & proteins (ex: tropical &
subtropical countries) - body is thin & bony, skin shrivels, eyes appear huge, face is
drawn
Infectious Diseases - ~ 65% of all human illnesses; from parasites:
host - human, animal
agent - organism: protozoa, bacteria, viruses, worms
a) nonvectored - carried from 1 host to another w/o an intermediate host, via bodily
contact, contaminated food/water/air; ex: cholera, hepatitis, typhoid fever,
diarrhea, ebola
b) vectored - carried by an intermediate host (ex: mosquitoes, worms, snails, rats);
ex: yellow fever, sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), malaria, hantavirus
The tropics, where most LDCs are located, have climates suited for the year-round propagation
of disease by insects. for example, mosquitoes are vectors for yellow fever, dengue fever,
elephantiasis, Japanese encephalitis, & malaria. (In semi-arid areas of Africa, there was a 17-fold
increase in malaria resulting from development projects involving irrigation & other highintensity agriculture)