Africa: South Of the Sahara

1. Africa: South Of the Sahara

2. Physical Geography

3. Africa as a rEGION • South of Sahara desert 9.5 million square miles • Region of plateaus, “stair steps” down toward sea • Edges of plateau marked by escarpments • Rivers running across land create great rapids and waterfalls • Great Rift Valley in East Africa home to continents greatest mountain ranges • Most of the region lies in the tropics, great tropical rain forests across central Africa, vast grasslands on either side of tropical forests

4. Physical Geography • Wide variety of physical features • Higher average elevation than any other continent, but few major mountain ranges • Eastern Highlands, Ruwenzori Mountains, Drakensberg Range • Highest mountain Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) • Great Rift Valley in East Africa, formed by tectonic plates moving apart • Series of faults along region shape valley today • Volcanic mountains are found along the eastern part of the rift • Deep lakes formed by faults- Tanganyika, Malawi- are found on the western side of the Great Rift Valley

5. Physical Geography Water Systems • Most large lakes near Great Rift Valley • Largest lake in Africa Lake Victoria, source of White Nile River (shallow compared to Tanganyika, Malawi) • Lake Chad (North Central Africa) shrinking • Droughts , too much water used for irrigation and desertification (caused by long periods of drought and poor land use) have caused Lake Chad to shrink • Drought, arid climate threats to its existence

7. Physical Geography • Lakes and rivers of southern Africa found in huge basins formed by uplifting land • Rivers originate in high plateaus and flow to the sea, across ridges and escarpments • Hard to navigate inland from sea because of waterfalls and rapids • Niger River main river in West Africa, vast inland delta formed before it meets the sea • Zambezi River, south- central Africa, course interrupted by many waterfalls • Congo River in central Africa, most easily navigated from the sea inland

9. Physical Geography • Natural resources distributed unevenly across region • Countries in western Africa have petroleum reserves • Gold and diamond deposits found in some countries (South Africa worlds leading producer of gold) • Water is an abundant resource in some regions

10. Climate and Vegetation • Great variety of climates across region • Near Equator, tropical rain forest, wettest region of continent • Farmers clearing land to grow cash crops in rain forest cause soil depletion • Tropical grasslands called savanna covers almost half of continent • Rainfall is seasonal (6 months wet, 6 months dry) • Main vegetation is trees and tall grasses • Savanna is home to African wildlife (Serengeti Plain)

11. Climates and Vegetation • Away from tropics climate becomes drier • In North Africa separating savanna from deserts is semiarid steppe called Sahel • Low growing grasses, little rainfall • Over past 50 years much of region has undergone desertification • Human overuse and drought depletes topsoil and degrades quality of environment • Possibly caused by climate change that affects the lands ability to recover • Southern African deserts include the Namib and Kalahari • Moderate climates are found along the southern coast and parts of East Africa

13. Cultural Geography

14. Cultural Geography • 673 million people (10% of world population) • Highest birthrate, highest death rate in the world • Highest infant mortality, shortest life expectancy • Population growth faster than anywhere else in the world • Nigeria population will be 300 million in 50 years • 70% of worlds AIDS cases found in Africa, may limit population

16. Cultural Geography Population and food production • Most Africans farmers (70%), but soaring population, makes it hard to feed people • Countries also gear economies toward export, don’t grow products for local consumption • Environmental degradation, over grazing, drought, intensive over cultivation has depleted the soil

17. Cultural Geography Population and healthcare • Famine, poor sanitation, poor nutrition cause high infant mortality, high death rate (only 1/3 have clean water to drink) • AIDS has reached epidemic proportions • Zimbabwe- child born there more likely to die of AIDS than any other cause • Life expectancy there has dropped to 39 • Disease and health care issues will cause shortage of workers, collapse of industry, families and communities will have lost generations

18. Cultural Geography • Most population is not evenly distributed • Rwanda one of the region’s most populated countries, Namibia one of the least populated • Climate, land factors in distribution of population • Most people crowded along West African coast, east coast of South Africa • Population found where there is easy access to water, mild climate, fertile soil • Agriculture, industry and commerce concentrated in these areas

19. Cultural Geography Growing Cities • One of the least urbanized areas of the world, but has the world’s fastest rate of urbanization • 1950 only 35 million lived in urban areas, today 270 million • Leave rural areas for cities for opportunity • Most cities near the coast, or near natural resources • Largest city Lagos, Nigeria (10 million) • Other important cities Johannesburg, South Africa • Kinshasa, Democratic Re public of the Congo (economic, cultural and political hub of the country) • Nairobi, Kenya important city in east Africa

20. Cultural Geography • Earliest human bones found in East Africa • Early civilizations found along the Nile (Kush, Axum) • Trading empires based on trans-Sahara trade established around A.D. 700 in West Africa • Ghana, Mali Empires traded gold for salt • Around 800 AD Bantu speaking people spread out from central Africa (Bantu migration) • Founded kingdoms of Kongo in central Africa • 150 million Bantu speakers in Africa today

21. Cultural Geography • European Colonization • Europeans heard of wealth of Africa and by the 1400’s they had established trading posts along the western coast • 1600 and 1700’s trading with African kingdoms for gold, silver, ivory and slaves • Europeans shipped African slaves to their plantation in the Americas

22. Cultural Geography • By the 1800’s Europe regarded the African continent as a source for raw materials • Central Africa last part of continent to be settled • 1914 all of Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia were under European control • European control upset the social political and economic structure of Africa • Divided up the continent by placing boundaries across ethnic homelands, set African groups against one another • Missionaries who opposed slave trade still forced European religious ways, weakened traditional life • African agriculture replaced by large scale plantation agriculture for profit to non-African businessmen

23. Cultural Geography • From Colonies to Countries • Many Africans benefitted from European rule (education, urbanization) • In the second half of the 1900’s many demanded self-rule • Faced challenges after independence as a result of colonial rule • Had to industrialize, set up economies to meet local needs • Had no experience in government, had to establish new democratic systems • Because of European boundaries, rivals struggled for power and many civil wars broke out

24. Nigeria Colonial legacy • Ongoing ethnic struggle in Nigeria • Formed by British in1914 from several different ethnic, religious groups • Religious problems- North was Islamic, south practiced traditional religions • 1960 Nigeria becomes independent country and civil war erupted • To maintain control a harsh military dictatorship took over • Country struggles today as it tries to become a democracy

25. South Africa • Early 1900’s becomes independent of British rule • For most of the rest of the century white minority controlled the social, political, economic institutions of the country • Policy called apartheid (separation of the races) • International pressure ended this system in the early 1990’s • 1994 anti- apartheid leader Nelson Mandela elected as first black president

26. Sudan • Distinct cultural divisions in north and south Sudan • North is Islamic and favor Islamic oriented governments and more of the population is urban, south is subsistence farmers that prefer secular government • Region of Darfur is in conflict between government backed militias and agrarian non Arab black African Muslims • Conflict has led to thousands being displaced and overcrowding in refugee camps • Food distribution and famine is another problem caused by this civil war • Region of Darfur has been called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis

27. Rwanda • Colonial powers (Belgium) favored Tutsi ethnic group over Hutu ethnic group • Provided them with government jobs, better education • After independence violence erupted between the two groups that lasted for decades • 1994 800,000 Tutsi were killed by Hutus in ethnic clashes sparked by the assassination of the Hutu Rwandan president

28. Zimbabwe • 70% of farms owned by 4,000 people (descendants of European settlers) • 2000- Government proposed land reform, sometimes through violent means • Land was redistributed without compensation to land owners • Land redistribution has caused farming to come to a halt in country, threat to economy that depends on commercial agriculture

29. Cultural Geography • Many diverse ethnic groups • 3,000 ethnic groups, also non Africans (Europeans, South Asians, Arabs) • Borders of Africa meaningless to groups that share same cultural characteristics, language; connected along tribal not national lines • 800 different languages • Variety of religions (most Christian, Muslim, traditional religions), many follow a blend of religions • Islam most prominent in West Africa, the Sahel region, and Eastern Africa • Europeans brought Christianity • Education was allowed only to select few during colonial period • Since independence greater access to education, less access in rural areas • 60% literacy rate in Africa (not an even distribution) • Oral tradition, stories passed down from one generation to the next has helped preserve African history

31. The Region Today

32. Africa Today • Farming main occupation of many Africans • Most are subsistence farmers (two thirds of the population) • Most large commercial farms are owned by foreign companies • Commercial crops provide many countries main source of income, crops leave the country to be processed somewhere else (money not kept in country) • Crops include coffee, peanuts, palm oil, cacao • World demand for products can have an effect on entire countries economy • Growing population has led to food shortage

33. Africa Today Logging, Mining • Deforestation occurring at alarming rate, need for agricultural land, population pressure • Logging heavier in West and Central Africa (rain forest) • Mineral wealth great in South Africa, world’s largest producer of gold, diamonds • Most mining operations are foreign owned • Little money reaches miners • Oil reserves found in Nigeria • Uneven distribution of mineral resources causes economic imbalance • Few people profit from mineral wealth (mostly foreigners)

34. Africa Today Industrialization Obstacles to industrialization • Many countries lack infrastructure to develop natural resources, lack skilled workforce • Political conflict, lack of money hold back industrialization • Usually major trading partners are former colonizers • Most economy is export based

35. Africa Today Transportation and Communication • Economic, political problems plague transportation systems as well • Rivers hard to navigate because of geography • Satellite access and wireless technology have improved communications • Low literacy rates limit use of traditional media (newspapers, magazines)

36. Africa Today • Trade and Interdependence • Most countries maintain economic ties with their former European colonizer • China is a growing trade partner in many African countries • Africa south of the Sahara is the poorest region in the world, it owes billions to foreign countries and this makes economic development difficult

37. Africa Today • Drought, wars contribute to famine in Horn of Africa, many countries depend on imports for food • Severe drought has turned overgrazed, marginal farmland into desert • Many countries have approached or exceeded their carrying capacity (number of people a place can support on a sustained basis) • Refugee populations displaced because of civil war have strained food resources of many countries (Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia) • Groups in conflict keep food aid from reaching those in need