Sub-Saharan Africa

1. Sub-SaharanAfrica

3. Newest country South Sudan • Capital: Juba

5. Geography • The worlds second largest continent • Most nations of any continent • Newest country South Sudan • Location and Effects • Between two oceans; Atlantic & Indian – linked and isolated • Part of major trade routes since ancient times

6. 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

7. 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

8. Rivers • Provide food, transportation, irrigation and hydroelectric power • Cataracts: waterfalls; river rapids • Major Rivers • Nile, Congo (Zaire), Niger, Zambezi

9. 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

10. Nile River Route and its tributaries

11. 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

12. Zaire (Congo) River

13. Niger River

14. Zambezi River • Southern Africa • Creates Victoria Falls, 1 mile wide and 420 ft. high, between Zambia and Zimbabwe • The Kariba Dam provides hydroelectric power

15. Victoria Falls (Zambezi River)

17. Africa’s Natural Resources

19. Rich source of resources • Mineral Resources (see map) • Gold and Diamonds • Europeans mined much of their gold from west Africa beginning in the Age of Discovery • Power-Wealth-Trade

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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 Section 1 Quiz Answers