Africa has a variety of climates determined by latitude, elevation, and proximity to the equator. The tropics between the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn experience hot temperatures. Elevated highlands are cooler. Regions further from the equator have shorter rainy seasons that alternate with dry seasons, with seasons reversed north and south of the equator. Climate zones include tropical wet forests near the equator, savannas with drought, semi-arid steppes, and deserts like the Sahara. Southern Africa has a Mediterranean climate. Climate affects health issues and population patterns across Africa.

1. African Climate

2. The role of Latitude in climate
• Tropics: the area
between the Tropic
of Cancer and the
Tropic of Capricorn

3. The Role of Elevation in
Climate
• The coolest regions
are found in the
highlands

4. Alternating Wet and Dry
Seasons
• The further away
from the equator,
the shorter the rainy
season.

5. Seasons are reversed north
and south of the equator

6. Tropical Wet Climate Region
• Rain forest
• Leaching: rains
dissolve and wash
away nutrients from
the soil
• Insects, disease

7. Steppe Climate
• Also called semi-
arid
• Transition
between tropical
wet and tropical
dry

8. Tropical Dry
• Savanna
• Covers half of Africa
• Drought: prolonged
periods of little or no
rainfall
• Desertification: the
turning of semidesert
land into desert
• Sahel=Steppe

9. Desert
• Sahara:
crisscrossed with
trade routes
• Kalahari: not as dry
• Namib: Watered
only by ocean mist

10. Mediterranean Climate
• Southern tip and
northern coast
• Mild climate, fertile
soils
• European settlers

11. Climate and Health
• Malaria
• Tsetse fly - sleeping
sickness
• AIDS

12. Population Patterns
• Africa is not densely
populated

13. Lifestyles
• Farming
• Herding
• Fishing
• Hunting and
gathering
• urban

14. Languages
• 1,000 languages
spoken in Africa
• Niger-Congo family
of languages
• Swahili: Arabic and
Bantu