The document summarizes the physical geography, climate, population, and history of Sub-Saharan Africa. Some key points include: - Sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by plateaus and highlands, with the Great Rift Valley hosting East Africa's largest mountains. Rivers crossing the land form rapids and waterfalls. - The climate ranges from tropical rainforests near the equator to drier savanna and deserts further from the equator. Overpopulation and environmental degradation have been problems. - The population of 673 million is growing rapidly, concentrated along coasts and in growing cities, with high birth rates and health issues like AIDS and malnutrition. - The region has a long history

3.  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.  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. 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.  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.  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.  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.  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

14.  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. 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. 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.  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. 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 Republic of the Congo
(economic, cultural and political hub of the
country)
 Nairobi, Kenya important city in east Africa

20.  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.  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.  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
A. Divided up the continent by placing
boundaries across ethnic
homelands, set African groups
against one another
B. Missionaries who opposed slave
trade still forced European religious
ways, weakened traditional life
C. African agriculture replaced by
large scale plantation agriculture
for profit to non-African
businessmen

23.  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
A. Had to industrialize, set up
economies to meet local needs
B. Had no experience in government,
had to establish new democratic
systems
C. Because of European boundaries,
rivals struggled for power and
many civil wars broke out

24. 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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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

32.  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. 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. 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. 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.  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.  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