This document summarizes key information about the geography of Sub-Saharan Africa. It outlines the region's location south of the Sahara desert and describes several important land features, including the Niger River, Lake Victoria, and the Great Rift Valley. It also discusses Sub-Saharan Africa's economy, focusing on natural resources like agriculture and mining. Finally, it examines the culture and environmental problems facing the region, such as deforestation, desertification, and biodiversity loss.

1. Contemporary World Geography
Cuevas, Neil Patrick
Santos, Riccilyn Alexis
Villamor, Denise Ann
AB-Literature

2. I. Location

4.  “Black Africa”
lies south of the Sahara
 contrasts with North
Africa which is
considered part of the
Arab World
 vast area is covered
with grass and scrubland
known as savannah

5. II. Landscapes

7. LAND FEATURES
River Niger - West Africa’s longest river.

8. LAND FEATURES
Adamawa Highlands – It is a mountainous spine that
separates West Africa from the Congo Basin

9. LAND FEATURES
Tibesti Mountains – These are chain of extinct
volcanoes which now form solitary peaks in the midst of
the Sahara

10. LAND FEATURES
Lake Victoria – It is Africa’s largest lake and the
second largest freshwater lake in the world.

11. LAND FEATURES
Great Rift Valley – The Great Rift Valley is like a deep
scar running 7000 km from north to south through East
Africa. It has been formed by the movements of two of the
Earth’s plates over millions of years

12. LAND FEATURES
River Juba – This river rises in the highlands of Ethiopia
and flows some 1200 km southwards to the Indian
Ocean

13. LAND FEATURES
Kilimanjaro – It is an old volcano, made up of alternating
layers of lava and ash and is Africa’s highest mountain

14. LAND FEATURES
Congo Basin – The Congo River is Africa’s second longest
river, flowing in an arc through the dense tropical forests of the
Congo Basin

15. LAND FEATURES
Namib Desert – It is one of the world’s driest deserts. The only
water it receives is from mists that roll in from the sea.

16. LAND FEATURES
Victoria Falls – On its way to the Indian Ocean, the Zambezi
River plunges over a 128 m cliff into a narrow chasm. The
resultant spray rises up to 490 m, and the thunder of the water
can be heard up to 40 km away.

17. LAND FEATURES
Madagascar – The world’s fourth largest island lies in isolation
250 km off the east coast of Southern Africa. The rainforests
have a rich biodiversity and plants and animals are unique.

18. III. Economy

19. I. Natural Resources
 Agricultural Industry
- castor beans, sorghum, coffee, cotton, okra, black-eyed
peas, watermelon, gourd, and pearl millet
 Mining Industry
-gold, uranium, chrome, vanadium, antimony, coltan,
bauxite, iron ore, copper and manganese

20. II. Currency

21. II. Currency

22. II. Currency

23. II. Currency

24. II. Currency

25. II. Currency

26. IV. Culture

27. I. Ethnicity
 Nguni – Pastorlist Group

28. I. Ethnicity
 Sotho – Clan of Cowboys

29. I. Ethnicity
 Tsonga – Shangaan – Spiritual Devotees

30. I. Ethnicity
 Venda - Mythical People and Composite people

31. II. Language

32. III. Religion

33. IV. Environmental Problems

34. Environmental Problems
 Deforestation
 Degradation
 Desertification
 Loss of Soil Fertility
 Dramatic Decline and Loss of Biodiversity
 Air Pollution
 Water Pollution

35. Deforestation
 It is defined as the “clearing and destruction of forests
to harvest wood for consumption, clear land for
agricultural uses, and make way for expanding
settlement frontiers.” (DeBlij, Murphy, & Fouberg,
2007).
 Result of the Logging Industry and Cattle Ranching
 Proposed Solutions:
 Regulation of the Logging Industry
 Forest Protection Schemes
 Human Initiative

39. Degradation
 Degradation is “the temporary or permanent
deterioration in the density or structure of vegetation
cover or species composition, resulting from the removal
of plants and trees important in the life cycle of other
species, from erosion, and from other adverse changes
in the local environment” (Mabogunje, 1995).
 Caused by deforestation
 Caused by failure of replanting trees
 Caused by modernization (e.g. building of dams)
 Mostly applicable to wetlands; thus Wetlands Degradation.

41. Desertification
 It is “the encroachment of desert conditions on
moister zones along the desert margins, where plant
cover and soils are threatened by desiccation-
through overuse, in part by humans and their
domestic animals...” (DeBlij, Murphy, & Fouberg,
2007).
 Caused by Human activities and climate change.

44. Loss of Soil Fertility
 Caused by the kaingin system; land clearing;
burning of dry grasses.

45. Dramatic Decline and Loss of
Biodiversity
 Biodiversity is the “the total variety of plant and
animal species in a particular place; also known as
biological diversity.” (DeBlij, Murphy, & Fouberg,
2007).
 Loss of Biodiversity: (Sub-Saharan Setting)
 Mining
 Loss of Forestland
 Chemicals thrown into land or sea
 Illegal hunting
 Pollution

47. Air Pollution
 Caused by charcoal or wood energy for various
purposes.

48. Water Pollution
 Caused by the acceptance of solid wastes from US,
Japan, and the European Union. (DeBlij, Murphy, &
Fouberg, 2007).
 Caused by Human Waste.