The Land Chapter 20, Section 1 The Physical Geography of Africa South of the Sahara

Landforms It is about 9.5 million square miles Africa is made up mostly of plateaus – The continent’s plateaus are marked with escarpments and this causes rivers to create towering waterfalls Most of Africa’s mountains dot the Eastern Highlands – This area stretches from Ethiopia almost to the Cape of Good Hope – These highland areas include Ethiopian Highlands as well as volcanic summits, such as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. Ruwenzori Mountains – Divide Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo They are also called the “Mountains of the Moon” Cape Mountains – Rise more than 11,000 feet

The Great Rift Valley Stretches from Syria in Southwest Asia to Mozambique in the southeastern part of Africa. A rift valley is a large crack in the earth’s surface formed by shifting tectonic plates. In East Africa, the Great Rift Valley forms two branches.

Water Systems Land Lakes – Most of the lakes are near the Great Rift Valley – Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, lies between the western and eastern branches of the Great Rift World’s second largest freshwater lake, after Lake Superior in North America – Lake Chad Threatened by extinction Drought and the arid climate are causing the lake to shrink. River Basins – Niger River (2,600 miles) – important to agriculture It also helps with travel It splits into a delta that – Zambezi River – 2,200 miles – Congo River – 2,900 miles

Natural Resources Angola, Nigeria, Gabon, and Congo have plentiful oil reserves. Resources: – Chromium – Cobalt – Copper – Iron ore – Manganese – Zinc South Africa supplies about half the world’s gold. Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Ghana have precious metals South Africa, Botswana, and the Congo River basin hold major diamond deposits.