North Africa

North Africa’s contributions to the arts include beautiful architecture, colorful carpets with geometric designs, and the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz.

Britain ruled Egypt, Spain controlled Morocco, and Italy took Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

North African music includes a musical scale with more notes than are common in western music, tunes that seem to wail or waver, and the three-stringed sintr.

Invaders of North Africa included the Greeks, eastern Mediterranean people, and Romans.

The Sahara contains,gold, silver and copper.

Rare rainstorms in the desert can create flash floods.

Islam and the Arab language were brought to North Africa by Arab armies from Southwest Asia.

The most important natural resource in North Africa is oil.

Egypt

The Qattara is a depression in western Egypt.

The Sinai Peninsula of Egypt is covered by barren rocky mountains and deserts.

Three of the most important industries in Egypt are tourism, textiles, and oil.

Egypt’s economy is dependent on the tolls from the Suez Canal, farming along the Nile River, and industries in Alexandria.

Fuul is an Egyptian dish.

East Africa

Kenya’s national parks are endangered because they are needed for farmland.

Christians and Muslims in Northern East Africa have conflicts.

Sudan’s long civil war has involved conflicts between Muslims in the north and practitioners of traditional religions in the south.

Early East African civilizations traded gold and ivory.

Most of Europe’s East African colonies gained independence in the 1960’s.

The Nile River irrigates farmland and forms a large delta, it empties into the Mediterranean Sea, and it flows northward through the eastern Sahara.

Agricultural success in Ethiopia has been slow because there has been 30 years of drought.

Sudan’s natural resources include fertile soil and oil.

Famous national parks are located in plains along the eastern rift in Tanzania and Kenya.

The greatest climate changes in East Africa are located along the sides of the rift valleys.

Djibouti’s port serves landlocked Ethiopia, it is dependent on food imports, and it receives economic and military support from France.

West Africa

Early West African trading towns developed in the Niger’s inland delta.

The empire of Mali replaced the powerful kingdom of Ghana.

The coast of West Africa has a wet, humid tropical climate.

Nomads are moving into Mauritanian cities because the deserts are expanding.

The country of Chad includes oil reserves, the Tibesti Mountains, and Lake Chad.

Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria and the country’s former capital.

The country of Ghana has a name derived from that of an ancient king, one of the largest human-made lakes on Earth, and gold, timber, and other natural resources.

The country of Sudan includes the Sudd, savannas, and the Sahara.

Somalians have faced typhoons, drought, and lack of food.

The country of Mali is landlocked, cotton is the main export, and the cities of Timbuktu and Gao attract tourists.

Burkina Faso faces all of the following challenges: thin soil, scarce jobs, and few mineral resources.

South Africa

In the 1990’s, Hutus in Rwanda engaged in the destruction of the Tutsi people.

A port city is a city which is located near a major body of water.