The Geography of Africa

Physical Geography PPHYSICAL FEATURES SSahara Desert ssmooth coastline llack of navigable rivers GGreat Rift Valley hhigh plateau RRESULT GGroups are kept separate - - 8800 different languages are spoken in modern Africa

Diversity leads to Imperialism  Raw materials and resources lead to European interest in Africa  Africa’s geographical divisions prevents the Africans from cooperating to resist

Interesting Statistics  2nd largest continent- - 11,700,000 square miles!  That’s 20.2% of the earth  And 3x the size of the USA  778,000,000 people  55 countries

Topography  Deserts 40% of the land surface of Africa slows cultural diffusion - does not totally prevent it  Sahara -- North Africa 1/3 of the continent (= to the USA!!) majority is rock and gravel  Kalahari--Southwest Africa

Mountains  East Africa- caused by volcanic activity section of the land sank - causing the Great Rift Valley Atlas (NW) Drakensberg (SE) Ethiopian Highlands Famous peaks - Mt. Kenya & Mt. Kilimanjaro

Rivers  Depth varies depending on the season  Plateaus prevent easy navigation  Therefore,  Therefore, the interior of Africa remained largely unexplored

 4,180 miles long (world’s longest!!)  flows NORTH  Source - - Lake Victoria  Delta - - Egypt  Floods annually One of the most densely populated region in Africa

WWaterfalls and rapids prevent easy navigation CCongo miles long NNiger - ancient civilizations flourished here ZZambezi - Victoria Falls, used for hydro-electric power

Coastline  Smooth  Few natural harbors - hard to land ships

Climate - determined by rainfall, latitude and elevation  Savanna - 40%, safari!!  Tropical Rainforest - 8%,  Desert - 40%  Mediterranean - 12%, good farm land  About  About 85% of the land is not suited to farming

Natural Resources  Farming peanuts, cotton, cocoa, coffee  Minerals diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt  Water hydroelectric power