1. Announcements Physical Geography & Climate quiz: Monday, January 11
Africa map quiz: Thursday, January 14
Open-map: physical features, climate
Closed-map: countries, maybe major cities??

2. Sub-Sahara Africa: The Land

4. But first….PENGUINS!!!!

5. Highland Features Plateaus (elevated land) make up most of Africa
Rise in elevation from 500 feet in the west to 8,000 in the east
Edges of plateaus are escarpments, or steep (and often jagged) slopes or cliffs.
Most are located less than 20 miles from coast
Hard to travel inland from coast (bad for exploration)
Katanga Plateau, D.R. Congo

6. Plateau
Escarpment

7. Highland Features
Rivers plunge down escarpments making cataracts (towering waterfalls)
Victoria Falls; b/w Zambia & Zimbabwe

8. Highland Features
Africa has highest overall elevation than any other continent, but has relatively few mountains
Most mountains included in Eastern highlands
Ethiopian Highlands and volcanoes (Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya)

9. Mt. Kilimanjaro
19,330 ft; in Tanzania
Mt. Kenya
17,057 ft; in Kenya

10. Highland features Ruwenzori Mts.
Divide Uganda & Dem. Rep. of the Congo
Covered in snow and clouds; also known as “Mountains of the Moon”.
Clouds from moist air from Indian Ocean
Drakensberg Range
South Africa, Lesotho
Forms part of the sharp escarpment along the southern edge of Africa
Lots of national parks, wetlands

11. Ruwenzori Mts.; 16,761 ft.
Drakensberg Range; 11,420 ft.

13. Great Rift Valley
Rift Valley: a large crack in the earth’s surface formed by shifting tectonic plates
Stretches from Syria to Mozambique
Formed by tectonic plates millions of yrs. ago---what kind?!
Volcanoes & earthquakes continue to shape region TODAY

14. Red Sea

16. Great Rift Valley Forms two branches
Eastern branch = volcanic mountains
Mount Kilimanjaro
Western branch= lakes
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Malawi (mountain rimmed, more than 2,300 feet deep)
Lake Victoria

17. Lake Malawi
Lake Tanganyika

18. Lake Victoria

19. The African Great Lakes

20. Water Systems
Lakes & rivers drain the region; come from basins formed millions of yrs. ago as land uplifted
Travel from plateaus in center of continent to the sea
Hit escarpments , which break rivers’ paths with waterfalls, rapids & cataracts
 near impossible to navigate inland/ up river (or from the mouth of the river to a source)

21. Water Systems Lake Victoria Lake Chad:
Largest lake in Africa, between E& W branches of Great Rift Valley
Review: 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world (after Lake Superior) & while shallow, is the source of White Nile River.
Lake Chad:
West-central Africa, outside Great Rift Valley
20 mil. People in 4 countries depend on it
Faces desertification (droughts + natural climate)
1960s = 26,000 km²; 2000= 1,500 km²

23. Water Systems Lake Volta: Man-made (one of the largest in world)
Created in 1960s
Flooded 700 villages & displaced 70,000 to create
Used for irrigation, fishing, hydroelectric power (Akosombo Dam) for major aluminum plant and ppl of Ghana

24. Akosombo Dam (creates Lake Volta)

25. Water Systems Niger River: “great river” main artery in W. Africa
2,600 miles long (3rd in Africa)
Forms arc across 5 countries
Vital for irrigation & transportation
Splits into Niger Delta in Nigeria (150 miles N-S, miles wide)
Delta: a triangular section of land formed by sand & silt carried downriver

28. Water Systems Zambezi River:
Many waterfalls (Victoria Falls- 355 foot drop– 2X size of Niagara)
Congo River:
Meets sea at deep, navigable estuary (only one in Africa)
Estuary: a passage where freshwater from a river meets seawater
Largest network of navigable water in Africa
But still has major waterfalls & rapids
Why is this a problem?

30. Zambezi River
Victoria Falls

31. Congo River- 2nd longest

32. Physical Barriers
Sahara prevents travel from North Africa to South/Central Africa
Western deltas were treacherous to sail inland
Encountered shallows, sandbars & dry riverbeds (due to sand & silt deposits)
Rapids & waterfalls made upriver travel impossible
Eastern highlands made travel inland difficult (cliffs)
Europeans controlled coastal trade and Africans controlled inland trade

33. Natural resources Mineral resources are abundant
Plentiful oil reserves
Various metals across region
S. Africa has ½ world’s gold, also found elsewhere
Major diamond deposits

35. Natural Resources Water is ABUNDANT
Places and regions near equator and in the west have abundant rainfall!
(why isn’t this the end-all solution?)
The problem lies with harnessing power (physical & financial problems)
More potential hydroelectric power than U.S.
More development is occurring:
Kenya installed 20,000 rural solar power systems from 86-96

36. Environmental Issue: Desertification (Sahel)

37. Environmental Issue: Desertification (Sahel)
Sahel: southern edge of Sahara Desert, desert area is growing around a rate of ½ mile per year.
Why?
Drought (common in Sahel)
Lack of vegetation
Winds pick up soil & carry it
Adaptations:
Plant certain crops that will flourish in dry areas (millet)
Shifting agriculture: using a piece of land for farming for a year or two, then moving on to another piece of land

38. Desertification: The Human Factor
Growing cash crops, such as peanuts, wear the soil out faster than other traditional crops
Soil tends to blow away before fertility is regained
DEFORESTATION!
Wood serves as fuel for cooking, people rely on it
 cut down trees, which causes soil erosion
Changes to Prevent Further Damage:
Government of Niger promotes using coal for cooking
Farmers trying new ag. Methods to conserve water & prevent soil erosion
Farmers also building windbreaks to stop spread of desert sand

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