1. Northern
Western
Eastern
Southern

2. Africa’s Size Fraction of the earth’s land surface: 20.6%
Distance north to south: 5,000 miles
Distance east to west: 4,600 miles

3. Africa Regions
Africa is BIG! You could fit the US, Europe and China inside Africa with room to spare
Africa has two major
regions:
1. Saharan
2. Sub-Saharan
Africa is the home of the world’s longest river (Nile) and the world’s second largest freshwater lake (Victoria).

4. How is Africa unique? There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
No mountain ranges!
Rift Valley
Elongated Lakes
Erratic River Courses
Plateaus
Major Deserts

5. How is Africa unique? There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
1. No major mountain ranges!

6. No major mountain ranges! only minor mountain ranges
All other continents have major mountain ranges (Alps, Rockies, Himalayas, Andes, etc…)
Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft.) is a volcano, not a part of a mountain range!

7. How is Africa unique? Rift Valley
There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
No major mountain ranges!
Rift Valley

8. Great Rift Valley
East Africa is breaking away from the rest of Africa, causing very deep valleys

9. How is Africa unique? Rift valley Elongated lakes
There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
No major mountain ranges!
Rift valley
Elongated lakes

10. Elongated Lakes
Parts of the rift valleys have filled with water to create long, narrow lakes

11. How is Africa unique? Rift Valley Elongated Lakes
There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
No major mountain ranges!
Rift Valley
Elongated Lakes
Erratic River Courses

12. Erratic River Courses
With no mountain ranges and relatively level surface, rivers are free to wander

13. How is Africa unique? There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
No major mountain ranges!
Rift Valley
Elongated Lakes
Erratic River Courses
Plateau

14. Africa - the Plateau Continent
A plateau or “tableland” is relatively flat, and at higher elevation. Austin sits at around 600 feet. Most of Africa is around 3000 feet.

15. How is Africa unique? There are six main ways that Africa is unique:
No mountain ranges!
Rift Valley
Elongated Lakes
Erratic River Courses
Plateaus
Major Deserts

16. Major Deserts
The Saharan Desert is the largest in the world - slightly bigger than the continental United States
The desert kept Sub-Saharan African isolated from the rest of the world until sea navigation made exploring Africa possible (late 1400s)

17. The Nile River
The Nile River is the longest river in the world (4160 miles long)
The source of life in a very arid land
- 90% of Egypt’s population lives on 3% of total land (on the Nile
River Delta)
The Nile flows north and is fed by the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The source of these two rivers are the lakes in the higher elevation Great Rift Valley in the south

19. Ancient Egypt and the Nile
The Nile shaped nearly every part of life of Egyptian life:
- Agriculture
- Religion
- Social Events
Egyptians depended on the cycle of flooding to replenish the soil for agriculture – what was left is called alluvial soil
The first written language in Egypt arose out of the need to keep records of harvests, rainfall and flooding of the Nile

20. Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser
Drawbacks:
Initially flooded area,
displaced 90,000 people and
flooded ancient sites
Fertile silt being held back
by dam
Hurts fish stock and make-up
of Mediterranean Sea
Benefits:
Generates electricity
Fishing industry in
Lake Nasser
Helps alleviate
dangerous flooding and droughts