The Last Word: No Homework…have a great weekend.

1. FrontPage: Turn in Map activity to back box. What is one thing that you’d like to know about Africa? The Last Word: No Homework…have a great weekend. 1980s Horror Movie Logos Ruined By Comic Sans Font

2. Africa Physical Geography

3. Africa – Introduction and Physical Geography • Africa at the center of the world? • Background and fast facts • The “Plateau continent” • Rivers of Africa • The Sahara desert and the “Sahel” • The Great Rift Valley • Resources

4. Africa at the Center of the World? • Theory of Continental Drift states that all the continents were once connected together • Pangea: • The “supercontinent” that existed about 250 million years ago • Surrounded by one large ocean - Panthalassa • About 250 million years ago, Pangea begins to break apart • The material under the Earth’s crust acts as a conveyer belt that makes the plates move… • Continents begin to drift apart

6. 180 Million years ago

7. 135 million years ago

8. The Plates Today

9. Africa: Background and Facts • Second largest continent (Asia is largest) • Population: over 1 billion, low population density in most places • 54 total independent nations; most in world. • Oceans surround the continent • Mediterranean, Red Seas; Atlantic, Indian oceans • Located at the center of what is called the “land hemisphere” • Both separate and link Africa to the rest of the world

10. Has 5 different regions: North, South, Central, East and West • Regional differences contribute to the diversity of the people • 1000s of Different languages

11. Africa:the“Plateau continent”

12. Africa – the “Plateau continent” • Africa is essentially a plateau with escarpments (continuous lines of steep cliffs) on many sides • “upside-down pie plate” • Nearly all above 1000 fasl, half above 2500 fasl • Interior dotted with deep basins created by many rivers

14. Rivers of Africa • Most important river = the Nile river • Other significant rivers = the Congo, Niger and Zambezi rivers • Sources of hydroelectric power – energy created by the movement of water • Escarpments cause cataracts – large waterfalls and rapids

15. The NileRiver • Longest river in the world – 4000 miles • Flows from south to north • Ancient Egypt grew around the Nile • Egypt called “The Gift of the Nile” • Egyptians depended on the flooding of the Nile for their farming

16. Sources of the Nile 2 sources – had been a mystery for many years • BlueNile (Lake Turkana, Ethiopia) • WhiteNile (Lake Victoria, Uganda.)

17. The AswanDam

18. The AswanDam • Completed in 1970; 365 ft. high, 2 miles wide • Designed to control the flooding of the Nile River • Positives – no flooding, water for regular irrigation • Negatives – relocation, decreased soil fertility, malaria

19. LakeNasser

20. LakeNasser • World’s largest man-made lake • Formed as a result of the construction of the Aswan dam • Forced the removal of people/buildings • Nubians lose farmland/some artifacts at the bottom of the lake

21. TheSahara

22. The Sahara • Largest desert in the world (3000x1200 mi.) • Only 20% actually sand…rest is mountains, rock formations, plains • Great temperature variations • From 136F (day) to below freezing (night) • Most of Africa’s population lives south of the Sahara

24. TheSahel

25. TheSahel • 200-700 mile wide band of semi-arid land • Stretches across the continent south of the Sahara • Means “shore of the desert” • The Sahara is expanding into this region about 4-5 miles a year • Expansion caused by desertification – creation of desert conditions in areas adjacent to desert **Causes – overgrazing, farming, population

26. The Great Rift Valley

27. The Great Rift Valley • Located in the eastern portion of the continent • Over 4000 miles long from Red Sea to southern Africa • Rift: deep trench formed when large sections of earth’s crust drop between parallel faults • Shows that eastern Africa is pulling away from the rest of Africa **Mt. Kilimanjaro is found alongside this geographical feature

28. Mt. Kilimanjaro • Largest mountain in Africa (19,340 ft.) • Located in Tanzania **Volcanic

30. Resources • MineralResources • Abundant source of **diamonds (50%), gold (30%), uranium (29%), platinum, copper, and other minerals • Have not been used to help African societies • Other Resources • Oil - great supply in Nigeria, Libya, others (7%) • Farming and herding **The main economic activity of Africans • 66% are involved in farming and herding

31. East Africa

32. North Africa

33. West and Central Africa

34. Review • What nickname is given to the continent of Africa? • Which river is the most important in Africa? What do the rivers provide? • What was created as a result of the Aswan dam? • What is the Sahel? What is desertification? • What does the existence of the Great Rift Valley tell us about East Africa? • What resources does Africa have in abundance?