World Geography: Africa

1. World Geography:Africa Mr. Meester World History

2. Basic Geographic Facts • Africa is the 2nd largest continent in the world. Containing 11.6 million square miles. • That’s approximately 1/5th or 20% of all the land on Earth. • Africa has the most countries of any continent with 53 total. • It is also the only continent to contain both tropics.

3. Map of Africa

4. Highs and Lows • The tallest mountain in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro. It stands 19,341 ft. & is found in Tanzania. • Lac’ Assal is found in the small desert county of Djibouti. It is the lowest point in Africa at -512 ft.

5. African Terrain • Africa is physically a very diverse continent. With huge deserts, jungles, grasslands, & mountains • There are 2 major deserts; the Sahara (the world’s biggest 3.5 million sq miles) & Kalahari. • The Congo Basin is home to 20% of the world’s rainforests. • The Atlas Mtns. & Great Rift Valley are the 2 major Mountain Ranges.

6. Diverse Areas Sahara Desert African Grasslands The Congo Jungle River in the Atlas Mts. Great Rift Valley

7. African Waterways • There are 2 major rivers found in Africa; The Nile (the worlds longest) & the Congo River. • Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa. • The Suez Canal is an important commercial feature. That is vital to international shipping.

8. The Waterways Fishing on Lake Victoria Path of the Nile River Boat on the Suez Canal Sailboats on the Nile

9. Regions of Africa • Africa can be broken up into 4 major regions: Northern, Sub-Saharan, Congo, & Southern. • The North is dominated by the Sahara desert. • The Sub-Sahara just to the south is a huge grassland. • Next is the Congo which is mainly jungle. • Last, Southern Africa which is mainly grassland & desert.

10. Regions of Africa Northern Sub-Saharan Congo Southern

11. People of Africa • Africa contains 877,500,000 people. Making it 2nd only to Asia. • There are many ethnic groups found throughout Africa. • Historically these groups have fought with their neighbors sometimes to the point of genocide • In the North there is a large number of Muslims as a result of been part of the Ottoman Empire.

12. 3 Major Problems • Africa has many problems but currently war, famine, & AIDS are by far the worst. • Ethnic groups clash throughout the continent. Civil Wars are common. (Rwanda & Sudan) • War leads to starvation, famine, & disease. Refugees are often forced to flee their homes.

13. Fighting & Revolution • In addition to ethnic clashes, political revolution has recently become common. • Most governments are controlled by dictators (Particularly in the north) • Democratic protests and revolts have broken out in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

14. People & Conflict Libyan Revolution Bodies in Somalia Famine in Somalia Graveyard in Algeria Hospital in Rwanda

15. AIDS Pandemic • HIV & the AIDS virus are a very serious health problem in Africa. A problem with no easy answer. • In the year 2000 17 million had died & another 25 million were infected. • Each day 6,000 more die & 11,000 are infected. 2/3rd of all HIV cases & 80% of all the deaths in the world occur in Sub-Saharan Africa

16. AIDS & Africa • There is little education in Africa on how to prevent AIDS. • As a result things are getting worse by the day. AIDS hospital in Kenya All these Orphans have AIDS