Physical Features of Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is composed of a huge plateau

The edges of the continent tend to end in Escarpments

• Steep cliff at the edge of a plateau with a lowland area below

River Transportation impeded by waterfalls and rapids

Kongou Falls - Gabon

Victoria Falls

The Great Rift Valley• A rift valley is a large break in the Earth’s

surface formed by shifting tectonic plates (divergent)

Location of equator through middle of region acts like a mirror

• Similar climatic patterns north and south of equator

Desert

Desert

Tropical Tropical

Savannah

Savannah

Desertification of the Sahel

Smooth Coastline, few harbors

• Harbor – a part of a body of water along the shore deep enough for anchoring a ship and situated to provide protection from wind, waves, and currents

Large Number of Land-locked countries

Soil Composition – not a lot of fertile land

• Limited fertility of rain forest soil

• Deserts– Sahara in north, Kalahari in south, Namib in

south east

Africa has approximately 30 percent of the earth’s remaining mineral

resources.  South Africa’s total mineral reserves alone is estimated to be worth

$2.5 trillion. The continent has the largest reserves of precious metals with

over 40 percent of the planet’s gold reserves, over 60 percent of the cobalt,

and 90 percent of the platinum reserves

How does the physical geography of Africa affect settlement,

conquest, and development?

• Plateau• Hydroelectric Power• Escarpment• Rift Valley• Animism• Sub-Saharan• Imperialism• Colony• Harbor