The Student will locate select features of Africa

Locate the following physical features on your maps:Sahara Desert Sahel Savanna Atlas Mountains Congo River Niger River Nile River Lake Victoria Kalahari Desert Lake Tanganyika Cape of Good Hope

Lake Tanganyika

Niger River

Savanna

Savanna

Savanna

Sahara Desert

It divides the continent into two

regions: Arab North Africa and Black African

Sub-Saharan Africa

World’s Largest Desert

It covers almost one-third of the continent and stretches from

the Atlantic Ocean to the

Red Sea.

Kalahari DesertThe kalahari covers over 100,000 square

miles of southwestern Africa. It gets around 10

inches of rain a year and has very hot

summers.

Grass, shrubs, and a number of wild animals are able to

survive in the Kalahari because of an underground

supply of water.

SavannasA savanna is a rolling grassland

scattered with shrubs and isolated trees. Not enough rain falls on a

savanna to support forests. Savannas are also known as tropical grasslands. They are found in a wide band on either side of the equator on

the edges of tropical rainforests. Serengeti

Although the soil in the savanna is very rich, there is no farming because of

disease carrying insects like the tsetse fly and black fly.

The Sahel is a belt of dry grassland that borders the southern edge of the

Sahara Desert. This semi-arid region is sparsely vegetated area and receives an average of four to eight inches of

rainfall per year during its July to September monsoon season

Desertification – the process of once fertile farm land turning into desert.

Termite mound in the Sahel during the dry season

In the 1970’s, drought caused mass starvation. More than 1,000,000 people died. Many farmers moved to cities. The desert gradually took over

abandoned farms.

RainforestsThe Congo Basin holds the world’s second

largest rainforest and represents 70% of the

African continent's plant cover .

The Congo is one of the world's most threatened

ecosystems. Commercial logging,

clearing for subsistence agriculture, and warfare

has devastated the forest, displaced people,

and resulted in the expansion of the

"bushmeat" trade. Since the 1980s, Africa has

had the highest deforestation rates of

any region on the globe.

A tropical rainforest is a forest close to the equator, averaging over 70 inches of rain a

year, with dense vegetation.

Lake VictoriaLake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the second

largest freshwater lake in the world (Lake Superior is larger).

The longest river in the world (The

Nile River) originates from Lake Victoria as the White Nile.

Lake TanganyikaLake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second

deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia.

The water flows into the Congo

River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.

Nile RivergoAt over 4,000 miles in length, the Nile is the longest river in the world.

Most of Africa’s fertile farm lands

lie along the Nile. It has been a source of fresh water for people, animals

and crops, and an important trade

route for thousands of

years.

Congo RiverThe second longest river in Africa (after the Nile). The Congo (also known as the Zaire River) is the

most powerful river in Africa. People use the river for fishing

and travel.

Hydroelectric power obtained from the river powers most of Central

Africa.

Zaire

Niger RiverThe Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded only by the Nile and the Congo River (also known

as the Zaire River).

The river floods during the annual

rainy season creating freshwater

marshlands, where people grow rice and fish. The Niger Delta

contains rich supplies of oil, providing

Nigeria with most of its annual income.

Atlas Mountains Located on the northwest corner of the continent,

the Atlas Mountains run

through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. This

range separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coast

lines from the Sahara.

Locate and label on your political map, the following countries:

South Africa Egypt Kenya Sudan Nigeria Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)

South Africa

South Africa has three capitals – Pretoria (executive),

Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative) and

eleven official languages. The largest city is Johannesburg.

Currency = Rand (ZAR)

Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and

established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the East, founding the city of Cape Town.

EgyptCurrency = Egyptian pound (EGP)

The capital of Egypt is Cairo. The official language is Arabic. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The majority live

near the banks of the Nile River.

The first kingdom was founded around 3150 BC by King Menses,

giving rise to a series of dynasties that

ruled Egypt for the next three thousand

years.

KenyaCurrency = Kenyan Shilling (KES)

The Capital of Kenya is Nairobi. They have two official

languages, English and Swahili.

In 1984 a skeleton was discovered at Lake Turkana of a boy belonging to

Homo erectus from 1.6 million years

ago.

SudanCurrency = Pound

Refugees waiting for water – Darfur, Sudan

The capital of Sudan is Khartoum. They have two official languages, Arabic and

English. It is the largest country in Africa and in the Arab World. It is ranked as the second most politically unstable country

in the world.

Sudan's modern history has been plagued by civil wars

stemming from ethnic, religious, and economic conflict between the Muslim Northern Sudanese, and the Christian of Southern

Sudan.

NigeriaCurrency = Nigerian naira (₦) (NGN)

The capital of Nigeria is Abuja. The largest city is Lagos. Nigeria has 4 official languages, English, Hausa,

Igbo, and Yoruba.

Students in Nigeria

Nigeria is the most populated country in

Africa.

Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)The capital of DRC is Kinshasa. The official language is French.

An unstable nation, local fighting has killed more than 4 million

people.

Currency - Congolese franc (CDF)

The Congo rainforest is home to the mountain gorilla.

Their economy depends on the diamond industry.

Many laborers only make a dollar a day.

Outline the regions of Africa on your maps.

Lets take a Quiz!

• http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~cwalton/mapquizafrica.htm

Created by Debra Harrington

Yeager Middle School2009

References• http://www.swindsor.k12.ct.us/Schools/tems/teachers/swierczynski/sahara_files/SAHARAmap.gi

f

• http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/afnewlnd.gif • http://www.naturalhistoryonthenet.com/Continents/images/africaregions.jpg • http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~cwalton/mapquizafrica.htm • http://grabstein.co.za/Graphics/kalahari.jpg • http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/news/2005/sahel/sahel_map.gif • http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/nile-river-2.jpg • http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna.htm • http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/countries/atlas/maps/congo_dr.gif • http://www.rhinocarhire.com/getfile/67dd0251-003f-4aca-8a67-bfa219b77d30/South-Africa.aspx • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/SF.html • http://keithaharmon.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/pyramids.jpg • http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://muller.lbl.gov/travel_photos/africawildlifefolder/

AfricaWildlifeFolder-Images/14.jpg&imgrefurl=http://muller.lbl.gov/travel_photos/africawildlifefolder/africawildlifefolder-pages/Image14.html&usg=__IFdFLRW_UpDaS4eke9_sTIsybZg=&h=600&w=800&sz=436&hl=en&start=18&um=1&tbnid=UQafjMpFERYU2M:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmountan%2Bgorilla%26hl%3Den%26um%3D1

• http://www.trekhireuk.com/assets/morocco-toubkal/toubkal-lunch.jpg