The Physical Geography of Africa

1
The Physical Geography of Africa

• Toni Holmberg

2
A Unique and Diverse Land

• Africa is made up of large deserts, vast
  grasslands, and dense jungles.
• How many of you hope to go to Africa some day?

3
Tourism

• Its National Parks, wildlife preserves, and
  incredible natural beauty attract an
  ever-increasing number of tourists from around
  the globe.
• First, lets learn about the continent!

4
Africa is not a country!
5
Its a Continent!

• Africa is the second largest continent in the
  world with over 890 million people!

6

• How many times do you think you could fit the
  United States inside of Africa? How about China?
  Europe?

7
Africa is Immense!
8
Some Statistics

• Africa covers 20. 3 of the earths surface and
  is home to 14 of the worlds people
• Africa covers 11,700,000 square miles!

9
(No Transcript)
10
The Shape of Africa

• The Bulge
• The Horn of Africa
• The Cape of Good Hope

11
Whats the Land Like?

• Unique
• Diverse
• Spectacular
• Harsh
• Rugged
• Breathtaking

12
One giant, tilted plateau

• If you were to walk across Africa from west to
  east, you would be walking UP.

13
Location

• Africa is mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere
• The Equator (0 degrees latitude) runs through the
  center of Africa.
• Africa is surrounded by water

14
Major Bodies of Water

• Mediterranean Sea
• Indian Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean

15
Whats Unique about Africa and its surrounding
bodies of water?

• Few deep water ports
• Few navigable rivers
• This was one factor that led to the European
  perception of Africa as the Dark Continent

16
Lesser Bodies of Water

• Strait of Gibraltar
• Mediterranean Sea
• Red Sea
• (Unless youre Moses)
• Mozambique Channel
• Gulf of Guinea

17
Major Lakes in Africa

• Lake Chad
• Lake Victoria
• Lake Tanganyika
• Lake Nyasa

18
Lake Victoria from Space
19
Rivers of Africa

• The Nile (Longest in the Galaxy)
• The Zambezi
• The Orange
• Congo (The Amazon of Africa)
• Niger
• Sengal

20

• How long is the longest river in the world?
• 3470 miles long

21
The Congo River is actually an immense network or
rivers and streams!
22
Lets talk Deserts

• Sahara Desert
• The Sahel
• Libyan Desert
• Kalahari Desert
• Namib Desert

23
Sahara Desert
24
The Sahel
25
Libyan Desert Which way did he go?
26
Kalahari Desert
27
Namib Desert
28
Climate

• African environments are dominated by generally
  high temperatures.
• Nairobi, Kenya 70s to 80s on average
• Two rainy seasons
• long rains March to June
• short rains October to December

29
Mountains and Highlands

• The Atlas Mountain
• The Ethiopian Highlands
• Mt Kilimanjaro
• Drakensberg Mountains

30
80 of Africas Tallest Mountains are in the
Ethiopian Highlands
31
The Highest Mountain in Africa!
32
The Great Rift Valley

• A physical feature of Geological Scale!
• From the Red Sea in the North through Eastern
  Africa..
• Whats a RIFT?

33
From northern Syria to Mozambique!
34
Cool African Geography Vocabulary

• Escarpment
• Savannah
• Veldt
• Oasis
• Sub-Saharan

35
The Layered Look!
36
(No Transcript)
37
Who Lives in Africa?

• Three out of four people living in Africa are
  Black, but there are also many Arabs, Asians,
  Europeans, and people of mixed races.
• Over 1000 languages as spoken on the continent of
  Africa (40 have more than 1 million speakers)

38
Population Density and Distribution

• Why are some areas yellow?
• What attracts people to the red areas?

39
Humans and African Geography

• We are all Africans!
• How do Africans define themselves?
• What is the main religion of Northern Africa?

40
Some Sad Realities

• Africa includes the fifteen least developed
  nations in the world,
• 70 of its population survives on less than 2 a
  day,
• Preventable disease and famine continue to kill
  millions of its people each year,
• even the most basic education is denied to a
  large percentage of its children.

41
How can you get involved?

• http//www.data.org/

42
Jakes Journey

43
Our Favorite African Animal!
44
(No Transcript)