africa chapters 18-20. section 1 africa is the world’s second largest continent it is often...
TRANSCRIPT
Africa
Chapters 18-20
Section 1
• Africa is the world’s second largest continent
• It is often referred to as a “plateau continent”
Section 1
• Within the plateau are many basins– Can be as many as 625 miles across and
5,000 feet deep!
• Water collects in these basins and feeds rivers
Rivers and Lakes
• Worlds longest river – Nile– 4,000 miles– Has provided irrigation for thousands of years
• Population density along the Nile in Egypt:– 3,320 psm– 177 psm elsewhere
Rivers and Lakes
• There are many features along the rivers of Africa
• 2,900 mile Congo River is a great example– Cataracts (waterfalls)
• Indirect rivers / Meandering– Niger River
Landforms
• Rift Valleys – formed by the pulling apart of continental plates– East Africa is pulling away from the rest of
Africa• Lakes form in rift valleys
– Some can be almost 5,000 feet deep! (Tanganyika) – However some (Victoria) are only a couple hundred feet
deep but very wide!
Mountains
• Mainly volcanic mountains– Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya– Volcanic Rock also covers the Great
Escarpment• Marks the edge of the continents plateau in
Southern Africa– Escarpment – steep slope with a nearly flat plateau on
top
Wealth of Resources
• One of the worlds richest continents– Diamonds, chromium, copper, etc.– South Africa very wealthy
• 80 percent of worlds platinum• 30 percent of worlds gold
• Economic prosperity has not been evident for all of its population– Colonial rule in Africa
Oil
• Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, and Angola produce 7 percent of the worlds oil together– Ethnic differences in Angola prevent it from
prospering– Money is spent on Civil War
Diversity of Resource
• Coffee, after oil, is Africa’s most precious commodity– Few African’s drink it
• Logging is another resource– Every year, an area twice the size of NJ is
cleared out
• Agriculture is the MOST important economic activity
Section 2
• Deserts - – Sahara Desert – 3,000 miles by 1,200 miles
• 136.4 degrees in Summer / Below freezing at night
– 20 percent sand• The rest is rocks, mountains, gravelly plains
– Travel with camels– Aquifers / Oasis / Mirage
The Tropics
• Africa has a large tropical area
• 90 percent lies within the Tropics
• There is very little temperature change here during seasonal change
Sunshine / Rainfall
• Rainfall is a matter of extremes
• Dependant upon the location– Desert / Dry– Equator / Longer Rainy Season
• Central Africa – consistent rain• Elsewhere – based on rainy seasons
Rain
• Rain may not fall in the Sahara for years
• West coast receives enough rain for floods
Grassy Continent
• Tropical Grassland – Serengeti Plain
• Dry climate / Hard soil – no trees
– Largest numbers of land migrations
Africa’s Extremes
• Rain Forests– Congo Basin
• 100 different kinds of trees, some undiscovered things• Living things decompose quickly / humidity from the canopy
– Animals in the rain forest (p. 423)
• Slash and burn agriculture
• All areas of Africa have a variety of vegetation– Mangrove tree roots – Pine forests
Section 3
• Sahel – shore of the desert– Grassland on edge of Sahara– Desertification
• Human causes
• Results of desertification
Nigeria
• Oil– Pros and Cons
• High oil prices put Nigeria flush– Borrowed against assumed consistent prices
• Oil bottomed out and Nigeria owed billions• Became poorer than before their discovery of oil
– Various reasons
Destroying the Land and the People
• Thousands of oil spills, fires, etc.
• Bandits
Controlling the Nile
• In an effort to control their most valuable resource, Egyptians built the first Aswan Dam in 1902
• Aswan High Dam – Lake Nasser– Irrigation– 3 Harvests a year
Dam Problems
• Many people were relocated during construction
• Ancient relics were flooded or lost
• No more silt
• Rising water table – salt
• Malaria, mosquitoes, evaporation off Lake Nasser
– The verdict is still out on the dam
East Africa
• East Africa – Cradle of Civilization– Olduavi Gorge – 2 million year old fossils
• Continental Crossroads– Aksum on the Red Sea
– Traded with the Romans
– Competition rose, which led to diffusion of ideas
Colonization
• Berlin Conference – set boundaries and combined peoples who were often times traditional enemies– Often cited as a root cause for modern
problems in Africa
Colonization
• Ethiopia was able to fend off Italy’s attempt
• Knowledge of the land (Am. Rev.)
Conflict in East Africa
• Rwanda – Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups– Genocide Attempts – Mid-90’s
Farming and Tourism
• East Africa – 70 percent rural
• Reliant on cash crops– Coffee, tea, sugar
• Pros and cons of cash crops
• Switch from rural to urban– Addis Ababa
Tourism and Wealth
• Parks for safari – tourists
• Big game hunting
• Land usage of parks
Culture
• 2 Major ethnic groups in East Africa– Masai and Kikuyu
Masai:
Kikuyu:
Health Care
• AIDS pandemic
• Could reduce populations by up to 20 percent or more in some countries
West Africa
• Goree Island – Slave trade hub– Human Perspective p. 442
Trading Empires
• West Africa is a cultural hearth– Due to trading empires
• Ghana, Mali, and Songhai– Gold and salt– Thrived because of location– Settled in areas after being nomadic– Ghana > Mali > Songhai
• History of violence
Stateless Society
• W. Africa has many different cultures and people– Stateless society – relies on family lineages
• Work through cooperation and compromise
– Stateless societies disappeared after colonization
West Africa Economics
• Trade is still very important– Ghana relies on exports of minerals
• PCI 1,900 dollars• After colonialism Ghana had many problems
– Since: Democracy has been instilled
– Sierra Leone – worst conditions• 31 percent literacy rate• Only 800 miles of roads• Political instability and civil war plague Sierra
Leone
Cultural Symbols
• Ashanti crafts – – Kente cloth – woven geometric figures from
special fabric (asasia)– Wooden carvings – masks, stools
• Intricate and symbolic
• Benin Art – kingdom of Benin in Nigeria– Benin bronzes– Known for creating metal and terra cotta
objects
Music
• Blend of many forms– Blues, jazz, reggae
• All had their origins in West Africa
– Many original instruments (kora)
• King Sunny and the Africa Beats
Central Africa
• Bantu Migrations– Mantu, a nomadic, migratory people spread
through central Africa• Spread their culture and ideas
• Slave Trade– Sao Tome– Origins of slave trade
Start of Colonialism
• Central Africa had many different culture groups– Geography made travel rough, culture
unchanged
• King Leopold II (Belgium) changed all that– Access by Congo River– Paved the way for the Berlin Conference
– Too many natural resources to pass on» Do cultures change by choice or force?
Effects of Colonialism
• The changing of the borders– Long standing arrangements demolished
• Centralized gov’t took over stateless societies – Abuse of power
Economic Legacy
• Removal of raw materials with no trickle down effects– No development
• Postcolonialism left much of Africa in disarray– The Democratic Republic of the Congo was
still struggling politically into the new millennium
Central Africa Art
• Western influences in African art were banned in the mid to late 1900’s– Focus is still on ways of life and politics
• Fang Sculpture– White mask with black features
• Picasso – 1907
– Skull and bone housing boxes• Decorated with figures for protection
Education
• Shortage of trained teachers
• High dropout rate / low literacy rate
• Language barriers
Education
• Cameroon – school is done at age 12 for most kids
• Education is improving – Taught about many things
• Focus on occupational topics• Diseases and prevention
Southern Africa
• A variety of things shape South Africa– Colonialism– Trade– Tribal cultures– Etc.
Southern Africa
• Great Zimbabwe – Evidence that even the best civilizations fail
• Successful trading center– For reasons unknown it was abandoned
around the time Columbus discovered the New World
Southern Africa
• Mutapa Empire– An extension of Great Zimbabwe (legend)– Declined as a result of increasing European
influence
Southern Africa
• Europeans expanded through Africa
• Competition for land
• The Zulu made the last big stand for South Africa and were defeated by the British in the 1800’s
• The British then defeated the Dutch in the Boer Wars in S. Africa
Apartheid
• Complete separation of races• No social contact between white and black• 1912 – formation of African National Congress
– 1949 Nelson Mandela is head of ANC» Imprisoned
• 1980’s brought outspoken call for change from the rest of the world
• 1984 F.W. DeKlerk became President and proposed change
• Mid 90’s new election – Mandela wins– Democracy is instilled
Economics
• Some of the most advanced economics in all of Africa– Many countries struggling for equal treatment
for black people
Economics
• South Africa – 2 economies– Due to inequalities in its history
• 1. modern, industrial cities
• 2. shantytowns and poor communities• Both ends of the extreme
• Government still faces problems because of land distribution and housing shortageds
Economics
• Botswana– After independence from Britain per capita
income was 69.00 – In 1997 it had risen to 3,900.00
– Wealth is based on minerals (diamonds)– Unequal distribution of wealth
» P. 456
AIDS in Southern Africa
• Life expectancy is dropping
• A quarter of the population or more has the HIV virus
Celebrations
• Many comparisons to our Native Americans– Gule wa makulu– Vimbuzza– Benji – Hira gasy festival
Living in Southern Africa
• Johannesburg is one of the largest cities on the continent– Small mining town now home to 6 million– Apartheid helped it to develop into “two cities”
• Extreme diversity of the individual in Southern Africa – A large mix of traditional and modern lifestyle