Unit 15 Geo Sub Sahara

Congo Basin

This area contains the largest rainforest in Africa and is surrounded by high mountains and plateaus

Sahel

This region has more rain than the Sahara, but less than the wetter areas around it. It mainly has subsistence farmers and nomads who are facing huge challenges from desertification.

Sahara Desert

the world's largest desert (3,500,000 square miles) in northern Africa

Ethiopian Highlands

This very rugged region lies in the northern end of the Great Rift Valley. Despite its ruggedness, it has a highland climate that is fertile and good for farming.

Great Rift Valley

This is the largest area in the world where tectonic plates are pulling away from each other. It still has many active volcanoes

Namib Desert

This is the driest region in southern Africa. It is has little wildlife except and a large part of it is in the country of Namibia

Serengeti Plain

Today it is famous for its wildlife, such as elephants, giraffes, lions, and zebras, and brings millions of tourists each year to Tanzania, where it is primarily located.

Lake Victoria

This is Africa's largest lake and a source for the white nile river.

Drakensberg Mountains

These mountains make up a large part of the escarpment in southern Africa. They create an orographic effect on much of the region.

Kalahari Desert

This "desert" is actually a sandy savanna that covers most of Botswana and parts of South Africa and Namibia. This is where the San people live.

Savanna

An area of grassland with scattered trees and bushes

veld

open grassland areas in South Africa

basin

a natural depression in the surface of the land often with a lake at the bottom of it

Sahel

Belt south of the Sahara where it transitions into savanna across central Africa. It means literally 'coastland' in Arabic.

Escarpment

a steep cliff or slope between a higher and lower land surface

rift valley

A deep valley that forms where two plates move apart. Great rift valley is in Eastern Africa

Animism

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

extended familes

Different family members - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. - living in the same household or at least in daily contact with the children in the family.

Shantytowns

Unplanned slum development on the margins of cities, dominated by crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap wood, iron, and even pieces of cardboard.

Specialization

When a country produces goods it can sell to other countries. It then uses money earned to buy goods/services it cannot produce

famine

an extreme shortage of food

droughts

Long periods of unusually low precipitation

Dialects

Local or regional characteristics of a language. While accent refers to the pronunciation differences of a standard language, a dialect, in addition to pronunciation variation, has distinctive grammar and vocabulary

Swahili

Bantu language with Arabic loanwords spoken in coastal regions of East Africa. Most common spoken language in East Africa.

Afrikaners

South Africans descended from Dutch and French settlers of the seventeenth century. Their Great Trek founded new settler colonies in the nineteenth century. Though a minority among South Africans, they held political power after 1910.

geothermal energy

Energy from steam or hot water produced from hot or molten underground rocks.

Genocide

Deliberate extermination of a racial or cultural group

Genocide in Rwanda

political genocide in which the majority Hutus murdered 800,000 of the minority Tutsis; US did not intervene due to recent attacks on US troops in Somalia

Township

tiny clusters of homes

Inflation

A general and progressive increase in prices

Sanctions

restrictions intended to enforce international law

Enclaves

small territories surrounded by another country (Lesotho)

Malaria

A disease caused by mosquitoes implanting parasites in the blood.

Apartheid

Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.

Nigeria

Largest economy and population in West Africa; specializes in oil; city of Lagos is largest one in Africa - has a large shanty town around it;

Liberia

country founded by freed American slaves in Western Africa

Angola

a Central Africa nation that was particularly affected by a Civil War that took place during the Cold War

Democratic Republic of the Congo

a Central African country that was ruled by the Belgians until the 1960s; after independence led by corrupt government of Joseph Mobutu; has largest amount of natural resources that hasn't yet been developed in the world

Sudan

an East African nation where the government sponsored a militial group, called the Janjaweed, to attack ethnic Africans and Christians. Led to the creation of South Sudan

South Sudan

an East African country that gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after years of violence, is primarily Christian today

Kenya

an East African nation that has volcanic soil that is good for some commercial agriculture, such as tea and flowers; also has geothermal energy

Tanzania

an East African nation with poor soil that limits people to subsistence agriculture; has rich amounts of gold/diamonds; brings in tourists due to safaris on the Serengeti Plain

Rwanda

In the 1990s, the Hutu ethnic group attacked the Tutsis ethnic group in an attempted genocide.

Only country never colonized and put under foreign rule; has fertile soil in the Ethiopian Highlands; has a current civil war going on

One of two countries never colonized and put under foreign rule; has fertile soil in the Ethiopian Highlands; has a current civil war going on

Somalia

This country located in the Horn of Africa is too dry for farming, so most people are herders. Clans in the country have fought a lot over rights to land and cities. Today, piracy is a problem.

Eswatini (Swaziland)

This southern Africa country is ann enclave that has minerals and a good transportation system, but has very high rates of HIV amongst its population.

South Africa

This southern Africa country has the largest economy in the region. World's leading producer of gold, platinum, and diamonds. Also has large, developed cities. Had a history of apartheid.

Madagascar

This southern Africa country is an island nation that was ruled by dictator for 20 years. Most income comes from exporting crops, such as vanilla and sugar.

Zimbabwe

This southern Africa country's conomy has suffered due to war. White citizens own most of the land despite being a small percentage of the overall population.

Mozambique

This southern Africa country is one of world's poorest countries due mainly to Civil War. Does make money from shipping goods from landlocked countries.

Sahel countries

Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad

periodic market

an open-air trading market that is set up once or twice a week

safari

Journey or hunting expedition, especially in eastern Africa; any lengthy, adventurous expedition

Genocide

Deliberate extermination of a racial or cultural group

Mao Mao

Kenyan group of terrorists/freedom fighters who fought to end English control of Kenya

Eritrea

Became indepedent from Ethiopia in 1992. Still the two countries clash.