geography: ch 12

12. 1 overview of africa

• second largest continent in the world (area and population)

  • 1.2 billion people, 54 countries, 1500 languages

• rich in natural resources (diamond, platinum, gold)

12.2 physical landscape

• the five main physical features:

  1. Great Rift Valley: a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift, located in East Africa

  2. Nile River: the longest river in the world, called the father of African rivers, flowing from south to north

  3. Mt Kilimanjaro: the tallest mountain in Africa at 5895 metres high, located in Tanzania

  4. Mt Kenya: a volcanic mountain located in central Kenya at 5199 metres high

  5. Sahara Desert: the world’s largest hot desert with a harsh environment, covers Algeria, Chad, Egypt and more

12.5 weather, climate, and biomes

• weather: the state of the atmosphere

• climate: the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area

• biomes: huge regions that have similar vegetations, animals, and climates

  • Africa contains four biomes; central Africa has a rainforest biome

  • types of biomes:

    1. desert: extremely low rainfall, with plants and animals like cacti, short grass, thorn bushes, snakes, lizards, and scorpions

    2. savannah: relatively low rainfall, with plants and animals like grassland, shrubs, lions, elephants, and zebras

    3. deciduous woodland: relatively high rainfall, with plants and animals like mahogany, iroko, oil palms, monkeys, antelopes, and parrots

    4. tropical rainforest: high rainfall, with plants and animals like rubber trees, ferns, orchids, gorillas, jaguars, and sloths

12.6 Sahel region

• Sahel region: located at the southern edge of the Sahara desert, meaning “edge” or “shore”, with countries like Algeria, Mali and Sudan

• drought: a period of abnormally dry weather that lasts long enough to cause a serious lack of water and crop failure

• desertification: the process by which fertile land becomes desert as a result of droughts and deforestation