White Plains Public Schools / Overview



Africa Geography Early Societies World History/Napp

“Africa, the second-largest continent, is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided in half almost equally by the Equator.

Africa has eight major physical regions: the Sahara, the Sahel, the Ethiopian Highlands, the savanna, the Swahili Coast, the rain forest, the African Great Lakes, and Southern Africa.

The Sahara is the world’s largest hot desert, covering 3.3 million square miles, about the size of the South American country of Brazil. Defining Africa’s northern bulge, the Sahara makes up 25 percent of the continent.  The Sahara has a number of distinct physical features, including ergs, regs, hamadas, and oases. Ergs are sand dunes. Regs are plains of sand and gravel that make up 70 percent of the Sahara.  Hamadas are elevated plateaus of rock and stone.

An oasis is a hub of water in the desert, often in the form of springs, wells, or irrigation systems. About 75 percent of the Sahara’s population lives in oases.

The Sahel is a narrow band of semi-arid land that forms a transition zone between the Sahara to the north and the savannas to the south.

The Sahel contains the fertile delta of the Niger, one of Africa’s longest rivers. Unfortunately, the Sahel’s fertile land is rapidly becoming desert as a result of drought, deforestation, and intensive agriculture. This process is known as desertification. 

Savannas, or grasslands, cover almost half of Africa, more than 5 million square miles. These grasslands make up most of central Africa, beginning south of the Sahara and the Sahel and ending north of the continents southern tip.

The Swahili Coast stretches about 1,000 miles along the Indian Ocean, from Somalia to Mozambique. Most of Africa’s native rain forest has been destroyed by development, agriculture, and forestry.” ~ National Geographic

• Identify three significant geographic or physical features of Africa.

• How does the Sahara Desert differ from the Sahel?

• How does the Sahara Desert differ from the savanna?

• Define savanna.

• Define desertification.

• Why is desertification occurring in Africa?

• Where is the Swahili Coast located?

• Why have most of Africa’s native forests been destroyed?

• Is Africa geographically diverse? Explain your answer.

• How does the geography of Africa affect people?

|Early Sub-Saharan Societies |Iron and the Nok |Djenné-Djeno |

|- The societies south of the Sahara or |- Evidence of iron production dating to around |- In the region south of the |

|Sub-Saharan shared common elements |500 B.C. has been found in the area just north |Sahel, most Africans lived in small villages |

| |of the Niger and Benue rivers | |

|- One of these elements was the importance of | |- However, cities began to develop sometime |

|the basic social unit, the family – often the |- The ability to smelt iron was a major |between 600 B.C. and 200 B.C. |

|extended family with grandparents, parents, |technological achievement of the ancient Nok of| |

|cousins, etc. |sub-Saharan Africa |- One of these cities was Djenné-Djeno or |

| | |ancient Djenné, was uncovered by archaeologists|

|- Africa’s earliest belief system is called |- The Nok people lived in what is now Nigeria |in 1977 |

|animism |between 500 B.C. and A.D. 200 | |

| | |- Djenné-Djeno is located on a tributary of the|

|- Animists believe that |- Nok artifacts have been found in an area |Niger River in West Africa |

|spirits are present in animals, plants, and |stretching for 300 miles between the Niger and | |

|other natural forces, and also take the form of|Benue rivers |- The oldest artifacts found in Djenné-Djeno |

|the souls of their ancestors | |dated from |

| |- They were the first West African people known|250 B.C., making Djenné-Djeno the oldest known |

|- Few African societies had written languages |to smelt iron |city in Africa south of the Sahara |

| | | |

|- Instead, storytellers shared orally the |- The iron was fashioned into tools for farming|- At its height, Djenné-Djeno had some 50,000 |

|history and literature of a culture |and weapons for hunting |residents |

| | | |

|- In West Africa, for | |- The people fished in the Niger River, herded |

|example, these storytellers, or griots, kept | |cattle, and raised rice on the river’s fertile |

|this history alive, passing it from parent to | |floodplains |

|child | | |

| | |- By the third century B.C., they had learned |

| | |how to smelt iron |

Identify and explain the following terms:

Sub-Saharan Africa

Extended Family

Animism

Griots

Nok

Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa

Djenné-Djeno

• What are the key beliefs of animism?

• Why is Djenné-Djeno important in African history?

• Why is the smelting of iron transformative for a society?

PR I M A RY S O U R C E

I am a griot . . . master in the art of eloquence. . . . We are vessels of speech, we are the repositories [storehouses] which harbor secrets many centuries old. . . . Without us the names of kings would vanish. . . . We are the memory of mankind; by the spoken word we bring to life the deeds . . . of kings for younger generations. . . . For the world is old, but the future springs from the past.”

~DJELI MAMOUDOU KOUYATE, from Sundiata, an Epic of Old Mali

- Why were griots important to African societies?

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- About what percent of Africa is desert? What percent of Africa is savanna?

- If you were to fold a map of Africa in half along the equator, what do you notice about the similar vegetation zones above and below the fold?

|Which statement BEST describes the geography of Africa? |The Sahara Desert |

|(1) most of the continent is made up of tropical rain forests. |(1) prevented transportation, trade and travel |

|(2) deserts and savannas cover almost half of the continent. |(2) encouraged transportation, trade and travel |

|(3) most major rivers are navigable for their entire lengths. |(3) slowed transportation, trade and travel |

|(4) the irregular coastline provides many natural harbors. |(4) none of the above |

| | |

|The major occupation of the people who live on the grasslands of |Savannas are |

|Africa is? |(1) rain forests |

|(1) lumbering. |(2) deserts |

|(2) manufacturing. |(3) grasslands |

|(3) herding. |(4) fertile coastal lands |

|(4) mining. | |

| |Africa is divided by |

|The geographic features of the African continent are partly |(1) the equator |

|responsible for the? |(2) mountains |

|(1) use of French or English as the official languages of many African|(3) tundra |

|nations. |(4) glaciers |

|(2) decline of the slave trade in the 19c. | |

|(3) recent advances in technology in African nations. |Animism is the belief that |

|(4) diversity of cultures found in Africa. |(1) spirits reside in the natural world |

| |(2) life has suffering |

| |(3) order creates peace and harmony |

| |(4) harsh laws ensure good behavior |

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• Compare the two images above. How is the desert a challenging environment? How is the desert a place of contradictions? ________________________________________________________________________

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