6 th Grade UBD Unit 8 Geography of
6 th Grade UBD - Unit 8 - Geography of Africa
Essential Question �How did the geography of Africa affect its settlement patterns?
Preview � African Geography- Africa is a large continent surrounded by oceans and seas. It is divided in two by the Sahara Desert. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region south of the Sahara Desert. � Farming, Herding, and Trade- The lives of people in Sub- Saharan Africa were shaped by their environment. People migrating between climate zones had to adapt.
Key Ideas- African Geography � Africa lies between two oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian. It also is bordered by the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. � Africa has three major rivers: the Nile, the Congo, and the Zambezi. All of the rivers are navigable in places. However, near the coast, each river has a series of cataracts, or waterfalls. These keep boats from traveling from the coast to the interior. � Sub-Saharan Africa has four climate zones: desert, semiarid, savanna (grasslands), and tropical forests.
Geography � Africa is nicknamed the "plateau continent”. Few natural harbors. Boats can not travel easily upstream or downstream due to rapids and waterfalls near the mouths of rivers.
Physical Geography � Africa’s size and great number of different climate zones represents an incredible potential for residents to profit from the continent’s great diversity and wealth of natural resources.
African Geography � Africa is the second-largest continent on Earth. comprising about one-fifth, or 20 percent, of the world’s total land mass. � In 2010, its population topped 1 billion. its peoples spread across 54 countries—and several territories, or states of disputed status.
African Geography � Most of Africa lands lie within the tropics. � Despite this, Africa has diverse vegetation and climate zones as well as many unique features. � Its landscapes range from tropical rainforest to desert and from savanna to snow-capped mountain.
Large Rivers � Africa’s greatest resource throughout its history has been its rivers, which carry much needed water inland, vital to the growth of agriculture and civilization.
Large Rivers � Africa is best known for the Nile River, the longest river in the world. 4, 258 miles in length � The Congo, and Zambezi river systems, as well as many smaller rivers, have helped shaped the land its peoples.
The Relevance of Geography � People everywhere have to meet their needs for food and water, for shelter, and for an organized society. � People have to decide how best to use the available natural resources and how to manage conflict over resource use.
African Geography � Africa is bordered by two oceans—the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. � It is also bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
On the Move �Africa’s waterways and landways made possible not only early human migration, but also later trade and conquest. �Traffic among the peoples of Europe, Asia, and Africa has a long tradition, especially in the north and along the eastern and western coasts of the continent.
Moving Across Africa � The movement of people across Africa in search of arable land water resources led to the discovery of other valuable resources such as salt and gold.
Empires Built on Salt and Gold � Resources such as salt and gold helped to build great empires such as the Ghana, Mail, and Songhai. � Salt was used by many people to preserve food.
Major Cities � The modern capital of Egypt is Cairo. � Cairo is situated close to the renowned pyramids at Giza, which were built during the time of the ancient Egyptians.
Key Ideas- Farming, Herding, and Trade � Climate zones have determined how people made a living in Sub-Saharan Africa. � In the forests, farmers grew yams, palm trees, and kola trees. � In the savannas, farmers grew grain crops. � In the semiarid and desert areas, people were nomadic herders. They moved from place to place seeking water and food for their animals. � There were different resources in each climate zone. People traded for goods they could not produce themselves. This caused trade routes to develop.
On the Move � Although Egypt has long been the source of myth, legend, and even popular movie-making, other great civilizations also arose across Africa. � Among these were the Bantu peoples.
On the Move � The Bantu peoples who spread from West Africa south and east in a series of migrations from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE. � Most of the modern-day peoples of southern and eastern Africa descend to some degree from the Bantu who branched out across the lands, forming their own ethnic groups, languages, and cultures.
Cultural Legacy of the Bantu � Bantu speakers migrated from West Africa into Central and South Africa during the Bantu migration. � The Bantu shared their culture, technology and language with groups who inhabited the area.
Cultural Legacy of the Bantu � Today, more than 450 languages are part of the Bantu family, which represents thousands of different ethnic groups throughout Africa. � Today, nearly 85 million Africans speak a language that came from Bantu.
Cultural Legacy of the Bantu � The Bantu also brought pottery techniques. � They also brought their technology for smelting iron.
Technology Iron tools like this one were useful for farming hard soils around Africa. Without the spread of iron-making technology, these tools would not have been possible.
Trade � In West Africa, several kingdoms— Ghana, Mali, and Songhai— prospered from the trade of gold and salt. � On the Horn of Africa, the trading city of Aksum (or Axum) flourished from the 300 s through the 600 s, after which it began to decline.
Trade � The waters of Africa proved valuable as a source of irrigation for agriculture, travel, and trade. � The vast deserts of the Sahara, was used by trade caravans.
Resources � The forests of Africa, particularly along the western coast and the interior, also provided valuable sources of goods such as kola nuts, cacao, and the wood itself.
Resources � African gold once helped give rise to great trading empires, many other minerals continue to bolster the economy in Africa, even to this day— most notably diamonds.
- Slides: 28