Africa PDF - Past Paper

12 Africa Lesson Highlights In this lesson, we will learn about Africa and its: 1. History 3. Political 2. Land and Location...

12 Africa Lesson Highlights In this lesson, we will learn about Africa and its: 1. History 3. Political 2. Land and Location Divisions 4. Physical Features The enormous land mass of Africa is second km includingthe in size in the world after Asia.At adjacent islands, it about 30.2 million sa covers one-fifth of has 54 recognized the world's total sovereign countries surface area.The including Madagascar continent and various archipelagos. HISTORY Africa was known as the Africa is full of dense "dark continent". tropica forests and Little was known about marshes inhabiting till the dangerous wild animals middle of and insects. The the 19th century. Africa became plateaus are steep, known to the in the north of and outside world only after the the continent lay the adventures of vast the great explorers like Sahara Desert.There is an absence of natural Mungo Park, David harbours as its coastline Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley. is without any indentations. All this made deep LAND AND Africa less known LOCATION to the world for Look at Map 12.1. quite some time.For centuries, large part of Africa lies A in the tropical region extending between the Y Fig. 12,1-12.3 (from left) H.M. Stanley, Mungo Park, David Livingstone  ARCTIC 0CEAN EUROPE ASIA NORTH AMERICA ATLANTIC OCEAN PACIFIC PACIFIO AFRICA OCEAN OCEAN Equator SOUTH AMERICA INDIAN OCEAN AUSTRALIA PACIFIC OCEAN SOUTHERN scae OCEAN to not Map ANTARCTICA Map No. 12.1 Africa's Location on the World Map latitudes 37°N and 35°S, and longitudes 20°W Fact File: Africa and 52°E. The equator passes through the Location: middle, the Tropic of Cancer (234°N) and the 35°S Latitude 37°N to Tropic of Capricorn (23/2°S) also pass through 20°W to 52°E Longitude the continent. Also passing through Africa is Area: 30,238,000 sq. km the Primne Meridian (0°). Coastline: 36,888 km CO Challenge Question Elevation: Highest Mt. Kilimanjaro 5,895 m m Look at the atlas and name an important Lowest- Lake Assal in Djibouti 155 Prime Meridian. below sea level city situated on the Hint: It is the capital of a West African country. Population: 958,772,000 Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean TheIndian Ocean lies on the south-east,and the by the Red Sea, west. The Suez Canal Sea and from much of Asia Atlantic Ocean lies to its land mass connects with Asia enormous the built on the isthmus joins the Mediterranean through the narrow Isthms of Suez. The while separating the Red Sea Sea with the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb separates it from Asia two continents-Asia and Afric. Arms of the Europe in the east. In the north, it almost joins oceans ijutting into the land include the Gulf of at Gibraltarthe narrow Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf Separates it. Aden, the Mozambique Channel as a tip of Africa is tAn 1sthmus has already been identified of Guinea. The southernmost joining two larger land narrow neck of land known as the Cape ofGood Hope. Madagascar, masses and separating two large water bodies, island in the world, lies off the fourth largest arm of sea separating while a strait is a narrow the south-eastern coat of Africa. two land masses and linking two seas.) GEOGRAPHY 7 117  Table 12, I Countries of the African POLITICAL DIVISIONS Continent by the British, Africa was carved into colonies S. no. Country French, Germans and Belgians in the latter Capital 1 half of the 19th century. They ruled over Algeria Algiers various parts of this continent for a long time. 2 Angola Itwas only in the late twentieth century that Luanda these colonies gained freedom, and became 3 Benin independent nations. Today, Africa has Porto Nova fifty A four (54) independent countries. Botswana Gaborone 5 PHYSICAL FEATURES Burkina Faso Africa has five major physical 6 Burundi Ouagadougou regions: 1. Desert Bujumbura 2. Ethiopian Cameroon Highlands--Mountains and Yaoundé Plateaus 8 Cape Verde 3. The Great Rift Praia Valley 4. Plains 9 Central African 5. River Republic Bangui Basins 10 Desert Chad N'djamena 11 Africa has an extensive Comoros area under Moroni Desert area covers desert. 12 aboutone-third part Djibouti continent. of the Diibouti African deserts are 13 hot and They are very big dry. Egypt in size. Cairo The Sahara 14 Desert Equatorial Guinea stretching right acrOss Malabo northern Africa from theAtlantic 15 the Red Sea Ocean to Eritrea covers almost Asmara one-third of Covering Africa. 16 8.5 million Ethiopia square kilometres, Addis Ababa Sahara is the the world's largest 17 Gabon hot desert. The Sahara has a Libreville number of distinct physical 18 Gambia features, including ergs,regs, Banjul oases. Most of hamadas, and the desert areas 19 Ghana consist of Accra extensive_ plains of sand and gravel and are 20 Guinea called regs.Regs are the remains of Conakry seabeds and riverbeds, prehistoric. but have now 21 Guinea Bissau nearly become Bissau waterless. Ergs, which are areas.ofsand 22 dunes that stretch Ivory Coast forhundreds of kilomnetres Abidjan at heights of more 23 than 300 metres, cOver Kenya 20per Nairobi cent of the Sahara. These are interspersed 24 with Lesotho Maseru 118 GEOGRAPHY 7  Country Capital The Democratic Sno. Kinshasa Liberia Monrovia 48 Republic of Congo 25 (Zaire) 26 Libya Tripoli 49 The Republic of Brazzaville 27 Madagascar Antananarivo Congo or Congo 50 Loma Malawi Lilongwe Togo 28 Bamako 51 Tunisia Tunis 29 Mali Mauritania Nouakchott 52 Uganda Kampala 30 Port Louis 53 Zambia Lusaka 31 Mauritius 54 Zimbabwe Harare Morocco Rabat 32 are 33 Mozambique Maputo bare, rocky areas called hamada. Hamadas elevated plateaus of rock and stone that reach Namibia Windhoek include the Atlas 34 heightsof 3,353 metres. They in the Mountains. An oasis is a hub of water 35 Niger Niamey desert, often in the form of springs, wells,or 36 Nigeria Lagos irrigation systems. About 75 per cent of the Sahara's population lives around oases. 37 Rwanda Kigali The Kalahari Desert lies in the southern part Sao Tome and of Africa. It is an arid,semi-desert area of sand 38 Sao Tome Principe and dried-up salt pans. Dakar The Namib Desert stretches along the 39 Senegal Namibian coast and the south-western part of the Victoria Africa. It is a bleak desert which rises to 40Seychelles Freetown height of 275 m in parts. Many precious stones 41 Sierra Leone and minerals are found here. 42 Somalia Mogadishu 43 South Africa Pretoria 44 South Sudan Juba 45 Sudan Khartoum 46 Eswatini Mbabane 47 Dar-es-Salaam Fig. 12.4 Sahara Desert Tanzania GEOGRAPHY 7 119  E UR OPE NORTH BLACK S7A ATLANTIC Sacof Cibal OCEAN Aer Ralato AMEDITERRANEAN SEA Damaseus TeranASIA Akndr Jerisalem Tripol Cafru MOHOCCO ALGERIA Loyous o LIBYA sanGulf MAURITANIA bNoun Nouakchott MALI A F R ICA EGYPT Riyadho Trugie ofCaneat NIGER Khirtoam EHITHEA CHAD CaniSIGAL Nlaney IBamak Ouszudeue IRKINA FA oNdjanmens TBOUTI bihouti GUINEA Abujao SUDAN Addh Abaha Cankr IVORY CLNTRA NIGERILA tCAN LinrRK COAST Ahidjan FLone ETHIOPIA CAMEAOON Bangula Malahe) avunde KENYA Lbvall CONGÓ kafapala MoGADISHU GABON ZAIRE RWANDA Nairobl FBURUNDI Braralke ODujumhura Mamhaa INDIAN SOUTH Kinsha TANZANIA ATLANTIC OLuanta oDAreSalanm OCEAN ANGOLA ŠMALAWI C Delgado CDelgada ZAMBIÁ O Lllongwe Antsirane OCEAN) cOMOROS LusakaO Harare NAMIBA ZIMBABWEO OMaputo Belo Tamutave Antanunarivo windbok BOTSWANA FiamamtsoA Gaboroneo Trupicof Capnot Pgetorin ulear Mbibanc Arnbovombe Ewatini Nasrp Cepe Town SOUTH AFRICA O OCE4, INDIAN scale to not Map Map No. 12.2 Africa: Political Divisions African Desert The Ethiopian Highlands-Mountains Area: 10.4 million sq. The Ethioapian Highlands are the highest and km mostly made of volcanic rocks. Extending Extent: (Northto South)1800 km along the north-east,these are home to 80 per (East to West)5600 km cent of Africa's tallest mountains. Inthe eastern Max. height: 450 m above sea level part of the region near the equatorhas Africa Min, height: 133 m below sea level an extensive range of volcanie meuntains. These mnountain ranges have a number of high 120 GEOGRAPHY 7  R OP E NORTH LACK SEAN ATLANTIC orVIbral Mountin S A OCEAN Srait Mo MEDITERRANEAN ANas SEA Atas Anti ATLAS OUATTAR SAHARA OASIS Persia TADEMArr LIDYAN TASILI Gial) PLATEAU DESERT Entitles Chech Desert Iguidi SoaPLATEAU KUFRA NUBI Desert MURZUG OASIS AHAGGAR DESERT DESE C/Blanc TAOUDENNI TOHOT BASIN TIBESTI WDAH RANGE JOS CHAD KORDOFAN BASIN EOF ADEN R PLATEAU Vorde DARFUK GULF Gambia FOUTA olibd A Bemue E SOMALI PENINSULA/ Gufnex Highlands SUDAN DIALON 4 Uhangi BASIN Lomas Mts. ADAMAWA Nanda HIGHLANDS MI Uele L kiogi SoUTH L VtIoria CÖNGO BASIN Pemba ATLAN TIC l ake tanganyika)Zanzibar I Mafia! 0CE4N BL AFRICAN Delgado CAmbre Height in Metres PLATEAU oCororosI PLATEAU LNyasa LAND Mayotte HUAMBA 3000 ,panKaritbd 2000 Cu 9avango icloria Fall Ste.Marle 1000 Damaraland Matapohill KALAHARI S00 DESERT Pretoria C. Sainte-Maric Great naagua 200 land RoFango plao 0 to - 200 INDIAN OCEAN notto -200 to- 400 of Good Hope Cape Euh ahk e9ep Ny 123 Features nei imPor Africa: Physical t Or ojec tives peaks such as Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895m), The Drakensberg Mountains are along the m) Mt. Elgon (4,321 m). south-eastern coast of the continent. These Mt. Kenya (5.199 have steep edges. The Atlas mountains MountKilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa. It is an extinct volcano. It remains Mountains, located in the north-western part of the continent, are also an example of young snow-covered throughout the year though it parallel is situated near the equator. Other important fold mountains. They consistof several mountain peaks in this region are Mount ranges. Kenya and Mount Elgon. GEOGRAPHY 7 121 and elongated freshwater lakes such as Lake togetherthey flow as River Nile through the Malawi in the south; Lake Tanganyika, Lake Sahara to the Mediterranean Sea. This river is Edward and Lake Albertin the western arm of a perennial river because it has its source in iherift valley and Lake Rudolf in the eastern areaswhich receive heavy rainfall. The river is arm. Lake Victoria that lies between the two Used for irrigation as well as for generation of arms of the Great Rift Valley is the largest hydroelectric power. freshwater lake in Africa. It is not a rift valley West-flowing Rivers lake. It is the source of theRiver Nile, which is The second longest river in Africa is the Zaire the longestriver in the world. which isalso called the Congo. The deepest in the world, this river has a large number of Plains tributaries. They drain the central part of the Africa's plains are low-lying undulating continent that has dense equatorial forests areas made up of alluvium. These lowlands merging into the AtlanticOcean. As this river are found in the northern and western parts basin lies in the rainyequatorial zone it carries of the continent, following the coast and then the largest volume of water. Livingstone Falls, fall sharply down to the sea. The Còngo or Inga Falls and Stanley Falls are found along Zaire Basinlocated in the central part of Africa the river. Stanly Falls have been named after is also a low-lying region. There are narrow Henry Morton Stanley, an English explorer. coastal plains along the east and west coasts. Rivers NORTH E URPE BLACK SE ATLANTIC Most of the rivers of Africa rise from the OCEAN plateausin thecentral equatorialregion.These ASIA rivers receive very heavy rainfall throughout the year. The main rivers are the Nile, the A F R IC A Zaire, the Niger,the Zambezi, the Orange and Chad ADE the Limpopo. There area few others which are aE0E Benue obar smaller.The rivers of Africa may be dívided L Kyoga into three groups. ictaria Falts a) Those that drain northwards Tungunyika SOUTH (b) Those that drain westwards LBangyet arali (c) Those that drain eastwards ATLANTIC OCEAN Vietora Falls tevees Sve) North-flowing Rivers orat Vaal Limpoo The Nile is the most important river of Africa scale to and the longest in the world (6,853 km). It INDIAN OCEAN not originates from Lake Victoria as the White Vap Nile. It meets the Blue Nile at Khartoum, and Map No. 12.4 Africa's Major Rivers GEOGRAPHY 7 123  Fig. 12.5 Mount Kilimanjaro,Tanzania Fig. 12.6 Ethiopian Highlands, Roof of Africa The Ethiopian Highlands-Plateaus a portion of the land subsides by tension Most of Africa consists of a series of flat due to Earth's movements. One of the most and gently undulating plateaus of different distinctive physical features elevations-lower of Africa is the towards the north and higher in the south, series of rift valleys. These valleys are These plateaus are located higher in East Africa. These in the eastern and southern regions. extend for a distance of The Ethiopian Highlands in about 8000 metres from the east are the the Zambezi River highest. Most of these in the south plateaus are made up through the Red Sea in the old volcanic north of rocks. They have steep edoes to the Dead Sea in South-west Asia. Some and uneven surfaces. They rise abruptly from parts of this the narrow coastal rift valley are occupied by plains. The South large African Plateau is bound by Wh highlands in the east, west and south. The Drakensberg mountain LakeTurkana range forms the Lake southern edge to the plateau. In this region, the AlertlakeKyoga plateau to the west of the akeEyard Drakensberg, falls-as-a series of steps to the plainsthese are knewn asthe Karo0s, A large Lake Kivake Vicoria tract of thisplateau is occupied by the Kalahari Desert. It is connected towards the north-east with theEast African Plateau. The East AfricanPlateau rises Tanganyika steeply from the east. It hastwo great lines of Indian depression. These depressions are formed by of the Earth's sinking of segments Mwer akegka Lake focear crust. 10° The Great Rift Valley A rift valley,as you Lake Malawi know, is a long, deep and narrow steep-sided valley. It is formed to cracks or due ometers faults in the Earth's crust when 40 Fig. 12.7 The Great Rift 122GEOGRAPHY 7 Valley  Col ti ca teica M The third largest river of Africa is the River Lakes Niger, which flows through four countries There are many lakes in Africa, especially Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, before in the rift valley region. Lake Victoria is the flowing into the Gulf of Guinea. The Orange largest lake in Africa and the second largest River rises in the Drakensberg Mountains and freshwater lake in the world. Lake Chad lies flows into theSouthAtlantic Ocean. in the southern part of the Sahara Desert. It East-flowing Rivers is a large saltwaterlake and an area of inland The fourth largest river in Africa the is drainage. Lake Nasser is a large man-made Zambezi. It rises in the south-west highlands lake formed by the damming of the River Nile and flows into the Mozambique Channel. at Aswan. David Livingstone explored the region. He named the on waterfalls this river as the Victoria Falls. This famous waterfall is of great tourist interest and attracts a large number of tourists. All the great rivers of Africa have their origins in difficult parts of the continent. As a large part of the continent is a plateau, the rivers have waterfalls and rapids along them. There are no harbours and ports at their mouths. The volume of water is not reliable and assured, which disallowS navigation. Fig. 12.8 Lake Victoria Mind Map Africa (Political Division Physical Features History (Land and Location A continent of 54 independent countries Adark continent Latitudes 37°N and lt was not S 35° and longitudes Desert 20° W and 52° E Ethiopian highlands-mountains and known to the plateaus outside world Equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Great rift valley till the mid Plains Capricorn, all pass 19th century through it River basins 124 lo