Africa

1) What were some early civilizations in East Africa?  Why were these civilizations important? The Aksum,which is now referred to as Ethiopia. The Red Sea and Indian Ocean made it important because it was turned into a trading center and contributed to its expansion and power.
2) What happened at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885? European nations convened to lay down rules to divide Africa.
3) What African countries managed to remain free of European control? Ethiopia and Liberia.
4) How did colonialism cause conflicts in East Africa after independence? Ethnic boundaries created cultural division that hadn't been there before the Europeans came and divided everything up.
5) How did Ethiopia manage to defeat Italy in 1896? With weapons and great knowledge of the land.
6) What are some cash crops of East Africa? Tea, Sugar and coffee.
7) What is East Africa's most critical health-care problem. The huge amount of AIDS.
8) Research the Rwanda massacre (genocide?) and briefly discuss what happened and why. In 100 days, around 800,000 people were killed by the Hutus. The Hutus used this as an excuse for the genocide. 

Chapter 19 Section 1

East Africa

I) Continental Crossroads
a. A trading coast
  1. East Africa was a place where early civilizations developed.
  2. Aksum, an important civilization, which emerged in present day Ethiopia in the A.D. 100s.
  3. Aksum's location on the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean made it an important trading center.
  4. During the 6th Century, Aksum lost many trading partners.

II) Colonization Disrupts Africa
a. Scramble For Africa
  1. Europeans did not want to fight over Africa.
  2. Fourteen European nations convened the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885, to lay down rules for dividing Africa.
  3. Nations that attended the Berlin Conference decided that any European country could claim land in Africa by telling other nations of their claims and by showing they could control the area.
  4. Europe's division of Africa was one of the main causes of the political violence and ethnic conflicts in Africa in the 20th century.
b. Ethiopia Avoids Colonization
  1. Ethiopia is one country that escaped European colonization.
  2. Ethiopia's emperor, Menelik II, skillfully protected his country from the Italian invasion with weapons from France and Russia.
  3. Ethiopia defeated Italy in 1896.
c. Conflict In East Africa
  1. By the 1970's, most of East Africa had regained its independence from Europe.
  2. Some cultural divisions often caused internal conflicts among native groups.

III) Farming and Tourism Economies
a. Farming in East Africa
  1. East Africa is around 60 percent rural.
  2. Since European colonization in the 19th century, countries have relied more on cash crops.
  3. Relying on cash crops can be tricky because, the price if crops varies according to the world market.
b. Tourism Creates Wealth and Problems
  1. One of the main economic activities in East Africa is in fact, tourism.
  2. Some world famous countries in this region are: Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
  3. In 1938, Europeans created the game reserves because they were killing animals for sport at a high rate.

IV) Maintaining Tradition Cultures
a. Cultures of East Africa
  1. Two major ethnic groups in East Africa are, the Masai and the Kikuyu.
  2. The Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in Kenya, there are around 9 million of them.

V) Health Care in Modern Africa
a. Health Care in Africa
  1. AIDS has become a pandemic and is having a devastating effect on the continent.
  2. A pandemic is an uncontrollable out-break of a disease affecting a large population over a wide geographic area.
  3. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
  4. Some medical geographers predict that the populations of Africa's worst affected countries could decline by 10 to 20 percent.

Chapter 18 Section 3

Human-Enviroment Interaction

I) Desertification of the Sahel 

    Sahel means "shore of the desert" in Arabic.

a. Human causes of desertification

   1. Desertification is an expansion of dry conditions into moist areas that are next to deserts. 

   2. Allowing overgrazing of vegetation by livestock exposes the soil which increase the case of desertification.

   3. When farmers clear the land to plant crops, they expose the soil to wind, which causes erosion. 

   4. Increasing population levels are an indirect cause of desertification. 

b. Results of desertification

   1. Desertification has affected many parts of Africa. 

   2. This is slowly destroying a tropical rain forest around Lake Chad in the southern edge of the Sahel.

II) Harming the Environment in Nigeria

     Rich oil deposits in the Niger delta made Nigeria on of the wealthiest countries.

a. A major oil producer

   1. Nigeria is the eighth leading oil exporter in the world. 

   2. Two million barrels are extracted each day, and a lot of it is shipped to the U.S.

   3. Oil accounts for 80-90% of Nigeria's income.

b. Destroying the land and people

   1. The damage caused by oil companies and the Nigerian government has been severe.

   2. Over 4,000 oil spills have occurred in the Niger delta over the past four decades.

   3. Between 1998 and 2000, oil pipeline explosions killed more that 2,000 people.

c. A new start

   1. In 1999, Nigeria adopted a new constitution, and in May, Olusegun Obasanjo became Nigeria's new president.

   2. In April 2007, Nigeria elected a new president, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

III) Controlling the Nile

     Egypt faces environmental challenges cause by water.

a. The Aswan High Dam

    1. The Aswan Dam was created in 1970, and was built by rocks from the channel.

    2. The dam gives the farmers a regular supply of water.

    3. The water has increased Egypt's Farmable land by 50%.

b. Problems with the dam

    1. During the dams construction, many people had to be relocated, including thousands of Nubians, whose way of life changed drastically. 

    2. The dam also decreased the fertility of the soil around the Nile.

   

1. Its waters have provided irrigation for the region for thousands of years.
2. gold, platinum, chromium, colbalt, copper, phosphates, diamonds.
3. Because recently discovered oil deposits will likely enable Angola to surpass as Africa's most oil-rich country. But the Angolan government spent much of the money on fighting a civil war.
4. It stretches around 3,000 miles across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and runs 1,200 miles from north to south.
5. The amount of rain fall can very greatly year to year as well as season to season.
6. The abundance of grass.
7. It is home to hundreds of species of birds, And a massive number of plants, leaves, and trees.

Main Ideas 18 section 2

 a. What is the largest climatic feature in Africa?
The Sahara Desert

b. Why does most of Africa have high temperatures?
Because most of the continent lies within the tropics of Capricorn.

c. What are the different kinds of vegetation growing in Africa?
Thick rain forests, tall grasslands, and desert areas.

Chapter 18 Section 2

Climate and Vegetation

I) A Warm Continent
 
 a. The Deserts

1. Two deserts, the Kalahari and Namib, can be found in southern Africa
2. Africa is the home to the world's largest dessert, the Sahara.
3. Aquifers are huge stores of underground water.
4. An Oasis is when the water has come to the surface.

 b. The Tropics

1. Africa has a large tropic area, the largest of any continent.
2. In humid regions of the tropics, variance in temperature between winter and summer are slight.

III) Sunshine and Rainfall

  a. Rainfall Patterns

1. The rain forest in Central Africa receives the most precipitation, as rain falls throughout the year.
2. The closer an area is to the desert, the longer the dry season will be.
3. The region around Monrovia, Liberia, experiences an average annual rainfall of more than 120 inches.
4. Children living in this area might not even see rain until they're five or six years old.

IV) A Grassy Continent

 a. Tropical Grassland

1.Tropical grassland cover most of the continent.
2. An example of a grassland is, the Serengeti Plain in Northern Tanzania.

V) Africa's Extreme

  a. Rain Forest

1.The major rain forests of Africa sit on the equator in the area of the Congo Basin.
2. More than 600 species of trees are found in the Congo basin rain forest.
3. Plants and other vegetation quickly decompose, or decay.

  b. Varieties of Plantlife

1. All of Africa's regions contain a variety of vegetation.
2. The Mangrove tree roots are breeding grounds for fish.