AFRICA

AFRICA KWLWhat do you know about Africa?

Did you know?• 1.   Africa is attached to Asia at its northeast

corner by an Isthmus (Suez Canal) 70 kms wide

• 2.   Africa is the most centrally located of all the continents. The prime meridian (the Greenwich meridian) 0o passes through the Atlas Mountains and cuts through the coast of West Africa close to Accra, while the Equator (latitude 0 degrees) also divides the continent into 2 equal parts North and South.

• 3.   Africa is the most tropical of all continents. It is straddles the equator and incorporates both the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. In Africa, the climate south of the equator mirrors that of the north of the equator

• 4.   The landmass nearest to Africa is Europe separated by the Mediterranean Sea only 9 miles across the Straight of Gibraltar.

• 5.   Africa is the world's second largest continent after Asia.

• 6. Africa is the most compact of all the continents in terms of shape and comprises the oldest rocks pertaining to the Pre-Cambrian Era.

• 7. Africa is as long as it is wide. It measures approximately 7,500 kms from South to North as well as in its east-west extent.

• 8. Africa comprises 54 countries with a population of 654 million in 1992. A little more than double the population of the United States

• 9. The Sahara desert, (the largest expanse of dry land in the world) is over 10.4 million square kilometers

• 10. Evidence points to a common human ancestry originating in Africa from the emergence of a humanlike species in eastern African some 5 million years ago. From Hadar, Ethiopia, the 3.18 million year-old remains of "Lucy" were unearthed in 1974.

I think that “Lucy” is moreFamous than me…

THE FIRST AFRICANS:THE BANTU MIGRATIONS

• Around 2,000 B.C. the Bantu speaking peoples began migrating south and east across the continent of Africa. Historians believe this was a result of increased population in west Africa.

• The Bantu peoples originated along the rainforest region of what today is the nation of Nigeria.

Language: The Bantu are a group of people known more as a language group than as a distinct ethnic group. They speak related languages and have similar social characteristics. The Bantu are split into two major language families, the Eastern Bantu and the Western Bantu. The most widely spoken Bantu-derived language is Swahili, which is used by up to 50 million speakers on the eastern coast of Africa.

THE BANTU LANGUAGE

THE BANTU PEOPLE TODAY5 1 3 B an tu lan ga u ge s kno wn

S wa h i li S ho na Z u lu

T h re e e xa m p les a re :

Swahili, one of the most commonBantu languages and is a mix of Bantu and Arabic

BANTU LANGUAGE

SEVERAL BANTU WORDS ARE USED IN ENGLISH:

DO YOU RECOGNIZE THESE WORDS?

JUMBOSAFARIZOMBIEBANJOJENGA

POPULATION OF AFRICA

SAHARA DESERT

THE IVORY COAST

KALIHARA DESERT

RELIGION OF AFRICA

ISLAM (NORTH)Brought by Arabs

CHRISTIANITY (SOUTH)Brought by Europeans

AFRICA:  1800’S - WWII, Africa was colonized and split apart by various European nations.

During the 1950’s, Africa was a continent awakening to the prospects of Independence. After World War II some Africans gained independence. In the 1960’s, Africa was a continent in transition for during the decade 31 African countries South of the Sahara became independence, 17 of them in 1960 alone. Notable progress was school enrolment and some industrialization.   

In the 1970’s, Africa was a continent in Limbo. Development proved difficult, and regional and ethnic conflicts became rampant. The cold war placed African countries between the USA and Russia. The 1970’s were also periods of drought and famine.

During the 1980’s, it became clear that Africa was a continent in decline. Hunger and starvation in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. Civil wars in Angola, Sudan, Mozambique and Southern Africa.

In the 1990’s, Africa was a continent in Crisis. Economic stagnation continued to deteriorate. Rapid spread of AIDS threatens families and general societies.

PROBLEMS TODAY:POVERTY:Landlocked African Countries: The scramble for and partitioning of Africa among European countries resulted in 15 of the African states being landlocked without any access to the coast. These landlocked countries are amongst the world’s most poor and underdeveloped countries.

 

WORLD’S GDP(Goss Domestic Product)

Blue – Top 50%Orange – Bottom 50%

Wealth Distribution Worldwide

Darker color indicates highest rate of hunger / famine

What does this map show about world hunger?

What does this political cartoon say about the problems that exist in Africa?

What does this political cartoon say about the distribution of food / wealth in the world?

What doest this political cartoon say about African neglect?

What does this political cartoon say about the distributionof wealth in the world and the support for Africa?

What problems might this cause?