Regions of the World - Africa

Video Notes

1. Africa is known for its diversity of people. It is home to an amazing collection of wild animals. It contains grasslands and savannahs.

2. Africa is the second largest continent and covers 11,700,000 square miles. It covers 20% of Earth’s land area. It is bordered by oceans on both sides, the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

3. The Sahara desert is the largest desert in the world. It could hold the entire USA.

4. The Nile River is the longest river in the world.5. Africa is the only continent that straddles the

equator and is bracketed by the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.

Equator

Tropic of Cancer

Tropic ofCapricorn

6. There are 46 countries in Africa.7. Egypt is located in Northeast Africa. The Red

Sea coast, the Nile River both in NE Africa. This region has rich farmland.

Northwest Africa: Arab Countries, Mediterranean Sea. Share some common characteristics with Europe. This region has abundant oil resources.

West Africa -Today , it is one of the most rapidly growing regions. It has a desert in the north and rainforest to the south. Nigeria is in this region and is the most populated country of Africa.

Central Africa is mostly rainforest and contains the countries of Zaire and Cameroon.

The East Africa Region includes Kenya and Uganda. People come to this region to view animal herds there.

Southern Africa includes Zimbabwe and the country called South Africa. This region is rich in natural resources and agriculture.

8. The Kalahari and Namib Deserts can be found in Southern Africa.

9. The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world. Temperatures can reach over 150⁰ F. It is made up of gravel plains and mountains mostly.

10. An oasis is a place in a desert where water is found in the form of springs and wells.

11. The Sahara Desert and Kalahari Deserts are equidistant from the equator.

12. The Atlas Mountains and Ethiopian Highlands are two mountain ranges in Africa. The highest peaks are Mt. Kenya and

Mt. Kilimanjaro.

13. The Great Rift Valley contains tectonic forces pulling the continent into two parts.

14. The Great Lakes of the Valley are a water source for the Nile River. It contains 3 lakes:

Lake VictoriaLake Tanganyika Lake Nyasa

15. The equator divides Africa into two climatologically identical images.

16. The continent has no cold seasons and no arctic or temperate climates.

17. In the Savannah climate, you can find more large free ranging mammals than anywhere else on Earth, such as elephants, giraffe, antelope and hyenas.

18. Most people in Africa live along the extensive oceanic coastline in large cities.