World Regional Geography GEG 101 ONLINE! CHAPTER 6: Sub-Saharan Africa

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Studying the Chapter:

• Read and study the textbook. (See outlines below.)
• Read and study the Online Lecture

Map Quiz 2 - Chapter 6:

• blank outline map
• required map quiz locations
• online map quiz tutorial 

Review Activities:

• Physical Geography True/False Quiz
• Fill-in Quiz of various topics
• Chapter Quiz from the textbook Student Companion website
• GO TO MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ
• Exam 1 - Sample Short answer questions
• Realm Worksheet

For All Realms:

Keep these in mind as you read and study EACH REALM (chapter). Defining a Realm: Know the physical, cultural, economic, and/or historical criteria (characteristics) used to define the realm. Why are the boundaries drawn where they are? Are there any physical barriers (oceans, seas, mountains, deserts, dense forests) at the realm border? Are there physical, cultural, economic, and historical differences on either side of the realm boundary? Do the realm boundaries tend to run through areas of sparse population? How do the physical, cultural, economic, and historical characteristics of the realm differ from these characteristics of neighboring realms?   You may want to do the following FOR EACH REALM to help your learning: print this realm worksheet and keep track of the characteristics in the chart as you read and study the chapter. You may want to review the lecture on REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY Use the Goode's Atlas maps, especially the world maps at the beginning, to see differences between realms   Here are SOME of the physical, cultural, economic, and historical characteristics that you should consider physical geography landscapes climate precipitation major physical features physical barriers at the realm boundaries (oceans, seas, mountains, deserts, dense forests) cultural geography religion language politics other economic geography level of development - IMPORTANT: SEE TABLE G-1 (pp. 34-41) per capita income (GDP) population growth rate % urban population life expectancy other measures of development - IMPORTANT: SEE TABLE G-1 (pp. 34-41) historical Geography culture hearths colonization - who colonized other   Know where most people live in the realm. See the population density map in your Goode's Atlas and Figure G-9 (pp. 18-19) in your textbook. Also, assess how well the 5 reasons explain the population distribution. Do they apply to this realm or not?   Know the CONCEPTS, IDEAS, and TERMS listed on the first page of each chapter and the italicized words within the chapter. ALSO, know EXAMPLES of the terms from the realm being studied. It is strongly suggested that you make a list of these terms with their definitions and examples. Each unit exam will have a question where you DEFINE and GIVE EXAMPLES of these terms.   You must understand map SCALE. Know the difference between a large scale map and a small scale map. Each unit exam will have a question about map scale. See Figure G-3. Large scale = large detail = small area Small scale = small detail = large area

Textbook Notes:

[Some maps may be difficult to read. To see a clear image, RIGHT CLICK on the image and select VIEW IMAGE]

BRIEF OUTLINE / 4 CLASS THEMES Chapter 6 SUBSAHARAN AFRICA DEFINING THE REALM 277  PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY Africa's Physiography 277 Continental Drift and Plate Technologies 277  Natural Environments 277  Environment and Health 280  Land and Farming 281   HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY Africa's Historical Geography 284 African Genesis 284 The colonial transformation 287   CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY Cultural Patterns 292 African Languages 292 Religion in Africa 293 Modern Map and Traditional Society 294 Population and Urbanization 294   ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY 295 Economic Problems 295   REGIONS OF THE REALM 295 Southern Africa 297 South Africa 298 The Middle Tier 303 The Northern Tier 304   East Africa 306 Kenya 206 Tanzania 308 Uganda 309 Rwanda and Burundi 309 Highland Ethiopia 310   Equatorial Africa 311 The Congo 311 Across the River 311   West Africa 314 Nigeria: West Africa's Cornerstone 316 Coast and Interior 318   The African Transition Zone 320

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES OF THE REALM

• Physiographically, Africa is a plateau continent without a linear mountain backbone, with a set of Great Lakes, variable rainfall, generally low-fertility soils, and mainly savanna and steppe vegetation.
• Dozens of nations, hundreds of ethnic groups, and many smaller entities make up Subsaharan Africa's culturally rich and varied population.
• Most of Subsaharan Africa's peoples depend on farming for their livelihood.
• Health and nutritional conditions in Subsaharan Africa need improvement as the incidence of disease remains high and diets are often unbalanced. The AIDS pandemic began in Africa and has become a major health crisis in this realm.
• Africa's boundary framework is a colonial legacy; many boundaries were drawn without adequate knowledge of or regard for the human and physical geography they divided.
• The realm is rich in raw materials vital to industrialized countries, but much of Subsaharan Africa's population has little access to the goods and services of the world economy.
• Patterns of raw-material exploitation and export routes set up in the colonial period still prevail in most of Subsaharan Africa. Interregional and international connections are poor.
• During the Cold War, great-power competition magnified conflicts in several Subsaharan African countries, with results that will be felt for generations.
• Severe dislocation affects many Subsaharan African countries, from Liberia to Rwanda. This realm has the largest refugee population in the world today.
• Government mismanagement and poor leadership afflict the economies of many Subsaharan African countries.

DEFINING THE REALM

QUESTION: What is the difference between the following: Realm: Sub-Saharan Africa Region: Southern Africa Country: South Africa

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY - Africa's Unique Physical Geography

• Online Lecture
• Review

   

• Peripheral location of Africa compared to the world's core hinders development

• The large size of the African continent:
  • 1/5 of Earth's land surface
  • 4800 miles north to south
  • 4500 miles east to west
  • because of it's large size much of Africa is far from the moisture of oceans therefore parts are very dry (deserts: Sahara in north and Kalahari in south)

   

• Unique Physical Geography:
  • large size / consequences
  • no continental mountain backbone
  • linear great lakes cluster
  • rift valleys
  • erratic rivers (begin by flowing AWAY from the coasts), some with inland deltas and waterfalls or cataracts
  • plateau continent with escarpments and rift valleys
  • mostly tropical
  • climate and vegetation symmetrical about the equator
  • major deserts

   

• Why?
  • Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics (Fig. G-4, G-5, 6-2, 6-3)
    • Pangaea
    • Gondwana
  • optional but interesting: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html

   

• Natural Environments
  • tropical but elevated
    • what are the "Tropics"? (see yellow area in map below)

      

  • climatic regions symmetrical about the equator (G-8)

     

  • steep decline in annual rainfall as you move north or south of the equator (G-7, G-8)
    • long rains
    • short rains
  • Figure G-8 or see map below:
    • tropical rain forest = Af and Am climates
    • savanna = Aw climates
    • steppe - BS climates
    • desert = BW climates
    • Where is most of Africa's wildlife found?

     

    • The "Sahel" is the BS steppes just south of the Sahara desert (BW)

    

   

• Population
  • population of ALL countries in Subsaharan Africa = 1/2 that of China
  • see Table G-1
  • NOT densely populated (G-9, G-10)
  • some good soils, water, - but small in area
  • "and of corn (maize), millet, and root crops (yams, cassava, sweet potatoes)
    • not high yielding rice and wheat
    • few green revolution effects in Africa
    • result: low yields and food challenges

     

 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Measures of Economic Development
  • Introduction / Some Facts / see Table G-1
    • GNP per capita declined 25% in the 1980s
    • food production is down 20% from 1970
    • population has doubled since 1970
    • at the current annual growth rate (2.2%) the population will double in 32 years and quadruple in 64 years (know the "rule of 70")
    • at the current annual growth rate (2.2 %) the population will be over 2 billion by the year 2050 current population is 714.3 million (2006)
    • Africa, 10 % of the world's population - receives only 2 % of the world's direct private investment
    • 27 Sub-Saharan African countries are among the 40 poorest countries in the world
    • see table G-1 of your textbook

       

  • Online Lectures
    • http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/ssa/afe/afmeas/afmeasfr.htm
    • http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/intro/eco/ecomea/ecomeafr.htm

     

  • INCOME: Figure G-11
  • AGRICULTURE:
    • large areas of shifting cultivation in the wetter areas
    • and nomadic herding in the drier areas

  

  • http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geogres/maps/ssagif/afagric.gif

   

• Environment and Health
  • endemic
  • epidemic
  • pandemic
    • malaria
    • yellow fever
    • AIDS
      • 41 million cases in world including 27 million in Africa (over half of all cases in 2005)\
      • 25 million deaths since early 1980s
      • in 2004 more than 2.3 million deaths in Subsaharan Africa
      • in 2004 75% of the total deaths in the world from AIDS were in Subsaharan Africa
      • Effects:
        • life expectancy declining 47-50 years (only 36 years in Botswana, see Table G-1)
        • declining population growth rates
        • declining output
        • fewer people of working age to care for young and elderly
        • orphans

   

• Land and Farming
  • 67% of population depends on farming
  • highest of any realm
  • issue of land tenure:
    • definition: the way people own, occupy, and use land
    • traditionally land owned by community in many parts of Subsaharan Africa
    • European colonization: land alienation changed land tenure to private ownership
    • post independence: some states nationalized farm land (i.e. government took it over)
      • corrupt and inefficient government management
      • price controls kept prices low for city dwellers hurting farmers
      • state marketing boards were inefficient
      • rapid population growth and communal land tenure
        • shifting cultivation and shortened fallow time resulting in smaller harvests
        • pastoralism and shortened fallow time

         

• African Economic Development
  • Farming is important ("the key")
  • Development: Trade vs. Aid ?
    • http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/eco212/lectures/ldc/ldcfr.htm
    • How does the US aid rank with other MDCs?
      • http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geogres/gifs/econgeog/foraidg.gif
    • MDC trade restrictions hinders African economic development:
      • http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0514-01.htm
  • Agricultural Subsidies in the MDCs lower prices and hurt African Farmers:
    [we help our farmers, but hurt theirs]
    • http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/trade/subsidies/2002/10stopdumping.pdf
    • http://globalenvision.org/library/6/309/
  • Debt Relief would help:
    • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4084574.stm
  • Other Barriers to economic development
    • http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/ssa/afe/afdevel/afdevfr.htm

     

• But farm production is declining !!!
  • government mismanagement and corruption
  • inadequate rural infrastructure
    • roads
    • storage facilities
    • lack of electricity
  • inadequate access to credit

   

• Population and Urbanization in Subsaharan Africa (p. 294)
  • only 33% urban population
  • but urbanizing at a fast pace
  • large informal sector
  • rural-to-urban migration forming squatter villages
• See map G-11 and table G-1
  • How does Subsaharan Africa compare to the rest of the world?

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• Introduction
  • "cradle of humanity" (evolution of humans)
  • little is known of early history
    • absence of a written record
    • colonial policies de-emphasized African history

   

• African Genesis
  • Early Trade - West Africa and regional complementarity (Fig. G-7, G-8, map below)
    • In West Africa there is great variability in climate and rainfall over a short distance (a few hundred miles, see map below). This provided opportunities for trade.
      • coastal rain forest (80-200 inches of rain a year)
        • source of ivory, spice, dried foods
      • savanna
      • steppe
      • desert (0-4 inches of rain a year)
        • source of salt

        

  • Early States
    • Inland from the coast to facilitate trade between the coast and the desert
    • West African Culture Hearth (Figure 7-3)
      • Ancient Ghana
    • Other African States (Figure 6-5)
    • The great Bantu migration

     

• The Colonial Transformation
  • Early European contact - coastal stations and forts
  • Slavery - moved activity from the inland savanna to the coast
    • Decline of interior savanna states
    • Coastal states gained wealth form the slave trade
    • some slave trade earlier
    • European took perhaps 30 million slaves (figure 6-7)
    • Why so many to Brazil?
    • strong role of African middlemen
    • kept Europeans on the coast (little inland penetration until centuries later) except in southern Africa
  • Colonization
    • EUROPEAN COLONIAL OBJECTIVES
      • Early contact:
        • A port along the West African coast
        • A water route to South Asia and Southeast Asia
        • 1500's - looking for resources; Slaves
      • Colonization:
        • 1850 - industrial revolution occurs in Europe
        • Increased demand for mineral resources
        • Need to expand agricultural production
    • BERLIN CONFERENCE 1884 (Figure 6-8)
      • 14 states divided up Africa without consideration of cultures
      • Results of superimposed boundaries
        • African peoples were divided.
        • Unified regions were ripped apart.
        • Hostile societies were thrown together.
        • Hinterlands were disrupted.
        • Migration routes were closed off.
      • When independence returned to Africa after 1950, the realm had already acquired a legacy of political fragmentation.
    • COLONIAL POLICIES (figure 6-8)
      • Great Britain:
        • "Indirect Rule"
        • Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe
        • Indigenous power structures were left intact to some degree and local rulers were made representatives of the crown.
      • France:
        • "Assimilationist"
        • Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, etc.
        • Enforced a direct rule, which propagated the French culture through language, laws, education and dress (acculturation)
      • Portugal:
        • "harsh direct control"
        • Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique
        • First to enslave and colonize and one of the last to grant independence
        • Maintained rigid control
        • raw resource oriented
      • Belgium:
        • "ruthless exploitation"
        • Rwanda, Dem. Dep. of the Congo, Burundi
        • "paternalistic" ?? -- Treated Africans as though they where children who needed to be tutored in western ways; did not try to make them Belgium
        • Raw resource oriented; ignored the development of natives
        • as many as 10 million killed
    • THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM- What are the lasting effects of colonization?
      • boundaries still in place today
      • exploitative transportation systems hinder development, all roads lead to the coast, few inland connections
      • location of African cities
      • African "elites" during colonization retained their power = authoritarian rule and military takeovers
      • Democracies: Ghana, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria (?)
      • European lingua franca and official languages
      • Antagonism between tribes (e.g., Rwanda)
      • Low level of development is linked to colonization
      • Dual economy remains intact; most states rely on a single crop or mineral and are vulnerable to world markets.
    • THE COLD WAR LEGACY
      • what was the cold war?
      • Marxism in Ethiopia
      • Somalia
      • War in Angola

   

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY (Cultural Patterns)

• Introduction
  • colonization had little impact on the lives of most Africans
  • 67% still subsistence farmers
  • thousands of languages (Figure 6-6)
  • "most complex cultural mosaic on Earth"

   

• African Languages (Figure 6-9)
  • importance of language in defining the northern border of the realm (Figures G-2 and 6-9)
  • language families
  • thousand of languages
  • only about 40 African languages are spoken by more than 1 million people
  • only about a half dozen spoken by more than 10 million people (Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo in Nigeria, Swahili in the east, Lingala in central Africa, and Zulu in south Africa)
  • lingua franca (plural: linguae francae)
    • French and English
    • Hausa in West African savanna
    • Swahili in East Africa
    • Pidgin languages along West Africa's coast
  • Multilingualism
    • a centrifugal force in many countries
    • Nigeria: English is the official language, about 250 languages total

     

• Religion in Africa (Figure 7-2)
  • traditional religions clashed with Islam and European religions
  • Christianity
    • first entered Africa in Nubia and Axum (Sudan and Ethiopia) in the fourth century AD (Figure 6-5)
    • Ethiopia has been Christian area ever since
    • Colonization brought Christianity to the rest of the realm
    • transculturation (rather than acculturation); a blending of the traditional and Christian beliefs
  • Islam
    • Penetrated Africa much earlier than Christianity (except for Ethiopia in the horn of Africa)
    • Leaders of West African states converted
    • Spread through the savanna to what is now northern Nigeria, Ghana, and the Ivory coast
    • encircled the Christians in Ethiopia and spread down the Horn of Africa through Somalia into Kenya and Tanzania coast, and the island of Zanzibar
    • Islamic Front: (Figure 6-10 and 6-19) in the African Transition Zone
    • Islamic Front: Problems / Conflicts between Islamic North and Christian/Animist South (Figure 6-19)
      • Nigeria (Figure 6-17)
        • Africa's most populous state
        • 3 major nations and 250 other peoples
        • Figure 6-19 misleading - not all of Nigeria is 50-70% Islamic
        • Figure 7-2 is better
        •  return to democracy in 1999 elections
        • Sharia (Islamic) law proclaimed in twelve northern States
          • severe criminal penalties including amputation, death by stoning
          • schools segregated by gender
          • many Muslim driven taxis won't pick up women
          • certain jobs reserved for men only
        • riots, many Christians fled to the south
      • Ivory Coast
      • Divided Sudan (p. 349)
        • Figure 7-10, 7-2
        • British set colonial borders
        • Government in the Islamic north imposed Islamic law
        • Result: civil war for three decades,
        • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/827425.stm

   

• Politics in Africa
  • 45 states but no nation-states
  • strong centrifugal forces
  • including outside intervention during the Cold War
  • the colonial legacy also hinders political stability
  • The African Union

REGIONS OF SUBSAHARAN AFRICA (Figure 6-10)

• Southern Africa
• East Africa
• Equatorial Africa
• West Africa
• African Transition Zone

   SOUTHERN AFRICA (Figure 6-11)

   

  • What is the difference between the following:
    • Sub-Saharan Africa
    • Southern Africa
    • South Africa
  • 10 countries
  • 6 landlocked states
  • Northern zone marks limit of Congo basin
  • Plateau country
  • Rich in natural resources
  • Agricultural diversity
  • but still poor
  • The Republic of South Africa
    • apartheid and separate development
    • the Dutch, British, and the Boer War (who won?)
    • "Africa's most pluralistic and heterogeneous society (Table 6-1)
    • historic regionalism
  • The Middle Tier of countries
  • The Northern Tier

   

  EAST AFRICA (Figure 6-14)

  • Lies astride the equator
  • Mainly highlands
  • Cooler and generally drier conditions
  • Ethnic diversity
  • Swahili
  • KENYA
    • Dominant state in region
    • Capitalist approach to development
    • Nairobi (2.6 million)
    • Coffee, tea, tourism revenues
    • Swahili is the lingua franca
    • 1980s - world's fastest growing populations
    • AIDS
    • government corruption
  • TANZANIA
    • socialist approach to development
    • now: political stability and democracy
  • UGANDA
    • Kingdom of Buganda
    • landlocked state
    • Idi Amin
    • LRA: Lord's Resistance Army
  • RWANDA and BURUNDI
    • Tutsi pastoralist (cattle herder)
    • Hutu farmers
    • Movie: "Hotel Rwanda"
  • HIGHLAND ETHIOPIA
    • physically and culturally part of East Africa WHY?
      • Africans, not Arabs
      • highlands
      • future economic ties with Kenya to the south?

     

  EQUATORIAL AFRICA (Figure 6-15)

  • Astride the equator
  • Mainly lowland country
  • Congo River basin
  • Vast areas of rain forest
  • Environment is a mixed blessing?
  • Delineated from Nigeria by physiographic as well as cultural breaks
  • The Adamawa Highland coincides with the border between British-influenced Nigeria and French-acculturated Cameroon.
  • exclave - Cabinda

    EQUATORIAL AFRICA - REGIONAL FEATURES

    • Dominated by Congo River and Basin
      • Equatorial rain forest
      • Impeded in transportation and communication
    • French is predominant in most states except Sao Tome and Principe
    • The most underdeveloped region in this realm
    • Resources
      • Copper (Democratic Republic of Congo)
      • Timber, oil (Gabon, Cameroon)
      • Gold, manganese and uranium

  WEST AFRICA (Figure 6-16)

  • steppe and desert states to the north
  • smaller, wetter, coastal states to the south
  • 4 British, 9 French, 1 Portuguese former colonies, 1 long independent state
  • Why is it a REGION?
  • most populous region
  • desertification in the north
  • periodic markets
  • Conflicts:
    • Ivory Coast
    • Liberia
    • Sierra Leone
  • NIGERIA
    • Africa's most populous country
    • At independence (1960), Nigeria was composed of three regions (based on regional tribal bases of the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Ibo).
    • In 1967 interregional rivalries led to civil war when the eastern region tried to succeed as the Republic of Biafra = civil war
    • Regions were subdivided and rearranged to ensure a civil war did not occur again.
    • Currently - a Federal State
    • Capital city moved from Lagos to Abuja (Forward Capital)
    • oil found in the Niger delta area followed by wasteful development policies

   

  AFRICAN TRANSITION ZONE (Figure 6-18)

  • Sahel
  • Islamic Front
  • turmoil between the Islamic/Arab north and the Christian/Animist Africans in the south
  • conflicts:
    • Sudan
      • Darfur province
    • Eritrea and Ethiopia
    • Ethiopia and Ogaden
    • Somalia and Somaliland