Transcript Document

February 23, 2015
• Please sit quietly and wait for further instructions.
Homework: Study Guide p. 3-4
February 24, 2015
• Please sit quietly and begin working on the Warm-up.
• You will need your Study Guide packet to answer the
questions on the handout.
Homework: Study Guide p. 5-6
The Land
• Plateaus, Highlands, and Mountains
• Africa can be described as a series of steps that are actually
plateaus rising from west to east.
• The height of these plateaus range from 500 ft (west) to 8,000 ft
(east) and these solid rock formations make up most of Africa.
• Rivers cross these plateaus and plunge down the sides creating
beautiful, towering waterfalls.
• The average elevation of Africa is higher than every other
continent but it has few mountains.
• The highest mountain peak in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro
(19,335ft) in Tanzania.
• The Great Rift Valley
• A rift valley is a large crack in the earth’s surface made by shifting
tectonic plates.
• The Great Rift Valley form volcanic mountains and deep lakes in
East Africa.
• Stretches from Syria to Mozambique
Water Systems
• It is very difficult to navigate most of Africa’s rivers due to
how broken the land is.
• Most of the region’s lakes are near the Great Rift Valley.
• Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the second largest
freshwater lake in the world.
• Lake Chad is threatened with extinction due to droughts and
evaporation.
• Lake Volta is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world
and was created in the 1960s by damming up Ghana’s Volta
River.
• The river would constantly flood and leave thousands homeless.
• Benefits of the lake:
• irrigation for farming
• well stocked with fish
• supplies hydroelectric power that is used throughout Ghana
• River Basins
• Niger River is known as the “great river” and extends 2,600 miles
along western Africa.
• major river for transportation
• extremely important to agriculture
• Zambezi River
• The Zambezi travels 2,200 miles and interrupted many times by
waterfalls.
• The river plummets 355 feet in the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe to
create the beautiful Victoria Falls.
• Congo River is the largest network of navigable waterways in
Africa and travels 2,900 miles.
• It is a very important river for transportation in Africa.
• The Sahara Desert
• The Sahara and other deserts make traveling across land very
difficult in the region.
Natural Resources
• Oil
• Angola, Nigeria, Gabon, and Congo all have oil reserves.
• Metals
• Deposits of copper, iron ore, zinc, chromium, cobalt, are all scattered
throughout the region.
• Gold
• South Africa is home to half of the world’s gold.
• Precious Metals
• Ghana, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe are all
home to several precious metals.
Natural Resources
• Diamonds
• Diamonds are mined in South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Sierra
Leone, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Water
• Rainfall is unpredictable in Africa so this creates many challenges
for the people who live in the region.
• It is difficult to rely upon hydroelectric power because of this.
• Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia all generate hydroelectric
power but the Congo River is still unutilized.
• Solar power is a resource used wisely throughout the region.
Fill out the graphic organizer
then go onto your HW!
Rapid Population Growth
• Africa South of the Sahara is home to 11% of the world’s
population with over 711 million people.
• ***The region has the highest birthrates and death rates in
the world.
• Birthrate: the number of births per year for every 1000 people.
• Death Rate: the number of deaths per year for every 1000
people.
• ***The region has the highest infant mortality rates, shortest
life expectancy, extremely low per capita income, and very
low literacy rates.
• Infant mortality rate: the number of infants who die each year
• Life expectancy: the average number of years that a person is
expected to live
• Per capita income: the average amount of money a person earns
per year
• Literacy rate: the percentage of people who can read and write.
• Births outnumber deaths in Africa and its population growth
is larger than any other region in the world.
• AIDS is a factor that may limit population growth.
• 70% of the world’s AIDS population lives in Africa.
• Population and Food
• The growing population and economic problems have made it
difficult to feed the millions of people in Africa.
• 70% of the people in Africa are farmers but because the
population has tripled, there is not nearly enough food to feed
everyone.
Disease and Health Care
• Famine and poor nutrition claim many lives, especially
infants and young children.
• Only one third of Africans have access to clean water and the
lack of clean water is a major source of death in the region.
• ¾ of the population lives without proper sanitation
(disposal of waste products) which helps spread many
diseases.
• Malaria is widespread and insects such as the mosquito and
tsetse fly transmit deadly viruses to people and animals
throughout Africa.
• AIDS has now become an epidemic (rapid spread of deadly
disease).
• Over 17 million Africans died by the year 2000 and another 20
million Africans projected to lose their lives to the disease by the
year 2010. The United Nations predicts that 11 million children will
become orphans due to losing parents to AIDS by the year 2010.
• A Diverse Population
• Africa is home to over 3,000 different ethnic groups.
• Cities
• Africa South of the Sahara is one of the least urbanized
regions in the world with only 30% of the population living in
cities.
• The region does, however, has the world’s fastest rate of
urbanization.
• In 1950, only 35 million Africans lived in cities. Today about
270 million live in urban areas.
• ***Africans leave their rural villages in search of better job
opportunities, health care, education, and housing.***
• Most major cities lie on the coast, along major rivers, or near
areas rich in valuable resources.
• Natural Resources
• The region is very rich in mineral resources.
• Oil is plentiful along the western coast (Gabon, Nigeria, Congo,
Angola).
• South Africa is home to about half of the world’s gold.
• Diamonds are scattered throughout the region (Angola, Dem.
Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Botswana).
February 26, 2015
• Please copy the Homework, sit quietly and wait for further
instructions.
Homework: Finish activity from today.
February 27, 2015
• Please sit quietly and begin the Warm-up.
Homework: No Homework!
Please take notes as we watch
the documentaries today.
March 2, 2015
Homework: Finish answering questions from handout
http://upfront.scholastic.com/News/Nelson-Mandela
Please follow along as we read
about Nelson Mandela and the
History of South Africa.
• http://upfront.scholastic.com/resource/uploads_upfront/
News/2013-12/UPF-May08BookExcerpt.pdf
Please read and answer the questions
on the History of South Africa.
March 3, 2015
• Please take your handout from yesterday, “History of South
Africa” and take out a pencil.
• Wait for further instructions
Homework: Study Guide p. 9
March 4, 2015
Homework: Study Guide p. 10-11
• Languages
• More than 800 languages are spoken in Africa today.
• Many countries have adopted the languages of their previous
colonial rulers (i.e. English, French, German).
•
• Religions
• 41% of the population in Africa practices Christianity.
• Christianity came to Ethiopia as early as 300s A.D. with
missionaries and traders.
• Christianity did not spread throughout Africa until European
colonial rule.
• The second most widely practiced religion is Islam claiming
over 34% of Africans.
• Nigeria has the largest Muslim population of any African nation
south of the Sahara Desert.
• Most Muslims live in western Africa.
•
• Traditional religions are numerous and diverse but share
many common elements.
• Most believe in the existence of a supreme being (god) and a
ranked order of lesser deities.
• Most believe in the existence of nature spirits and honor
ancestors and family members who have died.
• Though many followers of different religions live together
peacefully, conflict sometimes occurs between competing
religious groups (Nigeria, Sudan).
• Education
• Africans have always valued education but in different ways
than the West.
• In the past, African children did not attend school but instead
learned specific trades (woodworking, metalworking).
• More Africans began attending formal school due to the influence
of Europeans.
• Educational Advances
• Since independence, higher education has expanded. In 1960
only 120,000 were enrolled in universities and today over 2
million attend.
• Public school attendance and literacy have also increased, but
only about 60% adults throughout Africa can read and write.
• Rural areas are short of schools, materials, and teachers, and
have lower literacy rates than urban areas. In many places parent
are too poor to send their children to school.
The Places We Live
• Please take notes while we learn more about the lifestyles
of four African households.
• http://www.theplaceswelive.com
March 6, 2015
• Please take out a writing utensil, sit quietly.
`No Homework!
March 9, 2015
• Please sit quietly and work on your Warm-up.
Homework: Complete Africa map
I. Agriculture
•1. Farming is the main economic activity in Africa.
•2. More than 2/3_of the working population is involved in some form of agriculture.
•3. Farming Methods:
•a. Most Africans are involved in subsistence farming (small scale agriculture that
provides needs for just a family or village).
•b. After meeting their own needs, any extra harvest_or animals are sold at local
market or traded for other items they might want.
•c. A small percentage of African farmers work in commercial farming (farms that
produce crops on a large scale to be sold for profit, not simply used by the farmer).
•4. Most commercial farms are foreign owned plantations.
•5. These farms provide much of the world’s peanuts , palm oil, cacao (chocolate), and
sisal.
•6. Conflicts arise over the distribution of land because the best land is controlled by
commercial farms which are often owned by European descendants.
II. Mining Resources
•A. Mining can be difficult and risky_ but is an important
economic activity in the region.
•B. Mineral Wealth
•i. South Africa is the world’s largest gold producer as well
as gems, platinum, and chromium
.
•ii. South Africa is one of the region’s richest countries but
foreign investors and white South Africans reap the benefits.
•iii. Despite many rich resources in certain countries, most of
the people do not benefit because the local resources are
poorly managed and foreign owners send their profits
abroad.
• III. Industrialization
• A. Many African countries do not take advantage of their natural resources
because they lack capital and infrastructure (resources such as trained
workers, facilities, and equipment
• B. Most countries in the region continue to act as suppliers of raw
materials for industrialized countries around the world.
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C. Obstacles
1. Africa faces many obstacles_ to industrialization.
2. Lack of skilled workers(education).
3. Shortages of electricity.
4. Political conflicts interrupt the economy and take resources away.
• D. Trade
• a. Many countries export to Western European countries because of
colonial ties.
• b. Various countries have formed regional trading organizations such as
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) in order to
exchange ideas and protect their own interests_.
• IV. Transportation and Communication
• A. Problems
• i. Wars and lack of money have kept effective roads and
rail lines from being built and repaired.
• ii. Water transportation is difficult to navigate and there
are few natural harbors throughout the region.
B. Changes
• 1. Some countries consider transportation a top priority
(Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania – all working on
linking people and ideas).
• V. Communications
• A. The region has relied heavily on radio.
• B. Television reaches fewer people because if is expensive to
transmit signals outside of cities.
• C. Due to low literacy rates, newspapers and magazines _are
limited. Governments also regulate and restrict publishing.
• D. Telephone service is limited with only 14 phone lines for every
1000 people. Satellite and wireless technology is predicted to
improve communication in the near future
.
March 10, 2015
• Please sit quietly and wait for further instructions.
Homework: Memorize the countries for map exam next
week!
I.
Shadow of
• A. Hunger is one of the most significant issues facing Africans today.
• i. In the 1990s, thousands of people died from starvation in the Horn of
Africa (Somalia, Djibouti, and Ethiopia).
• Ii. Millions rely on food donations to survive.
• Iii. Drought and wars contributed to the malnutrition.
• B. Desertification is extending the desert area and unpredictable
weather is another cause of the severe lack of food.
• C. Conflicts in Liberia, Sudan, Rwanda, and Somalia_are just some of
the many examples.
• a. Civil war in Somalia is endangering the lives of over 1 million
people.
• B. In Sudan, over 2 million are on the verge of starvation.
• C. Ethiopia and Eritrea_ fought a war for over 2 years and just recently
signed a peace treaty.
II. Land Use
• a. Destruction of Rainforests
• i.
Over 1.5 billion acres are lost each year.
• 1. Cote d’Ivoire and Madagascar_have both lost over
90% of their rainforests.
• 2. Over 90%_of Africa’s rainforests are now gone.
• b. Endangered Animals
• i.
As the rainforests are disappearing, many animals are
losing theirhabitat and are one the verge of extinction.
March 11, 2015
• Please sit quietly and wait for further instructions.
Homework: Work on Project