Questions, Africa South of the Sahara
1. Make a T chart listing the opportunities and challenges the continent of Africa faces.
Opportunities: Africa has a very young population, extensive natural resources; some countries have stable governments and growing economies.
Challenges: Some countries have very corrupt governments; the AIDS epidemic has lowered life expectancies; conflict and violence occur often; all of the economies are still developing, and environmental challenges like deforestation ad desertification make economic success more difficult.
2. What is a coastal plain?
Flat land next to water.
3. List in alphabetical order the four major rivers in Africa.
The Congo, the Niger, the Nile, and the Zambezi are the four major rivers in Africa.
4. SA! What are two effects of South Africa’s wealth in natural resources?
South Africa became an attractive place for European countries who wanted colonies. Now that apartheid is over, South Africa is able to use it mineral wealth to diversify their economies and help reduce inequality between whites and blacks.
5. SA! What is apartheid?
Apartheid is the South African government’s policy of keep the country’s black population poor, separate, and unequal.
6. SA! How have mineral resources helped South Africa move beyond apartheid?
They are able to use the money they make from their mineral resources to invest many different types of businesses. They can also use the taxes they collect on mining to pay for more services for all the people in Aouth Africa instead of just the whites, like in the past.
7. Why aren’t Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria more wealthy?
Both have governments that are highly corrupt. The government in Guinea-Bissau allows drug smugglers to use their country to smuggle drugs all over the world and keep the money to make themselves rich. In Nigeria, people in the government steal the profits from the sale of the country’s petroleum resources.
8. What are the Chinese doing in Africa?
China often makes contracts with countries like Madagascar to use their resources like land or minerals. In return, the Chinese agree to build things for the African country and give them money.
9. Write a postcard from the Sahel to your favorite Geography teacher describing the climate and vegetation.
The Sahel is a steppe climate which means it receives 10-25 inches of precipitation a year, the vegetation is short grasses with some shrubs, and the temperature is hot in the day, very cool at night.
10. What does “Although Africa only has 12% of the world’s population, the continent has 60% of the world’s AIDS cases” mean?
The statistic show that even Africa has a small population compared to other continents it has more than half of the world’s AIDS cases.
11. SA! Create a timeline showing 5 events from Rwandan history.
1910’s—Belgium colonizes Rwanda and make the Tutsis powerful.
1950’s—Rwanda gains independence and the Hutus become powerful.
1980’s—Tutsi organize a group to fight the discrimination and inequality of the Rwandan government.
1994—Hutu president of Rwanda is assassinated.
April—July 1994—Hutus attempt genocide of the Tutsis.
12. Describe the ethnic/political situation in Nigeria.
In Nigeria, there are four major ethnic groups. Two of these groups had all the power when the British were in control (they are also both Christian and live in the South). Once Nigeria gained independence, the other two ethnic groups (who are Islamic and live in the North) gained control. In the 1980s there were violent conflicts between these groups. In the 1990s, a government was created that tried to balance the ethnic groups and reduce the tension. Now, in one of the places where one ethnic group, the Igba, live, much petroleum has been discovered. One group that has gotten a lot of attention, the Boko Haram is an Islamic group from the North that has committed many terrorist acts against the people in the North and the government.
13. What is the newest country in the world?
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2012.
14. Why did it start?
The northern part of the country is ethnically Arab and Muslim. The southern part of the country is Christian or Animist. They warred for several years. In 2012, a new country, better reflecting these ethnic and cultural divisions, called South Sudan was formed from the Southern part of Sudan.
15. Name several ancient African empires?
The earliest kingdom was called the Kush and was located where Ethiopia is now. Greater empires came later in West Africa with the growth of Ghana, Mali, Songhai empires. Southern Africa was the home of the Bantu kingdoms called Kongo, Luba , and Lunda.
16. Describe two impacts of colonialism on African nations.
One of the things the Europeans did to keep control was to make sure different groups under their control fought each other. So, often one ethnic groups was given much greater power and opportunity than other ethnic groups. This increased the conflict between ethnicities and the problems that came from it continue today. Another thing the Europeans did was spread their culture. Most of the places in Africa have a lot of elements of European culture like language and government systems.
17. What is corruption?
One definition of corruption is the people who run the government use the wealth of the country to make themselves rich.
18. What is the oral tradition?
An oral tradition basically means that the important stories in the culture are not written down, instead they remembered and retold over generations.
19. How could disease, corruption, and violence interfere with the development of an economy?
An economy is a group of people who make stuff and divide it up. A developed economy is one that makes a lot of stuff and shares it with equality in mind. If there is a lot disease in a country, then there are fewer people healthy enough to make stuff so there is less stuff. If there is a lot of corruption, then some people are stealing from the other people in the economy and leaving them with less stuff. Violence makes it impossible to make stuff because everyone is just trying to survive.
20. SA! What is the UN?
The United Nations is a organization of most countries in the world.
21. SA! What does the UN do in Africa?
They provide humanitarian relief for people in Africa (and a lot of other places, too). They provide food relief for people who are starving or malnourished (doesn’t get enough or the right things to eat).They set up camps for refugees. They negotiate zones in places fighting wars for people to go to if they want to escape the violence. They protect people from other organizations who are doing good things like the Red Cross/ Red Crescent. The UN will provide some healthcare and education for people who are suffering because of a natural disaster.
22. SA! Explain how poor farming leads to desertification.
If people and animals take all the grass and trees out of the land, it cannot hold moisture, and then it becomes arid, or dry.
23. SA! Where has this been a problem?
The Sahel has increasingly become desert over the last 50 years.
24. Why is Africa being deforested?
People need to live, so they cut away the forest in order to have plots to grow crops.