World Geography Unit 8: Africa | Notes and practice

Notes

Features: Sahara, Sahel, Kalahari, Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria, Kilimanjaro.
Climate bands lie north and south of the equator: rainforest, savanna, desert and Mediterranean at the northern and southwestern edges. Desertification threatens the Sahel.

North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt (Cairo, Nile, Suez Canal). Arabic and Islam are widespread. Western Sahara's status is disputed.
Sub-Saharan: Nigeria (most populous, Abuja), Ethiopia, Kenya (Nairobi), Ghana, South Africa (three capitals), DR Congo.

Ancient Egypt and Kush; Mali, Songhai; Atlantic slave trade; Berlin Conference (1884-85) and colonial borders; independence mostly in 1950s-60s; apartheid ended in the early 1990s.
Many economies rely on subsistence farming and primary exports (cocoa, coffee, oil, minerals). Diverse languages; Swahili is a lingua franca.

Each topic has its own short notes and practice.

Which desert is the largest hot desert in the world?

The Congo Basin has heavy rainfall all year and dense forest. Which biome is this?

Which statement best explains why Egypt's population is concentrated near the Nile?

The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 is important to African history because it

Which person became president of South Africa in 1994 after the end of apartheid?

Sub-Saharan Africa includes which country that is the most populous in Africa?

Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.

Free-response question

Ghana gained independence in 1957. It exports cocoa and gold, and most of its people live in the southern part of the country near the coast.

(a) Explain why Ghana's borders are an example of colonial legacy.

Show the answer and scoring guide

European powers drew colonial borders without regard to ethnic or cultural groups, so many modern borders divide or combine groups.

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(b) Identify one risk of depending on cocoa exports.

Show the answer and scoring guide

World cocoa prices can fall or crops can fail, which would hurt incomes and the national economy.

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(c) Describe the region in Ghana's south and one reason people settle there.

Show the answer and scoring guide

Ghana's south has a tropical, wetter climate near the Gulf of Guinea. People settle there because of rainfall, farmland, ports and trade.

Check off the points you earned: