123 Flashcards
four types of evidence that indicate africa is mother continent
fossil, genetic, linguistic, archaeologicial
humans have different ethnicities
distinguished from one another by ___ (3)
language,
culture, and nationality
Baobab
African trees from the genus Adansonia; major
symbol of the West African Sahel
__
affects African climates more than any other factor
rainfall (or its absence)
describe climate zones in africa
wet tropical zone along equator; gets drier as you move to the north or to the south. large deserts in the interior of northern and southern africa. coastal regions that get
proportionately more rainfall than adjacent regions
in the interior
describe climate of east african coast
the
climate is isolated from the rest of Africa by a mountainous ridge and is most influenced by weather in the indian ocean
One of the most interesting features of climate
change in Africa over the millennia has been __, which over time led to __(4)
the
contraction and expansion of the Sahara Desert; innovations in
food production, new forms of irrigation, migratory
movements, and the formation of centralized states
along the Nile River and the Niger River to address
the problems of increasingly dense populations
pastoralists
animal herders
Africa is the world’s __ largest continent
__ square miles
2nd; 11.7 million
the continent of afirca is mostly a __ with over __ of coastline and __ countries
plateau; 16,000 mi; 54
africa contains about __ of the world’s landmass. some __percent of africa is __percent and __ is forest. __ united states, __, can fit on the african continent
20 percent of world’s landmass.
20 percent desert, 15 percent rainforest.
three U.S.s
the __ river, which begins __ of the equator and flows __ward, is __ long and is [ most ]
nile; south; northward; 4160 mi; world’s longest river
africa is larger than (4) combined
U.S., china, europe, india
since africa was so large, __
control over people, rather than land, was the basis for power and wealth
slash n burn farming
relied more on land than labor. cleared new land with fire –instead of applying fertilizer or rotating crops – to restore productivity on existing farms
low-labor farming methods enabled
even single families to be self-sufficient, so there was less pressure to form larger groups than in places where land was more limited
the nile flows from __ to __
central africa to mediterranean sea
congo-zaire river: length, length rank, location
2,718 mi. world’s tenth longest. central africa to atlantic ocean
niger river: length, location
2,600 mi. west africa to atlantic ocean
zambezi river: length, location
1,800 mi. central africa to indian ocean
As a consequence of ___, the largest
African populations developed in the interior, and
the coast remained sparsely populated until the Europeans
arrived.
only interior sections of most african rivers were navigable for long distances. navigation to coast was impossible b/c cataracts
the niger river is navigable for __ mi
1,000. phildelphia –> chicago
although the continent is basically flat, there’s
a long stretch of mountains and plateaus high in eastern africa, which was formed by the collision of 2 tectonic plates, and a few older mountain ranges in western africa that are mostly of volcanic origin
The name “Africa” has not always been used to
refer to the continent of Africa. The name was initially
used limitedly to refer to ___. how then did “africa” end up applying to the entire continent?
Roman North Africa
after the fall of Carthage in 146 bce. The Arab conquerors
of the seventh century referred to the same region as “Ifriqiya.” Subsequently, the name “Africa” was applied to the entire continent during and after the voyages of exploration in the 15th century by the Portuguese and other Europeans.
how many ethnic groups across africa
3000
Hausa
the largest West African Muslim ethnic group;
live across the Sahel from Ghana to Sudan
Yoruba
the major Nigerian ethnic group that
participated in the transatlantic slave trade; created
the Oyo kingdom in southwestern Nigeria
Igbo
majority ethnic group in the region that declared
independence from Nigeria as the country Biafra
Mande
the language group of about 30 million people
spread across thirteen West African countries
Akan (2 things)
one of three West African gold fields located in
the forest and savanna of present-day Ghana; the other
two are Bambuk and Bure; also a language group
Fula
the major ethnic group and language of West
Africa
only [ ethnic group ] are concentrated largely within a single african country
Igbo
