Chapter 18 Flashcards
What is another name for Africa?
The plateau continent
What landform covers most of Africa?
Plateau
What is a basin?
A depression
What River flowing through Uganda and Sudan into Egypt is more than 4,000 miles long?
The Nile River
What percentage of Egyptians depend on the Nile for water?
95%
What River forms the continent’s greatest network of waterways, but is broken up by 32 cataracts?
The Congo River
What are long, thin valleys known as?
Rift valleys
What part of Africa is pulling away from the rest?
The eastern portion
What is the longest freshwater lake in the world?
Lake Tanganyika
What is Africa’s tallest mountain?
Mt. Kilimanjaro
What is a steep slope with a nearly flat plateau on top known as?
Escarpment
What percentage of the world’s platinum does South Africa produce?
80%
What percentage of the world’s gold does South Africa produce?
30%
What three countries are among the world’s leading petroleum producers?
Libya, Nigeria, and Algeria
What percentage of the world’s coffee does Africa grow?
20%
What is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans?
Côte d’Ivoire
What is the world’s largest desert?
The Sahara
What organism do travelers rely on for desert transportation?
Camels
What are huge stores of underground water known as?
Aquifers
What is a place in a desert where water from an aquifer comes to the surface, supporting vegetation and wildlife?
Oasis
What is the “winter” of the tropics?
Night
Where are Mediterranean climates found in Africa?
The northern and southern tips of the continent
What is the name of the tropical grassland in northern Tanzania?
The Serengeti Plain
How many different tree species does one square acre of rainforest contain?
100
What is the uppermost layer of branches, about 150 feet above the ground?
Canopy
What is the region containing most of Nigeria’s soil?
Niger delta
What is the narrow band of dry grassland running east to west along the southern edge of the Sahel?
Sahel
What is the expansion of dry conditions into moist areas next to deserts?
Desertification
What discovery made Nigeria rich?
The discovery of oil
Who became Nigeria’s president in 1999?
Olusegun Obasanjo
What dam was built between Egypt and Sudan to give farmers a regular supply of water?
The Aswan High Dam
