Africa is the second largest continent, covering about a fifth of the world’s landmass. It stretches equally to the north and south of the equator and is made up of many different kinds of landscapes and ecosystems.

Africa consists of over 50 states, many of which became independent in the 20th century. The whole continent was ruled by European powers until the world wars. Today, many nations still suffer from the lack of democratic elements. Dictators and military leaders rule politically unstable countries, in which there are no free elections.

The continent has great deposits of the world’s most valuable minerals and raw materials, including diamonds, coal, copper and gold. However, Africa is the least developed of all continents. Food is often scarce and droughts hit many regions on a regular basis. Diseases spread throughout Africa, life expectancy is low and poverty is widespread.

Image : Martin23230, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Landscapes of Africa

Atlas Mountains

Sahara Desert

Atlas mountains in Marocco
Image: Kobersky (talk · contribs), CC BY-SA 2.5,
via Wikimedia Commons

Sahara desert in Algeria
Image: Fiontain, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Nile River

In the eastern part of the Sahara desert the Nile River winds its way to the Mediterranean Sea. The longest river system in the world begins near the equator in the highlands of Eastern Africa and flows through many different landscapes.

East African Highlands

East Africa is dominated by highlands and plateaus, as well as lakes and deep mountain valleys. They stretch from Ethiopia in the north to Mozambique in the south. Most of the highlands reach heights of over 1,500 metres. The highest mountains are old volcanoes that are not active any more. Mount Kilimanjaro, situated near the equator, is almost 6,000 metres high.

The Great Rift Valley is a series of cracks in the Earth’s surface that extends from The Red Sea to Mozambique. It was created when the African continent broke apart millions of years ago. The area once was dominated by active volcanoes and earthquakes. Today, the Great Rift Valley is made up of deep and narrow lakes. Lake Tanganyika, which is over 400 miles long and 1500 metres deep, is the longest freshwater lake in the world. The largest African lake, Lake Victoria, lies is a shallow basin between two deep valleys.

Great Rift Valley
Image: Sémhur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Congo River Basin

The Congo River with its gigantic basin takes up much of central Africa. It stretches from the Atlantic to the highlands of East Africa and makes up about 20% of the world’s rainforests. Except for the Amazon, it carries more water than any other river in the world. The rainforest is habitat of half of the Africa’s plants and wildlife.

Deserts in Southern Africa

Southern Africa is covered by large deserts. The Namib Desert is the oldest in the world. It stretches along the Southern Atlantic coast of the continent and reaches up to 200 km inland. Its sand dunes near the coast reach a height of 300 metres and are up to 30 km long.

The Kalahari Desert is a dry sand basin that covers much of Botswana and western Namibia. It is not a real desert because the area gets at least some rainfall which makes it possible for animals to graze during the wet season.

South Africa

Most of South Africa is a series of old plateaus called velds. They reach a height of about 2,500 metres. To the south a ridge called the Great Escarpment drops down to the small coastal strip. Within this escarpment, the Drakensberg rises to an altitude of almost 3,500 metres.

Namib Desert and the Atlantic coast
Image: Robur.q, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Great Escarpment
Image: NJR ZA, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Islands

Africa is a continent with straight coastlines and therefore very few islands. The largest island, Madagascar, lies almost 400 km east of the mainland. Millions of years ago it was a part of India. It split from the Asian subcontinent and developed its own plant and animal life. Other important island groups are the Canaries in the Atlantic Ocean and the Seychelles and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

Climate and Vegetation

Most parts of Africa are warm or hot, but rainfall varies from region to region. It decreases the farther you move away from the equator. Most of Africa lies in the tropical or subtropical region. The highest temperatures of the continent are measured in the desert regions of the Sahara, where daytime temperatures reach up to 50°C. Nights can be cool and frosty, even during the summer. The coldest regions of Africa lie in the eastern highlands and southern Africa.

Most of Africa is divided into wet and dry seasons. Near the equator there are two very wet seasons, as the sun passes overhead in spring and fall. During this time heavy rain falls every day in the afternoon. Precipitation up to 4000 mm a year is no exception. Humidity is always high, making life in this region very unpleasant.

Other parts of Africa usually have one wet season which gets shorter the farther away you get from the equator. North of the equator most rain falls from April to September, south of the equator the rainy season is from October to March. The Mediterranean coast as well as the southern part of Africa get rainfall during the winter months.

Rainfall in Africa
Image: Delphi234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Plant life is influenced by the amount of rainfall. Tropical rainforests extend to the north and south of the equator. They are home to thousands of plants and animal species. The rainforests consist of various layers of vegetation, from shrubs and ferns on the ground to trees that grow up to a height of 50 metres.

In the savannahs and grasslands longer grass is replaced by shorter grass as you move away from the equator, with trees scattered in-between. In some areas, like the Sahel zone, there are large differences in rainfall every year. In the last decades droughts have caused hunger and starvation in many part of the Sahel and Ethiopia.

Rainfall influences Africa’s agriculture. Nutrients in the top layers of the soil are washed away after torrential rain, on the other hand nothing can grow if it rains too little.

In the desert regions of the Sahara, Namib and Kalahari rainfall often drops to under a hundred cm a year. Differences in temperature between day and night are often larger than between summer and winter.

Climate regions in Africa are changing constantly, maybe due to global warming. Droughts are becoming more widespread across the Sahel and eastern Africa. The Sahara is moving southward and more and more areas are threatened by deforestation.

Rainy season in the Sahel zone
Image: NOAA, US Gov, Unidentified, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Population

Africa is often referred to as the cradle of mankind. Scientists agree that the first humans probably appeared in Africa 4 million years ago and from there spread to other continents.

About 1.2 billion people live in Africa today. By 2050 the population of the continent is expected to double. Africa is the continent with the highest birth-rates and strongest population growth. This is because medical aid is getting better, there are more hospitals and doctors who take care of the population. Compared with other continents the average life expectancy in Africa is still low. In some countries of central Africa people barely reach 60.

Life expectancy in Africa
Image (modified) :Lady3mlnm, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Africa’s population is unevenly distributed over the continent. Many parts of the Sahara desert and the tropical rainforest are sparsely inhabited. On the other hand the Nile Delta, the Mediterranean coast, Nigeria, the highlands of eastern Africa are densely populated. On average about 65 people live on 1 square mile.

Many people in Africa suffer from a shortage of food, droughts, poor sanitation and a series of tropical diseases. In addition, AIDS is widespread and the biggest single killer of the continent.

Tribal groups

The people in Africa belong to various cultures and have different social backgrounds. Arabs live in the Mediterranean countries of northern Africa. They came to the region at around 600 A.D. and blended in with the Berbers, the people who had already been living there.

Black Africans are in the majority south of the Sahara desert. These people are made up of thousands of different tribes, who speak over a thousand languages and have different traditions and cultures. Among the largest groups are the Yoruba of Nigeria and the Zulu of South Africa.

In the 17th and 18th centuries Europeans started to settle in the southern part of Africa. Especially the Dutch and the British found their way to the coast of the southern Cape and spread inwards. There they met native tribes and fought wars against them. During the colonial period of the 19th century millions of Europeans made their way to Africa, many of them stayed there. Asians, above all Indians, settled on the eastern coast and Madagascar.

Nomads in northeastern Africa
Image: Nikswieweg, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

Yoruba drummers in Nigeria
Image: Melvin “Buddy” Baker from St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Religions

There are hundreds of local religions spread across the African continent. Many native tribes pray to gods and other spirits, mostly to get a good harvest and stay in good health. Some religious ceremonies prepare young people for adulthood and marriage.

About 500 million Muslims live in Africa, especially in the Arab countries of the north. But also Nigeria, Somalia and Tanzania have strong Islamic groups. Christianity spread to Africa through the work of missionaries from Europe and North America. Today Christianity is dominant in the non-Arab countries south of the Sahara desert. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa also has the largest number of Christians (about 80 million) on the continent. Copts are the native Christians in Egypt. They represent about 10% of the population there.

Religions in Africa
Image: derivative work: T L Miles (talk) / uploader of original revision of Religion_distribution.png was Moshin,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Life in Traditional African Societies

Today’s Society

Although most Africans still live in rural areas, cities are growing fast, mostly because many people do not have jobs in the countryside and move to the urban areas to find more opportunities and a better life. Today about 50% of the population lives in cities. Lagos, Nigeria, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Cairo, Egypt are among the fastest growing cities in the world.

Africa’s Economy

Although Africa is a continent that is rich in resources and raw materials, a large part of its population lives in poverty. In the last few decades, the standard of living has improved but income is still very low. In addition, Africa relies heavily on farming products and minerals as a source of income.

Farming

Farming is the most important economic activity and way of earning money for the people of Africa. Almost 70% of its population work in agriculture.

Most of the continent’s population depends on staple crops, food that people need themselves and base their diet on. These include corn, sorghum, rice and wheat as well as potatoes, fruits and vegetables. Cash crops are grown on large plantations and exported to other countries. They include cocoa, bananas and coffee.

In many African countries, food production cannot keep up with the increasing population. This leads to chronic food shortages. Some African countries have turned from food exporters in the last century to food importers today. However, most of them do not have the money and capital to import food from abroad. In addition, climate change and widespread droughts lead to hunger and starvation in many parts of Africa.

Livestock is raised in all parts of Africa. Sheep, goats, camels, pigs and other animals are kept for food, skin and as working and transportation animals.

Farmers in Burkina Faso
Image: Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=289842

Cocoa harvest in Cameroon
Image: CHRISTONALDO, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mining

Africa is rich with minerals and raw materials. The continent has large deposits of copper, gold, phosphates, platinum and minerals. The mining industry focuses on the countries south of the equator. Diamonds, gold and coal are produced in South Africa, which has the most advanced mining industry. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil-producing country. Bauxite and phosphates are mined in Morocco.

While Africa does have many resources, they do not control the world markets. Most countries do not process raw materials but export them to developed countries. The fight over raw materials has also led to conflicts and wars in Africa. Selling diamonds illegally, for example, helped to finance a civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.

Minerals in Africa

Manufacturing

Industry is a young sector of the African economy. Most industries were set up after the countries got their independence from Europe. During the colonial period they got their finished products from Europe, often at a high price. Many nations still have developing industrial sectors. While foreigners own many companies, the number of young African businessmen opening up firms has increased steadily.

Tourism and Transportation

Tourism is a leading source of income in at least some African countries. Millions of people from around the globe visit the historic sites of ancient Egypt. Others travel to the mountains of eastern Africa or go on a safari in one of the game reserves in Kenya or Tanzania. Conflicts, wars and uprisings during the Arab Spring kept tourists away from Egypt and northern Africa.

Transportation is poorly developed in many African countries. Only the middle and upper classes own cars. Many Africans go on foot or use buses and bikes as a method of transportation. Air transport is well developed in places that attract tourists, like Egypt and Kenya

Game reserve in South Africa
Image:flowcomm, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

History of Africa

Africa is often called the cradle of civilization. The first human beings roamed the continent about 2 million years ago. Old civilizations grew along the banks of the Nile River. Thousands of years ago ancient Egypt became a powerful empire, to the south Nubia emerged in today’s Sudan.

In the early centuries after the birth of Christ Christianity started to spread to northern Africa. In the Middle Ages Islam became the major religion. It spread across northern Africa very quickly and later on expanded to regions south of the Sahara desert. Christianity experienced a comeback in the 19th century when missionaries from Europe began to spread it to western and central Africa.

After 1000 A.D., great empires emerged in Ghana and other areas in western African. City-states, including Mogadishu and Zanzibar, grew into powerful trading centres in East Africa.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages the first Europeans came to Africa. From the early 1500s on, they made money by bringing slaves to North America. The British, Dutch and Portuguese set up trading posts along the western African coast where they searched for gold and ivory. In the 17th century, the Dutch set up a trading post at the Cape of Good Hope. It grew into a Dutch colony until the 19th century, when the British took over.

At the end of the 19th century, Europeans ruled most of Africa. They saw the continent as a major source of raw materials that they could bring back to Europe for their emerging industries. As a result, the Industrial Revolution did not take place in Africa. Throughout the colonial period, European countries fought for influence and control in Africa. In the “Scramble for Africa”, they divided the continent into spheres of interest. Native Africans often resisted colonial governments and in many areas, they were killed in uprisings.

The main colonial powers were:

• Great Britain (Egypt, Sudan, Eastern Africa, Rhodesia and South Africa)
• France (Algeria, French West Africa, Equatorial Africa)
• Belgium (Congo)
• Portugal(Angola, Mozambique)
• Germany (Southwest Africa – Namibia)
• Spain (Spanish Sahara)
• Italy (Ethiopia, Libya, Somaliland)

In the early 1900s, nationalism grew in many areas of Africa. People wanted colonialism to end and be free. After World War II most European countries ended their involvement in Africa, either out of their own free will or because they were forced out.

African colonies
Image: Eric Gaba – Wikimedia Commons user: Sting, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the 1950s, Algerians started to revolt against France. In a bloody colonial war that cost a million lives the Algerians became independent in 1962. In Angola and Mozambique, the Portuguese fought wars before they gave up their territories.

One of the last countries to gain independence was Rhodesia, today’s Zimbabwe, where blacks fought for over a decade against the British. In South Africa, white Europeans gave up control of the country after Apartheid ended in the 1990s.

Many African countries did not know how to cope with their newly gained independence, largely because they had no experience in administrating and governing a nation. As a result, civil wars, tribal conflicts and power struggles broke out. They resulted in dozens of wars in Africa since the 1960s. In the most gruesome conflict of the 1990s, a civil war in Ruanda led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people. However, Africa has had to cope with other problems as well. Virus outbreaks, for example Ebola, and other tropical diseases have killed thousands in the past years.

Videos

Exercises

Jigsaw Puzzle

Put the pieces of the puzzle into the correct position to create a map of Africa.

Wordsearch

Printable Downloads (PDF)