Geographic regions of africa

Review and Study Guide for the

A region that shares characteristics of two or more areas that surround it, such as the Sahel in Africa

Sahel – a transition zone between the desert and the savanna, it shares features of both regions

Savanna – a huge plateau that stretches across Africa, mostly grasslands

Rainforest – south of the savanna is one of the world’s largest rainforests with the Congo river as a major feature along with tropical plants and animals

Grassland with some trees

Baobab trees are important because both its leaves and its fruit are edible

Has both wet and dry seasons

During the wet season, farmers grow a variety of crops

• Located in east and southern Africa

• A region where the crust was stretched due to forces inside the Earth

• Land sank and Magma filled in the cracks resulting in a rift, or long valley

• Dutch word for field

• much like the savanna region of west Africa, the veld has a more varied climate because it is spread across a much wider range of elevations

• Western part of the veld receives less rain than the eastern part of the veld

• Drier plains region is used for raising cattle and the eastern region is used for farming

Sahel – most people earn their living by herding livestock, but farmers in the south are able to grow dry-climate crops such as peanuts and dates

Savanna – the major activity is farming crops such as palm oil, coffee, rubber, and cacao

Rainforest – while 80% of the people are farmers, only 2% of the land is farmed and insects destroy crops and cause sickness among the people and livestock

Most of the lakes are very deep

Some lakes are known as soda lakes because they are neither fresh water or salt water, but alkaline because of the minerals that seep into the water from volcanic rock

Red algae grows on top of these lakes and millions of flamingos feed on the algae, turning their feathers pink

Gold – one of Africa’s best-known minerals found in South Africa, which has about ½ of the world’s deposits of gold and is the world’s leading producer of gold

Diamonds – another of Africa’s best-known minerals found in South Africa and mined for both jewelry and industrial uses

Sahara – found in most of northern Africa, it is the largest desert in the world; about the size of the continental United States

Deserts of southern Africa – the Kalahari and the Namib deserts are found in southern Africa in the countries of Botswana and Namibia, respectfully

Escarpments – a steep slope or cliff rising hundreds of feet from a lower land level

The Great Escarpment in eastern and southern Africa created a barrier, helping to protect Africans from the early European explorers