Objectives

Geography of West Africa Sahara, Sahel, Savannah, and RainforestObjectivesWhat divides Africa into two major areas? Who lives to the north and who lives to the south of this great divider? Identify the area people mean when they say West Africa. Name the greatest river in West Africa. Name the religious idea in which people believe that spirits inhabit trees, animals, bodies of water, and even rocks.

Where are the major savannah areas of Africa? Where is the African rainforest?

Terms and PeopleRifts are valleys formed when tectonic plates pull apart.Sub-Saharan Africa is the part of the continent south of the great desert. Sahel is the border or the desert. Little grows here. Rain forest is a moist, densely wooded area.

Savannah is an open grassland with scattered trees.

Extended family is not just parents and children, but grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Terms and Peopleanimism is a belief in the spirits of water, forest, and animals.

When people talk about West Africa, they dont generally mean this area: Nor do they mean this area: Generally, when people talk about West Africa, they mean this area: The Sahara Desert divides Africa into two ethnic areas. The Sahara Desert is difficult to cross and has divided people for thousands of years. North of the Sahara live Arabs and Berbers.

The Sahara DesertSouth of the Sahara live many different peoples.

Most early African kingdoms were in west Africa. Here flows the great Niger River. Civilizations grew up around the Niger River.

Before the arrival of Christianity and of Islam, most of the religious or spiritual beliefs here focused on animism. Animism is the belief that all parts of nature have spirits: water, trees, rocks, as well as animals.

Masks are important to animism. When a participant in a ritual wore a mask, he was taking on the identity of a spirit or inviting in the spirit into his body.

Poverty continues to plague Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria Ethiopia The LakesSouth AfricaThe Sahara Desert has almost no population.The Congo Basin has a low population.What landform divides Africa into two major ethnic regions? The Niger RiverThe Sahara DesertThe rainforest The Nile DeltaWho lives to the north of the Sahara Desert? Arabs and Berbers What great religious change began 500 years ago and is still occurring in Africa? Islam is driving out animism.Animism is driving out Christianity.Christianity is driving out Islam.Animism is driving out Buddhism.

Which religion believes that trees, rocks, and bodies of water have spirits of their own? Animism What is the name of the geographical feature in which water flows downward and inward?A rift valleyA basinA delta A savannah

What is the name of the geographical feature in which the Earths plates pull away from each other?A rift valleyA mountainA volcanoA savannah What large land feature makes living and travel difficult in central Africa?The Great Rift ValleyThe Congo BasinThe Nile Delta The Great African Savannah Around what geographical feature did most of Sub-Saharan Africas early civilizations develop ? The Niger RiverThe Sahara DesertThe Great Rift ValleyThe central rainforests

Rift ValleysSahara Desert

Examine this chart. What two factors does it compare?Many nations of Western Africa are among the worst places to live in the world. However, most of these nations are better off than many Central and Southern African nations.