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Geography Review #4 SEM 2 Final Exam

Unit 6 Africa
Chapter 18: Physical Geography of Africa: The Plateau Continent
Section 1: Landforms and Resources
Define/Identify:
1. Basin:
2. Nile River: the longest river in the world.
3. Rift Valley: long thin valleys
4. Mount Kilimanjaro: Africa’s highest mountain
5. Escarpment:

Answer:
1. How much did continental drift affect Africa?
Africa moved very little.
2. What is the longest river in the world?
The Nile River.
3. How were rift valleys formed?
Due to continental plates drifting apart.
4. Which is the longest fresh water lake in the world?
Lake Tanganyika
5. Which is Africa’s tallest mountain?
Mount Kilimanjaro
6. If Africa has so many resources, why isn’t it the richest continent?
Due to European colonial rule, African nations have been slow to develop
the infrastructure and industries to turn the resources into valuable
products.
7. What historical process has prevented African nations from industrializing?
European colonial rule
8. What are the two most profitable commodities in Africa?
Oil and coffee

Section 2: Climate and Vegetation

Define/Identify:
1. Sahara: the largest desert in the world
2. Aquifer: underground water
3. Oasis: water from aquifers that comes to the surface to support vegetation and
wildlife
4. Serengeti Plain: located in Tanzania. Has dry climate and hard soil that prevents
the growth of trees and many crops.
5. Canopy: uppermost layer of branches in trees.
Answer:
1. What is the largest desert in the world?
Sahara.
2. What does Sahara mean?
Desert in Arabic.
3. What part of Africa receives the most precipitation?
Central Africa.
4. In what country can the Serengeti Plain be found?
Tanzania
5. What is the major rain forest of Africa?
Congo Basin
6. Where do most animals in the rain forest live?
In the trees’ canopy.
7. Where can mangrove trees be found?
West Africa

Section 3: Human-Environment Interaction

Define/Identify:
1. Niger Delta: a region that contains most of Niger’s oil.
2. Sahel: narrow band of dry grassland that runs along the Sahara.
3. Desertification: an expansion of dry conditions into moist areas that are next to
the desert.
4. Aswan High Dam: a dam built in Egypt that controls the floodwaters of the Nile
River; the dam keeps the water year-round and releases it for the farmers.
5. Silt: keeps the farmland rich.

Answer:
1. Where can the Sahel be found?
Near the Sahara
2. What are some human causes of desertification?
Overgrazing, farming, irrigation, and overpopulation.
3. Why is the discovery of oil in Nigeria another environmental issue?
Oil spills and drilling to find the oil damage the land.
4. Why was the Aswan High Dam built in Egypt?
To control the floodwaters of the Nile.
5. What environmental issues has the Aswan High Dam created?
No deposits of silt and less fertile land.
1- E
2- I
3- J
4- A
5- F
6- C
7- B
8- G
9- D
10- H

Chapter 19: Human Geography of Africa: From Human Beginnings to New Nations
Section 1: East Africa
Define/Identify:
1. Olduvai Gorge: located in Northern Tanzania; contained the most continuous
record of humanity.
2. Aksum: emerged in Ethiopia in 100 A.D.
3. Berlin Conference: 14 European nations convened to divide Africa without regard
to where African ethnic or linguistic groups lived.
4. Cash Crop: Coffee, tea, and sugar. Crops grown for selling.
5. Masai: one of the two major ethnic groups in East Africa.
6. Pandemic: uncontrollable outbreak of disease affecting a large population over a
wide geographic area.

Answer
1. Who did the Aksum trade with?
Egypt and the Roman Empire.
2. Which trading city was most important during the 1300s?
Kilwa.
3. Where did European nations meet to divide up Africa?
Berlin Conference.
4. What didn’t the Europeans take into account when dividing Africa?
Ethnic and/or linguistic groups.
5. Why was Ethiopia able to escape colonization?
Their emperor Menelik II and their knowledge of the area’s geography &
with weapons provided by France and Russia.
6. What caused the Rwandan genocide in the 1990’s?

7. What cash crops did European colonizers rely on?

Sugar, coffee, and tea.
8. What are the two major ethnic groups in East Africa?
Masai and the Kikuyu.
9. What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

Section 2: North Africa

Define/Identify:
1. Carthage: one of the greatest cities of ancient Africa.
2. Islam: one of the most practiced religions in Africa.
3. Rai: Algerian music that is fast paced and has elements of Western music.
4. Cultural hearth: a place where ideas and innovations come together to change a
region.
5. Cultural diffusion: the process through which ideas and innovations spread
through a region.
6. Souks: marketplaces in North Africa.

Answer:
1. What made civilization possible in Egypt?
The Nile River.
2. What were the ancient Egyptians known for?
Pyramids, math, and medicine.
3. What were pharaohs?
Egyptian god-kings that ruled ancient Egypt.
4. What is the major cultural and religious influence in North Africa?
Islam.
5. What countries provide the European Union with most of its oil and gas?
Libya and Algeria.
6. How did the role of women change in Tunisia?
Tunisia no longer permits preteen girls to marry and requires equal pay for
equal jobs.

Section 3: West Africa

Define/Identify:
1. Goree Island: An island off the coast of Senegal
2. Stateless Society: One in which people rely on family lineages to govern
themselves, rather than an elected government or monarch.
3. Family lineage: a family or group that has descended from a common ancestor.
4. Ashanti: live in Ghana and are known for their work in weaving colorful cloth
called asasia.
5. Asasia: colorful cloth woven by the Ashanti.
6. Kora: a cross between a harp and a lute; a musical instrument.

Answer:
1. What did the first West African empires trade?
Gold and salt.
2. How did Ghana grow rich?
Political stability.
3. What leader led Mali to emerge as a great kingdom?
Sundiata.
4. What group is an example of a stateless society?
Igbo of southwest Nigeria.

Section 4: Central Africa

Define/Identify:
1. Bantu: a group of peoples and cultures who speak the Bantu language.
2. Bantu Migration: when Bantu speaking people moved southward throughout
Africa.
3. King Leopold II: king of Belgium; took control of the Congo using the Congo
River.
4. Mobutu Sese Seko: Congo’s leader from the 1960s to 1997; began to take money
from his country’s reorganization.
5. Fang Sculpture: a type of sculpture from Central Africa famous for their carvings.

Answer:
1. What was the initial base for trade in African captives?
Island of São Tomé.
2. What king started imperialism in Africa?
King Leopold II.
3. How were the artificial borders imposed in Africa problematic?
Didn’t consider ethnic regions and grouped traditional enemies together;
disrupted the long-standing systems of government.
4. Why weren’t African countries able to efficiently restore order after gaining
independence?
The Europeans left little money to develop roads, railroads, airports, or
productive education systems
5. What was the impact of Imperialism in Africa?
Colonialism left them recovering from a loss of raw materials, disruptions
of the political systems, & cultural/ethnic oppression of its people.
6. What does Central African art focus on?
Their art focuses on issues of political instability, urban life, social justice,
and crime.
7. What are some education problems faced in Central Africa?
Shortage of trained teachers, a high dropout rate, and a shortage of
secondary schools.

Section 5: Southern Africa

Define/Identify:
1. Great Zimbabwe: Thriving gold-trade area.
2. Mutapa Empire: an empire that extended all throughout present-day Zimbabwe
3. Apartheid: complete separation of the races; a policy instituted in South Africa by
the government in 1948.
4. Nelson Mandela: fought against apartheid; activist; elected president of South
Africa in 1994.

Answer:
1. Who established Great Zimbabwe?
The Shona people.
2. Who established the Mutapa Empire?
Mutota.
3. How did the British gain control of South Africa?
They defeated the Dutch Boers.
 4. How did blacks fight apartheid in South Africa?
Founding the African National Congress
5. Why was Nelson Mandela imprisoned?
He fought against Apartheid.

1- H
2- F
3- J
4- I
5- D
6- B
7- G
8- C
9- A
10- E

Chapter 20: Today's Issues: Africa

Section 1: Economic Development
Define/Identify:
1. “One-Commodity” country: countries that only sell one or two products.
2. Commodity: only selling one product.
3. Diversity: create a variety in a country’s economy.

Answer:
1. What are most African economies based on?
Providing raw materials (oil, minerals, or agricultural products) to the
world’s industrial countries.
2. What percentage of the total world GNP does Africa account for?
1%.
3. Why would being a “one-commodity” country be in an economic decline?
Africa needs to diversify and create a variety in their economies in order
to promote growth.
4. What is the goal of the International Organization for Migration?
Encourage professionals to return home to Africa.

Section 2: Health Care

Define/Identify:
1. AIDS: acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
2. Cholera: an infection caused by inadequate sanitation.
3. Malaria: carried by mosquitoes and is often fatal to those who become resistant to
standard drug treatment.
4. Tuberculosis: a respiratory infection spread between humans is also a major issue.
5. UNAIDS: the section of the UN that fights AIDS.

Answer:
1. What is the economic consequence of the AIDS epidemic?
Less people are able to work due to sickness or death.
2. How are some African countries combatting disease?
Improving their healthcare systems and implementing spray programs.
 Case Study: Effects of Colonialism
Answer:
1. Who were the first Europeans to arrive in Africa?
Portuguese.
2. Why did Europeans colonize Africa?
Africa’s rich resources.
3. What was the impact of European colonization in Africa?
They grouped together ethnic groups that are historically enemies
The Europeans established national borders that bounded these groups
together.

1- D
2- E
3- A
4- G
5- C
6- H
7- B
8- J
9- I
10- F

Map- All countries of Africa (including the islands)