OUR OWN HIGH SCHOOL AL WARQA’A

Land and Resources of Africa

Subject: Moral, Social and Cultural Studies Grade : 8

Learning outcomes:

• Describe the land, rivers, mountains and physical geography of Africa.

• Locate the Great Rift Valley on the map and list the countries it runs through.

Geography of Africa:

Africa is joined to the Asian continent at the Suez Peninsula. The Suez Canal connects the Red
Sea along the northeast coast of Egypt and Sudan. It was built in the late 19 th century to allow
ships to pass from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

The Sahel is an inhabitable area that borders the Sahara Desert. It stretches down into grassy
savannah lands where raising crops and grazing animals is possible. Timbuktu and Djenne are
located in the Sahel.

The West African coast is divided among various countries formerly colonized by the French
and British. Nigeria is rich in oil resources and a major petroleum product exporter. Lagos is a
port city and was the capital of Nigeria.

The Rift Valley And East Africa: The Rift Valley of Eastern Africa was created by plate tectonics.
Movements of the earth over millions of years caused a split or “rift” of the earth’s crust. The
rift runs about 7,000 km from the country of Jordan and the Red Sea in the North through East
Africa and down to central Mozambique.

Splits in the rock formations revealed layers or strata of geological rock formations that date
back hundreds of thousands and millions of years. Geologists and physical anthropologists
found ancient human remains in the Rift Valley at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and Lake Turkana
in Kenya.

Central Africa and South Africa: Central Africa is dominated by the Congo Basin. In it are large
tropical rain forests as well as one of Africa’s principal river systems, the Zaire River, also known
as the Congo River. It is an area rich in mineral resources and rare metals. South Africa is
separated by the Kalahari Desert. It is a rich agricultural and mineral area with gold and
diamond mines.