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AGE 302 Geography of Africa (Old Module)
AGE 302 Geography of Africa (Old Module)
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
TABLE OF CONTENT
TABLE OF CONTENT.................................................................................................ii
FOREWORD................................................................................................................vii
1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................1
PART ONE.....................................................................................................................2
1.1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................2
1.2 OBJECTIVES............................................................................................................2
1.3 POLITICAL MAP OF AFRICA.................................................................................2
1.4 THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL MAP OF AFRICA........................................................4
1.5 POSITION, SIZE OF AFRICA.....................................................................................5
1.6 REVISION QUESTIONS.............................................................................................7
1.7 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS..................................................................................7
1.8 FURTHER READING.................................................................................................8
ii
3.0 LESSON THREE: PHYSIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS19
OF AFRICA..............................................................................................................19
3.1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................19
3.2 OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................................19
3.3 THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC SETTING AND ENVIRONMENT............................................19
3.4 RIVER DRAINAGE OF AFRICA...............................................................................22
3.5 AFRICAN COASTLINES..........................................................................................26
3.6 SUMMARY.............................................................................................................28
3.7 FURTHER READING...............................................................................................29
4.1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................30
4.2 OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................................30
4.2.1 CLIMATIC CHARACTERISTICS, VARIATIONS, REGIONS AND TYPES OVER THE
AFRICAN.....................................................................................................................31
CONTINENT.................................................................................................................31
4.2.2 CLIMATIC REGIONS OF AFRICA.........................................................................35
4.2.3 CLIMATIC TYPES OF AFRICA.............................................................................37
4.3 SUMMARY.............................................................................................................38
4.4 REVIEW QUESTIONS.............................................................................................38
4.5 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS................................................................................38
4.6 READING LIST......................................................................................................39
5.1 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................40
5.2 OBJECTIVES...............................................................................................40
5.3 SOIL CHARACTERISTICS FORMATION IN AFRICA.......................................40
5.4 SOIL TYPES, CLASSIFICATION IN AFRICA..................................................41
5.5 SOILS TYPES, CLASSIFICATION IN AFRICA.....................................................45
5.6 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................49
5.7 REVISION QUESTIONS.....................................................................................49
iii
5.8 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS..........................................................................50
5.9 READING LIST.................................................................................................50
6.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................51
6.2 OBJECTIVES....................................................................................................51
6.3 VEGETATION DIVERSIFICATION IN AFRICA....................................................51
6.3.1 TROPICAL RAIN FOREST.................................................................................52
6.3.2 TROPICAL SAVANNAH I.E. (I) MOIST WOODLAND SAVANNAH, (II) DRY
WOODLAND................................................................................................................54
6.3.3 DESERT STEPPE (STEPPE AND DESERT).........................................................55
6.4 VEGETATION TYPES OF AFRICA....................................................................56
6.5 CLIMATE AND VEGETATION...........................................................................57
6.6 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................57
6.7 REVIEW QUESTIONS.......................................................................................58
6.8 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS..........................................................................58
6.9 FURTHER READING.........................................................................................58
IN AFRICA...................................................................................................................59
7.1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................59
7.2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES......................................................................................59
7.3 THE ORIGIN, SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION................................................................59
7.3.1 ORIGIN OF THE AFRICAN ETHNICITY.................................................................59
7.3.2 POPULATION SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA...........................................60
7.3.3 PEOPLE ETHNICITY AND RELIGION/BELIEVES WITHIN THE AFRICAN CONTINENT.
63
7.4 FACTORS INFLUENCING POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA..........................66
7.5 POPULATION STRUCTURE.....................................................................................75
iv
7.6 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH A LARGE POPULATION.........................................76
7.7 SUMMARY.............................................................................................................80
7.8 REVISION QUESTIONS...........................................................................................80
7.9 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS................................................................................81
7.10 READING LIST.....................................................................................................81
8.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................82
8.2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES...................................................................................82
8.3 INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AND ITS SIGNIFICANT IN AFRICA.
....................................................................................................................................82
8.3.1 TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA.........................................................83
8.3.2 THE SIGNIFICANT OF AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA...............................................84
8.4 SOME AGRICULTURAL TYPES IN AFRICA..........................................................85
8.4.1 FORESTRY AND FISHING....................................................................................85
8.4.2 MINING............................................................................................................85
8.5 FACTORS THAT CONTROL AGRICULTURAL DISTRIBUTION...............................86
8.5.1 PHYSICAL FACTORS..........................................................................................86
8.5.2 CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC FACTOR..................................................................89
8.5 AGRICULTURAL TYPES............................................................................................................92
8.6 SUMMARY..........................................................................................................95
8.7 REVISION QUESTIONS.......................................................................................95
8.8 FURTHER READING.............................................................................................95
9.0 LESSON NINE: AFRICAN INDUSTRY AND TRADE.................................96
9.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................96
9.2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES......................................................................................96
9.3 THE TREND OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE IN AFRICA............................................96
9.4 MANUFACTURING TYPES GENERALLY...............................................................97
9.5 FACTORS CONTROLLING THE SITE OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES...............99
9.5.1 RAW MATERIALS...............................................................................................99
v
9.5.2 AVAILABLE MARKETS.....................................................................................100
9.5.3 TRANSPORT NETWORKS..................................................................................100
9.5.4 LOCAL SUPPLY OF LABOUR............................................................................101
9.5.5STARTING CAPITAL..........................................................................................101
9.5.6 POLITICAL POLICY...........................................................................................102
9.5.7 OPERATIONAL ENERGY..................................................................................102
9.5.8 TRADE..............................................................................................................103
9.5.9 INDUSTRIAL WILL (INERTIA)............................................................................103
9.10 AFRICAN INDUSTRIALIZATION.........................................................................105
9.11 SIGNIFICANT OF THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY..........................................106
9.12 SUMMARY.........................................................................................................106
9.13 REVISION QUESTIONS.......................................................................................107
9.14 FURTHER READING...........................................................................................107
10.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................108
10.2 OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................108
10.3 STATUS OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION IN AFRICA..........................108
10.4 BACKGROUND SIGNIFICANT OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION NETWORK
FOR 110
10.5 SUMMARY.........................................................................................................112
10.6 REVISION QUESTIONS......................................................................................112
10.7 Further Reading............................................................................................112
vi
FOREWORD
vii
1. Introduction
The course is divided into two main components known or indicated as section “A” and
“B” on the course outline.
Such components are as follows:-
1st Physical environment
2nd Human environment
You must have gained some knowledge about Africa during your earlier
education in Geography and History of Africa, as well through other related subjects
about the continent of Africa as a region.
The knowledge ought to have been gained either by class lessons, conducted by
teachers or through reading some of the standard textbooks on Africa, or even through
institutions attended by you as an individual.
As emphasized in the course outline, you need to examine some of the key
thematic and developmental themes at various spatial scales with the aim of specific (or
using special) examples that are dawn from the African Continent.
The course outline starts with the introduction, where we need to familiarize
with:-
(a) Course concept or objective, scope.
(b) Political map.
(c) Position of Africa on our earth or globe.
1
PART ONE
1.1 Introduction
During the course of Geography of East Africa, you were introduced to the
influence of East African Coast peoples, such as Arab, the Swahilis and their movements
along the Coasts and Islands of East Africa as a specific region. Other historical
development activities such as the Railway lines were highlighted also. This course aims
to introduce learners to the physical and human components of the whole continent of
Africa using the same approaches as that used to study the Geography of East, but in
larger scale, (or wider perspectives), in a spatial outlook. This means considering all
regions of Africa and their differential degrees both in physical, developmental
adoptions.
1.2 Objectives
2
1.3.1 Political Map of Africa – is an old concept that followed the colonial
interpretations, in dividing Africa into political regions or countries, just before 1960.
1.3.2
These regions or countries were as follows:-
(a) Countries that were free from colonialism are:
Ethiopia
Siera-Leone
1.3.3
(a) According to colonialists each of the above category maintained a special
separate flag colour.
(b) East empire or colony had its own flag colour of the country under its regime/rule.
1.3.4. The empires or colonists that dominated Africa before 1960, are as follows:-
(a) British (d) Italian
(b) French (e) Spain
(c) Portuguese (f) Germany
3
1.4 The history of Political Map of Africa
Political map of Africa is an old concept based on the colonial interpretations, that
divided the African continent into political regions/sectors or countries slightly before
1960.
In this concept one would be made to understand the way different previous
colonial regimes divided and developed various regions (East African Region, West
African Region, North African Region, South African Region, Central African Region
etc.) of Africa according to colonial interest regimes and economic trends.
Dividing of such regions or countries were generally based on the following
criterion as follows in a kind of category:
(a) Countries that were free from colonialism:-
(i) Ethiopia
(ii) Siera-Leone
(b) Countries that were still under colonialism by 1960.
(c) Countries that were never ruled by colonialism
(a) According to the colonialists rule, each of the above category maintained a
special separate flag colour.
(b) East empire or colony had its own flag colour of the country under its
regime/rule.
1.4.4. To-day (or at least by 1968) all countries are free from colonialism in Africa that
is to say:
East country has its own;
Flag and colour
4
Regime or government
Policies or political trend
Constitution or law
The area is about 30.3 million km 2, or 20% of the Earth’s land surface taken
together.
The larger part of Africa lies between Ras Hufun, northern Somali (known as the
Horn of Africa – 51o5’E) and Cape Verde, in Senega (17 o32’W) with a distance of about
7200km ( ).
Nearly over three quarters (¾) of the African area (nearly 77%) lies in the tropics,
- i.e. 23½ and 23½ latitudes north and south of the Equator. One third (⅓) of the African
areas is affected by cold wind belts that provide arid and semi-arid conditions of northern
and Southern Hemispheres.
And over 25% of the Africa area is covered by Great Wastes of the Sahara Desert
north of the Equator.
5
Table 1: Below compares Africa with other continents of our Earth. Table 1, gives
comparison with other continents.
The African Continent seems like an island that connected to the since Peninsula
by a narrow Isthmus, separated by the human created Suez Canal. From Spain is also cut
off by the 9 mile wide straits of Gibraltar, that between morocco (in Africa) and Spain (in
Europe) countries.
1.5 Summary
In this lesson we have discussed the approaches that were adopted by colonialists
to divide and develop the African Continent during the early colonial times slightly
before the year 1960.
The history of the political Map of Africa and regions or countries and the way
they were categorised has been highlighted in this lesson.
The position of Africa with comparison with other continents worldwide with
each continents areal figures are summarised.
6
1.6 Revision Questions
(a) Discuss the methods used by colonialists to regionalised the Continent of
Africa.
(b) Outline the countries according to the colonial economic trends in the
Continent of Africa.
(c) Describe the extend of the African Continent.
(d) Explain the problems that faced by Africa because of the Sahara Desert
expansion.
(b) Region - is a unit-zone on the surface of the Earth that differs by its
specific characteristics from others. It must be functional
with unifying force like a river basin or marketing formal.
(c) Political Map - means politically organised zones with specific interests
and their economic trends, political phenomena groupings
etc.
7
1.8 Further Reading
(a) Richard White (1990); Africa in Focus: A Physical, Human and Economic
Geography, Macmillan Publishers.
(b) Church, R.J.H., Clarke, J.I., Clarke, P.J.H., and Henderson, H.J.R. (1979);
Africa and the Islands, Longman: London.
8
LESSON TWO: ORIGIN AND GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF AFRICA
2.1 Introduction
This lesson explains some advanced theories that are associated with the origin of
the African continent like any other continent on the surface of the Earth. The existence
and spreadness of these contents to the northern and Southern Hemispheres has been
described. Geological formation similarities that are associated with other Southern
continents are highlighted. Rocks, provings of earlier united phenomenon are
characterised.
2.2 Objectives
By the end of this lesson, learners should be able to:
(a) Explain some theories linked to the origin of the African continent.
(b) Outline the continents that formed the Gondwanaland as one huge
landmass.
(c) Describe the geological structures, associated with Africa and other
continents.
(d) Discuss the theory of the Continental Drift.
2.3 Association with the Theory of Continental Drift to the Origin of the African
Continent
The Theory of Continental Drift was first put forward by a German Scientist
known as Alfred Wegener in 1912, 1924. (in Richard White, 1990). A. Wegener
expanded F.B. Taylor’s ideas, who had stated it in 1910, 1911. A. Wegener’s theory of
9
Continental Drift observes the way and how a number of continents could fit together.
According to this theory all the continents formed one supercontinent that was known as
Pangae (Fig. I).
He noted and suggested that continents do move/or drift, across the Earth’s
surface and eventually these continents change their original positions.
In Richard White, 1990; it states that A. Wegener’s theory involved only the
continental crust, excluding the crust under the oceans.
Later, this theory advanced and now it includes the Earth surface wholly, where
the crustal both the rocks of the continents (Sial) and those of the oceans (Sima) are
included in the theory of Plate Tectonics.
This theory of Continental Drift has become one of the outstanding ideas about
the origin of Africa and other continents on the Earth’s surface, known as ‘Alfred
Wegener and the origin of an idea’ (Thompson, Turk, 1993).
This is the idea of movement of the lighter continents on the heavier, softer rocks
of the Earth’s Crust (A. Wegener, 1912, Taylo, F.B. 1910).
This idea (or theory) explains that the African Continent was a part of one huge
continent known as ‘Gondwanaland’.
10
The idea further stated that similar rock structures along the coastlines of Western
Africa and Eastern South America appear to fit off the Southern Continents that formed
Gondwanaland.
The northern continents, forming one huge landmass that was known as Laurasia to the
north were:-
(a) North America
(b) Greenland
(c) Europe at times known as Eurasia
(d) Asia
Further suggested ideas were that there was similar geological sequence or rock strata in:
Also it has been observed that a number of small Folded Ranges in Argentina and
the Falk Islands seem to be similar in structure, age to the Folded Cape Range of South
Africa.
11
large landmass once existed to the north –east in what presently is now being occupied by
the Indian Ocean Basin (Colin Burckle, 1979).
Comparing with other continents, having similar origin, Africa possesses once
similarities and contrasts.
Actually Africa seems similar to other small-sized continental shield zones such
as:-
(a) Baltic shield
(b) Laurantian shield
(c) Brazilian shield and others.
It has been observed that some parts of Africa were folded about 1500 million
years ago which were less disturbed by tectonic activity.
The crotons are regions of most gold zones of Africa, diamonds, chromite, asbestors,
iron, etc.
12
According to Read, H.H. and Janet Watson (1978), the orogen zones are regions
where minerals such as Coper, Lead, Zinc and tin are usually formed. The oldest pre-
cambrian rocks do underlie the continental base which are exposed on nearly 1/3 of
Africa’s surface.
This is because of the extensive erosional processes which swept away numerous
geological remnants or fossils on the Africa’s surfaces. Although some Cambrian shales,
sandstones and limestones do exist in the Sahara desert region at the moment.
For example in Southern African sections the main rock series after pre-cambrian
seems to be of Devonian age which include folded shales and sandstones around Cape
Range Region. Some parts to the eastern, northern Coasts of Africa, the Cristalline
Complexes sink in many places beneath Mesozoic and Cainozoic sediments. In most
cases Cainozoic are those of Tertiary sediments which were deposited in Marginal
Marine Basins.
The extreme north-west, a part of Alpide folded-belt builds the Atlas Mountains.
Southern end of Africa is occupied by the Cape folded-belt of Palaeozoic period in a belt
zone form.
13
As an outstanding feature that was caused by internal process, the Rift-Valley is a
geological formation and looks like a great crack running through the African Continent,
and being the only one of its kind on dry land, registered as the largest and most
impressive globally. The fracture starts from Turkey in the northern Hemisphere to
Zambezi River delta in the southern Hemisphere with a length of about 6500km 5 long.
The length across the African Continent is about 5600km, starting from the afar
depression in Eltrea to the mouth of River Zambezi in Mozambique.
This Rift Valley System passes through the Dead Sea including the Jordan Valley
in Israel known as the Levantine Rift.
According to Colin Buckle (1978, the eastern part of Africa contains series of Rift
Valley Systems which form a number of interconnected troughs. Within troughs lie most
of East Africa’s Lakes, with an exception of Lake Victoria – a down-warping physical
feature.
In the Rift Valley floor, as well as on either sides there are a number of volcanoes,
although to-day most of them are extinct.
These rift have an average width of about 50km and the average height of the
limiting (or bounding) scarps stands at about 600m.
14
However, it has been observed that from one part to another usually are large
variations both in the width and the trough’s depth.
For example the Eastern Rift (through Kenya) the width is up to 100m only. The
bounding Aberdare Range, that forms the eastern wall do rise to over 2000m above the
main valley floor.
To the south in northern Tanzania, the rift faulting nearly disappears, where the
scarps do not rise above 100m.
Within the western Rift Valley these contrasts are even bigger, where for example
Mount Ruwenzori, regarded as a block mountain within the rift do rise above 5000m. Far
south the floor of Lake Tanganyika falls (or drops) to about 650m below sea level.
Studies indicate that the nature of the escarpments do vary greatly within the same
zone from each side of the rift to the next.
For instance the Zairean side of Lake Mobutu, the rift is almost twice as high as
the Uganda side. For some sections the edge of the rifts are bounded by a single fault, but
usually there is a system of many faults that produce stepped escarpments at the side.
For example the stepped faulting system has been noticed at the base of the
Kedong Scarp, to the south-west of Nairobi within the Eastern Rift.
On the western side of Lake Malawi Rift, as well occur parallel step faults that
form gentle profile than that of the eastern side (Colin Buckle 1979).
To the north-east side of Lake Malawi, rises steep from that level of the lake
within the scarp of the Livingstone mountains over 2000m above the Lake Surface.
15
Although the scarps usually rise to favourable heights but they only represent
fraction of the actual depth of the troughs (Colin Buckle, 1979).
2.6 Summary
16
2.7 Revision Questions
17
2.9 Further Reading
1. H.H. Read and Janet Watson (1979): Introduction to Geology Vol. I
and II – Part I and II: Early Stages of Earth History/Later Stages of
Earth History.
18
3.0 LESSON THREE: PHYSIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
OF AFRICA
3.1 Introduction
This lesson provides the physiographic setting of the African Continent and the
general nature of the surface. The lesson characterises various surfaces which are
associated with geological structures or formations that produce different plateaux and
uplands on the continent of Africa.
The Coastal lining and its nature has also been highlighted plus various Coastal types
around the continent.
3.2 Objectives
19
(b) Discuss various surfaces associated with the geological structures on the
African Continent.
(c) Characterise the nature and types of the Coastline of the African Continent.
(d) Describe the drainage system and associated relief surfaces on the African
Continent.
And because of such natural set-up, according to A.T. Grove (1970), the African
Continent is divided into two surface heights namely:
(a) High Africa.
(b) Low Africa.
High and low sections of Africa are divided by a line trace contour of 1000m
from Luanda in Angola to Asmara depression in Eltrea – north of Ethiopia (Fig. IV)
20
Mainly, High Africa is dominated by large and high plateau/Uplands and plains
standing (or found) between 1000m and 2000m high, while low Africa the plains mostly
are found between 160m and 660m high.
Some zones within High Africa do rise above 2000m high. Some examples include:-
(a) Lesotho Highlands (Over 3800m).
(b) The Aberdare Range (Over 4400m)
(c) The Mutumba Mountains (Over 4930m)
(d) The Ethiopian Highlands (Over 5050m).
(e) The extensive Nyika zone plateaux (Over 2700m).
(f) The Cherangani Hills (Over 3500m).
(g) Ruwenzori Mountain (Over 5585m).
(h) Kilimanjaro Mountain (5895m).
(i) Mount Kenya (5199m).
(j) Mount Elgon (Over 4200m).
Some of them rise as uplands and mountains like Islands from the surrounding plains.
Low Africa a part form the Atlas Mountains (4165m), lies below 1000m, but
large depressions such as Libya, Chad, Mauritania are found below 300m high.
Those which rise like Islands, Mountains from the main surrounding plains of low
(or Sahara) Africa include:-
(a) Hoggar (Over 3000m)
(b) Jebel Marra (3300m)
(c) Tibesti (3800m)
21
They form a discontinuous upland arc of about 2700km long, bisecting the Sahara
zone latitudinally.
The Atlas Mountains is nearly extensive as the Ethiopian Highlands contain
chains between 1800m and 2500m high.
The High Atlas in Morocco stretches for about 400km at an altitudes ranging
from 2000m to 4000m high.
The extensive low plains, including the plateaux zones and steep slopes do drop to
the Indian Ocean basin, extending inland up to Zambezi, Limpopo river valleys and
Luangwa depression in South Africa.
The interior depressions (Or basins) such as Okavanga and Kalahari Desert are
found below 1000m.
A number of these rivers such as River Nile are very old which were formed on
the African surface about 65 million years ago during the Eocene times.
22
Since then river Nile has undergone (or experienced) numerous changes even if it
has always flown to the north (Colin B. 1979).
It has been noted that during Pleistocene pluvial times the zone presently
occupied by the Swampy Sudd, around Juba-Khartoum area belonged to a vast Lake
which was known as Lake Sudd during those times.
Sources indicate that Lake Sudd drew its waters from ancestor rivers that formed
the present White and Blue Niles.
And eventually the White and Blue Niles over lopped the basin’s rim and started
flowing to the north, joining the Mediterranean sea passing through Sabaloka Gorge in
the north of Khartoum City.
Shore deposits show that some lakes might have been formed along the former
Nile course between Khartoum-Malakal zone.
This is evidenced by the present rivers, having some lake sediments which were
earlier deposited here.
Such ancient lakes in size and length were as large as the present lakes such as
Tanganyika, Malawi, etc.
Presently the rivers that dominate the entire northeastern section of Africa are the
tributaries of river Nile such as the Blue Nile, the Sobat, the Atbara.
As it is observed form the topo map of Africa the above river Nile tributaries
mainly drain their waters from the lower northwest, eastern and southeasten slopes of the
Ethiopian Highlands. Some of them like Sobat and the Blue Nile, because of the
topographic nature of the eastern Ethiopian Highlands are characterised with series of
falls and rapids before they join the eastern low plains of the river Nile (Fig. …..).
23
According to Colin Blue (1979), the three rivers maintain tremendous erosive
power that is evidenced by large amounts of silt which have been deposited along the
lower and huge delta of the river Nile.
Africa has a number and famous rivers and it ranks among the world’s largest
rivers. But mainly it is drained by five major rivers, which have sources within the high
zones or highlands of Africa. They are:-
(1) River Congo, (2) River Nile, (3) River Niger, (4) River Zambezi and (5) River
Orange.
Both in size and basins, these rivers are complex and they are longer than 1000km in
distance.
About 75% of African rivers drain in humid zones, where about ½ of Africa is
usually drained by the said five rivers.
Some rivers like the Nile and Niger drainage systems derive from the
amalgamation of several systems during the Cainozoic Era.
In contrast river Congo has a more well defined basin and compact.
River Zambezi and some of its tributaries for example pass through interior
swampy basins on the plains of High Africa before they descend to their large lowland
along the Coastal zone of the Western Sections of the Indian Ocean.
However, J.M. Pritchard (1979), indicated that the drainage systems of the
African Continent falls into three groups or categories in a ranking river categories
namely (Fig….).
I. Main drainage systems with rivers:
1. River Nile
2. River Congo
3. River Niger
24
4. River Zambezi
5. River Orange
II. Regional drainage systems:-
1. Maghreb region
2. Western region
3. West Equatorial region
4. Southwestern region
5. Southern region
6. Southeastern region
7. Eastern region
III. Basins of internal drainage systems:-
1. Lake Turkana
2. Okavanga Basin
3. Lake Chad
IV. With no specific drainage systems:-
1. Sahara zone
2. Northeastern zone
And this possibly what Colin Buckle (1979) categorised as ‘regional drainage
systems’.
Rivers belonging to this category maintain less than 650km long and the nature or
cause of these rivers are basically linear and at right angles towards the Coastline.
25
The African Continent drainage system also comprises numerous large and small
lakes, where some wide and deep like Tanganyika, Malawi, etc. some are shallow like
Chad, Victoria, etc.
Fairly, a number of African lakes in form and nature are associated with the Great
East African Rift System. Some lakes are human-made like; Nasser, Kariba, Volta,
Niger, etc.
But in few places it is broken by some rivers estuaries with limited deep inlets
(J.M. Pritchard 1979; W.J. Minns 1984).
It is noted that the African Continent has been uplifted, therefore there are few
extensive or wide Coastal low-plains.
The nature of the African Continental shelf is considerably shallow and slopes
gently towards east, west, south mainly.
Such a Coastal nature affects the formation of adequate and proper natural
harbours which are not many in the Africa’s Coastline W.J. Minns, 1984).
However, there are few Africa’s Coastlines that are not completely smooth ones
such as the West African Coast which has a number of gaps and marks with the sea
stretching further inland where rivers here seems to be greatly deep.
26
The surface nature along the African Coast do range from high cliffs in the north
and south to sand bars, lagoons of the west and the eastern coral reefs.
The African continental shelf is a little wider in the Gulf of Gabes (East of
The depths here are less than 200m, extending up to about 400km from the shores
and up to about 249km out from the South African coast on the Aghulas Banks (at times
C. Agulhas – the Southmost point of Africa, at 20 L.E.)
In general the African Continental shelf is comparatively narrow. It has less than
50km, but some places like off Natal, Angola, etc., the Coastal zones do not exceed 5km
wide.
The total length of the African Cost is about 27,000km, which is a half of the
Asian Continent Coastline.
The African Coasts are usually low and sandy, with few good natural harbours, as
indicated earlier.
But where downwarping or local faulting and sinking has taken place, then there
are productions of deep inlets like that of Freetown in Sierra Leone and Mombasa in
Kenya. Deep river estuaries are usually few, but only rivers Gambia and Congo can be
cited as outstanding examples of Africa.
Some of them include:
(a) Work of waves.
(b) Tidal currents
27
(c) Land’s height along the Coast
(d) Geological formation or nature of the rocks along the Coast
(e) Relative sea level movement effect – if any.
(f) Regional Climatic Conditions/Regimes
(g) Effect of human activities along Coasts
3.6 Summary
28
Geolgoical Structure: Rock layout in the Earth’s crust. Horizontal rock
arrangements and disposition from the centre of the Earth.
Drainage Pattern: Actual arrangement of the main river and its tributaries
(System or net-work).
Coastline: Edge of the land and water masses or line reached by the
highest storm waves or the high-water points.
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4.0 LESSON FOUR: CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF AFRICA
4.1 Introduction
This lesson provides the general characteristics of the climatic conditions of the
African Continent.
Different climatic types and their distribution over Africa have been described.
Various climatic zones, based on horizontal, vertical order are briefly highlighted.
4.2 Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
30
4.2.1 Climatic Characteristics, Variations, Regions and types over the African
Continent
Climatic Characteristics
Over ¾ of Africa’s surface within the tropics Africa do not have great temperature
contrasts like Europe, or Asia and North America (A.T. Grove, 1971).
This means that for other continents the climate can be explained by the influence
of air masses of different temperatures. But Africa to explain its climate is rather difficult,
since it is the most tropical of all the continents, within the tropical. This is because of
different and isolation of regions plus large expanses of desert and rain forest zones that
diversify the climatic conditions over African continent. In Africa regional differences in
river regimes, vegetation, land-use may be explained (primarily) in terms of the variation
from place to place in the amounts and seasonal distribution of the rainfall. Such a
variation depends on the atmospheric circulation.
Metrologists have given the characteristics of this zone as of a frontal zone similar
to those found in Europe and North America. The movement of such air masses
accompanied by other factors produce or give rise to climatic variations over the African
Continent, as highlighted in the next section.
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4.3.2 Climatic Variation
The African climatic variations are as follows:
(ii) Pressures:
From November to April the big isolation over Southern Africa causes low
pressure conditions in this part. But high pressures does develop over the cooler south
Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Over a cooler North Africa high pressure develops, which is
separated from that of continental Europe by a low pressure system over the relatively
warm surface of the Mediterranean sea.
(iii) Winds:
Usually the pattern of wind or air movement over much of Africa is towards the
Equator, from the North-East in the Northern hemisphere and from South-East in the
Southern hemisphere. The two floods of air are derived from sub-tropical cells of high
pressure where air is descending and is consequently warm and dry near the surface.
Here, the descending air in each hemisphere diverges to flow towards the equator and
towards the pole.
And because of the Earth’s rotation this air is diverted to the right in the northern
hemisphere and to the left in the Southern hemisphere. It is even recently when the main
explanation was given for the seasonal occurance of the rains and total arrangement of
the climatic zones within the tropical Africa. This was based on the Inter-Tropical Front
32
(ITCZ) which is usually formed by airstreams that move to lower latitudes from north-
east and south-east (Fig. VI).
After coming together the south-easterlies swing round and becomes south-
westelies and the north-easterlies likewise which becomes north-westerlies, when
crossing the Equator. This Front (ITCZ) lies, across the African Continent in July each
year stretching from Senegal to Eritrea, then shifts south as the sun moves towards the
Tropic of Capricorn until January, bringing rains along the Guinea Coast. The ITCZ this
period (January) swings far to the south – stretching across Southern Africa especially
within latitude 180 South.
These winds from the north high pressure zone penetrate Southwards through the
interior of Africa towards the low pressure zone of the south. High pressure over the
South Atlantic and the south-westerly monsoons oppose their progress in the west.
Along the eastern Coast the North-East Trade and Asiatic monsoonal winds also
penetrate southwards to converge with easterly trade winds and Atlantic-westerlies into
the low pressure system of the south.
It is believed that rain occur in association with the front which is connected with
the humid air along or around the Equator.
33
Indian Ocean and becomes warm and moist-Figure . Easterly trade winds bring similar
air to Madagascar, the Natal Coast and the eastern Vield.
Warm, moist, generally unstable air affects most of the Western Coast south of
the Equator. While in the Maghreb region of the north-west coal, moist unstable air
masses are brought by westerly air streams.
(ii) Pressures:
A large zone of low pressure exists throughout the Sahara and Arabia which is
broken by occasional minor zones of high pressure on cool Ethiopian Highlands. This
time a high pressure of concentration lies over South Africa to the South of Cameroon.
(iii) Winds:
South-East Trade winds of South Atlantic move across the equator. These winds
are drawn in across the Coast of West Africa by the low pressure zones of the Sahara
which becomes powerful South-West monsoonal winds heavily laden (loaded, burdened
with) with moisture.
The north-east trades retreat to become a weak zone of winds affecting Africa
north of Cancer. This time most of eastern and Central Africa is affected by easterly trade
winds from the Indian Ocean while variable winds associated with the anti-clockwise
34
movement around the South African high and with the low pressure systems off the
southern Coast, affect Africa South of Capricorn.
Warm, most air also approaches from the south-east moving in over the
Mozambique and East African Coasts.
The Southern part of the continent is affected by cool, moist unstable air brought
by depressions. The conditions described above are the extremes when the sun is at its
extremities in the northern and southern hemispheres.
Throughout the year as the sun and its heat move over the continent between the
tropics, the pressure belts respond and the wind systems weaken or increase in strength
bringing with them associated air masses.
35
Why is this?
This is because of the African continent’s position within the Tropical Zone, with
the impact of cool ocean currents and within the continental major plateau zones, there
are no prominent mountain chains that could act as climatic and weather elements
barriers, as well as controlled by other factors (Fig. VI). Such climatic regions include:-
Region III: Southern Rainfall Climatic Region – i.e. characterised as No. 2 above.
Region IV: Arid/Desert Climatic Region – i.e. the Sahara, the Horn of Africa, the
Kalahari, Namimbia have an average annual rainfall of less than 250mm.
In Sahara for example, the daily and seasonal extreme temperatures are
enormous. For incident, July temperatures are more than 32 0C in the cold
season.
Nights here temperature do drop below freezing point during cold seasons.
36
Region VI: The East African Highland Climatic Region – i.e. including Uganda,
Kenya and Tanzania.
The average annual rainfall range from 500mm to over 1800mm. With an
exception of lower plains where the rainfall amounts are usually less than
500mm – mainly within the interior of East Africa.
A.N. Strahler (1965) for example expressed that climate like other environmental
components (soil, vegetation etc.) is classified according to latitudinal arrangements on
the surface of the Earth from the equator to both polar regions.
But for various sub-types of climate, other factors like position, local relief,
distance form water/land masses, local/areal water masses can be used for climatic
classification types.
According to latitudinal arrangements, the classification types of Africa fall
under:-
37
(a) Equatorial climatic type – with sub-types.
(b) Tropical climatic type
- With sub-types
(c) Temperate climatic type
- With sub-types
4.4 Summary
This lesson has explained the general characteristics of the climate of Africa.
Factors that control the climatic conditions are also described.
The climatic variations and their regional examples have been highlighted together with
some weather elements, differing from place to place.
38
4.7 Reading List
(a) Suggate, L.S. (1956): Africa, George G. Harrap and Co. Limited.
(b) A.T. Grove (1970): Africa: South of Sahara.
(c) Richard White (1990): Africa in Focus; A Physical, Human and Economic
Geography
(d) Church, R.J.H.; Clarke, J.I. Clarke, P.J.H., and Henderson, H.J.R. (1979):
Africa and the Island. Longman: Longman.
39
5.0 LESSON FIVE: SOIL CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES OF AFRICA
5.1 Introduction
This lesson introduces the learners to the soil characteristics of Africa.
Soil types and associated geological formation are briefly discussed.
Some main soil determining factors that contribute to the soil characteristics within
different regions of Africa are highlighted.
5.2 Objectives
By the end of this lesson learners should be able to:-
Compared to the wheat plains of Ukraine and parts of North America, Africa do
not have that very productive soils like the chernozems which develop and occur in cool
sub-humid climate under the vegetation type of tall and mid grass prairies of those zones
(North America, Central Europe etc.).
40
Also in Africa there are no large irrigated low plains like those found in Indo-
Gange’s lowlands to the north of India
But Africa has few places as the lowlands of the Nile Valley, parts of Niger and
Chad basins, flat bottom valleys of Tanzania and Zambia.
In this case the parent rock plays an outstanding role in soil formation in any area
on the earth.
Therefore the soil types in Africa are formed and distributed according to the rock
formation or in other words depending on the geological formation in various regions.
In Africa there are about five soil groups (sometime referred as soil types) as
follows:-
(a) Laterite and latosolic soils.
(b) Red loams.
(c) Dark Grey and Black soils.
(d) Desert Soils.
(e) Other types or groups like caternary systems or complexes.
41
(a) Laterite and Latosolic soils are usually developed in Equatorial and partly
savannah areas of Africa and other similar zones.
More examples occupy the northern parts of Congo Basin, Madagascar and in
patches to the Western coasts of Africa.
When exposed immediately it is soft but as it is heat by the sun it sets brick-hard
structures.
(b) Red loams – This type is also found mostly in tropics occupying or developing on
rolling and dissected landforms originating granites or sandstones as parent rocks.
This type/group develops in humid savannah areas which are not heavily leached.
The colour is dark-red to brown usually fertile enough rich in ferrous oxides and
silica.
42
(c) Dark Grey and Black Soils – develop on flat plains on dark-coloured igneous
rocks.
These are heavy textured soils with lime content especially in top horizons.
These are heavy textured soils with lime content especially in op horizons.
They dry and crack during dry seasons, and stick easily.
In East Africa and particularly in Kenya they are known as Black clays
(grumosolic soils) or Black cotton soils that classified by UNESCO as Uley soils.
They develop in low-lying plains known sometimes as cotton lands such as Mwea
area in the South of Mount Kenya, Kano plains around Lake Victoria, Athi River plains
East of Nairobi and in places these soils appear in patches in depression-like structures.
(d) Desert Soils – This type has no leaching capacity because the climatic conditions
in such areas.
The upper horizons are usually thin, stony or sandy.
The colour is yellowish – grey to reddish brown having no humus with high lime
content.
These soils originate from Aeolian aerials which don’t relate to any rock as they
are formed or developed within alkaline conditions; especially in places where water has
evaporated in pans and leaves thick accumulations of minerals as those areas of north-
eastern parts of Kenya.
In this type there are also the Rendizina and Terra Rossa soils developed on the
northern low slopes of the Atlas Mountains, and other Island-like hills in or within the
Sahara Desert.
43
They are defined as reddish residual clay soils rich in iron materials that
accumulate in depressions in limestone countries or areas or regions under a semi-arid or
summer drought conditions like in Mediterranean region, Yugoslavia country, Southern
Italy region, and limestone countries in Britain.
(ii) There are other minor soil types called sometimes as mountain soils which are on
various soil maps indicated mainly on the high altitudes or on top peaks.
About ½ of all the land area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricon lies in
the continent of Africa/J.D’Hoore, 1964).
Out of this area about 20 million Km 2 contains soil cover – i.e. covered by some
soil layer.
Such a surface layer carries vegetation of some different kinds. Some surfaces are
bare possibly because human activities, such as cultivation and settlements have been
practiced on the Earth’s surface, where possible. The rest of the area is stony desert, bare
rock, broken rock material, open water and at very high altitudes including glacial ice and
perpetual snow totalling to about 1/3 of the continent.
44
Much of the African area is poor and the growth of natural vegetation and rapid
regeneration of bush or forest following clearing tend to conceal the intrinsic soil
poverty.
A large area of Africa rainfall is so low or so erratic and this makes cultivation a
leading hazardous.
As well this causes heavy teaching as well as loosing soil structure over the
continent.
The soil poverty as well is caused by poor parent materials, i.e. lava boulders,
Rock outcrops, ice or extensive sand-like oceans in a number of deserts of Africa.
Also some soil types are formed out of materials that are derived from old, acid
parent rocks, poor in calcium and nutrients of which the average organic content of
African soils is only 0.2% if compared to 2.0% for the cultivated soils of some parts of
Europe.
With such observations then soils in the African continent tend to be grouped
according to their natural development, i.e. based on parent materials.
The following are the outstanding groups of soil types:-
(a) Weakly developed soils.
(b) Soils of arid and sub-or semi-arid regions of Africa.
(c) The Ferralitic soils.
(d) The Ferruginous tropical.
(e) The Ferrisols.
(f) Entrophic Brown soils.
(g) The Vertisols.
(h) Hydromorphic and Halomorphic soils.
45
(a) 30% of the soil material cover about 6 million km2 of this soil types.
There horizons differ very slightly and soil profile development.
The most spread type of this soil is the Lithosols, that occupies 3.5 million km 2 and sub-
desert soils 2.0 million km2.
Young soils on river and lake alluvium covers 0.4 million km 2 plus a small
remnant comprising tidal mangrove soils of the tropical coasts, as well wind-blown
sands.
A very small proposition out of the 6 million sq. km is cultivated where such
proportion may not be increased.
Pockets developed soils occur in the lithosol complex but largely cannot be
cultivated.
Sub-desert soils are potentially fertile on large areas which can give good yields if
irrigation methods were applied, where mainly the limiting factor is water.
Many deposit materials on river and lake alluvium are of hydromorphic having
high water tables which limit or prohibit cultivation but there are alluvial plains of limited
extent which can be counted among the most fertile of the cultivated soils.
(b) These are soils classified by D’Hoore 91964) and occupy the largest area of any
one or single group – 5.3 million km2 or 27% of the soil mantle or material.
This type occur mainly in intertropical Africa as residual soils of the ancient
plateaux.
They are highly leached and altered until mobiled mineral constituents can be
recognised.
46
These include:
(a) Kalahari sands
(b) High forest land of the Congo Basin
In spite of their intrinsic (natural, quality) poverty, these soils carry high forest
and savannah under humid conditions, but most of the mineral reserve is concentrated in
the vegetation and the decomposing plant material of the surface soil.
Most of these soil types are exhausted after two or three years and need a long
period of fallow for restoration of fertility. However they maintain some fertile and
durable variants – especially Red Ferrallitic soils on rocks rich in ferromagnesian
minerals and some humic soils of high organic content, but occupy small fraction of
about 0.15 million km2.
(c) This is a second extensive soil group occupying about 3.1 million km2 that
comprises the Ferruginous Tropical soils which originate from crystalline rocks of the
basement complex mostly found in the north and south of the Equator.
They have high content of iron compounds resulting in the frequent occurrence of
ironstone crusts at shallow depth and they are very vulnerable to erosion, except the
permeable variants.
Also they are generally of low to mediocre intrinsic fertility and durability under
cultivation. However it is observed that under normal conditions these soils can sustain
only short period of fallow.
(d) This is a less extensive group that occupy about 0.9km2, having some similarities
to the Ferrallitic soils. But it differs in that it has a higher content of exchangeable
elements with better structure and markedly higher intrinsic or natural fertility.
These soil types are regarded as a transitional group in process of evolution under
warm on humid conditions.
47
(e) This group of soils have small extend that occupy about 0.5 million km2, but very
remarkable for their high agricultural value.
They are young or are rejuvenated (become young, appear young) soils which are
developed on volcanic materials, basic crystalline rocks or alluvial deposits under warm
humid conditions which favour rapid soil formation capacity.
They are rich in mineral nutrients structure and permeability, and include volcanic
ash and are cultivated intensively to bananas and coffee within the humid and semi-
humid tropics while similar soils on mineral rich rocks are excellent for cocoa in suitable
climates.
Vertisols of Tropic Depressions cover an area two and a half times as great as the
lithomorphic vertisols.
The Sudanese depression, which receives drainage from the Ethiopian massif, has
probably, the world’s greatest extent of these soils.
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They are important elements in the soils complexes in the Lake Victoria Basin
and the Rift Valley External Drainage together with poor internal drainage limits or
prohibits their use for agriculture.
These are associated with high water-table conditions and they cover less than one
million km2 (1.0 million km2).
5.6 Summary
This lesson introduces the learners to the general soil characteristics over the
African Continent.
The way these soils are developed in similar conditions like those found in other
tropical zones such as Austria, Brazil etc. are described.
Soil types plus their classifications, associated with geological structures (or
parent materials) within different parts of Africa have been highlighted too.
The overall distribution of the main soil types/groups have been explained and
demonstrated.
49
5.8 Definition of Key Words
Soil Catenary System/Complexes: This is soil sequence of the same period,
derived from the same parent material and occur under similar conditions, but differ due
to variations in topography and drainage.
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6.0 LESSON SIX VEGETATIVE COVER OF AFRICA
6.1 Introduction
This lesson introduces the learners to the vegetation types and their characteristics
generally on the African continent as related to other tropical zones around the whole
world. Vegetation distribution and some main factors that make floristic variations within
the African continent have been highlighted.
6.2 Objectives
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
In many parts of Africa the quality of vegetation cover depends on the landform
characteristics as follows:
a) The spacing of the trees and their size.
b) The height of the grasses.
c) The resulting textural patterns in colour i.e. in either green or brown.
51
And also this is controlled by the estimatic regimes in floristic unposition
depending on distances from the water masses.
That is why the plants of north –west Africa are comparable to those of the
Mediterranean zone.
Those plants of Sudan zone and the Sahara in south west Asia having the same climatic
conditions.
The plants of Madagascar resemble those in some parts of Africa and south East
Asia and Madagascar have peculiar features which was separated during mid-tertiary
periods.
But bigger parts of Africa the forest have been cleared for agricultural aims,
hunters have also burned savannah grasslands for driving out the animals or game.
Pastoralists have grazed their herds over the savannah grasslands exhausting some
plants over the years.
Some forests are characterized by lianas, especially where young trees crowd
together or in dense formation.
Sometimes leaves and branches from canopies or layers into two three levels of
over 40 to 50ft above the ground, but some layers are at about 100ft where trees are
extremely tall.
52
And the so called emergent tall trees obtain the height of 150ft or even higher
than this level.
Tropical Rain Forest are usually confined to lowland zones where rainfall is
equally distributed throughout the year with annual rainfall totals of over 1500mm (about
60in.).
In dries margins the number of tree species of evergreen becomes less and less
and the number of deciduous trees increases. Here soil differences have a greater effect
on the flora composition.
Such composition of the forest varies too with altitude, where forests above about
3000ft (about 1000m) including only 1/10 of the species normally found in the lowland
rain forest.
Such montane forests are scattered all across Africa, from Cameroon mountain to
the highlands bordering the rift valley and beyond to the slopes of the East Africa
volcanic mountains to the east of rift valley, where the assemblages of tree species found
in each of these forests indicate a striking similarities.
In order to give evidence (or explain) to this situation there has been a suggestion
that sometimes during quaternary period when the climate was cooler than now, forest of
the montane type may have reached down much further to occupy a continues belt across
the upland country of central Africa of which the patches are merely (or little) remnants.
Within low-lying swampy zones, for especially near the Niger delta and on the
floor of the Congo basin, where rivers flood wide zones for months at a time, the forest
trees are adapted to life in fresh- water swamps and stand high on silt roots.
Around the coasts of east and west Africa, especially in the Niger delta, where
alluvium is inundated for much of the time with fresh or brackish water, the mangroves
53
Risophera and Avicennia have colonized the muds and overhang winding creeks and
pools.
6.3.2 Tropical Savannah (i) Moist Woodland Savannah, (ii) Dry Woodland
Savannah
The term ‘Savannah’ means a mixture of grass and trees, but there are many kinds of
savannah:
(i) Woodland grassland (as above no(i), having annual rainfall of 600-1370mm –
i.e. open mixture of trees and shrubs and tall growth of grass and common in
most area of Uganda.
(ii) Woodland (as above no. (ii), with annual rainfall of 750-1120mm, i.e. with
rather long dry season.
Trees here form a mainly continuous cover over ground vegetation of grasses,
herbs and shrubs e.g. miombo woodland in much of Central Tanzania.
Usually, the term savannah is used to denote (indicate, the sign) the sub-humid
tropical woodland and grassland, which occupies the plateau region/area/one of south
central and east Africa.
This zone extends westward along the northern margins of the Congo River Basin
to the Atlantic coast south of the Gambia River.
A number of plant species in the northern part are closely related to those of
Indian parts or some regions in India. Others are more typical of south-central Africa.
The savannah flora south of the Equator is very rich in plants and a remarkable
number of the plants here are able to resist fire and drought. Brachystegia trees are among
the most typical trees of south and east Africa, and they are not found in West Africa.
54
Also (iii) bushland with 250-625mm having bushy trees and low grass cover in
much of Eastern and North-Eastern Kenya.
Some tall woodland trees such as chipya and marguesia woodland of Zambia, are
not clearly distinguishable from the rest of rain forest.
The savannah of the more humid areas of west Africa include large number of
high-forest species and are sometimes called derived savannah because they are believed
to have replaced rain forest as a result of human activities that interfered with more
soundable tropical rain forest that altered the original or the physiognomic form.
There are other formations, dominated by evergreen trees which lack the
evergreen trees which lack the physiogromic characteristics of rain forest and so are
generally regarded as savannah.
Usually the boundary between savannah and high forest is very distinct, and such
boundaries are being sharpened every year by grass fires which are held up by islands
and peninsulas of forest and sweep through dry grasses, between gnarled fire resistant
trees typical of savannah woodland.
As the rainfall decreases still further the gaps between plants increase and
eventually vegetation is confined mainly to the margins of storm-water channels and the
borders of temporary lakes where trees such as date-palms, tamarisk, and certain acacias
can obtain water from soil at depth.
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6.4 Vegetation Types Of Africa
There are about ten vegetation types in Africa. They are:
1. Moist forest (at low and medium altitude)
This type embraces Congo Basin, west Africa coast forest area, parts of central
Africa ( Clarke, et.al. 1975)
5. Desert steppe.
Mostly bordering with desert zones after the coastal desert of Namibia – southern
end of Sahara.
6. Desert
Real Sahara desert and coast desert of Namibia.
8. Mediterranean.
West, North, East slopes of the atlas mountains.
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9. Cape Macchia
Mostly occupies the south low slopes of cape ranges.
Even with rapid removal of plant life by animal and man still extensive vegetation
zones do exist.
The climate and its associated vegetation affects the patterns of life which man
may determine to lead and has a direct bearing on the economic development of a region.
Climatic and vegetation zones are considered as natural areas and their economic
values are usually discussed together in the modern land use patterns.
6.6 Summary
In this lesson we have described the floristic variation within the Africa continent
such variations depend on a number of various factors that control the vegetational ranges
and distribution on the African continent from the coastal low-plains through African
plaleax to the high mountain peaks of Africa. Vegetation regions and types that vary from
57
equatorial forests to desert and savannah types, determined mainly by climatic regimes
have been highlighted.
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PART TWO: HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
7.1 Introduction
This lesson introduces the learners to the population origin and distribution of the
ethnicity groups in Africa. Population size and main factors that contribute to the changes
from region to region has been examined. Environmental problems facing vast population
numbers, especially in high potential and congested urban areas have been highlighted.
There is general agreement that the beginning of human evolution were centered
in Africa.
According to Charles Darwin “it is probable that our early progenitors lived on
the African continent than elsewhere” and subsequent research seems to support
this proposition.
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Other findings have established the fact that Eastern Africa was a center of pongid
activity as far back as twenty million years, although early apes were also found
in Europe and Southeast Asia
It was in Africa that life began for man, but for man in Africa life has often stinted
its gifts.
These are fundamental questions about the origin of the African peoples.
You are advised to research and obtain more solutions that will lead to really answers.
After the 17th century, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the world population
stood at about 800 million people. Between 1750 and 1900 the same population size had
doubled to about 1600 million (i.e. after only 150 years). After another 64 years the
number again doubled to 3200 million (Richard W. 1990).
By the end of 20th century the world population, as had been projected was likely to
double to 6.5 billion that was described as the world ‘population explosion’
Africa is generally agreed to be the cradle of the human race; genetic testing in recent
years has confirmed archaeological finds. Some 5 million years ago of hominid, a close
evolutionary ancestor of present-day humans, inhabited southern and eastern Africa.
More than 1.5 million years ago this tool making hominid developed into the more Homo
sapiens, dates from more that 200,00 years ago. A hunter-gatherer capable of making
crude stone tools, Homo sapiens banded together with others to form nomadic groups;
eventually these nomadic Khoisan-speaking peoples spread throughout the African
continent. Gradually a growing Bantu-speaking population, which had mastered animal
domestication and agriculture, forced the Khoisan-speaking groups into the less
60
hospitable areas. Today they are found primarily in the Kalahari. In the 1 st century AD
the Bantu began a migration that lasted some 2,000 years, settling most of central and
southern Africa. Negroid societies typically depended on subsistence agriculture or, in
the savannahs, pastoral pursuits. Political organization was normally local, although large
kingdoms would later develop in most parts of the continent, and especially western,
central, and southern Africa.
The first great civilization in Africa began in the Nile Valley about 5000 BC. Dependent
on agriculture, these settlements benefited from the Nile’s flooding as a source of
irrigation and new soils. The need to control the Nile floodwaters eventually resulted in a
well-ordered, complex state with elaborate political and religious systems. The kingdom
of Egypt flourished, influencing Mediterranean and, to a lesser extent, African societies
for thousands of years. Iron-making, according to some theories was brought from Egypt
around 800 BC, and spread into tropical Africa; other theories suggest independent
development of Iron Age culture. Ideas of royal kingship and state organization were also
exported, particularly to adjacent areas such as Cush and punt. The east Cushite state,
meroe was supplanted in the 4th century AD By Aksum which later evolved into Ethiopia.
During the period from the late 3 rd century BC to the early 1 st century AD, Rome had
conquered Egypt, carthage, and other North African areas; these became the granaries of
the Roman Empire. The empire was divided into two parts in the 4 th century. All lands
west of modern Libya remained territories of the western Empire, ruled by Rome, and
lands to the east, including Egypt, became part of the eastern of Byzantine Empire, ruled
from Constantinople. By this time the majority of the population had been converted to
Christianity. In the 5th century the vandals, a Germanic tribe, conquered much of North
Africa. Vandal ruled there until the 6 th century, when were defeated by Byzntine forces,
and the area was absorbed by the Byzantine Empire.
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Table 2: World Population Increase between 1970 and 2000 (Population in million)
1970 20000
Continent Total % of World total Total % of World total
North America 234 6.4 333 3.1
Europe 462 12.7 568 8.7
Soviet Union 243 6.7 330 5.1
Oceania 18 0.5 35 0.5
According to Grove, A.T. (1970), Africa possesses more population, ethnic groups,
cultures, etc than any other continent of the world that affects certain places having
human beings highly congested as mentioned earlier.
Africa covers about 1/5 of the total world land surface, it has only about 12 per cent of its
population. In 2004 the total population of the continent was estimated to be about
875,027,307. Average density, some 29 people per km2 which is over a ½ the world
average. This figure includes large areas, such as the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, which
are virtually uninhabited, and smaller areas, such as the Nile valley, of very high
population density. When the population living on productive land is calculated, the
average density increases to some 139 people per km2. The most densely settled areas of
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the continent are those along the northern and western coasts; in the Nile, Niger, Congo,
and Senegal River basins and in the eastern African plateau nation in Africa.
The age distribution is weighted heavily towards the young. In most African countries,
about half the population is 15 years of age or younger.
Africa’s population remains predominantly rural, with only about 1/5 of the population
living in towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants. Northern Africa is the most urbanized
region, but there are individual countries with high levels of urbanization, such as Zambia
(50 per cent urbanized), and major cities are located in every part of the continent.
African cities that have populations of more than 1 million include Cairo, Alexandria,
and Giza in Egypt; Algiers, Algeria; Casablanca, morocco, Lagos, Nigeria, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia; Abidjan, Coted’ Ivoire, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Soweto in South Africa. The urban centers act as
magnates, attracting large numbers of rural migrants who come either as permanent
settlers or as short-term workers. Urban growth has been particularly rapid since the
1950s. A substantial international labour migration has also developed, particularly of
Africans from central Africa to the mines and factories of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and south
Africa, and of North and West Africans to France and Italy, and, more recently, to the
European Union as a whole. Civil wars in a number of countries in recent years notably
Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia Sudan, Liberia, and Rwanda have led to a massive
displacement of population, as have droughts and famines. Africa has the world’s largest
concentration of refugees, including people displaced within their own countries, as well
as people who have fled across borders in search of safety.
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In the northern portion of the continent, including the Sahara, Caucasoid peoples
– mainly Berbers and Arabs – predominate. People of Arab descent are also found along
eh east African coast. Caucasoid peoples constitute about one-quarter of the continents
population. South of the Sahara, Bantu speaking peoples, constituting some 70 per cent of
Africa’s population, predominate. Pockets of Khoisan peoples, the San (formerly called
Bushmen) and Khoikhoi (formerly called Hottentots), are located in southern Africa. The
pygmies are concentrated in the Congo basin. Scattered through Africa, but primarily
concentrated in southern Africa, are some 5 million people of European descent. An
Indian population, numbering some 1 million, is concentrated along the eastern African
coast and in southern Africa.
More than 3,000 distinct ethnic groups have been classified in Africa. The
extended family is the basic social unit of most of these peoples. In much of Africa the
family is linked to a larger society through kin groups such as lineages and clans. Kin
groups generally tend to exclude marriage among their members. The village is
frequently constituted of a single kin group united by either male of female descent.
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rise European overseas expansion. Today protestant and catholic groups are about equally
represented throughout the continent.
Islam, the fastest growing religion in Africa, was introduced throughout northern
Africa in the 7th century and in following centuries was spread down the River Nile, along
the east African coast, and through the grasslands of West Africa. In the 20 th century,
Islam penetrated into the rest of the continent. The earliest of the Muslim schools of law,
the Maliki, prevails over most of Muslim Africa except in Egypt, the Horn, and east
African coast.
About 15 per cent of Africa’s people practise only indigenous or local religious.
Many more, however, retain elements of traditional beliefs in their lives, and Christianity
and Islam in Africa have also incorporated indigenous practices. Although indigenous
religions are of great diversity, they tend to have a single god or creator figure and a
number of subordinate spirits-nature spirits who inhabit trees water, animals, and other
natural phenomena – and ancestral spirits, such as founders of the family, lineage, or clan
who affect everyday life.
Small numbers of Jews are located in northern and southern Africa; until the
1980s there was also a sizeable Jewish community in Ethiopia, the Falashas; Hindu,
Buddhist, and Daoist peoples are scattered throughout eastern and southern Africa
.
Most traditional cultural activity centers on the family and the ethnic group.
Traditional arts, music and oral literature for example do serve to reinforce the existing
religious and social dynamic patterns of the African people.
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The heavily westernized elite that is influenced by the west-north European
culture and Christianity at the beginning rejected. African traditional culture, but, with
the rise of African nationalism around independence in the 1960s, a cultural revival
occurred. The governments of most African nations foster national dance and music
groups, museums, and, to a lesser degree, artists and writers. Even so, Western ideas,
habits, music, and fashions have – through film, radio, television, and travel – permeated
all but the most remote areas – influencing local music, styles of dress, eating habits, and
so on, especially among the young. In the 20 th century; however, African arts and music
also had a considerable reverse influence in the West. Artists like Pablo Picasso were
influenced by African artworks like the Benin Bronzes. More recently, African music and
its practitioners have influenced many kinds of Western music from jazz to rock and roll.
Western interests in the many different types of modern African music led to the
development of so-called “World” music. See African Art and Architecture; African
Literature; African Music; World Music.
W.J. White (1990), notes that the factors disjoining the distribution plus density of
population over the African continent are numerous.
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This is made up of the earth where people live with the various physical factors
that influence the surroundings, determining the number in each region.
For example, in high mountain peaks, ranges, that are surrounded by extensive
plains, large and small rivers plus desert expansions, the natural conditions differ greatly
from place to place.
And such conditions, therefore make the population distribution vary too.
At times the natural conditions create an easy life for human-beings, whereby
people tend to move to such zones, having conducive environment.
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(vi) Diseases
(i) Climate
The key climatic parameters influencing the distribution of population in the
continent of Africa are rainfall and temperature. Areas characterized by high (>1000mm),
reliable and predictable rainfall; and moderate temperatures (15-20 0c) are densely
populated. Such places have a high agricultural potential and therefore support large
populations. Areas with moderate to high rainfall (750-1000mm), which are also
characterized by warm to cool temperatures (20-25 0c), are moderately populated; while
those receiving less than 700mm with high temperatures (>25 0c) are sparsely populated.
The latter, which is commonly referred to as arid to semi arid areas or marginal lands
have a low potential and are mainly occupied by pastoralists. However, due to high
population pressure and subsequent land shortage in the high potential zones, the
marginal areas are today recipients of large numbers of migrants from the overcrowded
areas. Unfortunately the rising number of immigrants is contributing immensely to land
degradation problems in these fragile areas.
(ii) Relief/Topography
Mountainous areas, especially at altitudes above 2100 metres have low and sparse
population. At such altitudes, low temperature and inadequate oxygen make life generally
impossible. Moreover, apart from limiting agricultural land, the steep slopes of the
mountains constitute a constraint on the movement of people and the development of a
modern transport network. The mountainous regions of Africa are therefore sparsely
populated. Hilly places with gentle slopes, especially those lying between 1300m and
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2100m, and some lowlands are some of the densely populated regions in East Africa.
These places have moderate and comfortable temperatures, receive effective rainfall,
have mature and fertile sols and are easily accessible. As such they have a high
agricultural population.
Unlike in the temperature world, aspect (the compass direction in which sloping
land faces) does not exert any significant influence in the distribution of population in
Africa. This is because in East Africa the sun is almost vertically overhead throughout the
year. However leeward sides of mountains, which normally receive low and unreliable
rainfall (<350mm) and have poor soils and generally a week agricultural base, typically
have low and sparse populations. There is more of livestock farming in these areas than
crop farming.
(iii) Soils
African populations are to a large extent agriculture-based and tend to concentrate
in places with fertile soils. Areas of volcanic, alluvial or loamy soils are more fertile than
regions with sandy or clay soils. The former are not only deep, well and easy to work but
also contain high organic content and as such attract huge populations. They are
considered favourable and conducive environments for diverse agricultural activities. The
reverse is true of areas with sandy soils such as the Arid and Semi-arid areas (ASALs) of
North Eastern, north western and central Africa which are to a largely characterized by
low and sparse population. Sandy soils although well aerated are coarse is true and as
such have a low water retention capacity. They are therefore not conducive for crop
production (with the exception of a few crops such as dates and palm trees). Clay soils
(e.g. Sudan Plains) are also not very attractive to human settlements because they are
poorly drained and are usually water logged most of the time, heavy and hence too
expensive to cultivate.
(iv) Minerals
Africa lack important deposits. However the few that are available play a crucial
part in the distribution of population in the region. Places with mineral deposits have
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dense and nucleated populations. For instance, the availability of diamond and copper
mining in some parts of Africa, explains the presence of large and dense population in
areas that would otherwise have low populations.
In the past malaria was restricted to lowland areas but to-day there were
increasing cases of malaria in highland areas. For instance, there has been a raid increase
in the number of people affected by highland malaria in Kericho and Kisii in Kenya, also
many parts of Africa.
In recent times, certain sites on the earth’s surface have gained socio-economic
advantages over others because of the functions they perform as administrative
headquarters, ports and industrial towns or cities. These areas form some of the most
highly and densely populated areas of the world today. They are less extensive than the
densely populated agricultural or rural areas and are centres of in-migration.
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(i) Population Change
Population changes can be as a result of natural change and or migration. The
balance between births and deaths determines natural population change. When the
number of births in a given region exceeds the number of deaths, a natural increase in
population occurs. When the number of deaths exceeds the number of births, a natural
decrease in population results. Thus, the difference between the number of births and
deaths referred to as a natural population change. Natural population change is the key
factor contributing to Africa’s population growth. Before the 1960s population in Africa
grew rather slowly largely because both birth rates and death rates were high. High death
rates resulted from frequent wars, famines and epidemics of such diseases as cholera etc.
However after the 1970s, there was a notable decline in mortality rates resulting from:
Extensive vaccination campaigns against epidemic diseases like measles, small
pox and polio.
Expansion of medical facilities and services especially in the rural areas.
Improved standards of living with regard to food, housing and sanitation.
Improved primary health care and community based rural health projects, which
receive strong support from the Governments. These aim at reducing infant and
child mortality caused by diarrhoeal diseases, malaria, preventable and
communicable diseases and malnutrition. Community based traditional birth
attendants are being trained to provide maternal and child health services and
nutritional education within their respective communities.
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Before the 1960, for example in East Africa, high birth rates were
prevalent; a fact attributed to soaring fertility rates, which resulted from:-
1. Early start and late continuation of reproductive life (18-45 years).
2. Decline in the incidence of childlessness of women between 15 and 49 years
due to improved nutrition and health conditions.
3. Low level of use of contraceptives.
4. Rising level of adolescent fertility.
5. Preference for a boy child to a girl child.
Let us now examine the difference between these different types of migration.
Internal Migration: These are movements confined within a single country and do not
affect national population sine of the countries in which they occur. They however can
have a significant impact on spatial distribution of populations especially in the cases
where too many people migrate form one area to another. Throughout Africa, ASALs,
which have been known to support low populations, are today recipients of large numbers
of immigrants from the overcrowded high potential areas. Internal migration, which
could be of a long-term or short-term nature, includes the following:-
Rural-urban migration
Rural-rural migration
Urban-rural migration
Urban-urban migration
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7.4.1 Rural-Urban Migration: Although Africa like the rest of the world is the least
urbanized, present rates of urban growth are among the highest in the world. Rural-urban
migration ha contributed immensely to the process of urbanization in the region. It is a
process representing an important demographic response to a new economic and spatial
order. It is also a process by which the rural and urban areas interact.
7.4.2 Urban-Rural Migration: This type of migration consists of people who have
failed to find employment in the urban areas or those who have retired, been
retrenched or sacked. It also includes people who are dissatisfied with the noisy,
congested, dirty and dangerous urban urban areas.
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7.4.3 Urban-Urban Migration: In some cases people migrate from one urban centre to
another. These are usually people on transfer or those who want to try their lack
elsewhere.
7.4.4 Rural-rural Migration: Migrants falling under this category include mainly
agriculturalists who migrate in search of agricultural land or land for settlement.
Usually the movement is from the densely populated ad high potential areas
towards the sparsely populated areas. For example, in Kenya many migrants of
this migrate from the densely settled Central provinces to the less populated areas
of the country
Due to its diversity in physical, social and cultural conditions, East Africa has
become the destination of large numbers of immigrants from the rest f the world. Large
numbers of immigrants comprise of tourists and expatriates whose visits are short tem
and voluntary. Also, a large number of refugees are flocking Kenya, Uganda and
Tanzania countries from the countries neighboring. For instance, Kenya I currently
hosting thousands of refugees from Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan while war
victims from Burundi and Rwanda have south refuge in Tanzania. Refugees are usually
an economic burden on the recipient countries. Providing them with basic socio-
economic amenities is a considerable strain on economies that are already performing
extremely poorly.
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7.5 Population Structure
Studying the population change of a region is not enough as its focus is on whether
population is increasing, decreasing, or not changing at all. It is also important to study
the population structure so as to understand the composition as well. What then is
population structure so as to understand the composition as well. What then is population
structure? Population structure is analyzed in terms of age and sex groupings of a
population and is normally represented in the form of a population pyramid.
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appears true throughout the normal life span. This is also true of East Africa
where the number of females is slightly higher than that of females after age five.
(ii) Agricultural land: Increasing populations have forced people abandon their
traditional farming systems that involved leaving land on fallow land as
shifting cultivation. Instead land is cultivated year in year out without a rest
and usually without the use of manure and /or fertilizers. Infertile soils are
known to be quite vulnerable to erosion and soil erosion has been reported in
many areas where agriculture is practiced. Soil erosion results in nutrients loss
and consequently a drop in crop yields. Increasing cases and levels of poverty
have aggravated the problem of soil infertility, as many farmers are unable to
use farm inputs to intensify their farm operation. Reduced soil fertility and
land degradation in general have compounded the food insecurity problem in
the region.
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Silt transported down stream clogs irrigations channels and dams. For
example the Masinga dam which is the main source of Hydro-electric power
in Kenya is silting at an alarming rate due to poor land use in the upper Tana
River catchments. Continued siltation in the dam will have devastating costly
effect in the country. The situation is the same in most African countries. In
some cases excess populations migrate to marginal lands introducing
improper farming method in the already unstable and fragile ecosystems,
hence land degradation followed by desertification.
(iii) Forests: More people than ever before are encroaching into forested area in
search of land for settlement and cultivation as well as forestry products. For
instance, the Sabaoti of Uganda and Kenyan in the Kenya-uganda frontier
have encroached on Mt Elgon clearing forests at a worrying rate. Generally,
forest destruction has had devastating effects in Africa. It has resulted in:
Loss of biodiversity: Forests are home to fauna and flora. There are
countless birds, insects and mammals, which live and feed in forests and a
variety of tree species. A typical patch of 10km 2 of rainforests eg in
Kakamega forest in Western Kenya, may contain as many as 1,500 species
of flowering plants, 750 species of tree, 400 species of birds, 150 varieties
of butterflies, 100 different reptiles and 60 types of amphibians. When
such a patch is destroyed, all the fauna and flora is as well destroyed as
they are left homeless. Destruction of foresters and other animal habitats
has resulted in serious human-wildlife conflicts. In their efforts to survive,
animals encroach on human property leading to loss of life and property.
Numerous cases of elephants and buffaloes etc. destroying crops, killing
and or maiming people in the Mt. Kenya area have been reported.
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aggravated by high levels of leaching in the tropics. Soil with a low
organic content (humus) cannot support a luxuriant tree cover and
consequently the quantity and quality of trees in the forested areas is
drastically reduced.
Accelerated soil erosion: tree canopy protects sols from heavy rains; roots
bind the soil together while level fall augment organic content of the soil.
Without the protective tree cover, there will be less interception and
infiltration, and as such surface runoff and soil erosion will increase.
Siltation increases the extent and frequency of flooding, reduces
agricultural productivity, and increases siltation of irrigation channels and
dams.
Increases carbon dioxide: We know trees use carbon dioxide (CO 2) in the
photosynthesis process and are actually referred to as carbon sinks.
Cutting trees therefore increases CO2 in the atmosphere aggravating the
problem of global warming. On the other hand, trees are a good source f
oxygen. For instance, recent investigations have suggested that over one
third of the worlds oxygen supply come from trees in the rainforest and
that a quarter of the world’s water is stored in the Amazon forest.
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Shortage of fuel wood and timber: Forest are exploited for domestic and
commercial purposes. There is an increasing demand for trees for timber
for building, fuel wood, paper industry etc. For instance fuel wood is the
main source of energy in rural East Africa. Over 80% of rural folks use
firewood and charcoal for cooking. Another significant number of urban
population use charcoal for cooking. Unless the high rate of deforestation
is reversed, East Africa may be unable to meet the increasing demand for
fuel wood and timber.
(iv) Glutted labour market: A high rate of population growth results in an increase in
the number of people joining the labour force. This is a serious problem in East
Africa where generation of employment opportunities is remarkably low and sow
compared to the number of job seekers; a problem attributed to East Africa’s low
economic growth. Between 1980 and 2000 for instance, Kenya Uganda and
Tanzania realized an economic growth rate of about 0.0%, 5.1% and 4.0%
respectively (http://www.nationmaster.com).Consequently, the rate of
unemployment has risen in ordinary to a situation whereby the labour market is
glutted. For example the rate of unemployment is over 40% in the three East
Africa countries.
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(iv) Inadequate social and economic infrastructure: A rapidly expanding population
exerts increasing pressure on the social and economic infrastructure of the
concerned countries. Schools, hospital and other facilities become inadequate
almost as soon as they are constructed. Urban zones like Cape Town, Cairo Addis
Ababa, Lagos etc, are experiencing an acute house shortage problem. The
ongoing rural to urban migration has aggravated the housing problem further.
Consequently slums and ghettos have developed in the big cities.
7.7 Summary
The population of Africa is unevenly distributed with a variety of ethnicity groups
form one area to another. And this involves various factors being favorable or
unfavorable to human beings. African ethnicity comprises different tribes/groups that
originated from north-east, north, south, west of the continent. In this case therefore
cultural customs are diversified all over the continent, raging from those of the Asian,
European and indigenous origin.
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7.9 Definition of Key Words
(b) Density: concentration of unit matter, that is expressed as mass per given unit
area in specific identified units.
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8.0 LESSON EIGHT: AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
8.1 Introduction
This lesson introduces the learners to various types of agricultural activities and
farming systems, mainly within the rural settings in Africa. Some main factors that
account to the different agricultural practices throughout the continent of Africa are
discussed.
(a) Describe the main factors that affect different agricultural practices in
Africa.
(b) Explain various agricultural activities in Africa.
(c) Discuss the agricultural contribution to the economic development in
Africa.
(d) Asses reason determining agricultural variations over the continent of
Africa.
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For some Nations, especially the so called developed, some in Africa in contrast,
the statistics indicate that the fraction of the labour force engaged in agriculture is
comparatively low, giving it at less than 10%.
Gold, slaves (on a small scale), Kola, copper, kola nuts, ostrich feathers, and salt,
were all items in Africa’s export trade for many hundreds of years before the advent of
Europeans. With the Europeans, initially, there came increased demand for one of the
traditional staples of African trade- slaves (see slavery: slavery in the modern period).
The numbers required, however, were vastly more than had ever been traded before,
leading to distortions and disruptions in Africa politics and society, and robbing the west
and center of the continent of millions of its people. Colonization brought overseas
demand for new agricultural and mineral products and internal labour migration; new and
faster communication systems were constructed; European technology and crops were
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introduced, not always, by any means, beneficially; and a modern exchange economy
evolved. Local industries and crafts-textiles and iron making, for example –were
frequently undermined by cheaper or more prestigious European goods. Modern
processing industries developed, as did new ports and administrative centres. A variety of
consumer industries sprang up to fill newly created local consumer needs. A feature of
the African economy is the side-by-side existence of both subsistence and modern
exchange economies. Future growth depends on the availability of investment funds, the
world demand for local raw materials, fair world prices for these raw materials, the
availability of energy sources, the size of local markets, a solution to the foreign debt
problem which is crippling so many African economies, and the willingness of the
industrialized economies to reduce trade barriers to processed and manufactured African
goods. See Development Economies.
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Although some 60 per cent of all cultivated land is in subsistence or semi
subsistence agriculture, commercial or cash-crop farming is common in all parts of the
continent. Food stuffs are grown for local urban markets, but cloves, coffee, pineapples,
cotton, cacao sugar, tea, maize, rubber, sisal, groundnuts (peanuts), palm oil, and tobacco
are among the long-established crops grown by Africans for export. In the past 15years
there has been significant development of new export crops, aimed at the high-value end
of the western, primarily European market, including green beans, roses and other
flowers, and kiwi fruit. For certain traditional African agricultural exports, such as cacao,
groundnuts, cloves, and sisal, the continent produces the majority of the world supply.
Large scale plantations and farms, often owned by foreign companies or farmers of
European descent, and found mainly in eastern and southern Africa, concentrate on
citrus, tobacco, tea and other export crops.
8.4.2 Mining
Mineral extraction provides the bulk of African export earnings, and extractive
industries are among the most developed sectors in most African economies. Almost half
of Africa’s mineral income comes from South Africa, mainly derived from gold and
diamond mining but also from chromium, asbestos, coal, and copper. Other leading
mineral-producing countries include Libya (oil), Nigeria (oil, natural gas, coal, tin),
Namibia (diamonds, uranium), Algeria (oil, natural gas, iron ore), and Zambia and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (copper, cobalt, lead, zinc), Zimbabwe (gold,
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asbestos, coal, chromium, iron ore, and nickel), and Ghana (gold, bauxite, and diamonds).
Oil is also found along the western African coast, in the Gabon basin, the Republic of the
Congo, and Angola.
(a) Climate: Several climatic factors affect the type and distribution of agriculture in
East Africa, but the most significant are rainfall and temperature.
Rainfall is the single most dominant weather element influencing the intensity and
location of farming systems. Areas that receive high rainfall (over 1000mm) and
those that have low evaporation rates are intensively cultivated. In such places the
received rainfall has a high effectiveness and reliability. Rainfall effectiveness is
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the actual received in a given place, minus the total possible evaporation. Rainfall
is said to be reliable if its deviation from the mean (average) figure does not
exceed 20%. A viability of more than 20% implies a great risk to farming and
rain-fed agriculture in such circumstances cannot be practiced successfully. Table
8.1 shows the relationship between rainfall characteristics and land use.
Temperature is very critical for plant growth because each plant or crop requires a
particular minimum growing temperature. Warm temperatures (16-22oc) are
better suited to a variety of agricultural practices than extremely high and cold
temperatures (250c) increase evapo-transpiration rates thus decreasing moisture
available for crop production; and when coupled with high humidity, they become
favourable to a variety of insect pests and a higher incidence of plant pathogens.
Very few crops (dates) and animals (camel) will survive in regions of extreme
temperatures. On the other hand, too low temperatures (10oc) discourage the
growth of many crop varieties, cause delays in the maturity of cereal crops such
as maize and sorghum and may also lead to crop losses (Awour and Ogola, 1997).
Areas of extremely low of high temperature are extensively utilized.
Moderate to high altitude lands are intensively used (Table 8.1). Dairy farming is
an important agricultural activity practiced in such places. Crops like tea and
coffee grow best on well-drained hilly slopes and at altitudes of up-to 2000m
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above the sea level. This explains why the slopes of Mt. Kenya and Mt. Meru are
intensively cultivated.
Lowlands especially those receiving effective and reliable rainfall are some of the
most intensively cultivated parts of East Africa world. The level-ness of the
ground eases cultivation and makes the use of machinery possible. But lowlands
that do not receive adequate rainfall are usually extensively used.
Slope also affects agricultural land use. Steep slopes are in most cases not used
for agriculture, except in the cases where population pressure has forced farmers
to encroach on such land. These are fragile ecosystems. It is true that all soils are
prone to erosion but it is also true that erosion is greater on steep slopes than on
gentle slopes. Such soils can only become productive if appropriate management
strategies are applied. This is because the soils are poorly developed, are thin and
hence very vulnerable to erosion. In addition steep slopes pose a serious limitation
to the use of machinery.
Gently and moderately sloping lands especially the windward sides are
intensively used. This is particularly true where adequate rainfall is received and
whether means of transport are developed.
(c) Soils (edaphic factor) constitute the physical base for any agricultural activity.
Soils endowed with a proper combination of texture, salts and humus tend to be very
productive, give high yields and are usually intensively cultivated. As soils are so varied
in their physical and chemical composition, their suitability for the cultivation of crops
varies tremendously. The characteristics of a soil that determine its usefulness include:
Soil texture: the texture of a soil influences the ease of cultivation, root
penetration, aeration, and absorption. For example, clay soils retain a lot of
moisture, are heavy to work and are best suited to wet crops like rice. Sandy soils
lack coherence, but are well aerated, and easy to work and are best suited to crops
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like barley, dates, cotton, wheat, maize and pulses. Loamy soils are the most ideal
for agriculture. They have sufficient: clay 20 per cent, which helps in moisture
and nutrients retention; sand, 40per cent which prevents water logging, allows for
adequate aeration and makes them easy to cultivate and silt 40 per cent which acts
as an adhesive, holding the sand and clay together. As such they accommodate a
wide range of crops and are intensively cultivated. Loam soils are also least
susceptible to soil erosion.
Soil composition: Apart from their mineral content (influenced by parent rock)
soils contain organic matter derived from the decomposition of plants and
animals. The higher the organic matter in a soil, the more fertile it is; the higher
its resistance to erosion and the more intensively it is utilized.
Cultural and religious beliefs: The most direct consequence of cultural and
religious beliefs in agriculture is in the field of animal husbandry. For example,
among the pastoralists such as the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, the number of
cattle possessed by an individual or family determines their status and prestige
within the tribe. As such pastoralists adhere to quantity rather than to quality.
Moslems will not engage in pig farming because they consider the pig an unclean
animal. In other places farmers retain an animistic view of natural events. Crop
yields are thought to be the work of gods and droughts and other natural hazards
are accepted. Agriculture in such places remains backward.
LAND TENURE: There are three types of land tenure namely:- tenancy; owner-
occupier and communal ownership. Under tenancy type of ownership, a farmer
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rents the piece of land that he cultivates. Tenancy takes tow forms namely cash
tenancy and sharecropping. Cash tenancy is when a farmer gives as much as 80
per cent of their income or a fixed pre-arranged rent to the landowner.
Sharecropping on the other hand is when the farmer gives part of his harvest to
the landowner as a payment. Owner-occupier mean that the farmer owns the land
he cultivates and he most likely has title deed for the land. Communal ownership
implies that the land belongs to the community, and that as long as one is a
member of the community, he has every right to the land.
Any type of ownership that does not guarantee security of tenure discourages
agricultural development. Farmers cannot adopt green revolution farming
technologies (such fertilizers, improved seeds, cross breed animals, pesticides and
herbicides) or practice sustainable farming techniques on farms that do not fully
belong to them. For example nearly all the grazing land in East Africa is
commonly owned. As there are restrictions upon the number of animals that can
be grazed, the capacity of the land more often than not over-stretched. Most often
than not land degradation sets in and within a short time the affected land begins
to show signs of desertification as is the use in Central East, Northern Africa for
example.
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Transport: Good transport conditions are an essential prerequisite to
agricultural development. Transportation network opens up and links places,
enabling the movement of people and goods from one place to another.
Regions that are acceptable and well connected are more developed
agriculture-wise and are more intensively used than those that are not A well
established and efficient transport network is also conducive for the marketing
of the bulky and highly perishable agricultural produce such as milk and fresh
fruits.
In Africa, most farmers face a severe capital deficiency. This problem is attributed
to the meager income associated with small and fragmented farms. Low incomes
means that the farmer’s savings are small too. In turn, small savings implies less
or no investment in agriculture. Such farmers cannot adopt green revolution
technology. As a result farm yields are low; no surplus is realized and farmers
incomes remain low. These types of farmers are actually trapped in a vicious
cycle of poverty. Lack of capital impedes their transition to commercial
agriculture.
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8.6 Agricultural Types
The main types of agriculture practiced in East Africa fall under the following
two broad classifications:
Commercial systems:
1. Livestock ranching.
2. Commercial grain farming.
3. Commercial dairy farming.
4. Plantation agriculture.
5. Horticulture farming.
6. Mixed farming.
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Characteristics of Nomadic Pastoralism
Seasonal movements: nomadic herders are constantly on the move searching for
pastures and water. The movement could be constant from one pasture to another or from
one water hole to another; or it could be of a seasonal nature in which the pastoralists
spend their dry season in one place and migrate to the wet areas during the rainy season.
The migratory behaviour of the nomads is further enhanced by the presence of a variety
of animal diseases such as foot and mouth, anthrax and East coast fever; and also pests
especially the tsetse fly. These diseases reduce the health of the animals as well as their
productivity. Cattle rustling also contribute to the migratory of the nomads.
Large herds of animals are kept. A large herd plays an important role as risk
‘capital’ during periods of prolonged drought and livestock disease outbreaks.
When such incidences occur large herds spread thin the risk of the total loss.
Large herds also enhances ones social status. In addition large herds are necessary
for building social alliances through transfer of animals to friends and kinfolk as
loans, especially during times of need. These facts are the major reason behind the
immense resistance to the idea of de-stocking.
Living structure: The habitation is usually a tent, which can easily be transported
or cow-dung build huts. Where true nomadism is practiced, there are no
permanent settlements.
The quality of the animals is low, a fact attributed to the large sizes of herds
reared in harsh environments characterized by insufficient pasture. Also the
constant movements contribute to weight loss of the animals.
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Problems experienced by pastoralists
Pastoralists experience a wide variety of problems. Among them are:
Droughts
Livestock farming forms the main stay of the livelihoods of the nomadic people.
These people inhabit harsh environments characterized by a regular occurrence of
acute droughts, shortage of water and pastures. Starvation and death of livestock
as well as human losses are the main effects of drought on the nomads. Due to the
frequent nature of drought in these fragile ecosystems pastorists have evolved
coping strategies to circumvent the consequences of droughts. These include:
Herd maximization: Large herds are kept as some insurance during periods of
drought. Nomads are never eager to sell their livestock. But during a drought
period more livestock than is normal is sold to minimize the number of losses.
Slaughter of the young kids and lambs. During the time of a severe drought, the
newly born lambs and kids are slaughtered. This is done to increase the chance of
survival of the mother.
Mobility: pastoralists move with their stock to alternative grazing areas during
severe drought periods. The number and distance of movement in any year
depends on environmental conditions., the quality and quantity of resources and
the species of livestock. For example, during the 1984 and 2000 droughts, the
Maasai pastoralists moved to Nairobi (urban and peri-urban) in search of pasture
and water. This is the case all over Africa. Elsewhere during the 1999/2000
drought, herds in Northern Kenya moved their livestock to southern Ethiopia,
Bulo area and sibiloi National reserve. Sometimes desperate pastoralists invade or
encroach onto land owned by sedentary farmers a problem, which has been a
source of conflicts between pastorists and crop farmers.
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8.7 Summary
The African possesses a diversified agricultural practices and a range of
environmental factors which do determine any variety of agricultural types according to
various African regions.
A part from all above, it is very important to note that agriculture is the backbone
of the African development and economy which play a very important role in the regional
development.
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9.0 LESSON NINE: AFRICAN INDUSTRY AND TRADE
9.1 Introduction
This lesson describes the levels of industrial status and manufacturing as an economical
activity in the African continent. The main factors determining the location of some industries
and their significance to the economic development are highlighted. Various industrial types
over the continent are discussed
In other parts of Africa, there are few pockets of industry, that serve the countries where
they are situated (WJ.Minnus, 1991). But it is noted that after the world war two the Africa’s
main resource was the land property.
Traditionally, the vast majority of Africans have been farmers and herders who raised
crops and livestock for subsistence. Manufacturing and crafts were generally carried on as Part-
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time activities. Most markets were local, although numerous states over the centuries developed
long distance trade system, and in these places complex exchange facilities as well as industrial
specialization, communication Networks and elaborate governmental structures maintained the
flow of commerce. They included the medieval West African Kingdoms and empires of Ghana,
Songhai, Kanem-Bornu; and of great Zimbabwe in South Africa; trans- Saharan trade, which
began before the Romans continued until well into the 19th century.
Gold slaves (on small scale), kola, copper, kola nuts, ostrich feathers, and salt were all
items in Africa’s export trade for many hundreds of years before the advent of Europeans. With
Europeans, initially, there came increased demand for one of the traditional staples of African
trade- slaves (see Slavery in the modern period). The numbers required, however, were vastly
more than had ever been traded before, leading to distortions and disruptions in African politics
and society, and robbing the west and center of the continent of millions of people. Colonization
brought overseas demand for new agricultural and mineral products and internal labour
migration; new and faster communication systems were constructed; European technology and
crops were introduced, not always, by any means, beneficially, and modern exchange economy
evolved. Local industry and crafts- textiles and iron making, for example- were frequently
undermined by cheaper or more prestigious European goods. Modern processing industries
developed, as did more ports and administrative centers. A variety of consumer industries sprung
up to fill newly created local consumer needs. A feature of the African economy is the side-by-
side existence of both subsistence and modern exchange economies. Future growth depends on
the availability of investment funds, the world demand for local raw materials, the availability of
energy sources, the size of local markets, a solution to the foreign debt problem which is
crippling so many African economies, and the willingness of industrialized economies to reduce
trade barriers to processed and manufactured African goods.
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Manufacturing performs three functions as follows:
1. Processing
2. Assembly
3. Repair
(i) Primary industries – these deal with the extraction of raw materials directly from
the earth or sea. Example are farming, fishing forestry and mining.
(ii) Secondary industries- these process and manufacture primary products. Local
examples include crude oil refining, food processing, Tobacco Curing, vehicle
assembly, cement etc.
(iii) Tertiary industries- provides a service; these include health education tourism trade
and transport.
(iv) Quaternary industries- provide information and expertise, these include the new
microchip and micro-electronic industries.
Some resource materials or types meant for manufacturing such as; agriculture, fishing,
forestry and mining products are in most cases not directly consumable; various degrees of
processing are required to meet human needs of these products. Thus manufacturing industry is
concerned with the changing of materials from raw into consumable form. In this respect inputs
to the manufacturing unit arrive from agriculture or mining and the outputs depart to families or
similar consumers. Some manufacturing however uses already manufactured products as the
inputs, assembles them, or generally increases their usefulness and subsequently sells the new
product to their either another manufacturer or to the final consumer. Manufactured goods are
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more useful and valuable than the original raw materials from which they are made. For example
timber is converted into furniture, construction materials, pulp and paper.
A ¼ of Africa is covered by forests, but timber is less valued except for local fuel
consumption. Gabon for example is a major producer of okuome- a wood used in making
plywood, cote devoir, Liberia (just before the civil war) Ghana Nigeria etc are known as major
exporters of hard woods fishing is concentrated in inland lakes of the rift valley especially in the
eastern part of Africa including other lakes where the increasing numbers of fish farms are
found. In the oceans fishing is wide spread.
But in South Africa Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia and off morocco fishing is
commercially significant even for other nations outside Africa.
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weight or of high value (e.g. gold, diamond and ruby) transport costs may be low and a raw
material location will not be necessary. In the latter case the cost of the manufactured product is
high enough to pay for the transportation and processing of the raw materials.
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The economic development of virtually all African nations has been hindered by
inadequate transport systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are frequently composed
largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the rainy seasons. Road and rail networks
built during the colonial era tended to link the interior of a country to the coast; few provided
cross-country links internally, or links with adjacent countries. Since independence, however of
important trans-African routes have been built providing road and rail links, notably for the
landlocked countries. Most African nations support a national airline and there has been much
improvement in recent years in coordinating timetabling. Rail and shipping systems are best
developed in Southern Africa.
9.5.5Starting Capital
Without capital, industries cannot be set up. Capital is required to purchase land, where
the industry will be set up, raw materials, office equipment and build offices; to hire labour as
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well as for promotion of the finished products. The initial capital outlay can be enormous
although this will depend on the type of the industry being set up. But availability of capital may
not be a strong location factor. This is because capital is very mobile, people will invest where
there are possible rewards regardless of the nature of the physical environments.
It is important note that power was a strong location factor when coal was the only source
of power. Because coal was heavy and bulk and hence expensive to transport, industries had to
be located within a short radious of the coalfield. That’s why most of the industries in Germany
where concentrated within coal producing areas such the Ruhr coalfield which is also the Rugr
industrial area.
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9.5.8 Trade
Traditional industrial areas usually have a strong pull factor and continue to attract new
industries because of third well-established economies of scale. Such economies of scale
include:- good transport and communication network, available markets, availability of certain
skills, cheap storage facilities, affordable construction costs etc. The failure of an industry to
move from one are to another when, locational advantages and disadvantages change is called
industrial inertia. Prospective industrialists would enjoy better economies of scale by locating
their business for example within already established like Johanneburg, Cairo, Lagos, Lusaka
industrial centers.
(A) Energy
Some countries such as Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, and Angola are major world producers of
oil, and several other African Countries are also oil exporters, including Gabon. Africa’s natural
–gas exports are centered in Algeria. Coal production is concerted mainly in Zimbambwe and
South Africa, although many other countries have sizeable reserves (such as Botswana), which
awaits development because of a lack of markets. The bulk of Africa coal production is used
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internally. Most Africa countries must import fuels, especially petroleum and oil. The oil price
rises of the 1970s were disastrous for many of them, precipitating many of the balance of
payments and debt problems which undermined their economies in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Although Africa has some 40 pr cent of the world hydroelectric power potential, only a relatively
small portion ha been developed owing to high construction costs, inaccessibility of sites, and
their distance from markets. Since the 1950s, however, a number of the world largest
hydroelectric installations have been built in Africa; these include the Aswan high Dam on the
River Nile, the Volta Dam on the River Volta, and the Kariba and Cabora dams on the Zambezi,
the huge Highlands water scheme under construction in Lesotho also has a hydroelectric power
component.
(B) Mining
Mineral extraction provides the bulk of African export earnings, and extractive industries
are among the most developed sectors in most African economies,. Almost half of Africa’s
mineral income comes from chromium, asbestos, coal and copper. Other lading mineral-
producing countries include Libya (oil) Nigeria (oil, natural gas , coal , tin), Namibia (diamonds,
uranium) Algeria (oil, natural gas, iron ore) and Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (copper, cobalt, lad, zinc), Zimbabwe (gold, asbestos, coal, chromium, iron ore, and
nicke) and Ghana (gold, bauxite and diamonds). Oil is also found along the Western African
coast, in the Gabon basin, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Angola.
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Republic of the Congo produce the majority of the worlds gem and industrial diamonds. Iron ore
is found in all parts of the continent. Most of Africa’s mineral wealth has been and is being
developed by large, multinational corporations (MNC0. Increasingly, in recent years, African
governments have become substantial shareholders in the operations within their own countries.
African lacks heavy industries especially those that require bulky and expensive raw
materials such as iron and steel; and which produce high value products. This situation is
explained by the fact that:
(a) Africa is poorly endowed with high quality minerals, and cheap energy resources.
The region lacks important minerals such as iron, steel and oil, and energy resources
such as petroleum, nuclear, fuel, natural gas, and coal, which are important
components in the manufacturing industries.
(b) Over the years the economic growth of the region has been very slow;
African has a large population is unfortunate that this population cannot guarantee
market for the manufactured goods. Fr example, a large number of farmers cannot afford a
plough and continue using a hoe, which is not only slow but cultivates a small area per day
than a plough would. On the other hand, diminutive economic growth implies modest
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savings and investment and inability of the region to purchase capital and technology that
Africa lacks.
This means:
(i) Industrial growth is cumulative and can stimulate progress in other sectors of
the economy. For instance, fertilizers are industrial products, which if well
used in the improvement of impoverished soils will not only improve the soils
fertility but also enhance agricultural productivity and consequently improve
food security in the region.
(ii) Where industry is concerned with the processing of commodities for export, it
increase foreign exchange by increasing the value of the commodities.
(iii) Where raw materials are found locally, the finished products are less expensive
than their imported substitutes.
(iv) Industrial sector could surplus population in the agricultural sector and at the
same time improve the marginal productivity of the people left behind.
9.12 Summary
Africa has different types (small in scale and range) of industries that are determined by
the locational factors range of raw material availability labour, country’s regimes etc. Some parts
of Africa have adequate agricultural outputs in terms of trade to other continents, but still
industries are not well developed. This is so because of unevenly distribution of environmental
conditions (like climate, soils etc) at times proper skills of farming and marketing thus, causing
low export values.
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9.13 Revision questions
(a) Describe the main industrial types in Africa
(b) Discuss any three factor that influence the industrial location
(c) Explain the functions of international trades and their benefits in each country
(d) Assess the role of manufacturing sector in economic development
(e) How do you understand the term industrial scale?
(c) World Bank (2001) African Development indicators 2001: From the World bank Date
base, Washington D.C
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10.0 LESSON TEN: TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION IN AFRICA
10.1 Introduction
This lesson examines the transport and communication networks within and
adjacent the African Continent.
The evaluation of the present communication between major African cities and
urban settings is highlighted.
10.2 Objectives
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
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In this case therefore the produce need to be transported or exported to other
market points suing for example:
Roads
Railways
Airways
Other means of transport
With this in mind therefore, transport simply means the movement of goods or
people form one point to another for a purpose – i.e. for example economic gains. But
communication refers to the passing of some necessary information from one person to
another through present technological means – i.e. for example, telephone, media, letters
etc.
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For goods to be exported from one place to the next, the ports and loading and
unloading facilities must require enough and adequate space for example for railways to
access the quaysides as well as for storage facilities (W.J. Minns, 1991).
economic development
Because Transport and communication means, for a long time human societies
have done good exchanges land trades through various services.
This means various transport modes have been developed as well used.
Earlier man and animal porterage were developed and used, where goods were
carried on people’s heads, shoulders, the back which is still found in some societies to-
day. But this proved too slow and inefficient as days went on.
These included:-
Message sending by voices.
Smoke signals.
Drumming modes
Goods sent through village carrier societies (special persons).
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This was so because people were specially restricted and isolated to self-sufficient
communities that lived a part form each other.
To-day with science and technology improvement, there enough and efficient,
effective means of transport plus communication facilities.
These for example include:-
All weather roads.
Railways lines.
Air transport
Ship transport
Boats
Telephone
Faxes
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been built providing road and rail links, notably for the landlocked countries. Most
African nations support a national airline and there has been much improvement in recent
years in coordinating timetabling. Rail and shipping systems are best developed in South
Africa.
10.5 Summary
It is well recognised or considered that effective and sufficient transport and
communication networks are crucial for any economic development.
In Africa, transport and communication systems are far inefficient and unevenly
distributed those results to inadequate services such as transport and communication
systems are mostly concentrated within urban settings, however with limited facilities.
And because of these, therefore the economic development processes are rather
slow. The potentially areas of Africa are economically dormant with foreign exploitation
in terms of resources being focussed or diverted to other nations.
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