The document describes the geography and climate zones of Africa. It notes that Africa has many varied terrains ranging from deserts to rainforests. Each region has a different climate and resources that have supported the development of cultures. For example, in West Africa the rivers provided water for growing crops in dry areas and the land also contained rich minerals, which played a large role in the development of West African cultures. It provides brief descriptions of several climate zones in Africa including Mediterranean, Sahel, deserts, savannas, and rainforests.

2. The continent of Africa is so large that it includes
many varied kinds of terrain, from barren deserts
to thick rain forest. Each region has a different
climate and provides different resources for the
people who live there. In West Africa, rivers
provide water to grow crops in drier areas. The
land is also a rich source of minerals. These two
resources played a large role in the development
of West African cultures!

3. Africa is
the second
largest
continent!

4. Mediterranean Climate Area
 Mediterranean Climate
This is a wet-winter, dry-
summer climate.

5. Sahel – the ‘shores of the desert’
 The ‘shore of the desert’.
 The Sahel runs from the Atlantic Ocean in
the west to the Red Sea in the east, in a
belt that varies from several hundred to a
thousand kilometers (620 miles) in width. It
is a area of semi-arid (dry) grasslands,
savannas, steppes, and thorn shrub lands
lying between the wooded Sudanian
savanna to the south and the Sahara to the
north.

6. Deserts
There are two deserts in Africa,
the Sahara Desert and Kalahari
Desert. The Sahara desert is
largest desert in the world!

7. Savannas
South of the Sahara
are the savannas, or
grassy plains. This
area is generally
fertile. The drier
regions are used to
herd cattle.

8. Rain Forests
The tropical rain
forest biomes only
cover a very small
area of the African
continent. Rain, many
plants. The thick
vegetation makes
farming nearly
impossible!

9. Rivers in Africa
 Niger River
Major interior river. Artery
of trade that flows through
forest, savanna, and Sahel,
nearly reaching the
Sahara.
 Nile – the longest river in
the world! Flows from the
south to the north-
remember?

10. Streamline
 Segment Three: Geography of Africa
A Segment of: Exploring the World's
Geography

11. M&M Activity!

12. Map Activity
 Use p. 371 and Power Point to label the 6
climate zones of Africa from north to south:
Mediterranean Region / blue, Sahel (northern shore
of the Sahara Desert) / yellow, Sahara Desert /
brown, Sahel (southern shore of the Sahara Desert)
/ yellow, Savanna (grasslands) / orange,
Forest(tropical rainforest) / green
 Create a Map Key for the climate zones
(colors)
 Use p.371 and 377 to label the Atlantic Ocean,
Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Niger River, and
the Nile River.

13. Ecological Zones: Natural Resources
 These locations (ecological zones) gave the kingdoms
of Africa access to large supplies of highly desirable
resources or commodities.
Mediterranean Desert Savanna Forest
Cloth
Spices
Weapons
Salt (health /
preservative)
Gold (currency)
Grain
Rice
Cattle(food)
Donkeys (transp)
Cotton (cloth)
Gold
Kola nuts (used by
Muslims / mild
stimulant)

14. Ecological Zones: Natural Resources & Transportation
 The fact that demand for the most valuable of
these resources – most importantly gold from
the savanna and forest zones and salt from the
desert – was diffused across zones (and beyond)
led to long-distance trade to meet that demand.
 Trade had to be carried out using transport
appropriate to different environments.

15. Transportation Modes
Mediterranean
Transportation
appropriate for
climate zone:
Desert Savanna Forest
Don’t worry about it.
It’s not a standard.
Camel Donkey
Cattle
River
Human
The tsetse fly in the
forest inhibited
travel by animal. It
was deadly for
domestic animals.

17. Ecological Zones: Natural Resources & Transportation
 Not surprisingly, it was often at the lines of transition from one
ecological zone to another, where modes of transport needed to be
switched, that some of the earliest markets, and then towns and
cites grew up.
 These market towns and cities – and others that followed – became
sites where merchants from different cultures and environments
met and exchanged not only goods but ideas, connecting early West
Africa with the wider world in the process.
 Some of these towns and cities also became places where rulers set
up their courts and governments.

18. 3 Kingdoms of Western Africa
 Controlling such centers of commerce (business) and
taxing the region’s lucrative (money-spinning) trade
that occurred there was crucial to the existence and
maintenance of each of the three early West African
kingdoms and their rulers. *Controlling trade and
charging taxes maintained the kingdoms.
 These kingdoms were supported by a typically
abundant grain-based agriculture produced by the
majority of the kingdom’s population who were
peasant farmers.

19. 3 Kingdoms of Western Africa

20. Ghana Mali Songhai
-1050s AD
-Gold
-major city: Kumbi Saleh
Because of trade and taxing… this led to:
Large government
-Large army
-Rich culture
-1300s AD
-Gold
-Cotton
-major city: Timbuktu and Gao
-1400s AD
-Gold
-major city: Timbuktu and Gao
-attacked by Moroccans, they had guns,
this technology was successful and
Songhai empire was defeated

21. Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

22. Streamline
Sub-Saharan Survey
 A Segment of: Empires of Early Africa

23. Islam and Africa
 Trans-Saharan trade was linked closely to Islam.
 Goods were carried north and south across the desert
by Muslim desert dwellers called Berbers.
 All 3 West African Kingdoms adopted Islam.

24. Why Did They Choose Islam?
 The theology of Islam was easy and simple to understand.
 Encouraged literacy (religion of the book)
 Associated with long distance trade
 Associated with wealth and power
 You belonged to a ‘larger community’ of believers outside of the
village or clan…

25. Streamline
Islam Comes to Timbuktu
 A Segment of: Empires of Early Africa

26. Effect of Islam on…
 Government: Kings were
Muslim
 Education: Muslim scholars
were brought into the
kingdoms to teach: many
schools, libraries, and
universities were built
Science, medicine, and math were
advanced
 Architecture: Many Muslim
Mosques were built (place of
worship)

27. Not only was Timbuktu a major trading center, it also became a
leading center of Islamic scholarship and intellectual life.

28. Africa & Islam Cubo
 Ecological zone
 Niger
 Ghana, Mali, Songhai
 Trans-Saharan Trade
Route
 Gold / salt
 Berber
 Islam
 Mosque
 Arabian Peninsula
 Mohammed
 5 Pillars
 Hajj
 Ramadan
 Alms
 Koran
 Long distance trade &
high taxes