Physical Geography & Map Skills
This is the longest river in the world, flowing north through northeastern Africa into the Mediterranean Sea.
What is the Nile River?
This vast, dry region in Northern Africa is the largest hot desert in the world.
What is the Sahara Desert?
Major cities and dense populations across Africa are most commonly found near these two geographical features.
What are coastlines and rivers (or major water sources)?
Overgrazing, deforestation, and severe droughts cause arable land along the Sahel to dry up and turn into desert in a process called this.
What is desertification?
Drinking polluted water frequently spreads dangerous waterborne illnesses such as dysentery and this disease.
What is cholera?
Located in northwestern Africa, this mountain range separates the coastal Mediterranean climate from the Sahara Desert.
What are the Atlas Mountains?
This climate zone features warm temperatures year-round with distinct wet and dry seasons, making it ideal for grazing animals.
What is the Savanna?
This West African river provides water for farming, fish for food, and a major highway for trade and shipping.
What is the Niger River?
In rural Africa, millions of families rely on trees for cooking and heating, making this daily activity a major cause of deforestation.
What is firewood collection?
In rural villages with water scarcity, family members (often women and children) lose time for education and jobs because they must spend hours doing this.
What is collecting/fetching water?
This major geographic feature in Southern Africa covers parts of Botswana and Namibia with dry, sandy terrain.
What is the Kalahari Desert?
This narrow belt of semi-arid land sits directly south of the Sahara and serves as a transition zone to wetter regions.
What is the Sahel?
Nations along the coast (like those on the Gulf of Guinea) generally have better trade opportunities than landlocked countries because they have direct access to these.
What are ocean ports (or international maritime trade routes)?
Untreated sewage and industrial waste dumped into water supplies are major drivers of this urban environmental problem.
What is water pollution?
High population growth in the Sahel increases demand for farmland and wood, which speeds up this environmental crisis.
What is desertification (or land degradation)?
This body of water borders the eastern coast of the African continent.
What is the Indian Ocean?
Dense foliage, high humidity, thick canopies, and poor soil for large-scale farming are key features of this Central African region.
What is the Tropical Rain Forest?
This desert pest, commonly found in the Central African rainforest, makes dense human settlement and raising livestock difficult.
What is the tsetse fly?
Continuous farming without resting the land or rotating crops depletes soil nutrients, resulting in this process.
What is soil degradation (or soil erosion/depletion)?
As farmland degrades and turns into desert, rural families are often forced to migrate to cities in search of food and jobs, causing this social issue.
What is urban overcrowding (or rural-to-urban migration)?
Created by moving tectonic plates, this massive East African feature is known for its cliffs, deep lakes, and volcanic activity.
What is the Great Rift Valley?
This feature is Africa's largest lake and acts as a primary source for the Nile River.
What is Lake Victoria?
People living in the Sahara adapt by moving continuously in search of food and water, a practice known as this lifestyle.
What is nomadic herding (or a nomadic lifestyle)?
When rainforest trees are clear-cut, heavy rains wash away topsoil nutrients because there are no plant roots left to anchor the soil—a primary effect of this issue.
What is deforestation?
Water pollution traps rural communities in poverty by increasing healthcare costs and reducing worker productivity, creating a vicious cycle between poor health and this economic condition.
What is poverty?