Africa Flashcards

Front 1

basins

Back 1

depressions

Front 2

Nile River

Back 2

The world's longest river. Flows more than 4,000 miles through Uganda and Sudan and into Egypt. More than 95% of Egyptians depend on the Nile River for their water source.

Front 3

rift valleys

Back 3

long thin valleys created by cracks in the earth developed by the earth's shifting plates

Front 4

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Back 4

Africa's highest mountain. It's also a volcano.

Front 5

escarpment

Back 5

a steep slope with a nearly flat plateau ontop.

Front 6

Sahara

Back 6

The largest desert in the world. Sahara means "desert" in Arabic. It stretches 3,000 miles across Africa and runs 1,200 miles from north to south.

Front 7

aquifers

Back 7

huge stores of underground water

Front 8

Serengeti plain

Back 8

a tropical grassland in northern Tanzania. Trees and plants don't grow here, only grass. Grass can grow to be taller than the average human. It's an ideal place for grazing animals.

Front 9

canopy

Back 9

the uppermost layer of branches, about 150 feet above the ground.

Front 10

Niger Delta

Back 10

a region that contains most of Nigeria's soil.

Front 11

Sahel

Back 11

means "shore of the desert" in Arabic

Front 12

desertification

Back 12

and expansion of dry conditions into moist areas that are next to deserts.

Front 13

Aswan High Dam

Back 13

In 1970, Egyptians cut a huge channel through the land and made lake Nasser which stretches 300 miles.

Front 14

silt

Back 14

sediment from rivers

Front 15

Olduvai Gorge

Back 15

a place in northern Tanzania where the most continuous known record of humanity has been found.

Front 16

Aksum

Back 16

important civilization which emerged in present-day in the A.D. 100's

Front 17

Berlin Conference

Back 17

1884-1885; 14 European nations convened to lay down rules for dividing Africa.

Front 18

cash crops

Back 18

grow for direct sale. examples: coffee, tea, sugar, etc.

Front 19

Masai

Back 19

one major ethnic group in East Africa. Live on grasslands of rift valleys in Kenya and Tanzania. They herd livestock and they farm.

Front 20

pandemic

Back 20

an uncontrollable outbreak of a disease affecting a large population over a wide area.

Front 21

Carthage

Back 21

one of the great cities of ancient Africa.

Front 22

Islam

Back 22

remains the major culture and religious influence in North Africa.

Front 23

rai

Back 23

a kind of music developed in the 1920's by poor urban children.

Front 24

Goree Island

Back 24

off the coast of Senegal, was one of the busiest points for exporting slaves during the slave trade.

Front 25

stateless society

Back 25

one in which people rely on family lineages to govern themselves (rather than an elected government or a monarch).

Front 26

Ashanti

Back 26

people who live in what is now Ghana, are known for their work in weaving colorful asasia (kentecloth)

Front 27

Bantu migration

Back 27

a group of people who began a migration around 2000 B.C. from Nigeria to throughout the southern portion of Africa. They spread their languages and cultures along the way.

Front 28

King Leopold II

Back 28

King of Belgium (Eurogean nation)had onyl been at the edges of Africabut he found an interest in the Congo. He confined the area and paved the way for the Belgium Conference.

Front 29

Mobutu Sese Seko

Back 29

Democratic Republic of Congo's leaderfrom 1967-1997, brought the country's business under national control.

Front 30

Fang Sculpture

Back 30

the fang group's way of artwork. They carve things like masks and boxes. Picasso saw this and was inspired by it.

Front 31

Great Zimbabwe

Back 31

The shong people est. the city approx. 1000. From 1200s-1400s, it becasue the capital of a thirving gold-trading area. but for unknown reasons they abandoned it around 1450.

Front 32

Mutapa Empire

Back 32

a state founded in the 15th century by a man named Mutota and that extended thourghout all of the present day Zimbabwe except the east part.

Front 33

Apartheid

Back 33

Complete separation of the races

Front 34

Nelson Mandela

Back 34

one fo the leaders of ANC and lead a long struggle to end apartheid that resulted in him being imprisoned.

Front 35

F.W. deKlerk

Back 35

in 1989 he became the president of South Africa. He brought a peaceful revolution and the government ended its apartheid laws.

Front 36

one-commodity countries

Back 36

countries that rely on just one or two principle commodities for much of their earnings

Front 37

commodity

Back 37

an agricultural or mining product that can be sold.

Front 38

diversify

Back 38

to create variety in (African nations must do this to their economies and promote manufacturing to achieve economic growth and stability).

Front 39

AIDS

Back 39

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. (very big problem in Africa, caused my HIV)

Front 40

HIV

Back 40

Human Immunodeficiency Virus. (causes AIDS)

Front 41

Cholera

Back 41

an infection that is often fatal if not treated. Caused by inadequate sanitation and lack of clean water supply.

Front 42

Malaria

Back 42

an infectious disease marked by chills and fevers that is most often fatal. Mosquitos carry it.

Front 43

Tuberculosis

Back 43

a respiratory infection spread between humans. AIDS is often accompanied by it.

Front 44

UNAIDS

Back 44

the UN program that studies the world's AIDS epidemic. They estimate that $4.63 billion will be needed to fight AIDS in africa