Human Environment Interaction

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Human Environment Interaction
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Physical Geography Of Sub-Saharan Africa
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Physical Geography Of Sub-Saharan Africa
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• The Sahel is a narrow band of dry grassland that
  runs east to west along the southern edge of the
  Sahara.
• The Sahel is known as the shore of the desert
  and literally means coastland in Arabic.
• People use the Sahel mostly for herding.

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• Desertification is an expansion of dry conditions
  into moist areas that are next to deserts.
• Humans can also cause desertification through
  their land use choices, such as over-farming.

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• Overgrazing of vegetation by livestock can also
  result in desertification.
• Animals also trample the soil, making it more
  vulnerable to erosion.

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• When farmers drill for water to irrigate, the
  resulting loss of vegetation can also cause a
  loss of moisture, which can lead to erosion
  and/or further desertification.
• As moisture is leached (removed) from soil, it
  can cause an increase in the salt levels of the
  soil, preventing the growth of new vegetation.
• LESS moisture More erosion MORE salt in soil
  MORE desertification

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• Growing population levels are an indirect cause
  of desertification.
• More people the need for more food. More food
  the need for more farming.

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• More Human Interaction with Environment of
  Africa
• Oil discovered in Nigeria in 1956
• Niger Delta-a region that contains most of
  Nigerias oil.
• Nigeria is the 6th leading oil exporter in the
  world.
• 2 million barrels are extracted each day much
  of it is shipped to the U.S.

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• While drilling for oil, the Nigerian government
  foreign oil companies have often damaged the land
  harmed the people living in the Niger delta.

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• Damage by the oil companies the Nigerian
  government has been severe.
• 4,000 oil spills over the past 4 decades.
• Cleanup operations are slow/non-existent.

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• In 2000, there was an explosion fire spread
  along 1 mile of the pipeline.
• This accident cost thousands of lives major
  environmental ruin in the region.

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• Oil-related fires have often resulted, causing
  acid rain soot.
• There is a high incident of people in the region
  who have contracted respiratory diseases.

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• Many of the explosions were not accidents but
  caused intentionally.
• Bandits, in cooperation with corrupt government
  officials the military, drain fuel from the
  pipelines then resell it.

ANSWER NOW (1) Describe the major natural
resource economic reason for HEI in Nigeria,
and (2) with reference to the natural resource in
Nigeria, how has political corruption affected
the people and environment in Nigeria?
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• During the 1970s, high oil prices made Nigeria
  one of the wealthiest nations in Africa. During
  the same time, the government borrowed heavily
  against the future sale of its oil.
• BUT, prices fell the Nigerian government owed
  millions to other nations, including the U.S.

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• Mismanagement, poor planning, corruption, a
  decline in oil prices left Nigeria poorer than
  before the oil boom.

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Mt. Kenya

Mt. Kilimanjaro
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Mt. Kenya

Mt. Kilimanjaro
Mt. Kenya
Mt. Kilimanjaro
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Continuing with West Africa
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• The empires of Ghana, Mali, Songhai thrived in
  West Africa because of their location on trade
  routes across the Sahara.

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• Gold salt were the main products traded in this
  region.

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• By the 17th C., Goree Island, off the coast of
  Senegal, emerged as another powerful trading
  center, but the items being sold forever changed
  the development and history of Africa and the
  Western Hemisphere.

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• Goree Island served as one of the busiest points
  for exporting slaves during the 17th through
  early 19th Century slave trade.

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• West Africa, since ancient times, has been a
  region of many different cultures and peoples.
• Prior to 19th and 20th C. colonialism, these
  different African cultures practiced self-rule
  within their respective cultures or tribes,
  creating what is known as a stateless society.

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• A Stateless society is one in which people rely
  on family lineages to govern themselves rather
  than an elected government or monarch.
• Lineage is a family or group that has descended
  from a common ancestor.

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• An example of a stateless society is the Igbo of
  southeast Nigeria.
• Many stateless societies faced challenges from
  19th and 20th Century European colonizers, who
  expected one ruler, not someone of lineage, to
  govern the society.

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• Trade is as important in West Africa today as it
  was in the past.
• The economic well being of West Africa is based
  on the sale of its products to industrialized
  countries of Europe, North America, Asia.

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• To help strengthen the economic power of Western
  Africa
• The Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWA) was
  formed in 1975.
• 15 of the 16 nations in Western Africa are part
  of the ECOWA, helping them better compete against
  years of former economic domination that had
  begun during colonization.
• The West African country that is not part of
  ECOWA is Mauritania.

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West African country of Ghana

• Ghanas economy relies primarily on mining and
  cash crops and the export of gold, diamonds,
  magnesium, bauxite and cocoa.
• Ghanas transition from colonialism to democracy
  has had setbacks, including military civil war.

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• As a result, in part, of a new constitution that
  was adopted in 1992, Ghana has held free
  elections since the 1990s.
• The new political stability that has been
  achieved through the smooth transitions in power
  has also provided a better climate for economic
  growth.

More Stability
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Major West African trouble spot

• The worst economic conditions in West Africa are
  in Sierra Leone, which once produced some of the
  worlds highest quality diamonds.
• Years of political instability civil wars have
  left the economy in shambles.

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• Sierra Leones relatively uneducated population
  causes a shortage in skilled workers.
• The road transportation system contains few
  highways only 800 miles of road!

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Culture Symbols of West Africa

• Ashanti, who live in what is now Ghana, are known
  for their work in weaving colorful asasia.
• Westerners usually refer to asasia as kente
  cloth.

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• Designs of kente cloth contain colorful woven
  geometric figures with specific meanings.
• Only royalty were allowed to wear kente cloth.

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West African Music

• West African popular music involves a blend of
  traditional African music with American forms of
  jazz, blues, and reggae.
• Over the years, West African musicians used
  French and English lyrics to attract an
  international audience.

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East Africa
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• East Africa, which includes the Horn of Africa,
  is called the cradle of humanity because of the
  large number of prehistoric human remains found
  in the region.

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• In 1931, Louis Leakey, an English archaeologist,
  began research in the Olduvai Gorge, located in
  Tanzania.

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Olduvai Gorge
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Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania
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• The Olduvai Gorge has provided archaeologists
  with the most continuous record of humanity,
  including the remains of 65 individual hominids
• Hominids were the first humans that walked
  upright.

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• In 1959, Louis Mary Leakey discovered a species
  called homo habilis, who were the 1st human
  creatures to make stone tools.
• Homo habilis lived approximately 2 million years
  ago.

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• East Africa has been a crossroads of humanity
  because of its geographic position near water
  routes and seas oceans.

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• Aksum was an important civilization that emerged
  in present day Ethiopia in the A.D. 100s.
• Its location on the Red Sea Indian Ocean made
  it an important trading center contributed to
  its expansion power.

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Economy of East Africa

• Agriculture forms the economic foundation of East
  Africa.
• In addition, East Africas world-famous wildlife
  parks generate millions of dollars for the
  regions economy.

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• East Africa is more than 70 rural.
• Since European colonization, countries have
  relied more on cash crops like coffee, tea
  sugar.
• Relying on cash crops can be risky because the
  price of crops varies according to the world
  market.

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• At present, East Africas agricultural balance is
  changing because people are beginning to leave
  their rural farms for greater economic
  opportunities in the cities.

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• Besides farming, one of the main economic
  activities in East Africa is tourism.
• The wildlife parks in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania
  are world famous.
• 1938 the game reserves were created because
  Europeans were killing animals for sport at a
  high rate.

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• In east Africa, farmers and people in the tourism
  industry are competing against each other for use
  of game reserve parklands.
• Some groups want to eliminate or reduce the size
  of the wildlife reserves to create more farmland.

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Cultures of East Africa

• There are 2 major ethnic groups in East Africa
• the Masai and
• the Kikuyu

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• The Masai
• Masai groups live on the grassland of the rift
  valleys in Kenya Tanzania.
• Most herd livestock farm the land.
• They make their clothes from calfskin or buffalo
  hide, often greasing their clothes with cow fat
  to protect themselves from the sun rain.
• The Masai are also known for their intricate
  beadwork jewelry.

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• Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in Kenya-6.6
  million.
• Homeland is centered around Mt. Kenya
• Traditionally herders, but now they live
  throughout the country and work in a variety of
  jobs.

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Health Care in Modern Africa

• AIDS- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
• AIDS is caused by HIV- Human Immunodeficiency.
• People with HIV do not necessarily have AIDS
  can carry HIV for years without not knowing it.
• As a result, AIDS statistics can be misleading.

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• The number of people who have AIDS lags behind
  those infected with HIV.
• Some medical geographers predict that the
  populations of Africas worst affected countries
  could decline by 10 to 20.

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• Egypt faces environmental challenges caused by
  water.
• Egyptians tried to control the floodwaters of the
  Nile throughout history.
• Egyptians built the 1st Aswan Dam in 1902.

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• Four miles upriver from the 1st Aswan Dam, the
  Egyptians cut a huge channel through the land
  beside the Nile River.
• The builders used the rocks from the channel as a
  base for their new creationthe Aswan High Dam,
  which was completed in 1970.

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• Lake Nasser, which Egypt shares with Sudan, is
  the artificial lake created behind the dam.
• It stretches nearly 300 miles!

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• The dam gives farmers a regular supply of water.
• It holds the Niles floodwaters, releasing them
  as needed so that farmers can use the water
  effectively for irrigation.

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• As a result of the dam, farmers can have 2 or 3
  harvests per year.
• The dam has increased Egypts farmable land by
  50.
• The dam has also helped Egypt avoid droughts
  floods.

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Problems With the Dam

• During the dams construction, many people had to
  be relocated.
• The dam decreased the fertility of the soil
  around the Nile.
• The river no longer deposits its rich silt or
  sediment on the farmland.
• Farmers must now rely on expensive fertilizers to
  enrich the soil.

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• Rates of malaria other diseases have increased
  due to greater numbers of mosquitoes, which
  thrive on the still waters of Lake Nasser the
  irrigation canals.

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Colonization Disrupts Africa

• In the 19th century, Europes industrialized
  nations became interested in Africas raw
  materials.
• They wanted to colonize control parts of Africa
  to obtain the resources.

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Scramble for Africa

• Europeans did not want to fight over Africa.
• To prevent wars, 14 European nations convened the
  Berlin Conference.
• Berlin Conference-in 1884-1885 to lay down the
  rules for dividing Africa.

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• No African ruler was invited to attend this
  conference, even though it concerned Africas
  land people.
• By 1914, only Liberia Ethiopia remained free of
  European control.

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• Nations that attended the conference decided that
  any European country could claim land in Africa
  by telling other nations of their claims
  showing they could control the area.

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• The European nations divided Africa without
  regard to where African ethnic or linguistic
  groups lived.
• They set boundaries that combined peoples who
  were traditional enemies divided others who
  were not.

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• Europes division of Africa is often cited as one
  of the root causes of the political violence
  ethnic conflicts in Africa in the 20th century.

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• During the Europeans 19th 20th Century
  colonization of Africas countries, Ethiopian
  emperor Menelik II protected his country from
  takeover by the Italians.
• Ethiopia, in 1896, defeated Italys attempted
  armed takeover by fighting back with their own
  arms that had been provided, in part, by the
  French.

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Conflict in East Africa

• By the 1970s, most of East Africa has regained
  its independence from Europe.
• Internal disputes civil wars became a serious
  problem.

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• One problem was that European colonial powers had
  not prepared East African nations for
  independence.
• Ethnic boundaries created by the Europeans forced
  cultural divisions that had not existed before
  colonialism.