Chapter 24 World Geography: Building a global perspective iolani Mrs. Williams
Terms
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- Sahel
- the Sahelis the region in Africa just south of the Sahara Desert. In this region, there was a growing salt and gold trade after A.D. 1000. This trade gave rise to the empires of Ghana, Mali and others.
- Colonialism
- Colonialism is the system by which countries set up colonies to secure raw materials and markets for their products. Europe heavily colonized Africa in search of “goods†such as slaves.
- plateau
- A plateau is an area of high flat land that has either a level or gently rolling top. Plateaus are a prominent physical feature in the whole of the African continent.
- escarpment
- A steep cliff that separates to level areas of differing elevations. The Drakensburg Mountains of South Africa are an excellent example of an escarpment.
- chapparal
- A chaparral is an ecosystem based on drought resistant hers, shrubs, and/or small trees. This ecosystem is adapted to Mediterranean-type climates and can be found in the far north and far south of the African continent.
- savanna
- A savanna is tropical grassland with scattered trees. These are found in the warm lands near the equator. This ecosystem supports a wide variation of wildlife that can survive with small amounts of water in the drier parts of the continent.
- leaching
- Leaching is the process in which nutrients dissolve or wash away from the soil. Leaching has become a problem for many parts of Africa that would have been participating in commercial livestock raising and farming.
- land degredation
- Land degradation is the reduction of the productive potential of a piece of land. Because the poverty level is so high in Africa, people tend to overuse the resources that they do have. In Kenya, herders have overgrazed, causing severe forms of erosion, which is a form of land degradation.
- population density
- Population density is the average number of people in a given area. The population density near large bodies of water is very high compared to those of the drier, more desert-like areas. Population density also depends on climate. Mild, wet climates such as those of the tropical wet, tropical wet and dry, and Mediterranean are mild and moist and many people live in the cities in these regions.
- oral history
- Oral history is history passed down by word of mouth and stories. A way many Africans keep up tradition is by telling stories and passing down the history of their tribes through those stories.