Sahel & North Africa
Vocabulary
http://messengerandadvocate.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/west-africa-ghana-mission.jpg
Terms are in green.
Definitions of the terms are in boxes.
1. export
There are many
ways to export
products.
http://www.starfireusa.com/CMSUploads/ExportServices2.JPG
To export a product, a
country needs a
way to send it out of the country.
http://www.chinasignpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sudan-map-21.jpg
1. export: send something out of the country to sell
http://www.auguricom.com/Import--and--Export.php
2. import: bring things INTO your country from outside
3. developing country
But most African countries are still
developing countries.
The U.S. is already a developed country.
http://www.fullpassport.com/Trip2001/Images11/timsuburb.jpg
Developing countries may be VERY poor, or they may be a mix
of modern and poor.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/sao%20paulo%20poverty%20wealth/wishbone98/Sao_Paulo.jpg
http://www.dictatorshipwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/poverty_children.jpg
BrazilPakistan
3. developing country: has very limited industry & technology and
often poor
4. developed country
Other examples of developed countries
are Japan and France.
The U.S. is already a developed country.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/242/b/c/tokyo_skyline_2_by_freddy13131-d2xnqnk.jpg
Tokyo, Japan
Paris, Francehttp://d2f29brjr0xbt3.cloudfront.net/270_skyline/newyorkskyline.jpg
4. developed countries: have lots of technology and are usually wealthy
5. landlocked
http://www.harpercollege.edu/~mhealy/g101t/studygd/unit2/samer/smclosed.gif
There are only 2 landlocked countries in South America, but there are many in Europe.
http://d-maps.com/m/europemin/europemin09.gif
5. landlocked: a country that does not border the sea
http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa/thematic/maps/africa-landlocked-countries.jpg
Landlocked countries better get along with
their neighbors if they want to
export things by sea!
6. subsistence farming
Subsistence farms are small.
They don’t usually have extra to sell for profit.
There are many subsistence farmers in developing countries.
6. Subsistence farming produces just enough food to help feed the farmer’s
own family.
7. drought
Deforestation can make droughts
more severe.
7. drought: a time with very little rainfall.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photographerglen/963960046/
8. erosion
Deforestation leaves the soil with no trees and tree roots to protect it. This leads to
serious erosion.
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Erosion
Deforestation and erosion leave the soil less able to absorb rainwater. So flooding
is more common during heavy rain.
Erosion by the Colorado River
formed the Grand Canyon.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67307569@N00/2616398736/
8. erosion: the process of soil or rock being washed away
http://www.syngentafoundation.org/images/sahel_zone.gif
9. Sahel
It looks like this. . .
http://www.eduspace.esa.int/Background/images/Sahel1.jpe
http://www.eduspace.esa.int/Background/images/Sahel2.jpg
http://www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr/data_all/images/sahel23.gif
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/893/45020643.JPG
9. Sahel: the dry grassland on the south edge of the Sahara Desert
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41074000/gif/_41074256_africa_sahel_map203.gif
Sahara Desert
Sahel
The Sahel has a
shortage of arable
land.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7838744884_5a9323efa9_z.jpg
10. arable
10. arable: land good for farming
http://www.fernleighfarms.com/images/rows_green.jpg
http://www.eduspace.esa.int/Background/images/Sahel1.jpe
11. overgrazeWhen animals graze too long in one
area, they strip the leaves off trees and tear plants up by the roots.
This permanently kills plants and trees.
11. overgraze: letting herds eat too much in one area, permanently
damaging plants
http://geographyfieldwork.com/soiler12_small.jpg
12. slash-and-burnThis is a traditional way of clearing land for
subsistence farmers – worldwide.
http://www.listentoafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/web430-GW-G9-15NOV09-036.jpg
In an area with low population density, this works well.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/586368.JPG
They farm the land, let it grow back for many years, and eventually re-cut it.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/586368.JPG
But in modern times, high population density means they can’t
wait to let the trees grow back.
They just keep using the land – over and over – until it is no longer fertile, then
abandon it to erosion.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/586368.JPG
Slash-and-burn farming often
leads to serious soil erosion
http://photos.mongabay.com/06/1125marojejy.jpg
and deforestation.
http://www.wtamu.edu/~crobinson/Erosion/erosion7.jpg
12. slash-and-burn: cutting down trees and bushes & burning it to get
ready to farm
http://www.plexuseco.com/EPOW/EPOW-Archive/archive_2006/EPOW-060515_files/5648%20Congo%20Basin%20shift%20cultivn.jpg
13. desertificationOvergrazing, slash-and-burn farming, and
drought can all cause desertification.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/769/551267.JPG
Deforestation
Desertification
Healthy Land
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/769/588782.JPG
13. desertification: the process of land becoming desert
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/images/lithosphere/eolian/desertification_africa_fao_11638.jpg
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~carolm/vietnampics/Reforestation_centralhighlands2.JPG
14. reforestation
In Benin, these farmers plant trees to use just for firewood and fencing.
That saves the natural growth trees.
http://www.opecfund.org/about/images/sustainable_development_4_0001.jpg
What has happened between the 1975 satellite image and the one from 2005?
http://conservationmagazine.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sahel-Satellite-sm.jpg
14. reforestation: replanting trees that have been destroyed by deforestation
http://www.africanimpact.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Token-picture-lr.jpg
15. crop rotation
GRAINS
http://moofafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/crop-rotation.png
Planting the same crop in the same field every year takes the same
nutrients out of the soil every year.
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2636/3703600484_bcea1c578a_z.jpg
http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5054194074518695&pid=15.1
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/Projects/JH825/previews/20221980.JPG
1 43
2
Crop rotation fixes that, since you rotate your planting – different crops in
different fields – each year.
15. crop rotation: planting different crops in different years to keep the
soil arable
http://www.bestgardening.com/bgc/images/rotation4year01.gif
Sahel & North Africa vocabulary
• Sahel
• arable
• overgraze
• slash-and-burn
• desertification
• reforestation
• crop rotation
• export
• import
• developed
• developing
• landlocked
• subsistence farming
• drought
• erosion