Geography Of Africa Essay

1. Africa is the second largest continent in the world. Africa is north and south of the equator and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Indian Ocean to the east, the continent is about 5,000 miles north to south and about 4,600 miles from east to west. Africa is formed by a series of plateaus. The continent has extremely high plateaus in the east region located around Kenya and Ethiopia and south in South Africa that are about 3,000 feet above sea level. The highlands in Ethiopia, which is the highest plateau in Africa, its heights, may reach up to about 12,000 feet above sea level. Africa has two of the largest deserts in the world, for example, the Sahara Desert located in North Africa is the largest desert in the world

The ideologies of Islam and Christianity played a vital role in Africa. Christianity was introduced by traders and missionaries from Europe or the Middle East. Christianity first emerged in Egypt and northern along the coastlines of the Red and Mediterranean Sea. Christianity appeared in the kingdom of Axum in the 4th century; the kingdom is located in the Ethiopian highlands. Frumentius a missionary from Syria introduced the religion to King Ezana; the King would declare Christianity as the official religion of the kingdom. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was influenced by early Judaism and animism, for example, the Ethiopians had the utmost respect for the old testament however, they often danced during religious ceremonies. Portuguese missionaries went to the Kongo and Afonso I eventually adopted Christianity to strengthen his kingdom, however he would fail due to the transatlantic slave trade. Islam began to rise in Africa during the seventh and eighth century as Christianity started to decline, the Arab Muslims controlled trade routes into the interior of Africa that helped spread Islam. Muslims came to Africa as traders and scholars with influence, and not as missionaries. Muslim traders crossed the Sahara to trade in West Africa. Since traditional African religions were mostly derived from oral history, Missionaries and scholars thought African’s were not capable of religious rituals. Christian missionaries and Muslims traders came into Africa to obtain materials

Africans have manipulated their environment in order to obtain a permanent settlement and to build civilizations. Africa is one of the richest continents in the world in natural resources such as, gold, diamonds, silver, and copper, for instance, West Africa provided two-thirds of the gold supply for Europe. In the Ethiopian highlands, the rich volcanic soil was sufficient to plow agriculture. In North Africa the Egyptians would farm along the Nile River, they had a system in place to control the river. Egypt was growing more food and had the biggest food surplus than any other civilization in Africa that led to a growing population. There were places in Africa where agriculture was difficult due to lack of rainfall. Africans who lived in these hostile environments would often gather edible plants, they also obtained handcrafted spears, bows, and arrows to hunt for food and those civilizations remained scanted. Tsetse flies carries a harmful and lethal disease called trypanosomiasis and could be catastrophic to humans and their livestock. Tsetse flies live in sub-Saharan Africa in the savanna and woodlands regions, these areas have lower populations because of the fact that animals are less likely to be domesticated and farmers are less likely to use the