North Africa

1
North Africa
CHAPTER 21

• Section 1 Natural Environments
• Section 2 History and Culture
• Section 3 The Region Today

2
Objectives
Section 1 Natural Environments

• What landform regions are found in North Africa?
• What factors influence the regions climates?
• What natural resources does the region have?

3
Landforms
Section 1 Natural Environments

• coastal plains along Mediterranean
• Atlas Mountains
• Sahara Desertergs (sand areas), regs (gravel
  plains), depressions (quick-sand, salt marshes,
  dry lakebeds), wadis (dry streambeds)
• Nile River

4
Climate factors
Section 1 Natural Environments

• coastal zoneMediterranean climate, with mild
  rainy winters
• sub-tropical high pressure keeps region dry
• rain shadow on Atlas Mountains
• hot dry wind (harmattan)sweeps south across
  Sahara

5
Natural resources
Section 1 Natural Environments

• oil and natural gasespecially in Libya
• mineralsiron ore, lead, phosphates, zinc
• fishing off Moroccan coast
• water from irrigation and oasesproduce grapes,
  olives, dates, grains, vegetables
• Nile Deltarich farmland

6
Objectives
Section 2 History and Culture

• What peoples have settled in and ruled North
  Africa?
• What are the people and culture of the region
  like today?

7
Settlers and rulers
Section 2 History and Culture

• Egyptian civilization arose along the Nile around
  3000 B.C.
• Phoenicians established trade colonies like
  Carthage by 800 B.C.
• Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 332
  B.C.
• Roman Empire controlled the area.
• Vandals set up a kingdom in Libya.

8
Settlers and rulers (continued)
Section 2 History and Culture

• Byzantine Empire claimed North Africa in A.D.
  500s.
• Arab Muslims conquered the region in 600s.
• Ottoman Turks ruled from 1500s to late 1800s.
• Europeans came in 1800sFrench, Spanish,
  Italians, British.
• Independence came after World War II.

9
Peoples and Cultures
Section 2 History and Culture

• Arabs, Berbers, and Bedouins
• Arabic and European languages
• Muslims, with small Christian and Jewish
  minorities
• Islam plays key roleprayer, holidays
• traditional clothing and customs

10
Objectives
Section 3 The Region Today

• What are the economies and cities of North Africa
  like?
• What challenges do the people there face?

11
Economic and urban environments
Section 3 The Region Today

• Economies
• issues typical of developing countriesgovernment
  spending, inflation, trade
• oil and natural gaskey in several countries
• agriculture also important
• tourismespecially important in Egypt, Morocco,
  Tunisia
• unemployment causes migration
• Cities
• mixture of ancient and modern
• crowded, with growing slums

12
Challenges
Section 3 The Region Today

• poverty
• political unrest
• Islamic fundamentalism
• environmentdesertification, pollution, effects
  of Aswan Dam