9.2: Introduction

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Screenshot (904).png — Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Kibo Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro | Is this the image of Africa you have? The picture shows the famous snow-capped peak, Kibo summit, of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is located in Tanzania (East Africa). The African continent has great geographic and climatic diversity. Author: Muhammad mahdi Karmi Source: Wikipedia License: GNU Free Documentation License (email author before using)

Africa is the second-largest continent in the world. Today, it has over 50 independent countries. You can also find just about every imaginable environment, from savannahs, rainforests, and deserts, to glaciers and snow-capped mountains in Africa. Its over 1,000 languages (or about one-third of the world’s languages) demonstrate the continent’s diversity.¹ Africa is home to more than a billion people, who are living, working, and raising their families.

Screenshot (905).png — Map \(\PageIndex{1}\): Kibo Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro | Is this the image of Africa you have? The picture shows the famous snow-capped peak, Kibo summit, of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is located in Tanzania (East Africa). It shows that the African continent has great geographic and climatic diversity. Author: Kai Krause Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC0 1.0

Historically, Africans faced significant environmental challenges that limited population growth. There are exceptions, but overall, African soils are poor and rainfall unpredictable. Soils are comparatively unfertile, due in part to the geologic age of the continent. Also, the more temperate climates in a number of regions slow the decomposition of organic materials in the soil, leading to few minerals and nutrients. Rainfall also tends to be concentrated in just two or three months a year.

Screenshot (906).png — Map \(\PageIndex{2}\): Climatic Map of Africa | Here you can see the present-day climatic map of Africa. There is great variation from the Mediterranean climate of the north and southern tips (think: olives, grapes for wine, and citrus fruits), to the second largest desert in the world (the Sahara Desert), through the savannas, grasslands, and the more forested regions. Today, we see a general drying trend on the continent, leading to increasing conflict over things like water rights and pastureland. However, although there has been some contraction and expansion of rainforests over the past millennia, the continental climatic map has remained fairly stable for about 5,000 years. Author: Ville Koistinen Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC BY-SA 2.5

Considering the past 5,000 years of African history, malaria, yellow fever, and trypanosomiasis (also known as sleeping sickness) have made the biggest impacts on population growth and settlement patterns. Even today, all three diseases affect the continent. Both malaria and yellow fever are spread to people by mosquitos. So, many people avoid more forested and wetter areas. Additionally, Africans continuously adapted their herding and farming techniques to overcome environmental challenges.

1 African Language Program, Department of African and African American Studies, “African Languages,” Harvard University, aaas.fas.harvard.edu/greeting...nguage-program.