Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa

1. On a map of the world, locate the continent of Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. On a map of Africa, locate the northern, eastern, western, central, and southern regions of Africa, the Sahara Desert, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Cape of Good Hope, the Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria). Use other kinds of maps (e.g., landform, population, climate) to determine important characteristics of this region.

2. On a political map of the region, demonstrate map reading skills to distinguish countries, capitals, and other cities and to describe their absolute location (using latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative location (relationship to other countries, cities, or bodies of water); use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a city, country or region.

3. Explain how absolute and relative locations, major physical characteristics, climate (including drought and desertification), and natural resources in this region have influenced settlement patterns, population size, and economies of the countries.

Modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte (Fr.), Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion (Fr.), Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe