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Monday, February 17, 2014
Geography & Culture of Africa
Characterize the geography and culture of Africa based upon your completion of Part A on the regional study. Be sure to include a thesis statement AND specific details from your work to demonstrate both completion and understanding of the activity.
The geography and culture of Africa is very diverse. It is diverse because all of the regions in Africa are separated into smaller sections. For example, I researched the South Africa region. In this region, there were 3 different groups. Each group in the region had a different culture, different language, and different religion. In all of the other regions and ethnic groups, there are many different subcultures and groups in each. There may be a dominant language or religion in each region, but there are multiple other smaller languages and religions in each region and ethnic group as well. Each region also contains their own specific geography. Some regions may have different resources than others, causing them to depend on different things. Overall, each individual region contains different groups that may have different languages, religions, and resources. This makes the geography and culture very diverse.
The African nations mentioned in the article were all uniquely diverse, historic, and religious. The diversity in these nations is astounding considering that each one shares only a few common traits with another. The Gurage and the Amharic are a superb example because, even though the two have lived in the same area for thousands of years, they differ in numerous aspects; for example, the Amharic have a very structured political hierarchy with a king at its head, but the Gurage live more simple village lives. Secondly, all of these nations are very historic because they have all been in their respective region for a significant amount of time. The Amharic exemplify this because they built one of the ancient wonders of the world; also, the Swahili coast is about nine hundred years old and that is the youngest nation. Finally, religion plays a key role in African culture. When examining the Gurage, one notices that they have many aspects of religion in a relatively small area with many people as Christians, some as animists, and others still practicing the native religion. All in all, the Africans nations are some of the oldest in the world while still practicing parts of their native religion combined with other religions, and there is still much diversity throughout the continent.
In the regions in Africa, the Sahara, the Sahel, and Southern Africa have similarities in their religions and vegetation, although there are differences in many areas such as language, location, and topography. To start, the religion in these three regions are Islam is as well as Christianity. These are two of the most populated religions in the world, so it is not surprising they reached many parts of Africa. There are some native religions, for example, the Xhousa people in Southern Africa practice uThixo where they pay homage to spirits. In addition, the vegetation of either none at all, grassland, and desert shrubs. In all three of these regions the language of French can be found, but there are indigenous languages such as in the Sahara, the Tuareg people speak Tamasheq, the Fuleni of the Sahel speak Fulfude, and the Zulus of Southern Africa speak isiZulu, a clicking language. The location of the regions, obviously, is different. The Sahara is in northern Africa, the Sahel is in the center, and then Southern Africa is obviously in the South of the continent. Lastly, the topography of the three regions varies. In Southern Africa there are coastal plains and highlands, the Sahara is a desert environment as well as volcanic mountain ranges, and lastly, the Sahel is long stretches of flat land. To summarize, the Sahara, Sahel, and Southern Africa have similarities in their religion and vegetation, but they are different in language, location, and topography.
The geography and culture of Africa is vast and diverse in many ways, changing drastically in areas not so far apart. For example, the rainforest and Sahel regions are both in Africa, and where one is dry and sandy the other is a large habitat for many plants and animals. The people of these areas also differ in large ways, in the rainforest tribes the hunters of the group are the ones given prestige and honor, but the focus of those in the Sahel have dances and have large spiritual masks that are worn. In the Sahara the people are known as the Tuareg, they differ from both the other two because their language is a much more widely used one, Tamasheq, as apposed to the groups in the Sahel and rainforests that speak languages that are nearly incomprehensible to outsiders. The location of these three regions is all fairly near one another, with the Sahel and Sahara being in the far north and the rainforests being to the south of them. All of these groups share the fact that they all follow sets of customs and traditions, as different as they may be, they all share the idea that they must follow there own beliefs accordingly.
There are many different ethnic groups that live a specific lifestyle in the certain geography around them, and variate culture-wise because of this; a few ethnic groups would include the Bantu trading in the Indian Ocean, the nomadic tribe of Maasai, and the influenced culture by Europeans, which are the natives of the Ethiopian highlands. The Bantu tribe is located in multiple parts of Africa, but they are mostly located in the Swahili Coast region. Since they were near a trade route between Europeans and Arabs, they have Islamic and Christian based religions. The Maasai tribe live a nomadic lifestyle in the Savanna region of west Africa. They are nomadic because they follow large migrations of animals that move throughout the year. Ethiopians were the first to adopt Christianity as their main religion, even though their region was never colonized by Europeans.
Climate, temperature, vegetation, language, religion, and culture all contribute towards the success and survival of people living in Africa. Although people live in different places in Africa, most have the same spoken languages because of the diversity of people who migrated towards that area. The Savanna and South Africa experience this, however, the Ethiopian Highlands do not because of the isolation that their topography provides. Some regions also have the same religion. Most practice Christianity, but other religions are also practiced. A region's culture may be different due to the time and rate at which their region evolved, their resources given or made, climate, outside influences, and the regions' topography. Temperature also varies in Africa due to the regions' location. For instance, the Ethiopian Highlands have an average temperature from sixty to seventy degrees while South Africa reaches temperatures in the low eighties. All of these features show the connection between religion, language, topography, vegetation, indigenous people, outside influences, and culture throughout the world. Each of these features directly impacts the others.
Africa is a very diverse region that includes many different geographic regions and ethnic groups. The geography changes largely throughout the region. The locations of certain regions plays a large factor in the types of vegetations they have. The vegetation types are mostly dependent on the distance an area is from the equator and an areas proximity to water. For example, in some regions there are dry deserts, while there are other regions that have tropical rainforests, which are completely opposite vegetations. This is because the desert region is much closer to the equator so it is much drier. There are also a wide range of ethnic groups throughout the region that greatly differ from each other. Each ethnic group has its own gods and religious beliefs, which differentiates them from each other. Their origins and ancestors are also from different civilizations that settled in that area. For example, most of Tuareg's ancestors came from Berber, while the Baka's ancestors were a pigmy tribe that came together with Oubangian-speaking people. These different ancestral backgrounds has also provided many differences in the languages that certain ethnic groups speak.
The geography and the culture of Africa are both much more different than those that are present of in our current society. First of all, the geographic zones can ranges from flat plains, tropical rain forests, hot deserts, and rugged mountains. Such a large variation in geography is not present where we live, and the environments not as harsh as those found in Africa. As shown, the environment can vary drastically, which allows for the rise of many cultures. The regions that I extensively studied, the Sahel, the Swahili Coast, and the Ethiopian Highlands, all contained a range of cultures. Some cultures, such as the Fulani, have highly developed languages, but the complexity of other languages, such as the Dogon languages, cannot even be determined. Some societies do not even have a defined language. Another result of the environment is the types of jobs available. People who live in the Ethiopian Highlands or the Sahel mostly rely on farming or ranching cattle to survive. This is because the environment does not readily offer food supplies, so they must work to create their own. On the other hand, people living on the Swahili Coast highly rely on trading. This trading is due to the long coastline, which makes it easier to trade by boat. All in all, the geography and environments of Africa have a very large range and can be much harsher than those found in the United States, and the culture of Africa does not just differ greatly from our cultures, but Africa's own cultures vary greatly from themselves.
By examining the Ethiopian Highlands, the Rainforest, and the Savanna, I have learned that Africa is very diverse and has many unique cultures. For example, the Ethiopian highlands contain languages such as Amaric, Arabic, and Somali while the Rainforest citizens speak Tupian and Amazonian. The Savanna citizens speak NIger-Congo languages and Gullah. These regions also differed in history and religion. They also had different landscapes from the tallest mountains in the Ethiopian HIghlands to the grasslands in the Savanna, and to the national parks found in the Rainforest. One similarity however is that the land in these places is being ruined due to reasons such as deforestation, big businesses taking over, and more. In conclusion, I have learned that Africa has many different cultures and geographic features. These geographic features however, are decreasing due to different factors.
Africa is rich in both culture and geography, but there are differences and similarities in them throughout African. In the cultures of Africa there are many different religions and ethnic groups. For example there are three ethnic groups in the Southern Africa region and each of these groups have their own religions. The ethnic group Xhosa believes in the god uThixo or uQamata while the Zulu believe in the god UMelinqangi or Christianity and the San mostly believe that evil spirits cause misfortune. In the Rainforest region of Africa, there is no set religion. In the Sahara region, they have common religions like Islam or Muslim. Ethnic groups also speak their own languages that could be based off another language, similar to one another like neighboring villages having common words if they needed to trade, or the language could be something completely original and unknown to others like when San ethnic group used clicking as a language. Throughout Africa the land varies. In Southern African and Rainforest regions there are many different types of vegetation throughout them instead of only two or three. The Sahara has many different land elements that have to with sand and rock while other regions have more plant life that is easier to maintain.
There are many regions in Africa that show many similar qualities and differences in their culture. There were three regions that I chose to look into more closely that do resemble each other in some aspects, but do have their differences. I chose to investigate the Sahara, Ethiopian highlands, and Southern Africa.The Sahara people's religion is mainly Muslims/Islamics while Ethiopian Highlands people are influenced by christianity. Southern Africa culture has three different native people while Ethiopian Highlands has two different people. If Southern Africa has three different people that means there are three different native religions. Southern Africa and Ethiopian Highlands people have that similarity with multiple native people. Ethiopian Highlands native people are the Amhara and Gurage, while Southern Africa's native people are the Xhosa, Zulu, and San people. The native people in each region do not all speak the same language, but the Zulu stand out the most. The Zulu has a population of about 9 million in Southern Africa which speak their language.
The regions in Sub-Saharan Africa are home to numerous diverse cultures, geography, and human history. One region in particular would be the Ethiopian Highlands, which is home to the Amhara people. The Amhara culture holds a rich history in the fact that it built the Aksum kingdom, and ruled until its demise which ultimately affected the country. The religion amongst Africa varies from Christianity to Islamic traditions.Religion helps support cultural diversity because it varies throughout the eight regions. The different languages also play a prominent role in the diverse cultures. The geography in Africa differentiates as well. The environment in Sahel is not similar to the environment in the Ethiopian Highlands. This activity was crucial for our understanding about all of the contrasting geographical, cultural, and historical aspects and how we can know what separates the regions.
The geography, or regions, of Africa signals the types of cultures that lie within a certain region. To begin, the Sahel, the region of Africa that borders the Sahara Desert, contains people, the Fulani, who must nomadically herd due to the elevation and temperature of the environment. Due to the low, flat environment of the Sahel, people can grow certain types of crops and herd certain animals. For instance, the Fulani must nomadically herd cattle because they can survive on the small grasses (vegetation) for food. In addition, the Baka, an ethnic group of the rainforest, are forced to hunt and gather because the rainforest contains biodiversity, a variety of life in an environment. The Baka can hunt and gather using simple tools, like spears, fishing nets, and baskets, and they can get an abundance of food for their whole tribe. The Baka cannot farm or herd in the rainforest because of the sparse amount of sunlight that reaches the Rainforest floor; likewise, there is a shortage of space for herding in this region. Furthermore, the Amhara, the predominant tribe in the Ethiopian Highlands must rely on farming to make a living. In the highlands, a plethora of crops a plethora of crops can successfully grow die to the plentiful amounts of rainfall. However, the Amhara cannot herd cattle due to the fact that cattle cannot survive in rocky environments. The Amhara are forced to make a living as agriculturalists because of the geography. In total, the types of geography in each region depict the types of culture that lie within it.
The geography and culture of Africa is very diverse. It is diverse because all of the regions in Africa are separated into smaller sections. For example, I researched the South Africa region. In this region, there were 3 different groups. Each group in the region had a different culture, different language, and different religion. In all of the other regions and ethnic groups, there are many different subcultures and groups in each. There may be a dominant language or religion in each region, but there are multiple other smaller languages and religions in each region and ethnic group as well. Each region also contains their own specific geography. Some regions may have different resources than others, causing them to depend on different things. Overall, each individual region contains different groups that may have different languages, religions, and resources. This makes the geography and culture very diverse.
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ReplyDeleteThe African nations mentioned in the article were all uniquely diverse, historic, and religious. The diversity in these nations is astounding considering that each one shares only a few common traits with another. The Gurage and the Amharic are a superb example because, even though the two have lived in the same area for thousands of years, they differ in numerous aspects; for example, the Amharic have a very structured political hierarchy with a king at its head, but the Gurage live more simple village lives. Secondly, all of these nations are very historic because they have all been in their respective region for a significant amount of time. The Amharic exemplify this because they built one of the ancient wonders of the world; also, the Swahili coast is about nine hundred years old and that is the youngest nation. Finally, religion plays a key role in African culture. When examining the Gurage, one notices that they have many aspects of religion in a relatively small area with many people as Christians, some as animists, and others still practicing the native religion. All in all, the Africans nations are some of the oldest in the world while still practicing parts of their native religion combined with other religions, and there is still much diversity throughout the continent.
ReplyDeleteIn the regions in Africa, the Sahara, the Sahel, and Southern Africa have similarities in their religions and vegetation, although there are differences in many areas such as language, location, and topography. To start, the religion in these three regions are Islam is as well as Christianity. These are two of the most populated religions in the world, so it is not surprising they reached many parts of Africa. There are some native religions, for example, the Xhousa people in Southern Africa practice uThixo where they pay homage to spirits. In addition, the vegetation of either none at all, grassland, and desert shrubs. In all three of these regions the language of French can be found, but there are indigenous languages such as in the Sahara, the Tuareg people speak Tamasheq, the Fuleni of the Sahel speak Fulfude, and the Zulus of Southern Africa speak isiZulu, a clicking language. The location of the regions, obviously, is different. The Sahara is in northern Africa, the Sahel is in the center, and then Southern Africa is obviously in the South of the continent. Lastly, the topography of the three regions varies. In Southern Africa there are coastal plains and highlands, the Sahara is a desert environment as well as volcanic mountain ranges, and lastly, the Sahel is long stretches of flat land. To summarize, the Sahara, Sahel, and Southern Africa have similarities in their religion and vegetation, but they are different in language, location, and topography.
ReplyDeleteThe geography and culture of Africa is vast and diverse in many ways, changing drastically in areas not so far apart. For example, the rainforest and Sahel regions are both in Africa, and where one is dry and sandy the other is a large habitat for many plants and animals. The people of these areas also differ in large ways, in the rainforest tribes the hunters of the group are the ones given prestige and honor, but the focus of those in the Sahel have dances and have large spiritual masks that are worn. In the Sahara the people are known as the Tuareg, they differ from both the other two because their language is a much more widely used one, Tamasheq, as apposed to the groups in the Sahel and rainforests that speak languages that are nearly incomprehensible to outsiders. The location of these three regions is all fairly near one another, with the Sahel and Sahara being in the far north and the rainforests being to the south of them. All of these groups share the fact that they all follow sets of customs and traditions, as different as they may be, they all share the idea that they must follow there own beliefs accordingly.
ReplyDeleteThere are many different ethnic groups that live a specific lifestyle in the certain geography around them, and variate culture-wise because of this; a few ethnic groups would include the Bantu trading in the Indian Ocean, the nomadic tribe of Maasai, and the influenced culture by Europeans, which are the natives of the Ethiopian highlands. The Bantu tribe is located in multiple parts of Africa, but they are mostly located in the Swahili Coast region. Since they were near a trade route between Europeans and Arabs, they have Islamic and Christian based religions. The Maasai tribe live a nomadic lifestyle in the Savanna region of west Africa. They are nomadic because they follow large migrations of animals that move throughout the year. Ethiopians were the first to adopt Christianity as their main religion, even though their region was never colonized by Europeans.
ReplyDeleteClimate, temperature, vegetation, language, religion, and culture all contribute towards the success and survival of people living in Africa. Although people live in different places in Africa, most have the same spoken languages because of the diversity of people who migrated towards that area. The Savanna and South Africa experience this, however, the Ethiopian Highlands do not because of the isolation that their topography provides. Some regions also have the same religion. Most practice Christianity, but other religions are also practiced. A region's culture may be different due to the time and rate at which their region evolved, their resources given or made, climate, outside influences, and the regions' topography. Temperature also varies in Africa due to the regions' location. For instance, the Ethiopian Highlands have an average temperature from sixty to seventy degrees while South Africa reaches temperatures in the low eighties. All of these features show the connection between religion, language, topography, vegetation, indigenous people, outside influences, and culture throughout the world. Each of these features directly impacts the others.
ReplyDeleteAfrica is a very diverse region that includes many different geographic regions and ethnic groups. The geography changes largely throughout the region. The locations of certain regions plays a large factor in the types of vegetations they have. The vegetation types are mostly dependent on the distance an area is from the equator and an areas proximity to water. For example, in some regions there are dry deserts, while there are other regions that have tropical rainforests, which are completely opposite vegetations. This is because the desert region is much closer to the equator so it is much drier. There are also a wide range of ethnic groups throughout the region that greatly differ from each other. Each ethnic group has its own gods and religious beliefs, which differentiates them from each other. Their origins and ancestors are also from different civilizations that settled in that area. For example, most of Tuareg's ancestors came from Berber, while the Baka's ancestors were a pigmy tribe that came together with Oubangian-speaking people. These different ancestral backgrounds has also provided many differences in the languages that certain ethnic groups speak.
ReplyDeleteThe geography and the culture of Africa are both much more different than those that are present of in our current society. First of all, the geographic zones can ranges from flat plains, tropical rain forests, hot deserts, and rugged mountains. Such a large variation in geography is not present where we live, and the environments not as harsh as those found in Africa. As shown, the environment can vary drastically, which allows for the rise of many cultures. The regions that I extensively studied, the Sahel, the Swahili Coast, and the Ethiopian Highlands, all contained a range of cultures. Some cultures, such as the Fulani, have highly developed languages, but the complexity of other languages, such as the Dogon languages, cannot even be determined. Some societies do not even have a defined language. Another result of the environment is the types of jobs available. People who live in the Ethiopian Highlands or the Sahel mostly rely on farming or ranching cattle to survive. This is because the environment does not readily offer food supplies, so they must work to create their own. On the other hand, people living on the Swahili Coast highly rely on trading. This trading is due to the long coastline, which makes it easier to trade by boat. All in all, the geography and environments of Africa have a very large range and can be much harsher than those found in the United States, and the culture of Africa does not just differ greatly from our cultures, but Africa's own cultures vary greatly from themselves.
ReplyDeleteBy examining the Ethiopian Highlands, the Rainforest, and the Savanna, I have learned that Africa is very diverse and has many unique cultures. For example, the Ethiopian highlands contain languages such as Amaric, Arabic, and Somali while the Rainforest citizens speak Tupian and Amazonian. The Savanna citizens speak NIger-Congo languages and Gullah. These regions also differed in history and religion. They also had different landscapes from the tallest mountains in the Ethiopian HIghlands to the grasslands in the Savanna, and to the national parks found in the Rainforest. One similarity however is that the land in these places is being ruined due to reasons such as deforestation, big businesses taking over, and more. In conclusion, I have learned that Africa has many different cultures and geographic features. These geographic features however, are decreasing due to different factors.
ReplyDeleteAfrica is rich in both culture and geography, but there are differences and similarities in them throughout African. In the cultures of Africa there are many different religions and ethnic groups. For example there are three ethnic groups in the Southern Africa region and each of these groups have their own religions. The ethnic group Xhosa believes in the god uThixo or uQamata while the Zulu believe in the god UMelinqangi or Christianity and the San mostly believe that evil spirits cause misfortune. In the Rainforest region of Africa, there is no set religion. In the Sahara region, they have common religions like Islam or Muslim. Ethnic groups also speak their own languages that could be based off another language, similar to one another like neighboring villages having common words if they needed to trade, or the language could be something completely original and unknown to others like when San ethnic group used clicking as a language. Throughout Africa the land varies. In Southern African and Rainforest regions there are many different types of vegetation throughout them instead of only two or three. The Sahara has many different land elements that have to with sand and rock while other regions have more plant life that is easier to maintain.
ReplyDeleteThere are many regions in Africa that show many similar qualities and differences in their culture. There were three regions that I chose to look into more closely that do resemble each other in some aspects, but do have their differences. I chose to investigate the Sahara, Ethiopian highlands, and Southern Africa.The Sahara people's religion is mainly Muslims/Islamics while Ethiopian Highlands people are influenced by christianity. Southern Africa culture has three different native people while Ethiopian Highlands has two different people. If Southern Africa has three different people that means there are three different native religions. Southern Africa and Ethiopian Highlands people have that similarity with multiple native people. Ethiopian Highlands native people are the Amhara and Gurage, while Southern Africa's native people are the Xhosa, Zulu, and San people. The native people in each region do not all speak the same language, but the Zulu stand out the most. The Zulu has a population of about 9 million in Southern Africa which speak their language.
ReplyDeleteThe regions in Sub-Saharan Africa are home to numerous diverse cultures, geography, and human history. One region in particular would be the Ethiopian Highlands, which is home to the Amhara people. The Amhara culture holds a rich history in the fact that it built the Aksum kingdom, and ruled until its demise which ultimately affected the country. The religion amongst Africa varies from Christianity to Islamic traditions.Religion helps support cultural diversity because it varies throughout the eight regions. The different languages also play a prominent role in the diverse cultures. The geography in Africa differentiates as well. The environment in Sahel is not similar to the environment in the Ethiopian Highlands. This activity was crucial for our understanding about all of the contrasting geographical, cultural, and historical aspects and how we can know what separates the regions.
ReplyDeleteThe geography, or regions, of Africa signals the types of cultures that lie within a certain region. To begin, the Sahel, the region of Africa that borders the Sahara Desert, contains people, the Fulani, who must nomadically herd due to the elevation and temperature of the environment. Due to the low, flat environment of the Sahel, people can grow certain types of crops and herd certain animals. For instance, the Fulani must nomadically herd cattle because they can survive on the small grasses (vegetation) for food. In addition, the Baka, an ethnic group of the rainforest, are forced to hunt and gather because the rainforest contains biodiversity, a variety of life in an environment. The Baka can hunt and gather using simple tools, like spears, fishing nets, and baskets, and they can get an abundance of food for their whole tribe. The Baka cannot farm or herd in the rainforest because of the sparse amount of sunlight that reaches the Rainforest floor; likewise, there is a shortage of space for herding in this region. Furthermore, the Amhara, the predominant tribe in the Ethiopian Highlands must rely on farming to make a living. In the highlands, a plethora of crops a plethora of crops can successfully grow die to the plentiful amounts of rainfall. However, the Amhara cannot herd cattle due to the fact that cattle cannot survive in rocky environments. The Amhara are forced to make a living as agriculturalists because of the geography. In total, the types of geography in each region depict the types of culture that lie within it.
ReplyDelete