PENNSVALLEY
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Africa
Lesson 38:
Some Large Facts about Africa
The
A) SaharaDesert
is the largest desert in theworld and covers nearly one third of Africa.The
Saharawas not always adesert.Scientists have foundevidence that, several thousand years ago, the
Sahara region hadmuchmore rain andwas a green, grassy plain.
Near the Equator and stretching across the borders of Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya is
B) Lake
Victoria
, Africa’s largest freshwater lake. LakeSuperior is theworld’s largest freshwater lake.Can you
name the continent where LakeSuperior is found?
Flowingnorthward for 4,145miles fromLakeVictoria is the
C)NileRiver
, theworld’s longest river.The
Amazon River of South America flows for 4,000 miles but is still considered the world’s greatest river
because of the amount of water (or volume) it carries. The
D) Congo River
flows through the world’s
second largest tropical rainforest located in the
E)CongoBasin
.TheCongoRiver isalsoconsideredone
of theworld’sgreat rivers.TheCongo ranks second to theAmazonRiver in theamount of water it carries.
F) Mount Kilimanjaro
, an inactive volcano in Tanzania, is Africa’s highest point at 19,340 feet.
Africa’s lowest point, at 515 feet below sea level, is
G) LacAssal
in the country of Djibouti.
The
H) Serengeti Plain
, the
I)OkavangoBasin
innorthernBotswana, and
J)VolcanoesNational
Park
inRwanda are famous sites to experience thewildlife of Africa.
ACTIVITY 1:
Use themap of Africa on the previous page to label
the places
boldfaced
in the paragraphs above.Use
the boldfaced letters to help you locate places on
yourmap.
ACTIVITY 2:
Match each of Africa’s physical features in Box 2
with theproper facts inBox1bywriting thenumber
in the appropriate blank space. One fact in Box 2
will not be used.
Box 1
The locationof theworld’ssecond largest rainforest
A plain famous for wildlife
A dormant volcano andAfrica’s highest point
The largest freshwater lake in theworld
A river that ranks second to theAmazonRiver
in volume of water it carries
Theworld’s longest river
Africa’s largest freshwater lake
Theworld’s largest desert
Africa’s lowest elevation
Box 2
1.Mount Kilimanjaro
2. Sahara
3. Lac’ Assal
4.Nile
5. Serengeti
6. LakeVictoria
7. LakeSuperior
8.Congo
9.CongoBasin
10. LakeTanganyika
Gibraltar’s locationat the
westernentranceof the
MediterraneanSeahasmade
it an importantmilitary
location throughout history.
Using the Internet, learnmore
about thehistoryand
importanceofGibraltar.Use
the
ResearchOrganizer
to
document your findings.
Learn
Click
&
