Relative location
The Sub – Saharan Africa is known to be
geographically located in the African continent. It is an area which is
occupied by 48 countries and lies south of the Sahara Desert. The region is
actually not really densely populated. Its main boundaries are located between
Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa. This region is
distinct from North Africa because of different physical, cultural and
historical background. When it comes to talk of the strategical location of
this region, we must say that the Sahel which is the Eco climatic and
biogeographic zone of transition mostly grassy between the Sahara to the north
and the Sudanian Savanna to the south identified as wetter climes. In fact,
this zone for years now has been really complex because it has presented huge
physical obstacles to human habitation. This region is bounded by so many
physical features.
Landscape and Physical Environment
Africa is a large continent compared to what
many people sometimes think confusing it to be a country. In fact, it is the
second largest after Asia and it does not have same mountainous features as
other continents. It is known not to have long mountain chains but instead, it
has an upland region composed pf several high peaks in the east which are Mount
Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, and, in the northwest, we find lower upland. There
are so many different features characterizing this region. We have talked of
the Sahel earlier and now we can add the Great Rift Valley which is primarily
in eastern Africa but elongated to the southwest coast of Africa which is a
chain composed of valleys that formed from the separation of tectonic plates.
As for the environmental conditions of that region, it is said that years
before it wasn’t really contributing to the buildup of greenhouse gases
in atmosphere but lately with events of deforestation and apparition of more
industries does now. And with the degree of poverty, the region faces
difficulties to adapt to its climatic conditions. Therefore, the surface of the
continent of Africa can be envisioned as a raised platform, or plateau that are
bordered by fairly narrow and uniform coastal lowlands. with all those
features, Africa with its lengthy uniform coastlines that we mention above are
found to provide few natural harbors expect for Capetown in the country of
South Africa.
Weather and climate
Due to its vast area and different zones,
Sub-Saharan Africa has a wide variety of climate zones or biomes. In fact, the
major part of that region has a tropical climate with a temperature estimated
at 18-degree Celsius minimum. But the weather season in this region
doesn’t vary much about temperatures changing but the amount of rainfall
from different areas to other. The intertropical convergence zone is the way
for rainfall to occur in the region. The ITCZ is a band of atmospheric currents
that circle the globe roughly around the equator and because of Africa
proximity to the equator, it is the reason why it has important release of
rainfall. So basically, the seasons varies from windy, rainy, wet dry zones.
But the presence of high mountain ranges in Africa, it limits the amount of
wind that countries receive making it have less impact on the climate of the
region that it would have had without high mountains ranges leading us to talk
about the horn of Africa which is the triangular Somali peninsula that juts out
from northeastern Africa below the Red Sea and wraps around the Arabian
Peninsula. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa with globalization contributes now to
Carbon dioxide release in the atmosphere especially through deforestation.
Major economic activities
When Talking of economic
activities of Africa, we think immediately of agriculture which has been
basically the only real activity that strongly benefit the region economically.
As for the natural resources of the region, it would eventually have benefitted
the region if westerners weren’t the ones exploiting it which is one of
the strongest reasons why the Sub – Saharan African region is
economically struggling to reach development as well. These are reason why I
believe Agriculture is so important for this region especially when it comes to
employment accounting now for about two thirds of the continent’s working
population contributing for each country an average of 30 to 60 percent of
gross domestic product. Agriculture then is very important for the region
knowing how long they have started cultivating 7000 years ago in the zone of Sahel,
Sudan and Ethiopia. But with development these past years the region has seen
developed more industries in different sectors which also have contributed to
the economy, but the trade network of the region also has been a source of
economic progress.
Imports and Exports
In all but 14 Sub –
Saharan countries, imports exceed exports. In fact, each country has its
domain. Some would export minerals others would export other goods like cocoa
coffee tea. For Zambia it would be copper and cobalt for example while for
other countries like Cote d’Ivoire, they are rich in cocoa and these are
just few examples. But one thing that all developed countries are really after
in the region is oil and petroleum because the Sub – Saharan is very rich
in that area too. These too resources are real economic booster and
unfortunately benefit more other continents leaving the region in bad shape. The
level of agricultural imports has highly increased since the past decades
estimated at about 13% annually. In fact, based on a USDA report, estimated the
total imports to about $48.5 billion in 2014 said to be the second highest in
the records.
GNP and GNP per capita
In
fact, in the region, the informal economy is very important in terms of
employment shifting from one third of all employment shifting from one third to
two thirds which then accounts for about 38% of the GDP said to be the highest
in the entire world. Although facing some challenges, many African governments
have been focusing on regional economic integration, aiming to utilize all
possible talents they may have so as consumer demand for African-made products
local agencies and public and private donors are pursuing grassroots
development designed to faster very basic innovation at the local level and
eventually if the project shows if local people using local resources and
ingenuity are capable of solving many problems because according to WTO world trade, less than 20 percent of the
total trade of Sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 was conducted between African
countries which shows the failure of the region’s countries to work
together while they could accomplish so much together.
Mihelic, Lydia.,
Alex., Johansson, O. World Regional Geography (pages, 295 - 341)
James M.
Rubenstein., The cultural Landscape (12th Edition)
https://study.com/academy/lesson/sub-saharan-africa-people-culture.html
United States Department of Agriculture., “A Turning Point for
Agricultural Exports to Sub-Saharan Africa”., November 2, 2015
https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/turning-point-agricultural-exports-sub-saharan-africa
Submitted
by (Krystel Audrey Sophie Sidiki Bolanga) on (4/13/2019).