A plateau ringed on three sides by mountains and a narrow coastal lowland strip; the Kalahari and Namib Deserts; savanna and open woodland; low population density; and rich deposits of diamonds, gold, chrome, copper, uranium, and coal; in South Africa apartheid is gone; yet the region faces health such as HIV, agricultural, leadership issues. South Africa is the wealthiest and perhaps the most stable country in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, yet a wide gap between rich and poor.
For the tragic tale of child soldiers in Africa, see the Vignette. Name the country.
As a result of colonialism and apartheid, sub-Saharan countries are left with this type of economy, divided by economic disparities into two groups, one prosperous and the other near or below the poverty level: one rich and industrialized and the other poor and reliant on low-wage labor and small-scale informal enterprises. Even though the labor of black was essential to South Africa's prosperity, by the 1940s, 84 percent of black South Africans lived at a bare subsistence level. By 2009, fifty percent still lived below the poverty line compared to just 7 percent of whites. Only 22 percent of black South Africans had finished high school, compared to 70 percent white.
Usually done by subsistence farmers who raise diverse array of crops and a few animals as livestock.
Small-scale development in rural areas that is focused on developing local skills, creating local jobs, producing products or services for local consumption, and maintaining local control so that participants retain a sense of ownership over the process.
The primary contributor of CO2 emissions and potential climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa is through deforestation. Trees absorb CO2 as they photosynthesize, thus removing carbon from the air and storing it as biomass, a process known as _____. When trees are burned or when they decompose after they die, they release the stored CO2 into the atmosphere. African countries lead the world in the rate of deforestation, the percentage of total forest area lost. Six of the world's top leading countries are in sub-Saharan Africa (Burundi, Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Uganda, and Ghana). The world's top two countries are Brazil and Indonesia.
In the procedure, which is usually performed without anesthesia, a young girl's entire clitoris and parts of her labia are removed. In the most extreme cases (called infibulation), her vulva is stitched nearly shut. This mutilation far exceeds that of male circumcision, eliminating any possibility of sexual stimulation for the female and making urination and menstruation difficult. Intercourse is painful and childbirth is particularly devastating because the flesh scarred by mutilation is inelastic. In 2006, a medical study showed that women who had undergone this were 50 percent more likely to die during childbirth, and their babies were at similarly high risk. The practice also leaves women exceptionally susceptible to infection, especially HIV infection.
Occupies the Horn of Africa, reaches along the southern shore of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and includes countries of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and newly independent South Sudan; coastal countries of Kenya and Tanzania; highland countries of Uganda Rwanda, and islands of Madagascar, Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Dry coasts, moist interior uplands with a long history of farming; 80 percent make a living from farming. Industry is only beginning to develop; and ancient port cities with a thousand-year history of trade across the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean; famous national parks in Kenya and Tanzania offer protection to many wild animals.
A system of laws that required everyone except whites to carry identification papers at all times, to live in racially segregated areas, and to use segregated transportation and other infrastructure. Eighty percent of the land was reserved for the use of white South Africans, who at that time made up just 10 percent of the population. Black, Asian, and "coloured" people were assigned to ethnically based "homelands." South Africa was an apartheid state from 1948 until 1994.
A traditional African belief in spirits, including those of the deceased, are thought to exist everywhere--in trees, streams, hills, and art, for example. In return for respect (expressed through ritual), these spirits offer protection from sickness, accidents, and the ill will of others. African religions tend to be fluid and adaptable to changing circumstances. For example, in West Africa, Osun, the god of water, traditionally credited with healing powers, is now also invoked for those suffering economic woes.
The triangular peninsula that juts out from north-eastern Africa below the Red Sea. Winds blowing north along the east coast of Africa keep ITCZ-related rainfall away from this area. As a consequence, this area is one of the driest parts of the continent.
The deliberate destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious, or political group. Throughout the last decade of the twentieth century, refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), Rwanda, Mozambique, Niger, and Mali poured back and forth across borders and were displaced within their own countries, often trying to escape this. With only 11 percent of the world's population, this region contains about 19 percent of the world's refugees, and if counting displacement within one's own country, then the percentage is 28 percent of the world's refugees.
Recent studies show that Africa has more than was previously believed with up to a 100 times larger quantity stored in aquifers as long ago as 5,000 years during wetter climate conditions. This does not mean that Africa suddenly has lots of water. The largest reservoirs appear to be in lightly populated areas such as North Africa and Botswana. The most heavily populated country, Nigeria, has only a relatively small supply, and those aquifers are in many cases no longer being recharged by nature.