Deck 7: Sub-Saharan Africa

Question 1

In 2012, sub-Saharan Africa was home to ________ of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world.

A) two
B) four
C) six
D) ten

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The band of atmospheric currents that circle the globe roughly around the equator is known as the __________________.

A) ITCZ
B) Tropic of Cancer
C) Sahel
D) Maghreb

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The rain produced by the intertropical convergence zone is most abundant:

A) near the Tropic of Cancer.
B) near the Tropic of Capricorn.
C) near the Equator.
D) in South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which is NOT true of the physical geography of the African continent?

A) Its coastline is home to many natural harbors.
B) Its physical geography has long hindered transport.
C) The continent's surface is basically a plateau bordered by narrow coastal lowlands.
D) It was most likely the center of Pangaea.

Question 5

As a result of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa receiving independence during the twentieth century, wealth has mostly stayed within the region.

Question 6

Africa's lack of mountain ranges can be explained by:

A) the erosion process of African rivers wearing away the ancient mountain formations.
B) the intense heat of the region, which prevents mountain ranges from forming.
C) weather patterns that deposit silt in the Northern Hemisphere.
D) a lack of collision of tectonic plates.

Question 7

The two largest continents are:

A) Europe and Asia.
B) Africa and Asia.
C) Asia and South America.
D) Australia and Africa.

Question 8

Which body of water separates Africa and Asia?

A) Caspian Sea
B) Mediterranean Sea
C) Persian Gulf
D) Red Sea

Question 9

More than one-fourth of the African continent is covered by the:

A) Kalahari Desert.
B) Rub'al Khali.
C) Sahel.
D) Sahara Desert.

Question 10

The ratio of Kenyans with mobile phones is:

A) one out of ten.
B) nine out of ten.
C) one out of four.
D) three out of five.

Question 11

The southern fringes of the Sahara Desert are known as the:

A) Sahel.
B) Kalahari.
C) Ethiopian Highlands.
D) Maghreb.

Question 12

According to the textbook, which country is NOT part of the sub-Saharan Africa region?

A) Zambia
B) Namibia
C) Sudan
D) Ethiopia

Question 13

The world's deserts are generally found at about ___°N and S latitude.

A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 40

Question 14

What does the word Ushahidi mean in Swahili?

A) speak
B) share
C) confession
D) testimony

Question 15

The Democratic Republic of Congo was formerly known as:

A) Rhodesia.
B) Tanganyika.
C) Zaire.
D) Bechuanaland.

Question 16

The capital of the Republic of Congo is:

A) Brazzaville.
B) Abu Dhabi.
C) Mogadishu.
D) Kinshasa.

Question 17

Which of the following statements does NOT describe sub-Saharan Africa?

A) The region is geographically larger than North America and Europe combined.
B) The region is extremely densely populated.
C) It is home to several of the world's fastest growing economies.
D) The region includes 48 countries.

Question 18

Which desert is NOT located in Africa?

A) the Sahara
B) the Namib
C) the Kalahari
D) the Rub'al Khali

Question 19

Which mountain is located in Africa?

A) Corcovado
B) Kilimanjaro
C) Fuji
D) Parnassus

Question 20

Ushahidi was originally designed to share information quickly about which of the following events?

A) violence during the 2008 elections in Kenya
B) the earthquake in Haiti
C) the Arab Spring revolution
D) the Syrian civil war

Question 21

The surface of the African continent can be described as a plateau bordered by narrow and uniform coastal lowlands.

Question 22

Africa has no major mountain ranges.

Question 23

The band of atmospheric currents that circle the globe roughly around the equator is known as the __________________.

Question 24

Seasonal climates in Africa differ more by the amount of rainfall than by temperature.

Question 25

The word used to describe the long cliffs between Africa's plateau and coast is ______________.

Question 26

The Horn of Africa is one of the _______________ parts of the continent.

A) most densely populated
B) coldest
C) rainiest
D) driest

Question 27

The Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo are two names for the same country.

Question 28

Tectonic activity continues today in Africa's eastern flank.

Question 29

The triangular peninsula that juts out from northeastern Africa below the Red Sea is known as the ______________________.

Question 30

What term is used to describe the long cliffs around the rim of Africa?

Question 31

Most of the rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa is a product of what climatic feature?

Question 32

The current that flows northward along the west coast of Africa is the:

A) Peru.
B) Bechuana.
C) Benguela.
D) Namibia.

Question 33

What is the name for the region on the southern fringe of the Sahara where steppe and savanna grasses grow?

Question 34

What are the names of the African deserts found at roughly 30°Nand 30°S, respectively?

A) the Sahara and the Namib and Kalahari
B) the Sahara and the Gobi
C) the Arabian and the Namib
D) the Arabian and the Gobi

Question 35

Africa and North America are about the same size.

Question 36

In Africa, tropical wet climates transition into seasonally wet/dry tropical woodlands, followed by another transition into:

A) savanna.
B) tundra.
C) taiga.
D) wetlands.

Question 37

Which of the following is the most accurate general description of the geomorphology of the African continent?

A) It resembles a dinner plate with a sunken interior ringed by weathered mountains.
B) It is comparable to a rumpled carpet with high mountains and narrow valleys.
C) It appears as an inclined plane, sloping from north to south.
D) It resembles a raised platform edged by narrow coastlines.

Question 38

What process is creating a series of rift features along the eastern flank of the African continent?

A) Crustal plates that underlie the African continent are spreading apart.
B) The Somali Plate is colliding with the African Plate.
C) Subduction is occurring as the Somali Plate dives under the Eurasian Plate.
D) Small amounts of molten rock have surfaced and accumulated.

Question 39

Africa's coastline is home to many rich natural harbors.

Question 40

Which of the following characterizes the intertropical convergence zone and its effects on Africa's climate?

A) Warm westward-moving air comes together with the Mediterranean high-pressure cell, which traps the air at the ground and prevents it from releasing its moisture.
B) Cool air from the northern latitudes moves into Africa, blocking warm, moist air from the continent's interior.
C) Warm southerly winds meet warm northerly winds, causing uplift and cooling of the air, which then releases moisture as rain.
D) Cool air masses from the north and south meet south of the Sahara causing cool, wet conditions to prevail over the African interior.

Question 41

Which of the following uses of wood has contributed most to the disappearance of dry forests?

A) fuel
B) medicine
C) building materials
D) furniture

Question 42

Which two countries of sub-Saharan Africa are working on a plan to dam the Niger River?

A) Mali and Niger
B) Niger and Nigeria
C) Cameroon and Gabon
D) Mauritania and Senegal

Question 43

Which statement best summarizes the practices of the British experts who promoted commercial agricultural systems in Nigeria?

A) They relied on local practices to find the most sustainable uses for the land.
B) They insisted on planting crops that could not grow successfully in Nigeria.
C) They instituted a local education system to help disseminate agricultural knowledge.
D) They did not include local women in their planning, even though Nigerian women have extensive knowledge of farming techniques.

Question 44

Which of the following health is issues is a result of burning charcoal for fuel?

A) asthma
B) HIV infection
C) malaria
D) hepatitis

Question 45

Only about 25 percent of sub-Saharan Africa experiences a tropical climate.

Question 46

For most Africans, what activity remains a major source of their livelihood?

A) manufacturing
B) mining
C) tourism
D) subsistence agriculture

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT common among the population of Africa?

A) subsistence farming
B) mixed agriculture
C) fishing, hunting, and gathering
D) extraction of minerals for energy production

Question 48

The ITCZ follows the area of Earth's surface that has the lowest average temperature at any given time.

Question 49

The weather conditions associated with the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), which brings most rainfall to Africa, do not bring rain to the Sahara.

Question 50

The strong promoter of agroforestry founded by Wangari Maathi, designed to help rural women plant trees for use as fuelwood, is known as the:

A) Grameen System.
B) Micocredit Scheme.
C) Green Belt Movement.
D) ITCZ Initiative.

Question 51

The process by which trees remove carbon from the air and store it in their biomass is known as:

A) carbon sequestration.
B) photosynthesis.
C) nitrogen shedding.
D) tectonic activity.

Question 52

Which is NOT an agricultural issue currently facing Africa?

A) Some of the most common commercial crops are less well adapted to environments outside their natural range.
B) Commercial crops tend to be planted in large fields of just one crop, which leaves them vulnerable to pests.
C) The prices of commercial crops are set on the world market, which can lead to price fluctuations that leave people without enough income to survive.
D) The most common commercial crops grown in Africa are in less demand on world markets as a result of the explosion of soybean as a food staple across the world.

Question 53

Which two products or technologies supply Africans with most of their domestic energy?

A) oil and natural gas
B) wood and charcoal
C) solar energy and wind energy
D) water energy and biofuels

Question 54

Which of the following is among the strategies used by cultivators in the wet tropics to maintain soil fertility?

A) clear and plant large patches with one species
B) clear small plots and allow for the Sun to bake and seal nutrients in the soil
C) plant only one species at a time
D) allow the land to reforest after 3 years

Question 55

The Green Belt Movement was founded by:

A) Precious Ramotswe.
B) Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
C) Immaculee Dhangati.
D) Wangari Maathi.

Question 56

Most African famines have been caused by:

A) drought.
B) volcanic eruptions.
C) political instability.
D) global warming.

Question 57

As it shifts north and south seasonally, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) follows the area of Earth's surface with the highest average temperatures.

Question 58

Which of the following is a criticism sometimes made of agroforestry?

A) It requires more intensive use of resources than traditional methods.
B) It is not consistent with the goals of the Green Belt Movement.
C) It sometimes brings invasive species onto the African continent.
D) It simply switches agriculture from one crop to another.

Question 59

Which term refers to a type of farming in which the farmer produces food only for the farmer's family?

A) mixed agriculture
B) subsistence agriculture
C) grameen agriculture
D) aquaculture

Question 60

The continent of Africa is the world's second largest.

Question 61

In recognition of the rapid loss of forests, what practice is being adopted that emphasizes economically useful trees to take the pressure off of old-growth forests?

Question 62

Which of the following solutions is NOT being tried or considered in sub-Saharan Africa to protect wildlife?

A) efforts to reduce poaching
B) increased ecotourism
C) interference with natural migration patterns to prevent animals from drowning
D) traps to kill predators who feed on weaker species

Question 63

The raising of economically useful trees is known as ______________.

Question 64

What type of agriculture do most Africans undertake, which includes crops and a small number of livestock?

Question 65

What practice do most sub-Saharan Africans practice that involves alternating the use of fields between cultivation and grazing?

Question 66

The process by which arid conditions spread to areas that were previously moist is called:

A) zone convergence.
B) zone diversification.
C) desertification.
D) savannosis.

Question 67

Despite the abundance of oil in Nigeria, most Nigerians use fuelwood because petroleum products are too expensive.

Question 68

Pastoralism is another word for:

A) agriculture.
B) herding.
C) economic development.
D) politics.

Question 69

What is the name of the type of tourism fostered by African countries used to promote wildlife conservation?

Question 70

What is the name of the African region that runs south along the Sahara and is threatened by desertification?

Question 71

Desertification in Africa is most apparent along the:

A) equator.
B) Sahel.
C) Maghreb.
D) Congo Basin.

Question 72

Agroforestry has no associated problems.

Question 73

What is the name used in the book for the process in which moist areas become increasingly more arid?

Question 74

What fraction of the world's national park land is in Africa?

A) one-one hundredth
B) one-tenth
C) one-third
D) three-fourths

Question 75

In sub-Saharan Africa, human activities have not had a noticeable effect on the continent's tropical rainforests.

Question 76

Which of the following best describes a recent discovery concerning water in sub-Saharan Africa?

A) Groundwater supplies are far smaller than once thought.
B) Groundwater supplies are almost completely polluted by mineral extraction projects.
C) Although groundwater is plentiful, it is located too deep to be accessed by bore wells.
D) The quantity of groundwater is far greater than previously thought.

Question 77

Which of the following is the best characterization of the climatic conditions brought about by the slow advance of the African Sahel?

A) cold
B) arid
C) wet
D) warm

Question 78

The environments of West Africa have dried out over the past several decades due in large part to human activities.

Question 79

The Masai Mara game reserve, known for the annual migration of wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles, is located in:

A) Kenya.
B) Nigeria.
C) Chad.
D) Senegal.

Question 80

According to the textbook, which of the following has NOT been well understood by Western (American and European) advisers and aid officials concerning indigenous African agriculture?

A) Men produce most of the food for family consumption.
B) Indigenous practices are less sustainable than Western techniques.
C) Traditional systems are more complex than suggested systems assume.
D) With fertilizer, African soils can remain fertile under continuous use.