Africa Geography Vocabulary

When humans remove or thin forests for lumber or to use the land where the trees stood for crops, grazing, extraction (mining, oil, or gas), or development as the population increases and people migrate.

• deforestation

• desertification

• irrigation

• drought

The process by which vegetation in drylands, such as grasslands or shrublands, decreases and eventually disappears turning the land to desert.

• desertification

• deforestation

• irrigation

• famine

A period of unusually persistent dry weather that lasts long enough to cause serious problems such as crop damage and/or water supply shortages.

• drought

• irrigation

• desertification

• flooding

An extreme crisis of access to adequate food. People may experience widespread malnutrition and loss of life due to starvation and infectious diseases.

• famine

• irrigation

• savanna

• Sahel

The watering of land to make it ready for agriculture.

• irrigation

• malnutrition

• famine

• escarpment

This ethnic group lives in Northern Africa and most follow the religion of Islam.

• Arabs

• Bantu

• Ashanti

• Swahili

This ethnic group lives in Central and Southern Africa. People in this ethnic group may follow one of the following religions: Christianity, Islam, or Traditional Beliefs.

• Bantu

• Arabs

• Ashanti

• Swahili

• Share many common characteristics, such as language, physical features, customs, and traditions

• ethnic group

• religious group

• A group that shares a common belief system.

• religious group

• ethnic group

A belief system that may include worship of ancestors, spirits, gods, animals, land, inanimate objects, and/or natural phenomena.

• Islam

• Christianity

• Judaism

• Traditional Beliefs