Africa

Copyright (c) 2008, Eric McElroy. All Rights Reserved. This site was last revised on February 15, 2009

**Welcome to my page about Africa. Here you will learn a little about Africa's people, culture, countries, animals, landforms, and bodies of water. The information on this page (black font) has been copied from and linked to** [|**www.wikipedia.com**] **for educational purposes only and follows the terms of the GNU Free Document License linked below. There are a few links to [|National Geographic] Online and the animations are from [|www.**free**-**animations**.co.uk]. If you would like to know more about a topic, please follow the links provided, or begin your own search. As with all wikis there may be some misinformation. If any is found on this site or its links, please let me know so I can change it. Thank you for visiting, and enjoy your stay.**

People and Culture Traditional [|dance in Africa] occurs collectively, expressing the life of the community more than that of individuals or couples. Dances are often segregated by gender, reinforcing gender roles in children. Community structures such as kinship,age,status are also often reinforced. "Musical training" in African societies begins a birth with cradle songs, and continues on the backs of relatives both at work and at festivals and other social events. The sounding of three beats against two is expeienced in everyday life and helps develope "a two-dimensional attitude to rhythm". Throughout western and central Afirca child's play inculdes games that develope a feeling for multiple rhythms.


 * [[image:Nelson_Mandela.jpg align="right"]]

" [|Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela] ** ( IPA : [xolíɬaɬa mandéːla] ; born 18 July 1918) is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative democratic elections. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. He spent 27 years in prison on convictions for crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid."

How would you like to be Queen or King of Egypt? Follow these links to National geographic Kids website to read stories about some of the more famous kings and queens. I want to hear about a... [|KING] / [|QUEEN]. Countries **Africa** is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area. With more than 900 million people (as of 2005)[2] in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

[|Detailed List of Countries]: This is a list of African countries and dependencies, including the respective capitals, languages, currencies, population, area and GDP per capita (dependencies are listed with a blue background).

Be sure to check out these interesting countries: Morocco, [|South Africa], Western Sahara, Kenya, Madagascar, Egypt, Lesotho, and [|Zimbabwe].

Animals Want to play a game? Click on the animal to find information about it.



History When we think of Africa's history, it's natural to think first of ancient Egypt. That's because they used [|hieroglyphics] to record history. But remember Africa is the second largest continent, so there's bound to be more! It's just that much of Africa's history was told rather than written. We also learned a lot about history through other cultures' historical documents, including Romans and Greeks who controlled various regions.

Landforms

The **Virunga Mountains** are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valley. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu. The mountain range consists of eight major volcanoes. Most of them are dormant, except Mount Nyiragongo (3462 m) and Mount Nyamuragira (3063 m) in the Congo. These volcanoes erupted most recently in 2006. Mount Karisimbi (4507 m) is the highest volcano. The oldest mountain is Mount Sabyinyo (3634 m). The Virunga Mountains are home of the critically endangered mountain gorilla, listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species due to habitat loss, poaching, disease, and war (Butynski et al. 2003). The Karisoke Research Center, founded by Dian Fossey to observe gorillas in their native habitat, is located between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke.





Bodies of Water



Africa has 4 Great Lakes

Think you know everything? Then try this game by Mr. Mac. to test your knowledge! The answers are not given in this version of the game, but may be found in the information above. The original version will be played in the classroom during our Africa Unit in spring.


 * To find out more about Wikipedia [|click here]. I chose to use the information provided here because permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the documents under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

GNU Free Document License http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License

Internet Workshop Ideas

Africam - http://www.africam.com/ Live web cameras set up throughout various game preserves in South Africa. Features a competition for best captured shot of the day. [ Illustrations: many | Reading Level: 3-6 | Subject: Animal Pictures ]

Third Grade Internet Workshop on African Animals at URL [|http://www.africam.com] Learning objective: In small groups, the students will examine and collect data on animal behavior by locating animals using live webcams and video highlights. This activity may require some flexibility by the teacher. The website posted above has three webcams with live feed, a recording of one camera’s previous 12 hours, and a collection of video highlights. Throughout a week, I will have groups of students check the live feeds two-three times daily and record what they see and hear. If something interesting is found during a live feed, the students will introduce the video and present it to the class. If nothing of interest happens during our observations the students will refer to the video highlights section for data. This lesson correlates with Bloom’s Taxonomy at the Analysis level for examining and the Synthesis level for the collection of data. The students must also evaluate the information for significant animal behaviors.

Third Grade Internet Workshop on Living in Africa at URL: http://www.phillipmartin.info/webpage/travel/africa/text_map_liberia.htm Deep in the Bush, Where People Rarely Go - [|http://www.phillipmartin.info/webpage/travel/africa/text_map_liberia.htm] The stories used in this lesson were collected by the author, Phillip Martin, while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. He lived in Zwedru, a town surrounded by the rainforest, or "the bush" as the Liberians called it. These tales have been kid - tested and approved around the world with students of all ages. Learning objective: The students will work in small groups to compare and contrast living in Liberia, Africa with living in America. There are nine towns to choose from on the opening website. Using a graphic organizer, such as a Venn diagram, students will read about the author’s firsthand experiences of living in Liberia. They will discuss the similarities & differences within their groups then break up and make new groups to discuss their findings. This can also be used as a mini-lesson on primary & secondary sources. Comparing and contrasting are both higher-level thinking skills.