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Man: the resettlement and impact on the nature of Africa. Man's influence on the nature of Africa Man: resettlement and influence on the nature of Africa

help me find a report. on the topic "human influence on the nature of Africa" \u200b\u200bor just on nature and got the best answer

Reply from Dorji Lejiev [expert]
6. The influence of man on nature. Nature reserves and parks
Back in the XIX century. Africa was represented as the mainland of pristine nature. However, even then the nature of Africa was significantly changed by man. The area of \u200b\u200bforests has been reduced, which for centuries has been uprooted and burned to arable land and pasture. Especially great damage to the nature of Africa was caused by European colonialists. Hunting, conducted for the sake of profit, and often - of sports interest, led to the mass extermination of animals. Many animals are completely destroyed (for example, some species of antelopes, zebras), and the number of others (elephants, rhinos, gorillas, etc.) is greatly reduced. Europeans exported expensive timber to their countries. Therefore, in a number of states (in Nigeria and others), the danger of the complete disappearance of forests arose. Territories on the site of reduced forests were occupied by plantations of cocoa, oil palm, peanuts, etc. Thus, savannas formed on the site of equatorial and variable-moist forests. Significantly changed the nature and primary savannah. There are huge areas of plowed land and pastures.
Due to improper farming (burning, overgrazing, as well as felling of trees and shrubs), savannahs have given way to deserts for many centuries. Over the past half century alone, the Sahara has advanced significantly south and increased its area by 650 thousand km2. Loss of agricultural land leads to the death of livestock and crops, to starvation of people.
To save the savannahs from the onset of deserts, a wide forest strip in the Sahara is created with a length of 1,500 km, which will block agricultural areas from the dry desert winds. There are several Sahara watering projects. Great changes in natural complexes occurred in connection with the development of minerals and the development of industry.
Natural disasters (earthquakes, droughts, floods, hurricanes, etc.) can bring huge disasters to the population. One of Africa’s most disastrous natural disasters is the recurring drought. This especially affects the savannah population adjacent to the Sahara. As a result of droughts, people, livestock and other living organisms die. The reason for the exacerbation of droughts is the felling of shrubs, trees, as well as excessive grazing.
Some countries suffer disasters from floods, plant diseases, and the infestation of locusts, which in a few hours can destroy the entire crop of fields or plantations.
At present, mankind is increasingly understanding the need to protect nature on Earth. For this purpose, nature reserves (territories where natural complexes are preserved in a natural state) and national parks are organized on all continents. Only people conducting research work are allowed in the reserves. National parks, unlike nature reserves, can be visited by tourists who are required to comply with the rules established there. In many African countries, protection of wild animals and the most interesting natural complexes (forests, savannahs, volcanic regions, etc.) is given great importance. Nature reserves and national parks on the mainland occupy large areas. Especially a lot of them in South and East Africa. A number of them are world famous, for example, Serengeti, Kruger national parks. Thanks to the measures taken, the number of many animals has now been restored.

Answer from Evgeny Fomichev[newbie]
Malamute, so what?

Answer from Alexander Rodnov[newbie]

Answer from Galina Steglenko[newbie]
Read the textbook will be the same result

help me find a report. on the topic "human influence on the nature of Africa" \u200b\u200bor just on nature and got the best answer

Answer from Evgeny Fomichev[newbie]
Malamute, so what?

Answer from Alexander Rodnov[newbie]

Answer from Galina Steglenko[newbie]
Read the textbook will be the same result

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Slide captions:

AFRICA. The influence of man on nature. Nature reserves and national parks. Presentation for interactive whiteboard. Zgibay T.N., Geography teacher at the State Budgetary Educational Establishment of Lyceum No. 82 of the Petrograd District of St. Petersburg

The African continent has the highest concentration of national parks - 335 units as of 2014, in which more than 1,100 species of mammals, 100,000 species of insects, 2600 species of birds and 3000 species of fish are protected. In addition, there are hundreds of reserves, forest reserves, marine reserves, national reserves and nature parks. Most protected areas are in Kenya, Gabon and Tanzania. Especially many reserves and national parks in South and East Africa. 3

No. Country Name of the national park Area, km² 1 Algeria Akhaggar 3800 2 Algeria Belezma 262.5 3 Algeria Shrea 260 4 Algeria Dzhurdzhura 82.25 5 Algeria El Qala 800 6 Algeria Gureya 20.8 7 Algeria Tassilin-Adger 120,000 8 Algeria Taza 37.2 9 Algeria Teniet El Had 34.25 10 Algeria Tlemcen 82.25

Masai Mara National Reserve Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and is named after the Masai people who inhabit these regions. It is famous for its lions, leopards and cheetahs, as well as the annual migration of zebras, Thomson's gazelles, and Wildebeest. Masai Mara is relatively small, but it has an amazing concentration of wildlife. The park is home to 95 species of mammals, amphibians and reptiles and more than 400 species of birds.

Bwindi National Park Bwindi National Park is located in southwestern Uganda in East Africa. The park includes 331 square kilometers of forest jungle, and can only be reached on foot. Located on the eastern edge of the rift valley, the park has a rich ecosystem. It also has a wide variety of fauna, including a number of endemic butterflies and one of the richest mammal clusters in Africa. The park is home to almost half of the world's mountain gorillas, which, unfortunately, are only 340 individuals.

Central Kalahari Nature Reserve The Central Kalahari Nature Reserve in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana covers an area of \u200b\u200b52,800 km², about twice the size of Massachusetts, making it the second largest nature reserve in the world. The park contains wild animals such as giraffes, brown hyena, warthog, cheetah, wild dogs, leopards, lions, blue wildebeest. The Bushmen have inhabited the Kalahari for thousands of years. These tribes still live here and roam the territory like nomadic hunters.

Ngorongoro Ngorongoro is located in northwestern Tanzania. In fact, this is the impressive Ngorongoro Crater, the extinct volcano that left the crater. The steep slopes of the crater became a habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. The area is also of great importance in studying the origin of man, because it was here that some of the earliest human remains were found, including traces of his stay here 3.5 million years ago.

Thank you for the attention!

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and summaries

Subject. Human influence on the nature of Africa. Nature reserves and national parks.

Detailed lesson summary. The main purpose of the lesson is the environmental problems of Africa, the establishment of causal relationships ....

Lesson “The impact of human activities on nature. Nature Reserves Australia's National Parks »Objectives: to continue exploring the topic of the interconnectedness and relationships of the body ...

SUBJECT . Human influence on the nature of Africa. Nature reserves and national parks in Africa.

The purpose of the lesson : establish the main causes that have affected the change in the nature of Africa and the consequences to which they have led; find ways to solve environmental problems; to continue the formation of cognitive activity of students, the ability to independently work with different sources of information individually and in a group, gain knowledge, work with a map, analyze, draw conclusions;

Equipment: physical and political map of Africa, presentation, atlases, video “Serengeti - reserve of Africa”, student reports on environmental problems and ways to solve them.

Preparatory stage.

The class is divided into groups in advance and studies the material on a specific problem.

In each group, the guys must solve the following problems:

1) Find and study information on this problem.

2) Establish the causes and consequences.

3) To tell about the ongoing activities in African countries and suggest their ways out of the current environmental situation.

During the classes

Ι. Organizing time.

The teacher introduces the class with the goals and objectives of the lesson.

Teacher. Today we will talk with you about the problems that are associated with human intervention in the nature of Africa as a result of its economic activity. We will need to establish the causes of the existing environmental problems on mainland Africa and find ways to solve them. In the lesson, we will listen to the prepared presentations of each group on one environmental issue. During each speech on the issue, you will need to establish a causal relationship and display them in the form of a diagram in a workbook.

ΙΙ. Learning new material.

Teacher: The nature of Africa is amazing and diverse, but today it experiences, like the nature of other continents, environmental problems of a global nature. Back in the 10–10th century, Africa was represented as a continent of pristine nature. Especially great damage was caused to the nature of Africa by the European colonialists.

1st problem. "Reducing the area of \u200b\u200btropical forests in Africa"

Teacher: the guys of the first group will speak on this issue.

Researchers : our group, using various sources of information, studied this problem in detail and came to the conclusion that over the past decades a lot of forest has been destroyed in Africa. In the course of our work, the main reasons for reducing the area of \u200b\u200bforests were identified. The reasons are as follows:

1) Forest clearing for various household needs, and, above all, for conducting slash-and-burn agriculture. Each African family annually clears new land for arable land from an average of 0.5 ha to 1 ha, while destroying forests. For this reason, ¾ forest area has been reduced.

Every year, 3 million hectares of forest are burned for crops. In the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in western Africa, slash agriculture has reduced forest cover by one third over the past decade. Not the best situation in neighboring countries - Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cameroon, Nigeria.

2) The use of wood by the population as a fuel.

The tree is used as fuel by peasants throughout Africa, who cannot have more expensive kerosene and gas, and are forced to cut down trees more and more, devastating the area

around the villages. In the countries of the Sahel, a region that separates the Sahara from the savannahs of West Africa, more than 14 million tons are burned annually for cooking and heating homes. wood and charcoal. In Ethiopia, energy needs are 95% met through forests. Peasant women, for 10-15 km dragging a bundle of firewood on their backs for a family hearth, is one of the most frequent paintings on African roads.

3 A) Increased timber exports to the developed countries of the world due to commercial agreements between the developed capitalist countries of the West and the developing African countries, which provide for the export of unprocessed timber to Western Europe. Over the past 100 years, since the time of active logging, in the country of Congo almost completely reduced forests on the Atlantic coast. Valuable species of trees grow here, which are in great demand on the world market: okume, akazhu, sapel. With modern

intensive exploitation of the area, in which French, Swiss, Algerian, Libyan companies take part, will last for several decades.

Ecologists : 1) The area of \u200b\u200bAfrican forests in 200 years has been reduced by almost half. This has led to the extinction or reduction of rare species of animals and plants.

2) We should not forget that tropical forests - this is the main "factory for the production of oxygen." It produces about a third of the oxygen contained in the atmosphere, which means that its amount will decrease on the entire planet;

3) Humid equatorial forests cleanse the atmosphere of pollutants, reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. But today, as a result of deforestation, the amount of carbon dioxide is increasing, which leads to a "greenhouse effect", which means warming the climate of the entire planet, which in turn causes the melting of glaciers and leads to an increase in water levels in the oceans.

4) Destruction of vegetation leads to disruption of the seasonal rain cycle, drying out of rivers.

5) Gilea holds and preserves poor and unstable soils. With the reduction of forests, the soil will completely collapse, turning into a desert.

The task.

Reduction in rainforest area. Scheme number 1.

Slash-and-burn agriculture Timber - fuel Timber export

The extinction and reduction of rare species

Rainforest animals and plants

Oxygen reduction

And an increase in carbon dioxide.

"Greenhouse effect", climate warming on Earth.

Melting glaciers and rising sea levels.

2nd problem. Soil Deflation

Teacher : the second group will tell us about the second problem.

Researchers : our group worked on a problem - soil deflation, i.e. blowing out the fertile soil layer. This phenomenon is often observed in the Sahel and in the savannahs, which are located in the tropical and subequatorial climatic zones.

We have identified the main causes of soil blowing:

1) Destruction of savannah vegetation for conducting slash-and-burn agriculture;

2) Intensive grazing in countries with arid climates;

3) The proximity of the desert also speeds up the process of blowing, as there are often strong Samum winds that reach speeds of up to 50 km per hour.

Ecologists : Having studied this problem, we saw the consequences that led to the destruction of the grass cover of the savannah as a result of slash-and-burn farming, intensive cattle grazing in countries with an arid climate - Chad, Mali, Sudan, Niger. This consequence is the ever-increasing soil deflation on the mainland.

The task. Make a diagram of cause-effect relationships on this problem.

Soil deflation. Scheme 2.

Slash-and-burn agriculture Intensive grazing

Destruction of vegetation

Soil destruction

Soil deflation

3rd problem. Desert Offensive

Teacher: the third group will speak on the third problem.

Researchers : Africa is facing an acute desert challenge. For many centuries, due to improper farming, savannas began to give way to deserts. Over the past half century alone, the Sahara has increased by 650 thousand km². It may happen that almost all of Africa turns into a desert. Their area is increasing more and more, and they are getting closer to the equator. We have studied and established the causes of this attack:

1) Africa is the hottest and driest continent, which is characterized by a continental and dry climate. There are often droughts. 44% of the mainland is subject to drought, which leads to soil deflation.

2) Deforestation, intensive grazing, destruction of the grass cover of the savannah, also increase soil deflation and erosion. All this leads to the formation of mobile sand and an increase in the area of \u200b\u200bdeserts.

You see that all the problems that we have considered are the causes of the onset of the desert. This suggests that in nature, everything is interconnected.

The task. Make a diagram of cause-effect relationships on this problem.

Desert Offensive. Scheme number 3.

Climate Continental Slash-and-burn agriculture Deforestation

Mobile sand formation

Desert area increase

4th problem. "Destruction of animals of Africa"

Teacher: the guys of the fourth group will tell us about this problem.

Researchers: Africa is a land of deserts and savannahs in which both man and animals live according to the laws of nature. The animals of Africa are diverse and amazing. The mainland has a rich and diverse fauna, 1 thousand species of mammals and 1.5 thousand species of birds live here.

Savannahs and woodlands occupy more than 40% of the continent, and therefore the main part of the fauna is made up of animals that live there: rhinos, gazelles, buffalos, elephants, cheetahs, jackals. Deserts occupy vast areas of the continent, but the difference in fauna between north and south is quite noticeable. The northern deserts are very similar to the deserts of Asia: there are a large number of jerboas, gerbils, jackals and hyenas. Southern deserts, in turn, are characterized by a large number of endemic species and turtles. Wet equatorial forests do not shine with the diversity of the animal world, but, nevertheless, you can find in them: gorilla, hippo, okapi, monkeys, chimpanzees and crocodiles.

Ecologists: The African fauna, peculiar and one of the richest faunas of the Earth, suffered a lot of damage from human activities:

1) The long years of European colonialism;

2) The population satisfies their need for meat food by 80% due to hunting for animals;

3) The trade in ivory, leather or animal skins plays an important role in the budget of a number of countries.

All this cannot but lead to a depletion of fauna. In the old days, everywhere, as far as the eye could see, one could see huge herds of grazing animals. Now the largest herds are concentrated in national parks, mainly in the Serengeti - Tanzania, Tsavo - Kenya. For the sake of sports interest, during the hunt elephants were killed due to tusks, so their number decreased sharply, and the number of rhinos, gorillas and other animals was also significantly reduced. Quaggi zebras were completely destroyed - bags were made from their skins. At the same time, in a number of African countries much attention is paid to the protection of fauna, and many species only due to this have avoided complete destruction. However, the vast and diverse biological heritage of all sub-regions of Africa is in danger. Civil wars and armed conflicts sometimes cause irreparable damage to the biodiversity of the mainland. So, in 2002, 289 species of mammals, 207 species of birds, 127 species of fish, 48 species of reptiles and 17 species of amphibians were threatened with extinction.

5th problem. "Construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River"

Teacher: the word is given to the guys of the fifth group.

Researchers: the longest river in the world flows through the territory of Africa - the Nile. The Nile Valley is very fertile, here peasants are engaged in agriculture year round. In 1964, on the Nile River, with the assistance of the USSR, the Aswan Dam, a hydroelectric power station, and a reservoir were built. The high dam saved Egypt from the devastating Nile floods, and Egypt was also saved from the droughts that are frequent here. Water from the reservoir was used not only for irrigation of fields, but also for fish farming. 35-40 thousand tons are caught here annually. fishes. All villages and industrial enterprises were electrified.

Ecologists : I would like to note that the construction of the Aswan Dam

had not only a positive side, but also negative consequences:

1) The Nile annually carried a fertile layer of silt to the fields during floods.

After the construction of the dam, sludge began to settle in the reservoir, soil fertility deteriorated.

2) The destruction of the coast near the northern part of the river delta intensified.

3) Fish migrations of sardines decreased due to barriers - dams.

The task. Guys, make a diagram of cause and effect relationships on this issue.

Teacher: guys, today we heard with you the problems that people in African countries have encountered, but which concern every person on our planet, since they are global. During the lesson, you all drew up a causal relationship scheme by which you can judge the consequences of human intervention in the nature of Africa. So, you can identify ways to improve the situation on this continent. Guys, suggest your measures for solving environmental problems.

The guys come up with their proposals on solving environmental problems in mainland Africa.

Let's listen to the message.

In many African countries, the protection of wild animals and interesting natural complexes (forests, savannahs) is given great importance:

1) Forest plantations were carried out (1973 - 1993). A grandiose project was created in Algeria - to grow a green wall of 7 billion trees on the Sahara path. The forest belt stretches for 1500 km, a width of 20 km. Different trees are planted on the desert path: date palm, which grows at a temperature of + 50 to - 14º C, which grows on any soil; heat-loving acacia, evergreen hard-leaved Australian eucalyptus.

2) Africans love their nature, treat it with care, try to maintain its uniqueness and uniqueness. To this end, reserves and national parks and reserves have been created in Africa for the conservation and protection of animals and plants of the mainland. In Ethiopia, Symen is in the mountains, in Tanzania is the Serengeti, in Kenya is Tsavo, in South Africa it is Kruger, etc.

Nature reserves and national parks on the mainland occupy large areas, their total number is about 400. (Communication).

3) In the Republic of Mali since 1986. the Forest Law is in effect: “Citizens who burn the forest — imprisonment of up to 2 years or a large fine”.

3) In the Republic of Niger, a holiday is annually held - Tree Day, on this day everyone planted trees.

4) The UN adopted the document “Stop the Desert Offensive”.

The problem of the onset of the desert remains open today. It is necessary for the government of all African countries to hold a joint conference where they will consider the reasons for the onset of the desert on the continent and take more radical measures to solve it. Only together all the countries of Africa can solve this global problem of mankind.

Lesson summary.

Teacher: Guys, we have found that the nature of Africa suffers from the fact that people do not rationally use its wealth and do not always properly conduct agriculture. But Africa, the mainland of the Earth, which is also exposed to the greatest number of natural disasters.

Our lesson has come to an end. I hope that today you received a lot of useful information for yourself about the current environmental situation in African countries and made the right conclusion - “Nature is our common home” and that everything is interconnected in nature. The problem of nature conservation around the world is considered the most important after maintaining peace on Earth. Any natural complex is a fragile ecosystem of the planet. Human intervention should be very thoughtful and limited. Let's take care of nature, protect all that it has given us.

Grading Active Kids

Homework. § 21, questions 4-8, repeat the nomenclature of Africa.

Thanks for the work.

Additional material.

Messages about reserves and national parks in Africa.

The creation of national parks is the main condition for preserving protected areas where nature remains untouched by man - its wildlife. National parks in Africa, the importance of which is difficult to overestimate, are now visited not only by foreign tourists, but also by the Africans themselves, especially schoolchildren and students. National parks preserve nature and serve as natural research laboratories for the most important observations.

1. Kruger.

The very first reserve in Africa, founded in 1898 by the president of Transval Paulus Krueger, located in the north-east of South Africa.Until 1926 bore the name Sabi - Game, then was transformed into a national park, and he was named after the creator, Paulus Kruger. It has a length of 345 km from north to south, and 54 km from west to east. Its area (20 thousand km²) The territory of the park is crossed by several relatively large rivers flowing from west to east.

The plant world is represented by 1968 plant species, of which 457 species of trees and shrubs, 235 - cereals, 27 - ferns, 16 - vines, 1213 - herbs and flowers. The national park has more than 800 species of animals: 147 species of mammals, 34 amphibians, 114 - reptiles, 49 - fish, 507 fish. For 2009 in the national park there are, 9000 - Antelope impala, 27000 - African buffalo,9600 - blue wildebeest,5400 - white rhinos, 2500 - spotted hyenas, 300 - Canna antelopes (the largest in the world)200 - cheetahs.

Recently, restoration of a population of animals such as black and white rhinoceros and a giant elephant has begun on the territory of the national park.

2.Serengetti ( video “Serengeti - reserve of Africa)

Serengeti National Park was founded in 1951, it is one of the largest in Africa, has world renown, is located in East Africa, on the border of Tanzania and Kenya. About 30 species of animals live here, including the Big Five: elephants, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, and buffalos.The national park played an important role in the conservation of elephants, in recent years their number has increased dramatically. Some of the elephants are exported today.

In 2005, the largest flock of lions in the world was discovered on the territory of Serengeti Park, or, as scientists call it, the lion pride, it consists of 41 lions.

The Serengeti savannas scorched by the sun remember the “great white hunters”: Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernst Hemingway, who loved to have fun on a safari.

MAN: RESIDENCE AND INFLUENCE ON NATURE OF AFRICA

(see map of the physical-geographical zoning of Africa with links to photographs of the nature of this region)

Africa is considered the most likely ancestral home modern man (Fig. 23).

Fig. 23. The centers of the formation of man and the ways of his settlement around the globe (according to V.P. Alekseev): 1 - the ancestral home of mankind and its settlement; 2 - the primary western focus of racogenesis and the resettlement of protoavstraloids; 3 - the resettlement of protoeuropoids; 4 - the resettlement of protonegroids; 5 - the primary eastern focus of racogenesis and the settlement of protoamericanoids; 6 - North American tertiary outbreak and resettlement from it; 7 - Central South American outbreak and resettlement from it.

Many features of the nature of the continent speak in favor of this position. African apes, especially chimpanzees, have the greatest number of biological traits common to modern humans compared to other anthropoids. Fossils of several forms of the apes of the family have also been discovered in Africa. pongguide (Pongidae), similar to modern apes. In addition, fossil forms of anthropoids were discovered - Australopithecus, usually included in the hominid family.

Remains australopithecus found in the Villafran deposits of South and East Africa, i.e., in those strata that most researchers attribute to the Quaternary (Eopleistocene). In the east of the mainland, stones with traces of rough artificial chipping were found along with the bones of Australopithecus.

Many anthropologists consider Australopithecus as a stage in the evolution of man, preceding the emergence of ancient people. However, the discovery of R. Lika in 1960 of the Olduvai location made significant changes to the solution of this problem. In the natural section of the Olduvai Gorge, located in the southeast of the Serengeti plateau, near the famous Ngorongoro Crater (northern Tanzania), remains of primates close to Australopithecus were found in the thickness of the Villafrank age volcanic rocks. They got the name zinjanthropov. Below and above the Zinjanthropes, the skeletal remains of the Presinjanthropus, or Homo habilis (Skillful Man) were found. Primitive stone products - coarsely upholstered pebbles - were found together with prezindzhantropom. The remains of African found in the overlying layers of the Olduvai location archanthropes, and at the same level with them - Australopithecus. The relative position of the remains of the Presinjanthropus and Zinjanthropes (Australopithecus) suggests that Australopithecus, previously considered the direct ancestors of ancient people, actually formed a non-progressive branch of hominids that existed for a long time between the Villafranca and the middle of the Pleistocene. This branch is over dead end.

At the same time, and even somewhat earlier, there was a progressive form - prejinganthropwhich perhaps is direct and immediate ancestor of ancient people. If this is so, then it is fair to believe that the homeland of the Presinjanthropus - the region of continental rifts of East Africa - can be considered the ancestral home of man.

R. Leakey discovered in the vicinity of Lake Rudolph (Turkana) the remains of human ancestors, whose age is 2.7 million years. In recent years, there have been reports of finds of even more ancient age.

The remains of archanthropists except Olduvai were found in northern Africa, in Algeria. The local name of the North African archanthropes is atlantropa.

Modern man (Homo sapiens) appeared on the territory of Africa during the last Gamblian pluvial, which corresponded approximately to the end of the last glaciation of the northern regions of the Earth.

Fossilized human remains of a modern type found in different regions of the mainland show significant racial differences. Obviously, the main races existing in Africa at the present time were already visible in the era of the Late (Upper) Paleolithic. Further differentiation of races continued during the Neolithic. In North Africa, judging by the bone remnants, there was an ancient caucasian type, in South Africa - the so-called boscopic type, ancestor of modern Bushmen and Hottentots. In the west south of the Sahara itself negroid (Negro) type. During the Neolithic period, it apparently formed ethiopian contact race, and in the equatorial forests of the Congo Basin, a race of African pygmies negril).

Modern indigenous people North Africa, including almost all of the Sahara, consists of representatives of the southern Caucasoid (Mediterranean) race, more ancient in time of the formation of the branch of the large Caucasoid race.

Anthropologically Caucasoid population of North Africa is large uniformity. It is characterized by dark skin, dark coloration of hair and eyes, dolicho- or mesokephalic skull, an average growth of about 170 cm. There are deviations from this type: lighter skin, brown hair and blue eyes, which may be the result of local depigmentation in mountainous areas with more severe climate. The ancient Caucasoid race belongs to the ancient berber population North Africa and most of the modern population of North African countries, historically formed as a result of the invasion of the Arabs and the Arabization of the indigenous Berber population. Most of the mainland to the south of the Sahara, with the exception of areas adjacent to the Red Sea, and the Somali Peninsula, is inhabited by peoples belonging to the African branch of the large equatorial race. In its composition emit three races of the second order: actually Negro (Negroid), Negril and Bushmen (Khoisan).

Traits the Negro race itself especially pronounced among the population of the basins of the Niger and Congo. These peoples have very dark skin, curly hair, pronounced prognathism, a wide nose with a low nose, swollen lips, dolicho- and mesokephalic head. In other areas, Negroids deviate from these classically expressed signs. For example, in Southeast Africa, some peoples have a lighter skin color; among the peoples of the Upper Nile and Senegal, the skin, on the contrary, is almost black; various nations have prognathism to varying degrees. Very large differences in growth. Especially high growth among residents of the Nile basin.

On the border of the ranges of southern Caucasians and Negroids, contact racial groups formed already in the early Neolithic. It - ethiopian raceto which the peoples of Ethiopia, Somalia and neighboring areas belong. The representatives of the Ethiopian race expressed almost all the characteristic signs of Negroids, but as if in a relaxed form. Their skin is brown in color, but lighter than that of the most light-colored blacks, their hair is curly and even curly, but to a lesser extent than that of Negroids, their lips are full but not swollen, there is no prognathism, the nose is narrow, with a protruding nose, a narrow, high face . In Western Sudan, on the border between the ranges of Caucasians and Negroids, transitional forms have also developed with a combination of anthropological features of both of these races.

A special place within the African branch of the equatorial race is occupied by pygmies (negrilli). They are settled in small groups in the equatorial forests of the Congo Basin. Their average height is 141-142 cm, the maximum is 150 cm. Skin color is generally lighter than typical Negroids, hair is curly, nose is wide, with low nose, mouth is wide with thin lips, facial hair is more plentiful than tall negroids. The fact that the Pygmies, on the one hand, have traits that bring them closer to blacks, and, on the other hand, significant differences from the latter, suggests that these races had a common ancestor. The anthropological features of the pygmies were probably formed in the Neolithic under the influence of the specific natural environment of the equatorial forests, within which they still live.

Groups live in southwest Africa bushmen and Hottentotsunited by some common anthropological features into one khoisan, or South African, race, or racial group. This race also has features common to other black Africans (broad nose and curly hair); some signs bring it closer to the representatives of the Mongoloid race (relatively light, yellowish-brown skin color and epicanthus); other signs are specific to the Khoisan race: accumulation of fat in the buttocks (steatopygia), severe wrinkling of the skin. The features of anthropological resemblance to blacks are explained by the fact that in the early stages of development, all races of the African branch had a common ancestor. Mongoloid features do not depend on a connection with the Mongoloids, which, obviously, never was, and could not be, but on similar environmental conditions in which these races were formed. The arid spaces of the interior of South Africa are somewhat similar to those of Central Asia. This similarity, for example, explains the Bushman’s epicanthus, which is considered a characteristic feature of the Mongoloids.

The movement of peoples across the Earth, which took place from ancient times and intensified during the era of the great geographical discoveries, during the colonization of Africa by Europeans, led to further confusion races and the formation of mixed anthropological types. The invasion of Arabs into Africa, their penetration not only north but also south, deep into the mainland, into the thick of the Negroid peoples, led to the formation of mixed types of the population of South Sudan, very close in terms of anthropology to the Ethiopian contact race.

As a result of the mixing of races in the Middle Ages, a population was formed Madagascar. It was formed, apparently, as a result of contacts between Negroids and the southern Mongoloids (Indonesians) who penetrated the island.

Currently living in africa about 800 million people. This population is distributed throughout the mainland extremely unevenly. Huge areas are almost completely uninhabited, many are very rarely inhabited. For example, in the Sahara, Kalahari, Namib desert population density 1 person per 1 km 2. The population of the tropical forests of the Congo Basin, many of the mountainous regions of East Africa is very low. Significantly higher population density of the northern, southwestern and southeastern coast of the mainland, the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. The Nile Valley in Egypt stands out especially - it is one of the most densely populated territories not only in Africa, but throughout the world. The population density there exceeds 200 people, and in some places reaches 1000 people per 1 km 2. In some parts of Africa, the hills and mountains are denser than the lowlands, which have less favorable conditions for the life and work of people. About 40% of the total population of the continent lives at an altitude of more than 500 m above sea level.

A big problem for Africa is such natural focal diseaseslike malaria, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, yellow fever, schistosomiasis, etc. Many of them are associated with the habitats of carriers (mosquitoes, tsetse flies, mollusks). In recent decades, AIDS has become widespread in many African countries, especially south of the equator. Africa's pandemic in 2001 HIV infection and AIDS has claimed lives 2.3 million people. The continent is characterized by the highest spread of HIV infection and the highest proportion of HIV-infected and AIDS patients. In 2001, 28.1 million people living with HIV and AIDS were living in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 70 % of the total number registered worldwide. Over the past 20 years, this disease has significantly affected the average life expectancy in the region, and in countries such as Botswana and Malawi, it no longer exceeds 40 years. It is now officially believed that in Botswana 35% of adults are HIV infected. Every year, the number of HIV carriers and AIDS patients is steadily increasing. An important role is played by tribal traditions that encourage the early onset of sexual activity, as well as the orientation of some developing countries to the mining industry - miners' settlements with many hostels appear in the mines, in which workers predominantly separated from their families predominate. In North Africa, this problem is not so acute.

Africa dominates rural population, the countries of this continent are the least urbanized compared to other regions of the world. In agriculture, plantation or slash-and-burn agriculture and grazing cattle breeding, often combined with a nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life, predominate. For many years, colonialism left an indelible mark on the distribution of the population, the methods of farming and the nature of the use of natural resources.

Sharply reflected on the state of the environment African countries also have the socio-demographic processes of recent decades: high rates of population reproduction, this is due to the expansion of cultivated areas and pastures, excessive and not always rational use of natural resources, urban growth. All this, taken together, has led to the fact that at present relatively few areas of Africa have retained their pristine nature. Changing the composition of forests under the influence of deforestation and burning, or even crowding out forests of anthropogenic savannah, desertification of savannahs in areas bordering on deserts, the spread of introduced plants and animals of other continents, and the extermination of local species - all these human results have been widely disseminated not only to the most developed and inhabited outskirts of the mainland, but also in its inland areas. In 1990-1995 Africa's deforestation rate was 0.7% per year. Over 15 years (from 1980 to 1995), the area of \u200b\u200bAfrican forests decreased by 66 million hectares. The highest deforestation rates are in southern West Africa.

Over the past 100 years in Africa significantly worsened state of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Rapid population growth, agricultural intensification, urbanization and industrial growth have intensified environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. Among the most pressing environmental problems are the loss of soil fertility, the acceleration of erosion, deforestation, a decrease in biodiversity, an increase in water scarcity, and a deterioration in the quality of water and air (Fig. 110).

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