Natural Resources of Africa

Natural resources of Africa

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Africa has a large quantity of natural resources including oil, diamonds, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum, but also woods and tropical fruits. It has lots of its natural resources undiscovered or barely tapped. Having a low human density, for a long period of time Africa has been colonized by more dynamic groups, exploiting African resources. Some economists have talked about the 'scurge of raw materials', large quantities of rare raw materials putting Africa under heavy pressures and tensions, leading to wars and slow development.

Contents[hide]
1 African agriculture
2 African Woods
3 African Animals
4 African Minerals
5 African Oil
6 Fresh Water
7 Ocean
8 See also
9 References
10 Sources

[edit] African agriculture
African agricultures have for long been western-oriented. Thus, focusing on cocoa, coffee, banana, orange, yams, pineapples, and many non-native fruits (non native as in Asia,Europe,America, Australia) etc.

[edit] African Woods
Exotic woods in Africa have been exploited for centuries, especially Ebene and many hardwoods. Both Congos are currently large wood exporters.

[edit] African Animals
Africa is made up of many different types of land, providing it access to many different types of animals. Some of these animals are the African elephant, the zebra, and the giraffe.also they have thirty-eight species of wild animals

[edit] African Minerals
Main article: Mineral industry of Africa
Africa, the 2nd largest continent, has large reserves of minerals, being the leading area for diamonds, cobalt, uranium, and many other rare minerals.

[edit] African Oil
African oil takes growing importance, mainly after the 2003 oil crisis and recent oil reserves discoveries. Sudan and Nigeria are two of the main oil producers. China owns 40% of Sudanese ones. Oil is both provided by continental and offshore productions.
Five countries dominate Africa's upstream oil production. Together they account for 85% of the continent's oil production and are, in order of decreasing output, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola. Other oil producing countries are Gabon, Congo, Cameroon, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cote d'Ivoire. Exploration is taking place in a number of other countries that aim to increase their output or become first time producers. Included in this list are Chad, Sudan, Namibia, South Africa and Madagascar while Mozambique and Tanzania are potential gas producers.[1]

[edit] Fresh Water
Africa contains many of lakes and rivers, allowing in some small fishing industry. The deep rivers of Africa have significant hydroelectric value. Lake Victoria is Africa's biggest lake. Lake Volta in Ghana is the world's largest artificial lake.

[edit] Ocean
Atlantic and Indian allow some further production, from fishing, to mining and offshore oil productions. Its coastlines are teeming with fish and other seafood.

[edit] See also
Economy of Africa
Mineral industry of Africa
[edit] References
^ http://www.mbendi.com/indy/oilg/af/p0005.htm
[edit] Sources
Google scholar: African natural resources
Google scholar: African oil
Google scholar: African wood
[1]

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This page was last modified on 22 May 2010 at 21:17.