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Drought,
nomads and the price of peanuts
Task
1
Look
at the satellite images in Figures 1 and 2 below.
What do they show? Using an atlas to help you, try
to identify the different areas, marked by different
colours, and locate them within Mali's transport,
river and population distribution. Indicate any parts
of the image which puzzle you. For instance can you
locate the Senegal River and Timbuktu on the satellite
images?
Task
2
Compare
the satellite images of the Timbuktu region in 1976
(Figure 1) and 1986 (Figure 2).
- What
has changed?
- What
would you need to know before you could account
for these changes?
Use
an atlas for data on rainfall and climate. There is
also some supporting
information
below about drought, the Sahel and Mali.
Click
here to go to Task 3
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Figure
1: Satellite image of Timbuktu, 1976
Source:
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Smithsonian
Institute, US. |
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Figure
2: Satellite image of Timbuktu, 1986
Source:
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Smithsonian
Institute, US. |
| Figure
3 |
Some reasons for drought:
- badly
thought-out development
- poor,
often corrupt administrators.
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| Figure
4 |
"We are the Fulani, an ethnic group of about
nine million in West Africa. We conquered our
present land by ‘jihad’ or Muslim holy
war, during the 19th century. We herd most of
the cattle here in the Sahel – most of the
sheep and goats too. About a third of us are now
also farmers for some of the time, growing millet
and corn. It goes well with our meat and dairy
food diet. About a hundred thousand of us are
traditional true nomads, following our herds in
search of grazing and living entirely from them."
Fulani farmer |
| Figure
5 |
Facts about Timbuktu and the Sahel:
- Sahel
means ‘border of the desert’
- Drought
occurred in 1910-1916; 1941-1945; 1973–1974;
and 1984–1985 approximately
- The
Sahel’s problems were one of the world’s
first recognised ‘environmental emergencies’
- Timbuktu
– a seat of the Songhai empire and one
of the world’s leading universities at
the Sankore Mosque in the 16th century
- The
Niger and Senegal rivers are the main transport
of the region.
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| Figure
6 |
Mali
For
the first half of the 20th century, Mali was
a French colony called French Sudan. It gained
its independence and changed its name in 1960.
The Sahara sweeps across the northern half of
the country; only those southern areas bordering
the Niger and Senegal rivers can support agriculture.
Infighting has destabilized the government in
recent years.
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Click
here to go to Task 3
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