Geographical objects located in Africa. Geography of Africa

  • 09.04.2020

Africa - the second largest mainland, is located in all four hemispheres. Africa Square - 30 million km2.

Extreme points of Africa:

  • north: Cape Ras Engel (38 ° S.Sh., 10 ° V.D.);
  • south: Cape needle (35 ° Yu.Sh., 20 ° V.D.);
  • western: Cape Almadi 1 (5 ° S.Sh., 17 ° C);
  • east: Cape Rasha Hafun (11 ° S.Sh., 51 ° V.D.).

From the West Africa is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, from the East - Indian, from the north - waters, from the northeast - red. Previously, it was connected with a 120 km wide width, now a Suez canal passes through it. From the mainland is separated by the Gibraltar Strait.

The coast of Africa is relatively weakly cut, there is a large Guinean bay in the West and Adensky - in the East, a large peninsula - ps. B is: Madeira, Green Cape, etc. In the east of the mainland there large Island - except for him in the accumulations of small islands - Comoros, etc.

The specificity of the relief of Africa lies in a large number of plains and a flatbed. Most of the north of the mainland occupies with Highlands Ahaggar and Tibst. Noticeable mountain ranges Two: Atlas Mountains In the north and caps - in the south. In the east of Africa there is a large East African plateau. Such a structure of the relief is explained by the fact that most of the mainland is located on a single ancient African-Arabian platform, separated in antiquity from the general continent - Gondwana. The Northern and Southern Mountain Ridges are formed in the collision area of \u200b\u200bthis platform with other large plates.

Lakes in Africa are quite large, formed in breed faults and therefore very narrow, long and deep: (maximum depth - 1400 m), (700 m). The lake, on the contrary, petty, feeds mainly due to precipitation, in the arid periods of its area is greatly reduced.

Since most of the mainland is in tropical, subequatorial and belts, it is warm here. Summer and winter the average monthly temperatures They differ insignificantly, the seasons differ in the number of drop-down precipitation: for the summer it falls the rainy season, while drought comes in winter. There are tropical forests - swimming pool, east Coast Africa, where up to 3000 mm falls. precipitation. There are arid areas - savanna, desert.

Natural areas of Africa are expressed quite clearly and are arranged accordingly. At the equator and in the Congo, a zone of wet equatorial forests was formed. Here there is a huge variety of trees and shrubs, a tirelessness is well expressed. Form red. In the forests live monkeys, small ungulates, many birds.

Equatorial forests immediately go to Savannah - special view with encountered single trees. This natural zone In Africa, there is an extensive space. There are many herbs, from trees there are acacias, Baobabs. The soil is formed red-brown. Many large empty animals (giraffes, buffaloes, antelopes, zebras, rhinos), there are predators (lions, cheetahs, hyena).

No less large natural zone - tropical deserts, represented by two large deserts: Namib in the south and sugar in the north. Sugar desert is a huge desert located in the northern part of the mainland. Dry Passats, prevailing here, raise sand particles, so for the desert there are no rarity storms, literally paralyzing all living things. Even in the shade rises to + 50 ° C, the sand heats up to + 70 ° C. At night, the temperature drops sharply, it can descend to 0 ° C. In this regard, survival is very difficult, people live exclusively in oases arising due to the proximity of groundwater. Most animals lead a nightlife, afternoon afternoon in Norah.

The zone of subtropical tested evergreen forests stretched out two narrow stripes on the northern and southern coast Mainland. Here are growing beech, oaks, citrus fruits, many coniferous plants and shrubs. Animals are mostly small: foxes, small deer, boys.

In the XIX-XX centuries, Europeans actively destroyed unique nature Africa, cutting valuable forests, exterminating animals. Many species died themselves due to the destruction of their natural habitat. This led to the fact that the territories occupied by forests are sharply reduced, but the desert areas, on the contrary, are increasing. To preserve and increasing the populations of wild animals, many of them have acquired world fame - Kruger, Serengeti.

Mainland Africa is the second largest on the planet after Eurasia. It takes more than twenty percent of all sushi and almost completely located in a hemisphere in the south.

Mainland is washed by several oceans: Atlantic and Indian. The territory is divided between fifth five countries.

African countries and their capital

Africa countries are commonly divided into five groups. The list is as follows:

From the point of view of economic indicators, the most developed and rich is located in the south of the mainland of South Africa. At the same time, the inhabitants of many states, in particular the central part of the mainland, are below the poverty line, in particular the CAR, DRC, Burundi are the poorest countries in Africa.

The largest in the territory of the state is Algeria, and Little Mayotte. The most numerous is Nigeria, and the lowest population in the islands - Seychelles.

His sovereignty African states found in the middle of the twentieth century. Most modern names appeared at the same time.

For example, until 1985, Côte d'Ivoire was called the ivory shore, and Djibouti had official status and name in the form of the French territory of Afarov and Issa. Such changes touched almost half of the territorial units of the mainland.

Characteristic Africa

The area is twenty nine millions of square meters. km. Prevalence from the north down - eight thousand kilometers, and from the West to the left - seven and a half.

Physical map of Africa (press to enlarge)

There are several options for the origin of the name. The most common of them:

  1. Afri - people who lived next to Carthage later, the Romans became so called the whole area, and then the continent of Africa.
  2. From Latin Aprica - Sunny.
  3. From Greek AFRKN - without cold.

Note: Africa is considered to consider the pranodina of a person reasonable, it was there that the remains of the oldest ancestors were found, in particular the hominid and the Sachelanpov.

The continent has long been attracted by Europeans, as the opening history has shown, an active study began with the fifteenth century, when Vasco da Gama across the way to India ran into Africa.

From the end of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth centuries, the mainland was divided among the great powers:

  • north - part of the Ottoman Empire;
  • south - Spain, Portugal and other colonialists.

After World War II, the map has changed, as a wave of independence began. Today there are several territories on African mainland under the control of Europeans, in particular Canary Islands, Madeira, Chagos Archipelago.

Extreme points of Africa

About what point is the most northern, the most southern, what the easternmost, and where is the most western one - it tells well the following image:

Population

More than one billion people live on the mainland today. Along with this, there is the greatest increase in the number and life expectancy. Demographic estimates predict the increase in population by half over the next thirty years.

In Africa there are two main races:

  • nero-shaped - in the center;
  • coresoid - mainly in the north and in the South African Republic.

The most common nationality are Arabs. Population density is low compared to Europe and Asia. To date, inter-ethnic conflicts continue.

Its useful to note: The level of urbanization in countries is low, but its pace is the highest in the world.

As for religion, the world's leading, but presented all other religious flows is mainly distributed. Traditional beliefs are still distributed in the central part.

Climatic belts

Africa is considered the warmest mainland, here is the warmer place - Dallol. The whole territory is distributed in warm climatic belts.

The main of them and their characteristics:

  1. Equatorial - strong rains and actually no change of season, here is a permanent summer.
  2. Subscance - two main season, rainy summer, winter is characterized by dry trade winds.
  3. Tropical - there is almost no precipitation, the deserts are common.

Minerals

Africa is rich in minerals that have a high price.

In particular, the main one includes:

  • gold;
  • oil.

The north coast is also rich in manganese, iron ores and phosphorites.

Flora and fauna

The organic world of Africa is characterized by exceptional diversity.

In tropical areas there are a variety of large animals, in particular, rhinos, elephants, lions, zebras, monkeys and others.

Large birds live on the continent, as Flamingo, Ibis.

In the north, the lizards and snakes are mostly inhabited, which adapted to the climate of the Sahara. The south of the mainland is a "big five": buffalo, lion, leopard, elephant and rhino.

The climatic conditions of North Africa contributed to the adaptation of many plant species. In the south, there are more than two and a half thousand flowering - it is almost ten percent of world wealth.

Geographical objects

Atlas Mountains

The main objects of the geography of Africa include:

  • Atlas Mountains;
  • Congo pools (lower point) and Nile;
  • Rift Valley;
  • Ethiopian and Ahaggar Nagorna;
  • desert - Calahari, Namib and sugar.

In addition to the oceans, the mainland is washed by one sea - the Red and Suez Canal.

Rivers and seas

One of the most extended rivers in the world is located in Africa.

The length of Nile is almost seven thousand kilometers.

To the number of others large rivers relate:

  • Niger;
  • Congo;
  • Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange.

Africa is rich I. large lakes: Victoria, Nyasa, Tanganyik and Chad. The latter is the largest salt reservoir, which is inside the mainland.

Plains

Plains in Africa are represented by plateales (East African) and pita (Chad, Congo, Calahari).

The plateaus is high plains, along with them, low.

Mountains Africa

Mostly Africa is a mainland on the plains, it has enough mountains:

  • Athamkogo - in the north;
  • Ahagar and Tibest - on the territory of the Sahara desert;
  • Effiopic Highlands - in the East;
  • Caps and dragons - in the south.

The highest point is Kilimanjaro Volcano, his height is five thousand nine hundred meters.

In conclusion, I would like to focus on the concepts of "Mainland" and "Continent". On the ground there are only six continents, they are all well known. But the continents are only four.

"Continent" translated from Latin means "continuous". Since Eurasia and Africa are connected together by the Suez Canal, they are not separated from each other, because they are not separately continents.

Africa is a unique mainland that combines the variety of plant and animal world. Most of States are at the stage of economically developing countries, it is partly due to the prolonged colonization of the region.

The second continent in size on the planet Earth is the mainland of Africa. The first in size is the mainland of Eurasia. There is still a part of the world, which is also called Africa. In this article will be considered Africa as the mainland of the planet.

In its area, the size of Africa is 29.2 million km2 (with the islands - 30.3 million km2), which is about 20% of the entire surface of the planet's sushi. Mainland Africa is washed Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast, west Coast washed by the Atlantic Ocean, in the south and east, the continent is washes by the Indian Ocean, and the northeast coast is washes the Red Sea. In Africa, there are 62 states, of which 54 independent states, and the population of all the mainland is about 1 billion people. Turning on the link you can see full list African countries in the table.

The size of Africa from north to south is 8000 kilometers, and if you look from the east to west, then approximately 7,500 kilometers.

Extreme points on the mainland of Africa:

1) The easternmost point of the mainland is Cape Rasha Hafun, which is located in the territory of Somalia.

2) The northernmost point of this mainland is Cape Blanco, which is located in the Tunisia Republic.

3) The most western point of the continent is Cape Almadi, which is located on the territory of the Republic of Senegal.

4) and finally the most southern Point The mainland of Africa is a needle cape, which is located on the territory of the South Africa Republic (South Africa).

Relief Africa

Most of the mainland make up the plains. The following relief forms are dominated: Highlands, plateaus, stepped plains and plateau. Conventionally divide the mainland on High Africa (where the heights of the mainland reach the size of more than 1000 meters - southeast of the mainland) and low Africa (where the heights reach the size preferably less than 1000 meters - the north-western part).

SAMI high Point The mainland - Kilimanjaro volcano, which reaches a height of 5895 meters above sea level. Also in the south of the mainland there are dragons and capacities, in the east of Africa there are Ethiopian Highlands, and south of it is East African Plateau, in the north-west of the continent there are atlas mountains.

In the north of the mainland there is the largest desert on the planet - sugar, in the south there is a desert of Kalahari, and in the south-west mainland there is a desert Namib.

At the same time, the lowest point of the mainland is the bottom of the salt lake ASALAL, the depth of which reaches 157 meters below the sea level.

Climate Africa

The climate of Africa can be put in the first place from all the mainland heat. This is the hottest mainland, as it is completely in the roast climatic belts of the planet Earth and intersects the line of equator.

Central Africa is located in the equatorial belt. This belt is characterized by a large precipitation and there is no change in the seasons. South and norther from the equatorial belt are subequatorial belts, which are characterized in the summer season of the rains, and in the winter dry season at high air temperatures. If you follow on the south and north after the subequatorial belts, then the Northern and Southern Tropical Belt followed by respectively. Such belts are characterized by low precipitation at quite high air temperatures, which leads to the formation of the desert.

Inner waters of Africa

The inner waters of Africa in their structure are uneven, but at the same time extensive and extensive. On the mainland SAMIA long river - This is the Nile River (the length of its system reaches 6852 km), and the Congo River is considered the most fulfillment river (its system's length reaches 4374 km), which has become famous for the fact that the only equator crosses from all rivers twice.

There are on the mainland and the lake. Most. large lake Lake Victoria is considered. The area of \u200b\u200bthis lake is 68 thousand km2. The greatest depth reaches 80 m in this lake. The lake itself is the second in its area on the planet Earth from fresh lakes.

30% of the sushi of the continent of Africa make up the deserts in which the reservoirs may be temporary, that is, at times completely dispel. But usually underground water can be observed in such desert regions, which are in the artesian basins.

Vegetable and animal world of Africa

Mainland Africa has become famous for its diversity as vegetable worldand the animal. On the continent, wet tropical forests are growing, which are replaced by a parel and savannahs. In the subtropical belt you can meet mixed forests.

The most common plants in African forests are palm trees, Saibi, Rosyanka and many others. But in the savannas most often you can meet spiky shrubs and small trees. The desert is characterized by a small variety of plants growing in it. Most often it is herbs, shrubs or trees in oases. Many desert areas do not have vegetation at all. A special plant in the desert is considered a plant of Velvichia amazing, which can live more than 1000 years, it releases 2 sheets that grow throughout the life of the plant and can reach a length of 3 meters.

Diverse in Africa and animal world. In the areas of Savannah very quickly and well grows her grass, which attracts a lot of herbivorous animals (rodents, hares, gazelles, zebras, etc.), and respectively, predators that feed on herbivorous animals (leopards, lions and so on).

The desert at first glance may seem uninhabited, but in fact there lives a lot of reptiles, insects, birds that hunt mostly at night.

Africa became famous for animals as an elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, a wide variety of monkeys, zebras, leopards, branched cats, gazelles, crocodiles, parrots, antelopes, rhinos and much more. This mainland is amazing and unique.

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Recently, the ratings have become very popular. On the one hand, they look like somehow primitive, piaristo and subjective. And on the other, in my opinion, help structuring large amounts of information and squeeze a bunch of water and information noise. I also decided to wipe on the William of our Shakespeare.

It was, of course, to acknowledge the topic by catching heading type "10 places in Africa, which must be visited" or something like that. But I will not like to like top bloggers :)
Naturally, the concept of "interesting" hints on the subjectivity of the list: what is interesting to one may be absolutely not interested in another. Therefore, this is the most subjective, but the unbiased list of African interests :)

The reasons for which people go to Africa can be divided into 3 components - animals, people and nature. For me, this is an axiom, which has laid the list.


A unique place in Africa, and perhaps on the entire planet, where distinctive tribes are still preserved, minimally affected by civilization. Mursi, Surma, Erbore, Hamer ... Every tribe is peculiar to the text of life, traditions, ornaments of your own body. In the Valley of Omo, you seem to move on a car for many centuries, or even thousands of years, back to the primitive community system.
Of course, the neighborhood with the benefits of civilization influenced the tribes of this part of Ethiopia. It affects and continued here a considerable time of war. Many men instead of copies and bows wear Kalashnikov machines, for example. The local population has already managed to get used to the fact that tourists regularly bring them, and even learned to extract benefits from this. Do not hope that you will be able to picked up the exotic appearance of these proud sons of Africa. Each frame is taken into account and payment is inevitable :)

Perhaps the most promoted national Park Africa, icon tourist Industry Kenya, one of the best parks of the continent. About Masai Mara is often written in excellent degree and, it should be noted, quite deserved.
The park is a continuation of the Serengeti, only in Kenya.
Masai Mara is famous for his prides of Lviv, and in general this is one of best places In Africa to observe a big cat triple: Lions, leopards and cheetahs.

And, of course, do not forget about the Great Migration, passing in Masai Mara from July to October, when Millionna herds of the GNU arrive in the park from Tanzania. At this time, the most spectacular.
In general, we can say that none safari in Kenya Can't be considered a full-fledged without Masai Mara.

Kilimanjaro is the same symbol of Africa as a waterfall Victoria or Cape Good Hope, and despite the fact that the Mountain itself is located in Tanzania, the best and most picturesque view of it opens from national Reserve Amboseli (Kenya). That is why even many Tanzanian tourist sites and offline guidebooks are not bend to illustrate articles about Kilimanjaro photographs, removed in Amboseli.
Elephants and Kilimanjaro, Giraffes and Kilimanjaro, Masai and Kilimanjaro, African Acacia and Kilimanjaro ... If you want to replenish your portfolio with these plots, then you are in.
The park is good and by itself, here there is a big five, but it is Kilimanjaro who makes it special and unique.

Reserved zone Ngoronoro. Tanzania

The highest concentration of wild animals in the world in the natural environment of their habitat. This argument immediately gives odds and increases the attractiveness of the original Ngoronoro zone. Animals here are separated from the rest of the world with high slopes of crater ancient volcano. As one client said: "Where will they go on a submarine" :)
NGoronoro boasts a big five, and relatively small sizes and closed space make safari one of the most exciting in Africa.

National Park of Volcanoes. Rwanda

Enters the top three big waterfalls The world and that says it all.