Africa: overview and contemporary issues

Africa

The continent is one of the most geographically diverse and astounding areas of the earth. It is made up of close to 30,244,050 square km (Europe is 9,700,000 square km). The most northerly point of the continent is Morocco, and the most southerly in South Africa, the extreme west in Somalia, with the most easterly point 7,400 km away. Africa's coastline is 26,000 km in length. The mean elevation is 600 m, while area under 180m is relatively rare, and land over 3,000 m is also uncommon. As such, the continent is marked largely by elevated tablelands. Overall, Africa can be divided into four main divisions. The first is the coast plains, which do not range fare inward, and are often fringed by mangrove swamps. Second is the Atlas range, which is separated from the rest of Africa by the Sahara. The third main divisions are the high southern and eastern plateaus, with a mean elevation of close to 1000 m. The fourth are the north and west African plains, which are usually below 600 m and include the Sahara (Wikipedia).

Given its size, Africa is home to a number of prominent land masses, oceans, lakes and rivers, and major topographical features, including mountains, forests, grasslands, and deserts. Famously Mt. Elgon, Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro are part of the East African Plateau, while Mt. Camaroon is situated in the West, near the Ubangi-Shari Divide (Bediako Lamouse-Smith). The four lakes of Tanganyika (the longest freshwater lake in the world), Kivu, Lake Edward and Lake Albert are situated in the Central African trough. The Congo basin is one of the most well marked basins in the continent, and is bisected by the equator. The Sahara, famously the largest desert in the world, covers 9,000,000 square km, slightly less than that of Europe. It reaches from the Red Sea all the way to the Atlantic. The headwaters of both the Congo and the Nile are found in East Africa. West equatorial Africa is home to some of the continent's forests. Taken together, the diversity of the geographical features of Africa likely makes it one of the most geographically interesting areas of the world.