This is perhaps the most mysterious of the great contrasts that the science of geography studies with interest. Africa is the planet and the highest. Many tribes and nationalities live on its territory, each of which speaks its own language.
This article will focus specifically on Africa, its nature and population.
Africa: coordinates of extreme points
It is the second largest continent on our planet. It covers an area of 30 million square kilometers. Africa is connected to Eurasia by the narrow Isthmus of Suez.
8 thousand kilometers - it is at this distance that the mainland of Africa stretches from north to south. The coordinates of the extreme points of the continent are as follows:
- North - Cape Ras-Engela (37.21 degrees north latitude).
- South - Cape Agulhas (34.51 degrees south latitude).
7.5 thousand kilometers - the distance between the western and eastern outskirts of a continent such as Africa. The coordinates of the extreme points of the continent are as follows:
- Western - Cape Almadi (17.33 degrees west longitude).
- Eastern - Cape Ras Gafun (51.16 degrees east longitude).
The length of the coastline of the mainland is 26 thousand kilometers. This is very small for a continent of this size. The reason is that the coastline of Africa is very poorly indented.
It should also be noted that the extreme points of Africa have other names. So, Cape Agulhas is sometimes called Cape Agulhas. And Cape Ras Engela is sometimes called Cape Blanco. Therefore, these toponyms can also be found in the scientific literature.
Unique. The fact is that the equator crosses this mainland almost in the middle. This fact leads to two important consequences:
- First, the continent receives a large amount of solar radiation, as it is located between two tropics.
- Secondly, in terms of natural features, South Africa is symmetrically (mirror) similar to North Africa.
Geography: Africa - the highest continent of the planet
Africa is often referred to as the high continent because it is dominated by high landforms. These geomorphologists include plateaus, highlands and plateaus, as well as remnant mountains. Interestingly, these landforms seem to border the mainland, while the plains are located in its central part. In other words, Africa can be imagined as a not very deep saucer.
The highest point on the continent is Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 meters). It is located in Tanzania, and many tourists have an irresistible desire to conquer this peak. But the lowest point is located in the small country of Djibouti. This is Lake Assal with an absolute height of 157 meters (but with a minus sign).
Mineral resources of Africa
In Africa, deposits of almost all mineral resources known to man have been explored. South Africa is especially rich in various minerals (these are diamonds, coal, nickel and copper ores). As a rule, foreign companies are engaged in the development of deposits.
The bowels of Africa are rich in iron ores. Many smelters in Europe and North America operate on ore mined here.
Known for its numerous oil and natural gas deposits. The countries in which they are located are very lucky - they live quite well. First of all, we note Tunisia and Algeria.
Climate and inland waters
The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows through Africa. Other major mainland rivers are the Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange. Deep lakes formed in tectonic faults - Nyasa, Tanganyika and others. In a state called Chad is the largest salt lake of the continent with the same name.
Africa, as mentioned above, is the hottest continent on planet Earth. Due to its location, the surface of the continent receives a lot of solar energy and is very hot.
In Central Africa, as well as on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, a large amount of precipitation falls. In the territories to the south and north, climatic seasons are already clearly visible - dry winter and rainy season in summer. Farther north and south, there is very little precipitation, which leads to the formation of deserts. Africa is home to the largest desert on the planet, the Sahara.
The population of the "black" continent
Africa is indeed dominated by the black population. Moreover, the conditional border that separates the Negroid and the Sahara desert is.
Almost one billion people live in Africa today. At the same time, the population of the continent is growing at a rapid pace. According to scientists, by 2050, about 2 billion people will live here.
If you carefully consider the political map of Africa, you will notice one interesting detail. The fact is that the borders between many states are drawn in straight lines. This is a kind of legacy of the colonial past of Africa. Such careless drawing of borders (without taking into account the ethnic characteristics of the regions) today leads to many conflicts between tribes and nationalities.
The average population density in Africa is 30 people per square kilometer. The level of urbanization here is also low and amounts to only 30%. However, there are enough large million-plus cities. The largest of them are Cairo and Lagos.
Africa speaks a thousand languages! Indigenous (purely African) are Swahili, Fula and Congo. In many countries of the continent, the following languages have official status: English, Portuguese and French. If we talk about the religious preferences of the African population, then most of the inhabitants of the mainland profess Islam and Catholicism. Many Protestant churches are also widespread here.
Finally...
Africa is the hottest continent on the planet. The reason for this is the special geographical position of the continent.
Africa is as follows: the mainland is located between 37 degrees north latitude and 34 degrees south latitude. Thus, the equator divides Africa almost in half, due to which its surface receives a huge amount of solar radiation.
Now you know the main natural features of the African continent, the coordinates of the extreme points of its territory.
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Hello! The topic of today's post will be the mainland Africa, about which we will consider the most important and basic geographical facts.
The continent of Africa is the second largest after Eurasia (more about this continent). Its area is 29.2 million km 2 (with islands 30.3 million km 2), which is almost 1/5 of the entire globe.
Extreme points of the mainland: North point - Cape El Abyad, coordinates 37° 21" N, 9° 45" E;
South point - Cape Agulhas, 34° 51" S, 20° 00" E;
Western point - Cape Almadi, coordinates 14° 44" N, 17° 31" W;
East point - Cape Ras Hafun, 10° 25" N, 51° 21" E.
The length from the northern cape of El Abyad (Ras Engela) to the southern cape of Agulhas is almost 8000 km, the width between the western and eastern capes, respectively Almadi and Hafun, is 7500 km.
Africa is bordered to the south and east by the Indian Ocean, to the northeast by the Red Sea, to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
The shores of Africa are slightly cut: the largest peninsula is Somalia, the largest inflow is Guinea.
Geologically, the platform has a Precambrian crystalline base that is overlain by younger sedimentary rocks. (geochronological scale).
Folded mountains are located only in the south (Cape Mountains) and in the northwest (Atlas). The relief of Africa is dominated by high folded plains, plateaus and plateaus; in the interior - large tectonic depressions (Congo in Central Africa, Kalahari in South Africa, etc.).
Africa from the Zambezi River to the Red Sea is fragmented by the world's largest system of discharge depressions, partially occupied by lakes (Nyasa, Tanganyika and others).
Volcanoes Kenya, Kilimanjaro ( 5895 m, the highest point in Africa) and others are located along the edges of the depressions.
Minerals of world importance that are mined in Africa: uranium, gold (South Africa), diamonds (West and South Africa), ores of iron, aluminum (West Africa), cobalt, lithium, beryl, copper (mainly in South Africa), natural gas, oil, phosphorites (West and South Africa ).
Summer average monthly temperatures are around 25-30°C. In winter, high positive temperatures (10-25°C) also prevail, but in the mountains there are temperatures below 0°C, and snow falls annually in the Atlas Mountains.
In the equatorial zone, the largest amount of precipitation per year (on average 1500-2000 mm), and on the coast of the Guinean inflow (up to 3000-4000 mm.). To the south and east of the equator, precipitation decreases (in deserts 100 mm or less).
The main flow is directed to the Atlantic Ocean: the rivers Nile (which is the largest in Africa), Niger, Congo (Zaire), Gambia, Senegal, Orange. The big river of the Indian Ocean basin is the Zambezi.
About 1/3 of Africa is an area of internal runoff, mainly temporary streams. The largest lakes in Africa: Tanganyika, Victoria, Nyasa (Malawi).
The main African types of vegetation: deserts (the largest is the Sahara) and savannas, which occupy about 80% of Africa's area.
The coastal regions of the subequatorial zone and the equatorial zone are characterized by moist equatorial evergreen forests.
To the south and north of them - sparse tropical forests that turn into shrouds, and then into desert shrouds.
In tropical Africa (mainly in reserves and), rhinos, elephants, zebras, hippos, cheetahs, antelopes, lions, leopards, etc. are found.
Small predators, numerous monkeys, rodents; in dry areas a large number of reptiles.
A huge number of birds, including flamingos, ibis, ostriches. A tsetse fly, termites, locusts, bring great harm to the economy of Africa.
African countries: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, most of Egypt, Congo (Zaire), Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Cat -d'Ivoire, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Central African Republic of, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Republic of South Africa (South Africa), as well as the territories of Western Sahara, Ceuta and Melilla.
On the islands belonging to Africa, there are such countries: Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, and Reunion, Saint Helena.
More than 700 million people, or about 15%, live in African countries. Africa is inhabited by hundreds of large and small nations (). 107 of which have more than 1 million people each, which is 86.2% of the total population.
Representatives of nomadic tribes and nationalities migrate across the territories of other countries. In the north of the continent, the largest of the African ethnic groups are Arabs (Moroccan, Algerian, Egyptian). In South and Central Africa - Bantu, in Tropical Africa - Hausa, Yoruba, as well as Oromo, Amhara.
For example, the Bantu includes more than 40 peoples, and each of them has more than 1 million people. There are also many immigrants from Asian and European countries in African countries.
In South Africa, immigrants, especially the majority - more than 5 million people (Italians, French, Afrikaners, or Boers).
More than half of the continent's population lives in rural areas. They are engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture. The largest part of the urban population (more than 50%) is concentrated in Djibouti, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mauritius, Reunion.
Many residents in rapidly growing cities are employed in the service sector (service, trade). Most of them are government employees.
The African continent continues to have a high level of unemployment. A large number of citizens live thanks to casual earnings.
Inhabitants of mainland Africa profess different religions. In northern Africa, the Arabs mainly practice Sunni Islam. Christianity and Islam, as well as local traditional beliefs, are common in Tropical Africa. South Africa is dominated by the Christian religion (Protestantism and Catholicism), and there are also followers of Hinduism and other religions.
Thus, we found out that the mainland of Africa is very rich in various minerals, beautiful and rare animals and birds, and many different peoples live here with their own customs and cultures.
They are pretty easy to define. To do this, firstly, you need to name them all, and then, having decided in which part of the continent they are located, name the exact coordinates.
North Africa
This part of the continent is best known both to Europeans and to other civilizations of the Mediterranean region, such as the Phoenicians. Actually, the term Africa itself was coined by the inhabitants of Carthage, one of the Phoenician colonies. The Carthaginians called this word the indigenous population living in the territory adjacent to their city.
It is worth starting to determine the extreme points of Africa and their coordinates from the northern point, which is located on Cape Blanco, also known as Ben Secca, which is located on the territory of the Bizerte vilayet in Tunisia. These lands were mastered by the Phoenicians in the 1st century BC. Cape coordinates are indicated as follows: 37°20′49″ s. sh. 9°45′20″ in. d.
West Africa
When completing the task of determining the extreme points of Africa and their coordinates, it is also worth paying attention to the geographical region in which they are located. The extreme western point of the continent is located on the territory of the Cap-Vere peninsula, also called the Green Cape. However, the coordinates of the point known as Almadi are 14°44′27″ N. sh. 17°31′48″ W d.
It is also interesting that on the territory of the peninsula, the tip of which is Cape Almadi, the capital of the state of Senegal is located - the city of Dakar, whose population reaches two and a half million people.
East Africa
At the opposite end of the continent, seven and a half thousand kilometers away, is the easternmost extreme point of Africa - Cape Ras Hafun, located on the territory of Somalia, which has been engulfed in civil war for many years and has practically ceased to exist as a single state.
Determining the extreme points of Africa and their coordinates is also important because it helps to learn about the geographical and historical conditions in which this or that territory exists.
Great contrasts, which are studied with interest by the science of geography. Africa is the hottest continent on the planet and the highest. Many tribes and nationalities live on its territory, each of which speaks its own language.
This article will focus specifically on Africa, its nature and population.
Africa: coordinates of extreme points
It's on our planet. It covers an area of 30 million square kilometers. Africa is connected to Eurasia by the narrow Isthmus of Suez.
8 thousand kilometers - it is at this distance that the mainland of Africa stretches from north to south. The coordinates of the extreme points of the continent are as follows:
- North - Cape Ras-Engela (37.21 degrees north latitude).
- South - (34.51 degrees south latitude).
7.5 thousand kilometers - the distance between the western and eastern outskirts of a continent such as Africa. The coordinates of the extreme points of the continent are as follows:
- Western - Cape Almadi (17.33 degrees west longitude).
- Eastern - Cape Ras Gafun (51.16 degrees east longitude).
The length of the coastline of the mainland is 26 thousand kilometers. This is very small for a continent of this size. The reason is that the coastline of Africa is very poorly indented.
It should also be noted that the extreme points of Africa have other names. So, Cape Agulhas is sometimes called Cape Agulhas. And Cape Ras Engela is sometimes called Cape Blanco. Therefore, these toponyms can also be found in the scientific literature.
Unique. The fact is that the equator crosses this mainland almost in the middle. This fact leads to two important consequences:
- First, the continent receives a large amount of solar radiation, as it is located between two tropics.
- Secondly, in terms of natural features, South Africa is symmetrically (mirror) similar to North Africa.
Geography: Africa - the highest continent of the planet
Africa is often referred to as the high continent because it is dominated by high landforms. These geomorphologists include plateaus, highlands and plateaus, as well as remnant mountains. Interestingly, these landforms seem to border the mainland, while the plains are located in its central part. In other words, Africa can be imagined as a not very deep saucer.
The highest point on the continent is Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 meters). It is located in Tanzania, and many tourists have an irresistible desire to conquer this peak. But the lowest point is located in the small country of Djibouti. This is with an absolute height of 157 meters (but with a minus sign).
Mineral resources of Africa
In Africa, deposits of almost all mineral resources known to man have been explored. South Africa is especially rich in various minerals (these are diamonds, coal, nickel and copper ores). As a rule, foreign companies are engaged in the development of deposits.
The bowels of Africa are rich in iron ores. Many smelters in Europe and North America operate on ore mined here.
North Africa is known for its numerous oil and natural gas deposits. The countries in which they are located are very lucky - they live quite well. First of all, we note Tunisia and Algeria.
Climate and inland waters
The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows through Africa. Other major mainland rivers are the Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange. In the tectonic faults of East Africa, deep lakes formed - Nyasa, Tanganyika and others. In a state called Chad is the largest salt lake of the continent with the same name.
Africa, as mentioned above, is the hottest continent on planet Earth. Due to its location, the surface of the continent receives a lot of solar energy and is very hot.
In Central Africa, as well as on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, a large amount of precipitation falls. In the territories to the south and north, climatic seasons are already clearly visible - dry winter and rainy season in summer. Farther north and south, there is very little precipitation, which leads to the formation of deserts. Africa is home to the largest desert on the planet, the Sahara.
The population of the "black" continent
Africa is indeed dominated by the black population. Moreover, the conditional border that separates the Negroid and the Sahara desert is.
Almost one billion people live in Africa today. At the same time, the population of the continent is growing at a rapid pace. According to scientists, by 2050, about 2 billion people will live here.
If you carefully consider the political map of Africa, you will notice one interesting detail. The fact is that the borders between many states are drawn in straight lines. This is a kind of legacy of the colonial past of Africa. Such careless drawing of borders (without taking into account the ethnic characteristics of the regions) today leads to many conflicts between tribes and nationalities.
The average population density in Africa is 30 people per square kilometer. The level of urbanization here is also low and amounts to only 30%. However, there are enough large million-plus cities. The largest of them are Cairo and Lagos.
Africa speaks a thousand languages! Indigenous (purely African) are Swahili, Fula and Congo. In many countries of the continent, the following languages have official status: English, Portuguese and French. If we talk about the religious preferences of the African population, then most of the inhabitants of the mainland profess Islam and Catholicism. Many Protestant churches are also widespread here.
Finally...
Africa is the hottest continent on the planet. The reason for this is the special geographical position of the continent.
Africa is as follows: the mainland is located between 37 degrees north latitude and 34 degrees south latitude. Thus, the equator divides Africa almost in half, due to which its surface receives a huge amount of solar radiation.
Now you know the main natural features of the African continent, the coordinates of the extreme points of its territory.
