Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Africa
, the second largest
continent
(after
Asia
), covering about one-fifth of the total land surface of
Earth
. The continent is bounded on the west by the
Atlantic Ocean
, on the north by the
Mediterranean Sea
, on the east by the
Red Sea
and the
Indian Ocean
, and on the south by the
mingling
waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Africa’s total land area is approximately 11,724,000 square miles (30,365,000 square km), and the continent measures about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from north to south and about 4,600 miles (7,400 km) from east to west. Its northern extremity is Al-Ghīrān Point, near Al-Abyaḍ Point (Cape Blanc), Tunisia; its southern extremity is
Cape Agulhas
, South Africa; its farthest point east is Xaafuun (Hafun) Point, near Cape Gwardafuy (Guardafui), Somalia; and its western extremity is Almadi Point (Pointe des Almadies), on
Cape Verde
(Cap Vert),
Senegal
. In the northeast, Africa was joined to Asia by the
Sinai Peninsula
until the construction of the
Suez Canal
. Paradoxically, the coastline of Africa—18,950 miles (30,500 km) in length—is shorter than that of
Europe
, because there are few inlets and few large bays or gulfs.
Off the coasts of Africa a number of islands are associated with the continent. Of these
Madagascar
, one of the largest islands in the world, is the most significant. Other, smaller islands include the
Seychelles
,
Socotra
, and other islands to the east; the
Comoros
,
Mauritius
,
Réunion
, and other islands to the southeast;
Ascension
,
St. Helena
, and
Tristan da Cunha
to the southwest;
Cape Verde
,
the Bijagós Islands
,
Bioko
, and
São Tomé and Príncipe
to the west; and the
Azores
and the
Madeira
and
Canary
islands to the northwest.
The continent is cut almost equally in two by the
Equator
, so that most of Africa lies within the tropical region, bounded on the north by the
Tropic of Cancer
and on the south by the
Tropic of Capricorn
. Because of the bulge formed by western Africa, the greater part of Africa’s territory lies north of the Equator. Africa is crossed from north to south by the
prime meridian
(0° longitude), which passes a short distance to the east of
Accra
,
Ghana
.
Geography of Africa Quiz
In antiquity the Greeks are said to have called the continent
Libya
and the Romans to have called it Africa, perhaps from the Latin
aprica
(“sunny”) or the Greek
aphrike
(“without cold”). The name Africa, however, was chiefly applied to the northern coast of the continent, which was, in effect, regarded as a southern extension of Europe. The Romans, who for a time ruled the North African coast, are also said to have called the area south of their settlements Afriga, or the Land of the Afrigs—the name of a Berber
community
south of
Carthage
.
The whole of Africa can be considered as a vast plateau rising steeply from narrow coastal strips and consisting of ancient crystalline rocks. The plateau’s surface is higher in the southeast and tilts downward toward the northeast. In general the plateau may be divided into a southeastern portion and a northwestern portion. The northwestern part, which includes the
Sahara
(desert) and that part of North Africa known as the
Maghrib
, has two mountainous regions—the
Atlas Mountains
in northwestern Africa, which are believed to be part of a system that extends into southern Europe, and the
Ahaggar
(Hoggar) Mountains in the Sahara. The southeastern part of the plateau includes the
Ethiopian Plateau
, the East African Plateau, and—in eastern
South Africa
, where the plateau edge falls downward in a scarp—the
Drakensberg
range. One of the most remarkable features in the geologic structure of Africa is the
East African Rift System
, which lies between 30° and 40° E. The rift itself begins northeast of the continent’s limits and extends southward from the Eritrean Red Sea coast to the
Zambezi River
basin.
Africa contains an enormous wealth of mineral resources, including some of the world’s largest reserves of
fossil
fuels, metallic ores, and gems and
precious
metals. This richness is matched by a great
diversity
of biological resources that includes the intensely lush equatorial rainforests of Central Africa and the world-famous populations of wildlife of the eastern and southern portions of the continent. Although agriculture (primarily subsistence) still dominates the economies of many African countries, the exploitation of these resources became the most significant economic activity in Africa in the 20th century.
Climatic and other factors have exerted considerable influence on the patterns of
human
settlement in Africa. While some areas appear to have been inhabited more or less continuously since the dawn of humanity, enormous regions—notably the
desert
areas of northern and southwestern Africa—have been largely unoccupied for prolonged periods of time. Thus, although Africa is the second largest continent, it contains only about 10 percent of the world’s population and can be said to be underpopulated. The greater part of the continent has long been
inhabited
by Black peoples, but in historic times there also have occurred major immigrations from both Asia and Europe. Of all foreign settlements in Africa, that of the Arabs has made the greatest impact. The Islamic religion, which the Arabs carried with them, spread from North Africa into many areas south of the Sahara, so that many western African peoples are now largely Islamized.
This article treats the physical and human geography of Africa, followed by discussion of geographic features of special interest. For discussion of individual countries of the continent,
see
such articles as
Egypt
,
Madagascar
, and
Sudan
. African regions are treated under the titles
Central Africa
,
eastern Africa
,
North Africa
,
Southern Africa
, and
western Africa
; these articles also contain the principal
treatment
of African historical and cultural development. For discussion of major cities of the continent,
see
such articles as
Alexandria
,
Cairo
,
Cape Town
,
Johannesburg
, and
Kinshasa
. Related topics are discussed in the articles
literature, African
;
literature, South African
;
architecture, African
;
art, African
;
dance, African
;
music, African
;
theatre, African
;
art and architecture, Egyptian
;
Islam
;
arts, Islamic
; and
Islamic world
.
Davidson S.H.W. Nicol
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica