Travel guide to Africa, useful information about the territory, climate, hydrography, flora and fauna of the continent that occupies a fifth of the land.
Africa in short
- Number of component states: 65
- Area in square kilometers: 30.312.506
- Population: 854,967,000 (first half 2003)
Geography and territory
Africa spans over 30 million km. squares, the equivalent of a fifth of the land. It has a compact shape, with the massive northern part facing west and the southern part shaped like a triangle with the tip facing south.
Its coasts are almost always low and flat in the north and poorly articulated and high in the south. Some islands that are part of Africa are: in the Indian ocean, Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Socotra. In the Atlantic Ocean: Cape Verde, Bioko, Sao Tomé, Sant’Elena, the Canary Islands, Ascension, Madeira.
The continent is joined to Euroasia by the Isthmus of Suez (cut by the homonymous canal), to the north has the Mediterranean Sea, to the east the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, to the west the Atlantic Ocean.
Climate
Africa is cut in half by the equator and extends for approx. 4/5 in the tropics area. In the equatorial zone, temperatures are high, with low seasonal temperature fluctuations and abundant rainfall all year round.
To the north and south of this belt there are two areas with a tropical climate, with high temperatures and more sensitive annual temperature ranges and with periods of rain alternating with one or two dry periods.
The regions of the Sahara, Kalahari, and Namibia have a desert climate with very high temperatures in the summer season, strong annual and diurnal temperature variations, very little or non-existent rainfall. Instead in the extreme northern and southern regions the climate is Mediterranean, with mild winters and summers with temperatures not excessively high. The rains are summer in the Cape region and winter in the north.
Hydrography
The African continent is home to large watersheds without runoff to the sea, such as the lakes of Chad and Ngami. Most of the lakes occupy the bottom of some sections of the tectonic pits (Alberto, Turkana, Kivu, Edoardo, Tanganica, Niassa). Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and one of the largest in the world.
Much of the East African waters flow into the Nile River which flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Equatorial waters flow into the Congo or Zaire river which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The Zambezi and Limpopo rivers bring the waters of central and southern Africa to the Indian Ocean.
The Niger River that flows into the Atlantic Ocean brings the waters of Central West Africa, while the Orange River pours the waters of the southern regions into the Atlantic Ocean. The Sahara and Kalahari areas do not have waterways.
Flora
In the extreme northern regions where the climate is Mediterranean, wheat, rice, legumes, cotton, coffee, tobacco are grown and there are plants such as pine and oaks. In the oases of the desert areas, date palms grow, crops of cereals and vegetables.
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Subtropical areas with grassy steppes and savannas welcome gigantic trees such as the baobab, the sycamore, the bread tree. Tunnel forests cover the great streams.
In the equatorial area there are the impenetrable rain forests with precious woods such as teak, rosewood, mahogany, ebony. Sugar cane, banana, and rubber are crops from tropical areas.
Fauna
In the deserts there are camels and dromedaries. In temperate areas, in addition to the animals of the Mediterranean areas, there are crocodiles, hyenas, jackals, herons, vultures. Gazelles, antelopes, elephants, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, lions, leopards live in the steppes and savannas.
In the forests there are various species of monkeys, an infinity of insects, reptiles and birds.
