AFRICA

Thu. Apr 17th, 2025

AFRICA

For Africa

THE CONTINENT

Africa, which has a surface area of approximately 30.370.000 km², equal to 20% of the emerged lands, vaguely resembles an enormous trapezium to the north, overlying a triangle to the south. Its shape is squat, its outlines are devoid of articulations and the two approximate geometric figures it resembles are almost sharply divided by the Equator. Two-thirds of Africa's surface is located in the northern hemisphere and only one-third in the southern hemisphere, but the majority, however, is located within the two tropics. The Isthmus of Suez connects Africa with Asia, but an equally effective connecting element with the other parts of the ancient continent is the Mediterranean, the cradle of primitive civilizations, which always had an outlet on the northern coast of a land whose geological constitution is based on very crystalline and metamorphic rocks.

A HIGH AND WARM LAND

Africa is characterized by immense plateaus, in a typical pattern that is repeated, with the exception of the Atlas mountains and the Capes of South Africa, even at the tops of the mountains. Its current shape is explained by large sinkhole phenomena that have progressively isolated it from the rest of the world, with an average altitude of about 750 m. and the only plains that extend only along some coastal strips. The only large island is Madagascar, while smaller islands are Socotra, the Comoros, the Seychelles, the Mascarene Islands, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, the islands of Ascension and Saint Helena. With its large tropical deserts, such as the Sahara, the African continent has a singular symmetry of climatic conditions and an average annual temperature above 20 degrees.

AFRICA LOCATION

For Africa

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Category: AFRICA

For Africa