AFRICA ****** Africa is the second largest of the earth's seven continents, with nearby islands, covering about 30,330,000 sq km (11,699,000 sq mi), or about 22 per cent of the world's total land area. In the early 1990s about 12 per cent of the world's population, or some 627 million people, lived in Africa. Straddling the equator, Africa extends 8,050 km (4,970 mi) from its northernmost point, Cape Blanc in Tunisia, to its southernmost tip, Cape Agulhas in South Africa. The greatest width of the continent, measured from the tip of Cape Verde in Senegal, in the west, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, in the east, is about 7,560 km (4,700 mi). The highest point on the continent is the perpetually snowcapped Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m/19,340 ft) in Tanzania; the lowest is Lake Assal (153 m/502 ft below sea level) in Djibouti. Africa has a regular coastline characterized by few indentations. Its total length is only about 30,490 km (18,950 mi), and in proportion to its area is less than that of any other continent. The main islands associated with Africa, which have a combined area of some 621,600 sq km (240,000 sq mi), are Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pemba, Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles, and the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean; São Tomé , Príncipe, and Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea; St Helena, Ascension, and the Bijagós Islands in the Atlantic; and the Cape Verde Islands, the Canary Islands, and the Madeira Islands in the North Atlantic. Although considered geographically part of Africa, St Helena, Ascension, the Bijagós Islands, the Canary Islands, and the Madeira Islands have few, if any, economic, political, or cultural links with the continent. Their ties are rather with western Europe: St Helena, Ascension are dependencies of Great Britain; the Canary and Madeira islands are an integral part of metropolitan Spain and Portugal respectively. The Natural Environment ----------------------- The African continent incorporates a vast, rolling plateau; just 10 per cent of its land area lies at less than 500 ft above sea level, compared with 54 per cent of Europe and 25 per cent of North America. Only in the extreme south and north have great folded mountain ranges been built up. Elsewhere in the continent differences in elevation have been caused either by the faulting which produced the Rift Valley, or by the creation of the colossal river basins-notably those of the Congo, the Niger, the Nile, the Volta, and the Zambezi-which are a more prominent feature of the geography of Africa than that of any other continent. At its margins the plateau gives way, via steep escarpments, to the narrow coastal plain which surrounds the continent. All the great rivers of Africa, except the Niger-Benue and Zambezi-Shire systems, lunge in falls or rapids over the escarpments, making effective navigation inland from the sea impossible. Physiographic Regions --------------------- Africa may be divided into three major regions: the Northern Plateau, the Central and Southern Plateau, and the Eastern Highlands. In general, elevations increase across the continent from northwest to southeast, the average being about 560 m (1,900 ft). The coastal plain, with the exception of the Mediterranean and the Guinea coasts, are generally narrow. The striking feature of the Northern Plateau is the Sahara, the great desert that occupies more than one-quarter of Africa. At the fringes of the Northern Plateau are several mountainous regions. To the northwest lie the Atlas Mountains, a chain of rugged peaks linked by high plateaus, extending from Morocco into Tunisia. Other prominent uplands are the Futa Jallon, in the southwest, and the Adamawa Massif and the Cameroon mountain range, in the south. The Lake Chad basin is situated in the approximate centre of the Northern Plateau. The Central and Southern Plateau is somewhat higher than the Northern Plateau, averaging more than 900 m (3,000 ft) in height. It includes west-central and southern Africa, and contains several major depressions, notably the Congo River basin and the Kalahari Desert. South of this plateau are the folded chain of the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, which run some 1,100 km (700 mi) along the southeastern coast of the continent. In the extreme south is the Karroo, an arid plateau covering about 259,000 sq km (100,000 sq mi). The Eastern Highlands, the highest part of the continent, lie near the eastern coast, extending from the Red Sea south to the Zambezi along the fault line of the Rift Valley. The region has an average elevation of more than 1,500 m (5,000 ft), although in the Ethiopian Plateau it rises in stages to about 3,000 m (10,000 ft). Ras Dashan (4,620 m/15,157 ft) in northern Ethiopia is the highest point of the plateau. South of the Ethiopian Plateau are a number of towering volcanic peaks, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and Mount Elgon. The most distinctive feature of the Eastern Highlands is the Rift Valley, the vast geologic fault system which begins in Anatolia, in eastern Turkey, stretches through the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, and then follows down the length of the Red Sea to Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolph). At the southern end of Lake Turkana, the rift divides around Lake Victoria, but joins again at the head of Lake Nyasa, from where it runs down the Shire and Zambezi rivers, and finally out to sea. Altogether the Rift Valley extends around almost one-fifth of the earth, and contains some of its deepest lakes. West of the Rift Valley is the Ruwenzori Range, which rises up to 5,119 m (16,795 ft) above sea level. The topography of the island of Madagascar features a rugged central highland extending in a generally northern-southern direction near the eastern coast. Except for a few incursions from the sea, Africa has been a land area since Precambrian times. Its soils have therefore developed locally, chiefly by weathering. A few areas have alluvial soils laid down by rivers or ocean currents. African soils, for the most part, have irregular drainage and no definite water tables. Being typical tropical soils, most are relatively infertile, lacking humus and subject to mineral leaching from heavy rainfall and high temperatures. Desert soils (aridisols and entisols), which have the least organic content, cover large areas. The most fertile soils include the mollisols, also known as chernozems and black soils, of eastern Africa, and the alfisols, or podzolic soils, of parts of western and southern Africa. Climate ------- The climate of Africa is the most generally uniform of any of the continents. This results from the position of the continent in the Tropical Zone, the impact of cool ocean currents, and the general absence within the continental plateau of mountain chains serving as climatic barriers. Seven main African climatic zones can be distinguished. The central portion of the continent and the eastern coast of Madagascar have a tropical rain forest climate. Here the average annual temperature is about 26.7° C (80° F), and the average annual rainfall is about 1,780 mm (70 in). The climate of the Guinea coast resembles the equatorial climate, except that rainfall is concentrated in one season; no months, however, are rainless. To the north and south the rain forest climate is supplanted by a tropical savanna climate zone that encompasses about one-fifth of Africa. Here the climate is characterized by a wet season during the summer months and a dry season during the winter months. Total annual rainfall varies from 550 mm (20 in) to more than 1,550 mm (60 in). Away from the equator, to the north and south, the savanna climate zone grades into the drier steppe climate zone. Average annual rainfall varies between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and is concentrated in one season. Africa has a proportionately larger area in arid, or desert, climate zones than any continent except Australia. Each of these areas-the Sahara in the north, the Horn of Africa in the east, and the Kalahari and Namib deserts in the southwest-has less than 250 mm (10 in) of rainfall annually. In the Sahara, daily and seasonal extremes of temperatures are great; the average July temperature is more than 32.2° C (90° F); during the cold season the nighttime temperature often drops below freezing. Mediterranean climate zones are found in the extreme northwest of Africa and in the extreme southwest. These regions are characterized by mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. In the highlands of eastern Africa, particularly in Kenya and Uganda, rainfall is well distributed throughout the year, and temperatures are equable. The climate on the high plateau of southern Africa is temperate. Vegetation ---------- African vegetation can be classified according to rainfall and climate zones. The tropical rainforest zone, where the average annual rainfall is more than 1,270 mm (50 in), has a dense surface covering of shrubs, ferns, and mosses, above which tower evergreens, oil palms, and numerous species of tropical hardwood trees. A mountain forest zone, with average annual rainfall only slightly less than in the tropical rainforest, is found in the high mountains of Cameroon, Angola, eastern Africa, and parts of Ethiopia. Here a ground covering of shrubs gives way to oil palms, hardwood trees, and primitive conifers. A savanna woodland zone, with annual rainfall of 890 to 1,400 mm (35 to 55 in), covers vast areas with a layer of grass and fire-resistant shrubs, above which are found deciduous and leguminous fire-resistant trees. A savanna grassland zone, with annual rainfall of about 500 to 890 mm (20 to 35 in), is covered by low grasses and shrubs, and scattered, small deciduous trees. The thornbush zone, a steppe vegetation, with an annual rainfall of about 300 to 510 mm (12 to 20 in), has a thinner grass covering and a scattering of succulent or semisucculent trees. The subdesert scrub zone, with an annual rainfall of 130 to 300 mm (5 to 12 in), has a covering of grasses and scattered low shrubs. The zone of desert vegetation, found in areas with an annual rainfall of less than 130 mm (5 in), has sparse vegetation or none at all. Animal Life ----------- Africa has two particular faunal zones: the North and Northwestern zone, including the Sahara; and the Ethiopian zone, including all of sub-Saharan Africa. The North and Northwestern zone is characterized by animals similar to those of Eurasia. Sheep, goats, horses, and camels (introduced by the Romans) are common. Barbary sheep, African red deer, and two types of ibex are native to the north African coast. Desert foxes are found in the Sahara, along with hares, gazelles, and the jerboa, a small leaping rodent. The Ethiopian zone is famous for its great variety of distinctive animals and birds, although many of these are now under threat of extinction from loss of habitat and poaching. The woodland and grassland areas are the traditional habitats of numerous species of antelope and deer, of zebra, giraffe, buffalo, the African elephant, rhinoceros, and the baboon and various monkeys. Carnivores, or meat-eating animals, include the lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackal, and mongoose. The hippopotamus is found in the rivers, emerging at night to graze. The gorilla, the largest ape in the world, inhabits the rainforests of equatorial Africa, as do monkeys, flying squirrels, bats, and lemurs. However, many of these species, notably the elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, lion, and gorilla, are now found only in specially delineated game reserves. Most bird life belongs to Old World groups. The guinea fowl is a leading game bird. Water birds, notably pelicans, goliath herons, flamingos, storks, and egrets, congregate in great numbers. The ibis is common in the Nile region, and the ostrich is found in eastern and southern Africa. Reptiles are also mainly of Old World origin and include lizards, crocodiles, and tortoises. A variety of venomous snakes, including the mamba, are encountered throughout the Ethiopian zone. Among the constricting snakes, pythons are found mainly in western Africa. Boa constrictors are indigenous only to Madagascar, which has a large number of unique species. Freshwater fish abound, with more than 2,000 known species. The continent has a variety of highly destructive insects, notably mosquitoes, driver ants, termites, locusts, and tsetse flies. The tsetse transmit sleeping sickness to humans and animals. The People ---------- The Sahara serves as a dividing line between the peoples of northern Africa and those of sub-Saharan Africa-although historically it has not acted as a barrier to trade or dissemination of ideas between the north and west of the continent. Numerous classification systems have been applied to the people of the continent, many of them of dubious nature, being based on essentially racist assumptions. The geographical division appears the most useful today. Languages --------- More than 1,000 languages are spoken in Africa. Although more than 50 languages have at least 500,000 speakers each, the majority of African languages are spoken by relatively few people. Apart from Arabic, the most widely spoken are Swahili (in eastern and southern Africa, primarily) and Hausa (eastern Africa). The main linguistic families or groups are Niger-Kordofanian and Nilo-Saharan, the largest groups with more than 160 million speakers each; Hamito-Semitic, or Afro-Asiatic, which predominates in northern and northeastern Africa; and Koisan, spoken among the San and Khoikhoi of southern Africa. Many Africans, particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa, are bilingual, speaking their own language as well as that of previous European colonizers. Religion -------- Christianity is today probably the most dominant religion in Africa. It was introduced into northern Africa in the 1st century and spread to the Sudan and Ethiopian regions in the 4th century. Christianity survived in Ethiopia and Egypt through the Coptic church, but in the other areas, was swept away by Islam after the 7th century. It was reintroduced by missionaries and spread through tropical Africa with the 18th-century rise of European overseas expansion. Today Protestant and Catholic groups are about equally represented throughout the continent. Islam, the fastest-growing religion in Africa, was introduced throughout northern Africa in the 7th century and in following centuries was spread down the River Nile, along the east African coast, and through the grasslands of west Africa. In the 20th century, Islam has penetrated into the rest of the continent. The earliest of the Muslim schools of law, the Maliki, prevails over most of Muslim Africa except in Egypt, the Horn, and the east African coast. About 15 per cent of Africa's people practise only indigenous, or local, religions. Many more, however, retain elements of traditional beliefs in their lives, and Christianity and Islam in Africa have also incorporated indigenous practices. Although indigenous religions are of great diversity, they tend to have a single god or creator figure and a number of subordinate spirits-nature spirits who inhabit trees, water, animals, and other natural phenomena-and ancestral spirits, such as founders of the family, lineage, or clan-who affect everyday life. Certain modern indigenous religious movements have developed fusing mainly orthodox Christian rites and beliefs with indigenous religious elements. Led by individual prophets, these separatist groups have spread throughout Africa, although they appear most widespread and powerful in southern and central Africa. Small numbers of Jews are located in northern and southern Africa; until the 1980s there was also a sizeable Jewish community in Ethopia, the Falashas; Hindu, Buddhist, and Daoist peoples are dispersed through eastern and southern Africa.