Africa: Location, Area, Political and Physical Features
ICSE Class 7 · Geography · Chapter 14
What this chapter covers
- Africa: an introduction
- Location of Africa
- Boundaries of Africa
- Area of Africa
- Political divisions: countries and capitals
- Physical divisions of Africa
- Mountains and highlands
- The Great Rift Valley and the lakes of East Africa
- Deserts of Africa
- Major rivers of Africa
- Locating Africa on the map
Key points
- Africa is the second largest continent, covering about 30.3 million km2, about one-fifth of the Earth's land and about nine times the area of India.
- Mainland Africa lies between about 37° N and 35° S, and between about 17° W and 51° E.
- The Equator, both tropics and the Prime Meridian all cross Africa; the Equator divides it into two nearly equal parts.
- Africa is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and the Indian Ocean and Red Sea in the east.
- Africa joins Asia only at the Isthmus of Suez, which the Suez Canal now cuts through.
- Africa's coastline is regular, with few natural harbours; Madagascar is the largest island off its coast.
- Africa has 54 countries; Algeria is the largest by area and Nigeria has the most people.
- Many borders are straight lines drawn during European rule, and 16 countries are landlocked.
- Africa is a plateau continent, lower in the north and west and higher in the south and east, edged by steep escarpments.
- The Atlas Mountains lie in the north-west; Kilimanjaro, about 5,895 m, is the highest peak in Africa.
- The Great Rift Valley runs for about 6,000 km through East Africa, with deep lakes such as Tanganyika and Malawi near it.
- The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world; the Kalahari and Namib lie in the south-west.
- The Nile, the longest river in the world, flows north into the Mediterranean; the Congo, Niger and Orange flow into the Atlantic, and the Zambezi into the Indian Ocean.
Questions answered
Between which latitudes does mainland Africa lie?
From about 37° N to about 35° S.
Name the four important lines of latitude and longitude that all cross Africa.
The Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn and the Prime Meridian.
Which water bodies form the northern, western and eastern boundaries of Africa?
The Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea in the east.
What is an isthmus? Name the isthmus that joins Africa to Asia.
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that joins two larger landmasses and has water on both sides. The Isthmus of Suez joins Africa to Asia.
Why was the Suez Canal important for ships sailing between India and Europe?
It joined the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, so ships no longer had to sail all the way round the southern tip of Africa. The journey became thousands of kilometres shorter.
Africa covers about 30.3 million km2. Asia covers about 44.6 million km2. How much larger is Asia?
44.6 - 30.3 = 14.3 million km2. Asia is about 14.3 million km2 larger.
Name the capitals of Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Cairo, Nairobi, Abuja and Addis Ababa.
What is a landlocked country? Give two examples from Africa.
A landlocked country is a country surrounded entirely by land, with no coastline of its own. Examples are Mali, Chad, Uganda, Zambia and Botswana (any two).