Africa: the coordinates of the extreme points. Geography of Africa

This is perhaps the most mysterious continent, the earthGreat contrasts, which are studied with interest by the science of geography. Africa - the hottest continent of the planet and the highest. On its territory there are many tribes and nationalities, each of which speaks its own language.

In this article, it will be specifically about Africa, its nature and population.

Africa: coordinates of extreme points

It is the second largest continent on our planet. It covers an area of ​​30 million square kilometers. With Eurasia, Africa is connected by a narrow Suez Isthmus.

8 thousand kilometers - just at such a distance stretched from north to south the continent of Africa. Coordinates of the extreme points of the continent are as follows:

• The north is Cape Ras Engel (37.21 degrees north latitude).
• South - Cape Agulhas (34.51 degrees south latitude).

7,5 thousand kilometers - the distance between the western and eastern outskirts of such a continent as Africa. Coordinates of the extreme points of the continent are as follows:

• Western - Cape Almadi (17.33 degrees west longitude).
• Eastern - Cape Ras-Gafun (51.16 degrees East longitude).

The coastline of the mainland is 26 thousand kilometers. This is very small for a continent of this size. The reason is that the coastline of Africa is very weakly dissected.

It should also be noted that the extreme points of Africahave other names. Thus, Cape Agulhas is sometimes called Cape Agulhas. And Cape Ras-Engel is sometimes called Cape Blanco. Therefore, in the scientific literature, you can find these toponyms.

The geographical position of Africa is unique. The fact is that the equator crosses this continent almost in the middle. This fact leads to two important consequences:

1. First, the continent receives a large amount of solar radiation, since it is located between the two tropics.
2. Secondly, in terms of natural features, South Africa is symmetrical (mirror) similar to North Africa.

Geography: Africa - the highest continent of the planet

Africa is often called the high continent, sincehigh forms of relief prevail here. To such geomorphologists include the plateau, highlands and plateaus, as well as the mountains-remnants. It is interesting that these forms of relief seem to border the continent, while the plains are located in its central part. In other words, Africa can be imagined as a not very deep saucer.

The highest point of the continent is the volcanoKilimanjaro (5895 meters). He is in Tanzania, and an irresistible desire to conquer this summit occurs in many tourists. But the lowest point is in the small country of Djibouti. This lake is Assal with an absolute height of 157 meters (but with a minus sign).

Mineral resources of Africa

In Africa, almost all depositsknown to man mineral resources. Especially rich in various minerals South Africa (these are diamonds, hard coal, nickel and copper ore). As a rule, foreign companies are engaged in the development of deposits.

Rich in the depths of Africa and iron ore. Many metallurgical plants in Europe and North America work on ore mined here.

North Africa is known for its numerousdeposits of oil and natural gas. The countries in which they are located are very fortunate - they live fairly well. First of all, we note Tunisia and Algeria.

Climate and internal waters

On the territory of Africa, the longest river flowsin the world - the Nile. Other major rivers of the mainland are Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange. In the tectonic faults of East Africa, deep lakes have formed - Nyasa, Tanganyika and others. In the state called Chad is the largest salt lake of the continent with the same name.

Africa, as mentioned above, is the hottest continent on planet Earth. Due to its location, the surface of the continent receives a lot of solar energy and heats up very much.

In Central Africa, as well as on the coastThe Gulf of Guinea has a large amount of precipitation. In the territories south and north, climatic seasons are already clearly traced - dry winter and rainy season in summer. Even farther to the north and south of precipitation is very little, which leads to the formation of deserts. In Africa there is the largest desert on the planet - the Sahara.

The population of the "black" continent

In Africa, the black population really prevails. And the conditional border, which divides the Negroid and Caucasoid race, is the Sahara desert.

To date, almost one lives in Africabillion people. At the same time, the continent's population is growing at a rapid pace. According to forecasts of scientists, by 2050 there will already live about 2 billion people.

If you carefully consider a political cardAfrica, you can see one interesting detail. The fact is that the borders between many states are drawn along straight lines. This is a kind of inheritance of the colonial past of Africa. Such careless carrying out of borders (without taking into account ethnic features of regions) today leads to a lot of conflicts between tribes and nationalities.

The average population density in Africa is 30 peopleper square kilometer. The level of urbanization here is also low and is only 30%. However, there are enough major cities with a million population. The biggest of them are Cairo and Lagos.

Africa speaks a thousand languages! The indigenous (purely African) are Swahili, Fula and Congo. In many countries of the continent, official languages ​​have the following languages: English, Portuguese and French. If we talk about the religious preferences of the African population, then most of the inhabitants of the mainland profess Islam and Catholicism. Here are many Protestant churches.

Finally...

Africa is the hottest continent on the planet. The reason for this is in the special geographical position of the continent.

Geographical coordinates of Africa are as follows: the mainland is located between the 37th degree of northern latitude and the 34th degree of south latitude. Thus, the equator divides Africa almost in half, so that its surface receives a huge amount of solar radiation.

Now you know the main natural features of the mainland Africa, the coordinates of the extreme points of its territory.