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Africa: countries, regions and cities

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Africa is a huge, varied continent of 54 countries, with deserts, rainforests, savannas, mountains and some of the world's fastest-growing cities.

The continent

Africa has 54 countries. The largest by area is Algeria; the most populous is Nigeria.
The Equator crosses the middle of Africa, passing through countries such as Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon.
Major cities include Cairo (Egypt), Lagos (Nigeria), Kinshasa (DR Congo), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Nairobi (Kenya).

Physical features

The Nile is usually listed as the world's longest river; it flows north into the Mediterranean.
The Congo River flows through the Congo rainforest, the second-largest tropical rainforest on Earth.
Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (5,895 m) is Africa's highest mountain. Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake.
The Great Rift Valley runs through East Africa, where plates are moving apart.

Environmental regions

Moving away from the Equator you pass through a pattern of regions:
Tropical rainforest near the Equator (hot and wet all year).
Savanna grassland (with a wet and a dry season), home to lions, zebras and elephants.
Hot deserts: the Sahara in the north and the Kalahari and Namib in the south.
Mediterranean climates at the far north and south tips.
The Sahel is a semi-arid strip along the southern edge of the Sahara.
Worked example

Describe how the environment changes from the Equator to the Sahara.

  1. Near the Equator: tropical rainforest, hot and wet all year.
  2. Further north: savanna grassland with a wet and a dry season.
  3. Then the semi-arid Sahel, and finally the Sahara hot desert, with very little rain.

Answer: Rainforest, then savanna, then the Sahel, then hot desert: it gets drier away from the Equator.

Key idea

Africa: 54 countries; Algeria largest, Nigeria most populous. Nile, Congo, Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), Lake Victoria, Great Rift Valley. Regions: rainforest near the Equator, savanna, Sahel, hot deserts (Sahara, Kalahari, Namib), Mediterranean tips.

The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.

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