Africa -Africa-News

Africa continental black race , continent of contrasts , is the third largest continent century Earth with an area of ​​30 million km2 , across the equator, the two tropics ( Cancer and Capricorn ) and the zero meridian . Limit from Asia begins at the Suez Canal , through the Red Sea , the Strait of Bab el Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden . In the east is the Indian Ocean, with a very regular shore , completely without bays and islands. The only importance is that the Somali peninsula that penetrates deep into the ocean , limiting the south Gulf of Aden. The largest island , separated from the mainland by the Strait of Mozambique ( and one of the largest islands in the world , ranking fourth ) is Madagascar, with an area of ​​580,000 km2.

View Larger Map The typical African landscape more varied than the other continents is lying tabular plateau . The average elevation of the continent is 700 m and the maximum altitude is 5895 m continent ( Kilimanjaro ) . Africa is the continent with the warmest climate in the world , with an area of ​​equatorial climate ( average annual temperature with low seasonal variations and large amounts of rainfall ), 2 zone climate subecuatoriala 2 tropical areas with very low rainfall ( between 50-150 mm annually) and two subtropical areas ( with two wet and dry seasons opposite ) . The highest temperature was recorded in C + 58s Azizizah (Libya ) on September 13 . In 1922 . Thermal values ​​over 40s C are common across the Sahara. Equatorial climate is more humid climate and meet on both sides of the equator to the northern and southern latitude 5 º C . Subecuatoriala climate lies between the northern and southern latitude 5 º C 18sC . Strong heating of land summer draws air masses from the ocean , extending Alizee SE and NE trade winds prevail in winter , dry . Tropical climate is a desert and semidesert . It occupies the tropics , between 18s and 25s C C latitude north and south. In the north lies the world's most extensive desert , Sahara , with 8.8 million km2. Characteristic of this environment is given high thermal differences between day and night, but especially long absence and irregular rainfall . Mediterranean climate deal extremities of the continent that are under the influence of periodic temperate air masses . It is characterized by dry summers and rainy winters , when the west winds knock . Lakes most important line pegged Great East African Graben , freshwater lakes tectonic they are Victoria ( Africa's largest lake ) , Malawi , Edward, Mobutu Sese Seco , Turkana , Kivu , Tana . Lake Chad is just salt water , being shallow and in arid area . The deepest lake Tanganyika Africa is about 1435 meters, the 2 world ranking . The most important rivers of Africa are the Nile ( the longest river in the world ) , Zaire , Niger, Zambezi , Orange, Limpopo , Senegal . The soil of Africa is directly influenced by climate and vegetation , thus becoming also very varied . The predominant soils are red brown soils of arid savannah , savannah red soils with high grasses , red brown soils of tropical forests , desert soils and podzolic soils lateritice . Africa is a sparsely populated continent , with large differences density between coastal regions and the interior . Africa has a very young population , half of it being under 20 years. Although the birth rate is high ( 45 births per 1,000 inhabitants ) not many children reach adolescence because mortality is very high among them. We can say with regret that mortality in Africa is the highest in the world. However the population grows by about 20 people to 1000 people in a year .