Continent Africa: the main features of nature and population. Interesting facts about the mainland

The most contrasting and most colorful on our planet is rightly considered the African continent. Photos of the nature of this continent amaze with its beauty and colorfulness. If we look at it from a social point of view, then it will turn out to be the poorest on Earth.

Continent Africa: photo and general description

The continent is the second largest in the world. Its area is about 30 million square kilometers. From north to south, the continent of Africa stretches for more than 8 thousand kilometers.

The hottest continent of the planet is washed by the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. From Europe and Asia it is separated, respectively, the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. The coastline of Africa is cut slightly. The largest peninsula of the continent is Somalia, and the largest bay is the Guinea Peninsula.

As for the name of the mainland, the researchers have so far not been able to come to a consensus. Some associate it with the name of the ancient tribe avrig. Others argue that the continent of Africa owes its name to the Phoenician root "detached". Obviously, here we mean the historical process of separating Carthage from its metropolis.

Natural features

Continent Africa is the title of the hottest on Earth. The reason for this was its geographical location. Africa is located within the equatorial and two tropical climates. Therefore, in a year the continent receives a colossal amount of solar heat.

Africa is also often called the most desolate continent. It was here that the world's largest Sahara desert was formed with extremely poor and sparse vegetation. The average orographic height of the continent is approximately 760 meters. And the highest point is 5895 m (Kilimanjaro volcano). The topography of Africa is dominated by plateaus, elevations and plateaus.

The territory of the continent is rich in many minerals. In the interior there are considerable reserves of gold, diamonds, tin, copper and iron ores, phosphorites. Nature did not deprive Africa and black gold: in the middle of the twentieth century, the richest oil and gas deposits were discovered in Nigeria, Libya and Algeria.

The regions of Africa are in different ways provided with fresh water resources. Thus, the river network is very developed in the central regions of the continent (the Congo is one of the world's largest river systems). But in other parts of the continent there is a rather acute shortage of drinking water.

The African continent: countries and people

Within the Black Continent, according to official data, there are 52 independent countries. The vast majority of them gained independence only after the end of World War II and the collapse of the colonial system. Until the middle of the twentieth century, Africa had only four sovereign states (Egypt, Liberia, Ethiopia and South Africa). It should be added that even now, on the mainland, there are a number of self-proclaimed, unrecognized or partially recognized states.

In Africa today more than one billion people live. And over the past half a century, the number of inhabitants on the mainland has tripled! The population of Africa is growing at a rapid pace, and this is seriously troubling the world community. Moreover, the demographic situation on the continent is complicated by a number of acute problems. Among them poverty and illiteracy of the population, lack of normal medicine, constant conflicts and military clashes.

Regional division

The continent is quite heterogeneous in the economic, historical and cultural and other aspects. Geographers are divided into five regions: North, West, Central, East and South Africa.

The most developed in the socio-economic plan is South Africa. Only here in the service sector is occupied by a large part of the population. It is in this region is the most prosperous country on the continent - South Africa. The center of Africa is, on the contrary, the standard of poverty and social problems.

The countries of North Africa are mainly states of the Arab world with appropriate cultural characteristics. Many of them live frankly at the expense of oil production.

It is worth mentioning here and West Africa. This is the most diverse, most contrasting region on the mainland. The difference (gap) in social or economic indicators between the countries of this region can be enormous.

Finally

Continent Africa occupies an area of 30 million square meters. Km. This is the second largest continent of the Earth. In this territory there are about 1 billion people and 52 states are located.

Africa is a strikingly contrasting continent. Here within one country you can see savannas with wildlife, multimillion-dollar megacities and tribes living in primitive dwellings.