General economic and geographical characteristics of Africa. Description of the natural zones of Africa

The main issue of this article is the characterization of Africa. The first thing you need to know is that Africa is one fifth of the world's land area. This suggests that the mainland is the second largest country in the world, only Asia is larger than it.

The characteristics of Africa will be examined from different sides, we will get acquainted with countries, natural zones, belts, peoples and natural resources. Africa has more than 50 countries, more precisely 55. It is accepted to divide the mainland into the following regions:

• North.
• Tropical.
• SOUTH AFRICA.

So we are offered school textbooks, but the scientific literature adheres to a somewhat different division:

• North.
• South.
• Western.
• Eastern.
• The central one.

Colonies and the slave trade

The characteristic of Africa is impossible without mentioning colonies and the slave trade. The continent considered by us suffered like no other from the colonial system. Its disintegration began only in the fifties, and the last colony was liquidated only in 1990, it was called Namibia.

The characteristics of Africa, or, more accurately, the assessment of the EGP of countries, can occur according to different criteria, but we take the main thing - the presence or absence of access to the sea. Since Africa is a fairly large continent, there are quite a few landlocked countries here. They are less developed, now, after the collapse of the colonial system, all countries are sovereign states. But there are exceptions, which adhere to the monarchical form:

• Morocco.
• Lesotho.
• Swaziland.

Natural resources

The general characteristic of Africa includes the analysis of the natural resources of the continent, with which it is very rich. The main wealth of Africa - minerals. What is mined on the territory of this boundless continent:

• Oil.
• Gas.
• Iron ore.
• Manganese ore.
• Uranium ore.
• Copper ore.
• Gold.
• Diamonds.
• Phosphorites.

So, what is the general characteristic of Africa? While it is very difficult to answer, we know that the continent is rich in minerals and a large number of countries are far from the sea, which slows down their development. By the availability of minerals, South Africa is particularly notable, oil, gas and bauxite are not extracted here.

The water resources of the country need little, since there are such lakes as:

• Victoria.
• Tanganyika.
• Nyasa.

Forest

Forest in Africa occupies more than ten percent of the total area of countries. It is second only to Latin America and Russia. Now these equatorial forests are actively cut down, which leads to desertification of the territory. The characteristics of African countries, namely, the availability of agroclimatic resources, can not be considered unambiguously, since there is a lot of heat, and humidification is uneven. The area of forests occupy about 8.3 million square kilometers. According to the degree and nature of the distribution of forests, Africa is divided into regions:

• Northern (subtropics).
• Western (tropics).
• East (mountains and tropics).
• Southern (subtropics).

Population

In Africa, you can count about five hundred ethnic groups, this is the main distinctive feature of the population of this continent. Some of them have developed into nations, while others have remained at the level of nationalities. Most states of this continent are multinational, the borders between them are not clear (do not separate one nationality from another), and this leads to interethnic conflicts.

As for natural growth, Africa has the highest birth rate, especially in some states:

• Kenya.
• Benin.
• Uganda.
• Nigeria.
• Tanzania.

Since both birth rate and mortality are high, the young people in the age structure predominate. Peoples are settled unevenly, there are completely unoccupied territories (Sahara), but there are places where the main population, for example, Egypt is concentrated. As for urbanization, it has historically developed so that it grows at a very small rate, now in Africa there are only twenty percent of millionaires.

Zones

Since the continent has relatively flat terrain, and most of it is located between the tropics, zoning is clearly pronounced. What is the characteristic of the zones of Africa? First, you should divide the whole territory into parts. Below is a detailed description of the belts of Africa. So, allocate the belt:

• Equatorial.
• Subequatorial.
• Tropical.

It should also be noted that alternately damp forests, savannas, light forests, deserts, semi-deserts, subtropical forests alternate on the two sides of the equatorial forests, but their location in relation to the south or north is not the same.

Equatorial belt

This is a fairly large area, occupying the area from the Gulf of Guinea to the basin in the Congo. A distinctive feature is the year-round prevalence of equatorial air masses. The temperature is kept in the intervals from 24 to 28 degrees, there are no changes of the seasons. Precipitation falls quite often and evenly over 365 days. Within a year, up to 2.5 thousand millimeters of precipitation falls.

This complete characterization of the African natural zones is impossible without mentioning that the wet equatorial forest is located on this territory. It happened because of the same daily precipitation. In the daytime in this area an unbearable heat, which is facilitated by the evening coolness, rain or thunder.

Subequatorial belt

The further we move away from the equator, the less precipitation falls there. In addition, in the subequatorial belt , two seasons can be clearly divided:

• Rainy.
• Dry.

Since there is not enough precipitation, one can observe this phenomenon - dense forests gradually change into rare ones, and they, in turn, become savannahs. We have already mentioned that two seasons alternate, in one part the rains predominate, which brought air masses from the equator, and in the other at this time there is a drought, since air masses from the tropics dominate there.

Tropics

This characteristic of the African natural areas must necessarily contain a description of the tropical belt. To this we now proceed. Just note that this belt can be divided into two zones:

• North of the subequatorial.
• South Africa.

A distinctive feature - dry weather, low precipitation. All this contributes to the formation of deserts and savannahs. Dry wind prevails here because of remoteness from the sea, than we go deeper into the continent, the hotter the air and the dry ground.

The largest desert, located in the tropical latitudes, is the Sahara. Since the air contains small grains of sand, and the temperature rises above forty degrees in the daytime, it is extremely difficult for a person to be here. Moreover, at night, the temperature can drop at least twenty degrees, or may go into negative indicators.

Subtropics

The climate in this part is characterized by the change of seasons, in summer it is hot, precipitation falls in winter. But in the south-east of Africa, a humid subtropical climate prevails, this contributes to a uniform distribution of precipitation. It should be noted that the subtropics are divided into two zones:

• Southern;
• Northern.

Why is the climate changing here? In summer the air masses, inspired from the tropical belt, prevail here, and in the winter - from the moderate latitudes. The subtropics are different because here there are evergreen forests. This territory is ennobled by people for agriculture, therefore it is practically impossible to see these latitudes in its original form.