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Subject: India & World Geography

Topic: Africa

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Introduction

Area: 30,221,532 sq. km (20.4% of total area Madagascar and other islands of Africa)

Population : 1.111 billion

Latitude : 37°31'N to 34°52'S Longitude : 25°11'W to 51°24'E

Size : Second largest continent after Asia and nine times the size of India.

Situation : Situated to the south of Europe and south west of Asia. It is bound by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and southwest, the Indian Ocean in the east and the Red Sea in the northeast. Africa belongs to all the four hemispheres and bulk of the continent lies in tropics. It is joined to Asia by the narrow isthmus of Suez and separated from Eurasia at three different points (Strait of Gibraltar, Suez Canal and Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb). The only continent which is crossed by Tropic of Cancer, Equator and Tropic of Capricorn.

Africa is called as the “Dark Continent’ because the greater part of its vast interior remained little known to the outside world until the last century.

Important Seas / Ocean Channels around Africa

Name	Location	African Countries Along the Sea
Mediterranean Sea It separates Africa from Europe. Region around are known for its distinct climate.	North of Africa	Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt.
Red Sea It separates Africa from Asia.	North East of Africa	Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti.
Indian Ocean	East of Africa	Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa
Atlantic ocean	West of Africa	Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guniea, Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Angola, Namibia, South Africa.
Mozambique Channel	East of Mozambique	Mozambique (West) and Madagascar (East).

Important Gulfs and Bays

Name	Location
Gulf of Guinea	South of Ivory coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean.
Walvis Bay	West of Namibia, Atlantic Ocean.
Maputo Bay	South East of Mozambique, Indian Ocean.

Important Straits

Name	Separates	Connects
Strait of Gibraltar	Europe from Africa	Mediterranean Sea with Atlantic Ocean.
Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb	Djibouti (Africa) from Yemen (Asia)	Red Sea with Gulf of Aden.
Coasts of Africa	Countries
Grain Coast	Sierra Leone and Liberia
Ivory Coast	Ivory Coast
Gold Coast	Ghana
Slave Coast	Togo, Benin and Nigeria.