Geography of Africa

Africa is the second largest continent in the world, it is two and a half times the size of the United States. Africa has a total of 53 individual countries. Sudan is Africa's largest country and Seychelles is the smallest. The Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean are the five bodies of water that surrounds the continent. The Mediterranean Sea separates Africa from Europe and the Suez Canal connects the northeastern part of Africa to Asia. So without this connection, Africa would be considered an island. Egypt's Sinai Peninsula which is located east of the Suez canal is often considered part of Africa. Madagascar is the largest African island and the fourth largest island on the Earth. Madagascar lies off the southeastern coast of Africa.


Africa straddles the equator, it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Temperature is high through the continent because of the continent’s location relative to Equator. The northern region of Africa is very hot and dry. The largest desert in the world The Sahara is located in this region of Africa. The equatorial area is covered by tropical rain forests. In Africa's southern areas the heat is not as bad due to the moisture from the oceans, it consist of grassy flat highlands.


Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa. It is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. Lake Assal in the small country of Djibouti, is the lowest point with 512ft below sea level. The Nile river is the longest river in Africa and the world. The Congo river, Niger river and Zambeze river are other long rivers in Africa. Lake Victoria is largest lake in Africa, other lakes are Tanganyika, Albert, Turkana and Nyasa.

http://www.africanculturalcenter.org/1_0geo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Africa
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/af.html
http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/africa.html