Africa in Color (Source)

Africa is short for "Africa". Greek "Africa" is the meaning of the sun's heat. Equator across the middle of Africa, Africa 3 / 4 of the land by the sun's vertical radiation, the average annual temperature of 20 degrees Celsius above the tropical accounted for 95% of the continent, of which more than half of the region hot all year round, it is called "Africa".

Continental name interpretation: Greek meaning "hot sun".

Countries: ***There are 53 countries and territories.

Area: 30.2 million square kilometers, the second largest continent in the world.

Population: 748 million people, accounting for 12.9% of the world's total population, ranking second in the world.

Race: Most of the inhabitants belong to the black race, the rest belong to the white and yellow races, Africa is the world's most complex racial composition of the continent.

Language: The majority of the population is of Niger-Kordofan, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asian and Khoisan origin.

Religion: Primitive religions and Islam are practiced, while Catholicism and Christianity are practiced by a few.

Economy: Africa is the world's lowest level of economic development in the continent, most countries are economically backward, mining and light industry is the main sector of African industry

Location: Located in the southwestern part of the Eastern Hemisphere, the land across the equator to the north and south, and part of the northwestern part of the western hemisphere. East of the Indian Ocean, west of the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar and Europe, the northeast corner of the narrow Red Sea and the Suez Canal adjacent to Asia.

Scope: the continent east to Cape Hafun (latitude 10 ° 27′ north, longitude 51 ° 24′ east), south to Cape Mount Eccles (latitude 34 ° 51′ south, longitude 20 ° 02′ east), west to Cape Verde (latitude 14 ° 45′ north, longitude 17 ° 33′ west), north to Cape Girardeau (Cape Bensa?ka) (latitude 37 ° 21′ north, longitude 9 ° 50′ east).

Area: about 30.2 million square kilometers (including nearby islands). It accounts for about 20.2% of the world's total land area and is the second largest continent in the world after Asia.

Luxor on the banks of the Nile River

Inhabitants: Population: 748 million. Accounting for 12.9% of the world's total population, second only to Asia, ranking second in the world. Africa's population birth rate, mortality rate and growth rate of the world's continents in the forefront. The distribution of the population is extremely uneven, along the Nile and the delta region, about 1,000 people per square kilometer. The deserts of the Sahara, the Namib and the Kalahadi and some arid grasslands and semi-desert areas have less than 1 person per square kilometer. There are also large areas of no man's land. Ethnicity: Africa is the world's most complex ethnic composition of the region. Most of the peoples of Africa belong to the black race, the rest belong to the white and yellow.

Languages: There are about 800 African languages. Generally divided into 4 language families. Generally mostly Niger-Kordofan, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asian and Khoisan.

Religion: The inhabitants of Africa mostly follow primitive religions and Islam, with a few practicing Catholicism and Christianity.

Natural Geography: Coastline: The continental coastline is 30,500 kilometers long. The coast is relatively straight, the lack of bays and peninsulas. Africa is one of the world's continents with the smallest number of islands. In addition to Madagascar (the world's fourth largest island), the rest are mostly small islands. The total area of the islands is about 620,000 square kilometers, accounting for less than 3% of the total area of the continent. The African continent is wide in the north and narrow in the south, in the shape of an unequal triangle. The longest north-south about 8,000 kilometers, the widest east-west about 7,500 kilometers. Africa is a plateau continent, the terrain is relatively flat, the obvious mountain ranges are limited to the north and south ends. The average altitude of the whole continent is 750 meters. Plateaus with an altitude of 500,000 meters account for more than 60% of the continent. Above 2,000 meters above sea level, mountains and plateaus account for about 5% of the continent. Plains with an altitude of less than 200 meters are mostly found along the coastal strip. The terrain is roughly bounded by a line from the mouth of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo*** and the country to the northern edge of the Ethiopian plateau, with the south-eastern half being higher and the north-western half lower. The south-eastern half of the country is known as High Africa, with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters above sea level, including the Ethiopian Plateau (above 2,000 meters above sea level, known as the "Roof of Africa"), the East African Plateau and the South African Plateau, on which there is the Kalahadi Basin. The northwestern half of Africa is called low Africa, the altitude is mostly below 500 meters, most of the low plateau and basin, there are the upper Nile Basin, the Congo Basin and Chad Basin and so on. Africa's taller mountain ranges mostly stand in the coastal belt of the plateau, the northwest coast of the Atlas Mountains; the southeast coast of the Drakensberg Mountains; the eastern part of Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Kilimanjaro is an active volcano, 5,895 meters above sea level, the highest peak in Africa. Eastern Africa has the world's largest Rift Valley Belt, the eastern branch of the Rift Valley Belt from the mouth of the Shire River in the south, through Lake Malawi, northward across the central East African Plateau and the central Ethiopian Plateau, through the Red Sea to the northern part of the Dead Sea, about 6,400 kilometers; Rift Valley Belt west branch of the Rift Valley Belt south of the northwestern end of Lake Malawi, through Lake Tanganyika, Kivu Lake, Lake Edward, Lake Albert, to the Albert Nile Valley, about 1,700 kilometers long and wide! Tens of kilometers to 300 kilometers, forming a series of narrow and y sunken valleys and lakes, of which the surface of Lake Assal is 156 meters below sea level, the lowest point of land in Africa. Africa's desert area accounts for about 1/3 of the continent, the largest desert area of a continent. The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, with an area of 7.77 million square kilometers; in the southwest there is also the Namib Desert and the Kalahadi Desert. The East African Rift Valley and its vicinity, the distribution of a series of extinct and active volcanoes, of which the high volcano altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level. There are also many large volcanoes in central and western Africa. The East African Rift Valley is also the region of Africa where earthquakes are most frequent and strongest. Africa's outflow area accounts for about 68.2% of the continent. The Atlantic outflow water system is mostly a long-flowing river, including the Nile River, Congo River, Niger River, Senegal River, Volta River, Orange River and so on. The Nile River is the longest river in the world with a length of 6,671 kilometers. The Congo River ranks second in the world in terms of basin area and flow after the Amazon River. The outflow water system of the Indian Ocean includes the Zambezi River, Limpopo River, Juba River and the short rivers on the east coast of Africa, the rivers on the island of Madagascar and so on. Africa's endorheic water system and no-flow area covers an area of 9.58 million square kilometers, accounting for about 31.8% of the total area of the continent. The only one of these with a sound river system is the Lake Chad basin. The Okavango River basin and the Sahara Desert are very arid, with many intermittent rivers and dry valleys in the desert. The endorheic zone also includes a small area of the East African Rift Valley belt lakes, rivers injected into the lakes from the surrounding highlands, the lakes have abundant rainfall, dense river network, unlike other arid endorheic zones. African lakes are concentrated in the East African plateau, a small number of scattered inland basin. Plateau lakes are mostly fault lakes, long, narrow and deep, arranged in beads in the East African Rift Valley belt, of which Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the world's second largest freshwater lake; Tanganyika Lake is the world's second deep lake. Located on the Ethiopian plateau Lake Tana is the highest lake in Africa, 1830 meters above sea level. Lake Chad is the largest lake in the inland basin, the area changes from time to time. Africa is known as the "tropical continent", its climate is characterized by high temperature, little rain, dry, the distribution of climate zones in the north-south symmetry. The equator crosses the center, the climate generally from the equator with the increase in latitude and decrease. The continent's average annual temperature is above 20 ℃ in the zone accounts for about 95% of the continent's area, of which more than half of the area is hot all year round, nearly half of the area has a hot warm season and warm cool season. Dallol in northeastern Ethiopia has an average annual temperature of 34.5°C, one of the highest average annual temperatures in the world. Aziziyeh, south of the Libyan capital Tripoli, had a temperature of 57.8°C on September 13, 1922, the highest extreme temperature in Africa. Mount Kilimanjaro is located near the equator, due to the high altitude, the top of the mountain snow year-round. Africa's precipitation from the equator to the north and south to reduce the distribution of precipitation is extremely unbalanced, some areas almost no rain all year round, some places as much as 10,000 millimeters of annual precipitation. The average annual precipitation in 1/3 of the continent is less than 200 millimeters. The southeast, the coast of the Gulf of Guinea and the windward slopes of the mountains receive more precipitation.

Natural resources: Africa has proved that there are many kinds of mineral resources, large reserves. Oil, natural gas is rich; iron, manganese, chromium, cobalt, nickel, vanadium, copper, lead, zinc, tin, phosphate and other reserves; gold, diamonds have long been famous; uranium veins have been found one after another, attracting the world's attention. The reserves of many minerals are among the highest in the world. There are at least 40,000 species of plants in Africa. The forest area accounts for 21% of the total area of Africa. Abundant mahogany, ebony, rosewood, koppa, ebony, camphor, quebracho, walnut, yellow lacquer wood, cork oak and other economic forest trees. The grassland is vast, accounting for 27% of the total area of Africa, ranking first among all continents. There are abundant water resources that can be developed. Coastal production of sardines, tuna, mackerel, whales and so on.

Economy: Industrial Africa is the continent with the lowest level of economic development in the world. Most countries are economically backward. Mining and light industry are the main sectors of African industry. Gold, diamond, iron, manganese, apatite, bauxite, copper, uranium, tin, oil and other production in the world occupy an important position. Light industry is dominated by the processing of agricultural and livestock products and textiles. The timber industry has a certain foundation, and there are more timber factories. Heavy industries include metallurgy, machinery, metal processing, chemistry and cement, marble quarrying, diamond faceting, rubber products and other sectors. Agriculture plays an important role in the national economies of African countries and is the mainstay of most of them. Africa has a wide variety of food crops, including wheat, rice, maize, millet, sorghum, potatoes, etc., as well as specialties such as cassava, plantains, dates, yams and edible plantains. African cash crops, especially tropical cash crops in the world occupies an important position, cotton, sisal, peanuts, oil palm, cashew nuts, sesame, coffee, cocoa, sugar cane, tobacco, natural rubber, cloves and other production are very high. Frankincense, myrrh, karite fruit, kola and alpha grass are crops unique to Africa. Animal husbandry is developing fast, with a large number of livestock heads, but the commodity rate of livestock products is low, and the operation is rough and backward. Fishery resources are abundant, but fishery production still remains at the stage of manual operation, and freshwater fishery has developed rapidly in recent years. Africa is a relatively backward continent in the world's transportation industry, and has not yet formed a complete transportation system. Most of the transportation routes extend from the coastal ports to the hinterland and are isolated from each other. Transportation is mainly by road, and there are other modes such as railroads and sea transport. South Africa*** and the country, the Maghreb and other regions are more developed areas of transportation in Africa. Sahara, Kalahadi and other regions is no modern transportation lines of the blank area. At present, Africa has about more than 1.3 million kilometers of roads and about 78,000 kilometers of railroads. Inland waterways are navigable for about 52,000 kilometers. The sea transportation industry occupies an important position. The aviation industry is developing fast.

Countries: Africa currently has 56 countries and regions. Geographically, it is customary to divide Africa into five regions: North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and South Africa. North Africa usually includes Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Azores, Madeira. East Africa usually includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Seychelles. West Africa usually includes Mauritania, Western Sahara, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Liberia, C?te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria and the Canary Islands. Central Africa usually includes Chad, Central Africa, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo*** and Sao Tome and Principe. Southern Africa usually includes Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, and St. Helena.

Africa is the second continent of the world. It is shaped like a huge unequal triangle, narrow in the south and wide in the north, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean around, there are not many islands along the coast, the largest island is the island of Madagascar. In the 30.29 million square kilometers of land in Africa, there are about 700 million inhabitants of different colors, including blacks, whites, and yellows, of which blacks account for about two-thirds of the total population. There are more than 700 ethnic groups and tribes in Africa. Their languages are very complex, counting about 1,500 different dialects.

The full name of Africa is "Africa". "Africa" in Latin means "hot sun", in Sanskrit and the meaning of "India's western continent", in the Phoenician language there are "rich and fertile fruit country" meaning. Africa is a roughly undulating plateau, the equator across the middle of the continent, three-quarters of the region's average annual temperature above 20 degrees Celsius, almost all year round is summer, so it is known as the "tropical continent". The Sahara Desert in northern Africa covers an area of 9.45 million square kilometers, accounting for about one-third of the total area of the African continent, and is the world's largest desert. Africa's largest river, the Nile River is also the world's longest river, flowing from south to north more than 6,600 kilometers into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile basin is one of the cradles that gave birth to the world's ancient civilizations. Mount Kilimanjaro standing in the border of Kenya and Tanzania is 5,895 meters above sea level, which is the highest mountain in Africa, with year-round snow on its peak, known as the "Snow White on the Equator". The East African Rift Valley is more than 6,400 kilometers long and runs through the eastern part of Africa, which is the largest fault zone in the world. Set in the East African plateau of Lake Victoria beautiful scenery, is the world's second largest freshwater lake.

Africa is rich in mineral, hydroelectric, agricultural and forestry resources. The world's most important 50 kinds of minerals Africa are not lacking, at least 17 of them in the world's first mineral reserves. According to recent international mining statistics, Africa's platinum, manganese, chromium, ruthenium, iridium and other mineral deposits accounted for more than 80 percent of the world's total reserves, phosphate, palladium, gold, diamonds, germanium, cobalt and vanadium deposits accounted for more than half of the uranium, tantalum, cesium, bauxite, fluorite, zirconium, graphite and hafnium deposits also accounted for more than 30 percent. Known as the "barren land" of the Sahara Desert is a huge energy treasure trove, the underground contains a large number of oil can be exploited, and its surrounding Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Nigeria are important oil exporters, Libya's average daily oil extraction up to 1.5 million barrels. South Africa is the world's largest gold producer and exporter, has so far produced more than 40,000 tons of gold, accounting for two-fifths of the total gold production in human history. Zambia's copper reserves amount to more than 900 million tons, accounting for about 15 percent of the world's reserves, the average annual production of about 360,000 tons of copper, known as the "Copper Country" of the beauty of the name.

Africa is rich in cocoa, coffee, cotton, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, cassava and palm oil and other agricultural products. 1994 cocoa production amounted to 1.316 million tons, accounting for more than half of the world's total output. The world's first cocoa producer and exporter C?te d'Ivoire last year cocoa production amounted to 850,000 tons, accounting for more than one-third of the world's total production. 1994 African coffee production of 1,022,000 tons of exports in the world market accounted for about seventeen per cent; palm oil production amounted to 2,003,000 tons, accounting for about seventy per cent of the world's total production. Egypt's long-fiber cotton to the production of high-quality good world-renowned, annual output of more than 900,000 packages.

Africa's vast territory, very rich in resources, people hard-working. However, Africa has been subjected to up to 500 years of colonial rule, imperialism, colonialism, aggression, exploitation and looting, Africa into the world's "poorest continent". According to the United Nations, 33 of the world's 48 least developed countries are in Africa, and the least developed countries account for 62 per cent of Africa's 53 countries. Despite the challenges it currently faces, Africa remains a "continent of hope.