The main issue of this article is the characteristics of Africa. The first thing you need to know is that Africa makes up one fifth of the land mass of our entire planet. This suggests that the mainland is the second largest, only Asia is larger than it.
The characteristics of Africa will be considered by us from different angles, we will get acquainted with countries, natural zones, belts, peoples and natural resources. Africa has more than 50 countries, 55 to be exact. It is customary to divide the mainland into the following regions:
- North.
- Tropical.
- South Africa.
This is how school textbooks offer us, but the scientific literature adheres to a slightly different division:
- North.
- South.
- Western.
- Eastern.
- Central.
Colonies and slave trade
A characterization of Africa is impossible without mentioning the colonies and the slave trade. The continent we are considering suffered like no other from the colonial system. Its disintegration began only in the fifties, andthe last colony was liquidated only in 1990, it had the name Namibia.
The characterization of Africa, or rather the assessment of the EGP of countries, can be carried out according to different criteria, but we will take the main one - the presence or absence of access to the sea. Since Africa is a rather large continent, there are also a considerable number of countries that do not have access to the sea. They are less developed, now, after the collapse of the colonial system, all countries are sovereign states. But there are exceptions that adhere to the monarchical form:
- Morocco.
- Lesotho.
- Swaziland.
Natural resources
The general characteristics of Africa also provides for the analysis of the natural resources of this continent, with which it is very rich. The main we alth of Africa is minerals. What is mined on the territory of this endless 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 mainland is rich in minerals and a large number of countries are located far from the sea, which slows down their development. In terms of the presence of minerals, South Africa stands out in particular; oil, gas and bauxite are not mined here.
The countries have little need for water resources, as there are lakeslike:
- 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 being actively cut down, which leads to desertification of the territory. The characteristics of African countries, namely the availability of agro-climatic resources, cannot be considered unambiguously, since there is a lot of heat, and moistening is uneven. Forest areas occupy approximately 8.3 million square kilometers. According to the degree and nature of forest distribution, Africa is usually divided into regions:
- Northern (subtropics).
- Western (tropical).
- Eastern (mountains and tropics).
- Southern (subtropics).
Population
In Africa, you can count about five hundred ethnic groups, this is the main distinguishing feature of the population of this continent. Some of them have grown into nations, while others remain at the level of nationalities. Most of the states of this continent are multinational, the borders between them are fuzzy (they do not separate one nationality from another), and this leads to interethnic conflicts.
In terms of natural increase, Africa has the highest birth rate, especially in some states:
- Kenya.
- Benin.
- Uganda.
- Nigeria.
- Tanzania.
Since both the birth rate and the death rate are high, young people predominate in the age structure. The peoples are unevenly settled, there are completely uninhabited territories (Sahara), but there are also places where the main population is concentrated, for example, Egypt. As for urbanization, historically it has been growing at a very slow pace, now in Africa there are only twenty percent of millionaire cities.
Zones
Since the mainland has a relatively flat relief, and most of it is located between the tropics, there is a pronounced zonality. What is the characteristic of African zones? First you need to divide the entire territory into parts. Next, a detailed description of the belts of Africa will be presented. So, belts are distinguished:
- Equatorial.
- Subequatorial.
- Tropical.
It should also be noted that variable-moist forests, savannahs, light forests, deserts, semi-deserts, subtropical forests alternately diverge on both 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, covering the area from the Gulf of Guinea to the depression in the Congo. A distinctive feature is the year-round predominance of equatorial air masses. The temperature is kept between 24 and 28 degrees, there are no changes in the seasons. Precipitation falls quite often and evenly over 365 days. Up to 2.5 thousand millimeters of precipitation falls per year.
The considered complete characterization of the natural zones of Africa is impossible without mentioning that in this territorythe humid equatorial forest is located. This happened thanks to the same daily precipitation. During the day, this area is unbearably hot, which is relieved by the cool of the evening, rain or thunderstorms.
Subequatorial belt
The farther we move away from the equator, the less precipitation falls there. In addition, two seasons can be clearly separated in the subequatorial zone:
- Rainy.
- Dry.
Since there is not enough rainfall, one can also observe such a phenomenon - dense forests are gradually replaced by sparse ones, and they, in turn, turn into savannahs. We have already mentioned that two seasons alternate, in one part the rains that brought air masses from the equator predominate, and in the other at this time there is a drought, since air masses from the tropics dominate there.
Tropics
The considered characteristic of the natural zones of Africa must necessarily contain a description of the tropical belt. This is what we will now begin. Immediately, we note that this belt can be divided into two zones:
- North of the subequatorial.
- South Africa.
Distinctive feature - dry weather, little rainfall. All this contributes to the formation of deserts and savannahs. Dry wind prevails here due to the distance from the sea, the deeper we go into the continent, the hotter the air and the drier the soil.
The largest desert in tropical latitudes is the Sahara. Since the air contains small grains of sand, and the temperature during the day rises above forty degrees, thenIt's very hard for a person to be here. Moreover, at night the temperature can drop by at least twenty degrees, or it can go negative.
Subtropics
The climate in this part is characterized by the change of seasons, hot in summer, rainfall in winter. But in southeast Africa, a humid subtropical climate prevails, which contributes to an even distribution of precipitation. It should be noted that the subtropics are divided into two zones:
- southern;
- northern.
Why is climate change happening here? In summer, air masses blown from the tropical zone dominate here, and in winter - from temperate latitudes. The subtropics are distinguished by the fact that evergreen forests are located here. This territory is ennobled by people for agriculture, so it is almost impossible to see these latitudes in their original form.
