The main issue of this article is the characteristic of Africa. The first thing you need to know - Africa is one fifth of the land of our planet. This suggests that the mainland is the second largest, only Asia is larger than it.
The characteristics of Africa will be examined by us from different angles, we will get acquainted with countries, natural zones, belts, peoples and natural resources. Africa has more than 50 countries, more precisely 55. It is customary to divide the mainland into the following regions:
- North.
- Tropical.
- SOUTH AFRICA.
So school books offer us, but the scientific literature adheres to a slightly different division:
- North.
- South.
- Western.
- East.
- Central.
Colonies and the slave trade
Characterization of Africa is impossible without mention of the colonies and the slave trade. The mainland, considered by us, suffered like no other from the colonial system. Its collapse began only in the fifties, and the last colony was liquidated only in 1990, it had the name Namibia.
The characteristics of Africa, or rather the assessment of EGP of countries, can occur 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 a considerable number of landlocked countries. 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 characteristic of Africa also provides for the analysis of the natural resources of this continent, with which it is very rich. The main wealth of Africa is 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 mainland is rich in minerals and a large number of countries are far from the sea, which slows down their development. South Africa is particularly distinguished by the presence of minerals; oil, gas and bauxite are not extracted here.
Countries need little water resources, 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, cannot be considered unambiguously, since there is a lot of heat and moistening is uneven. Forest area covers approximately 8.3 million square kilometers. According to the degree and nature of forest distribution, Africa is usually 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 distinguishing feature of the population of this continent. Some of them have grown into nations, while others remain at the national level. 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 ethnic conflicts.
As for natural growth, Africa has the highest birth rate, especially in some states:
- Kenya.
- Benin.
- Uganda.
- Nigeria.
- Tanzania.
Since both fertility and mortality are high, youth prevails in the age structure. The peoples are unevenly settled, there are completely uninhabited territories (Sahara), but there are places where the main population is concentrated, for example Egypt. As for urbanization, it has historically been that it is 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, zonality is clearly pronounced. What is the characteristic of the zones of Africa? To begin with, you should divide the entire territory into parts. Next, a detailed description of the belts of Africa will be presented. So, the belts are distinguished:
- Equatorial.
- Subequatorial.
- Tropical.
It should be noted that alternately humid forests, savannas, light forests, deserts, semi-deserts, subtropical forests alternate 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 territory, occupying the area from the Gulf of Guinea to the depression in the Congo. A distinctive feature is the year-round prevalence of equatorial air masses. The temperature is 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 annually.
The complete characterization of the natural zones of Africa considered is impossible without mentioning that a humid equatorial forest is located on this territory. This happened thanks to the same daily rainfall. During the day, unbearable heat in this area is facilitated by evening coolness, rain or thunder.
Subequatorial belt
The farther we move from the equator, the less rainfall there. In addition, in the subequatorial belt , two seasons can be clearly divided:
Since there is not enough rainfall, one can observe such a phenomenon - dense forests are gradually replaced by rare forests, and they, in turn, turn into savannahs. We have already mentioned that two seasons alternate, in one part it rains that brought air masses from the equator, and in the other there is a drought at this time, 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 zone. We will start this now. Just note that this belt can be divided into two zones:
- North of subequatorial.
- South Africa.
A distinctive feature is arid weather, low rainfall. All this contributes to the formation of deserts and savannahs. Dry wind prevails here because of the remoteness from the sea, the deeper we go into the continent, the hotter the air and drier the soil.
The largest desert in the tropical latitudes is the Sahara. Since the air contains small grains of sand, and the temperature rises above forty degrees during the day, it is extremely difficult for a person to be here. Moreover, at night the temperature can drop by at least twenty degrees, and can go into negative indicators.
Subtropics
The climate in this part is distinguished by a change of seasons, it is hot in summer and rainfall in winter. But in southeast Africa, a humid subtropical climate prevails, this contributes to an even distribution of precipitation. It should be noted that the subtropics are divided into two zones:
Why is there a climate change here? In summer, air masses dominated here are inspired from the tropical zone, and in winter - from temperate latitudes. Subtropics are distinguished by the fact that evergreen forests are located here. This area is ennobled by people for agriculture, therefore, in its original form, these latitudes are almost impossible to see.