What is the difference between Australia and Africa? Comparative characteristics of the continents

Two hot continents, Australia and Africa, have many common features, but there are many differences. The common origin - from Gondwana split into parts of the mainland - caused a noticeable similarity in their relief and climatic conditions. We offer you to get acquainted with the characteristics of Australia and Africa, to understand what unites them, and what, on the contrary, distinguishes them.

Origin

About 100 million years ago, serious tectonic changes took place on the planet, as a result of which the mainland of Gondwana split into the following parts:

• Africa.
• Australia.
• Antarctica.
• South America.
• New Zealand, India, Madagascar Island.

As we see, the commonality of origin determined the presence of similar features in the two southern continents. However, the split occurred a very long time ago. Australia was separated from the rest of the world by the waters of the ocean and therefore for a long time developed along a separate path. That is why there are so many endemic species on this continent — plants and animals that are found only here.

Position

The comparison of Australia and Africa will continue by considering the geographical location of the continents. For this, it is more convenient to create a table.

Based on the data in the table, we note the following aspects:

• The area of ​​Africa is more than 3 times the area of ​​Australia.
• Africa, unlike Australia, intersects both the prime meridian and the equator.
• Both continents are washed by the waters of the Indian Ocean, but a couple of them are the Pacific (for Australia) and the Atlantic (for Africa).

Finally, the climatic conditions are very similar, but since Australia does not cross the equator line, there is no equatorial climate on this continent.

Relief

Having examined the geographical location of Africa and Australia, we will analyze the similarities and differences in the relief of these continents. This is more convenient to present in the table.

As can be seen from the table, the features of the relief of the continents have more similarities than differences. The only difference between Australia and its “sister” is the absence of volcanoes. Both continents consist of alternating hills and plateaus, but lowlands prevail in the relief of both. Finally, both continents are located on an ancient platform.

Population features

Consider the difference in the composition of the population of Australia and Africa, and also find out what similar features are.

On the African continent, for the most part, the indigenous population of the Negroid race lives. The population is approximately 1 billion people. On the continent live such races and nationalities:

• Negro-australoid big race, Negro small (Bantu people, people of Sudan, upper Nile). These peoples are distinguished by dark skin, curly hair, dark eyes, a wide nose has a low nose bridge.
• Negril (pygmies living in tropical forests). They are characterized by low growth. They have a wide nose, thin lips, characteristic hair, skin color lighter than the Bantu people.
• Bushman race (Hottentots, Bushmen). The skin is light, yellowish, lips are thin.
• Caucasoid (Arabs, Berbers). They live in the north of the continent, are distinguished by a swarthy skin color, dark hair and eyes. Most representatives have a nose with a hump. However, sometimes among the Berbers can be found and blue-eyed blondes.
• Ethiopian (ethnic groups living in Somalia, Ethiopia).

The population of Australia is approximately 24.5 million people, while the number has a dynamic growth. Most of the inhabitants of the continent, in the territory of which there is only one state, come from different countries of the world. The indigenous population is very small (according to recent estimates, no more than 2%). It includes Maori and Papuans.

In the next video, you can get acquainted with the life features of Australian Aborigines.

The composition of residents includes:

• Irish.
• British.
• New Zealanders.
• Germans.
• Hindus
• Greeks

Most of the mainland population are modern descendants of immigrants from the British Isles. In search of a better share, more than 300 thousand British and Irish went here, so the inhabitants got the name Anglo-Australians.

Common features

Before examining in more detail how the composition of the population of Australia and Africa differs, we find out what their similarities are:

• Indigenous Aborigines, representatives of the Negroid race, live on both continents.
• Uneven distribution of people across the continent. Vast areas are not completely populated, a huge number of residents are concentrated in a number of large cities.

Both continents were actively mastered by Europeans, therefore, along with the indigenous population, a large number of immigrants live on their territory.

Differences

We examined the similarities of the two continents. Now we find out how the composition of the population of Australia and Africa differs. First of all, this is the ratio of the indigenous and the visiting population.

• African countries are characterized by a predominance of indigenous people, while Australian Papuans and Māori make up about 2% of the total population.
• Next is the standard of living: most African countries are in distress, mired in poverty and unemployment, and Australia is a developed urban country with a high standard of living.
• If the average life expectancy in Africa is about 50 years (in some poor countries like Niger - 43 years), then Australians live up to 80 years.

These are the differences in Africa and Australia in terms of population composition. Despite the fact that both continents are characterized by positive dynamics of population growth, the standard of living on them is completely different.

Summarizing

We learned the difference between the composition of the population of Australia and Africa, two continents that have a common origin, but whose development took place under different conditions, in a distance from each other. Now Australia is a modern state with high living standards. While most of the countries of hot Africa are experiencing a shortage of basic food and water.

A comparison of Australia and Africa showed that, despite the presence of a large number of similar points, these continents are very different from each other.