INTRODUCTION
Alphabetical list of countries in Africa –
REGIONAL DIVISIONS OF AFRICA
The physiographic divisions of Africa are into the following six regions:
➢ Northern Africa
It extends from Algeria in the north, through, the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Ceuta, Egypt, Libya, Madeira, Melilla, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, It reaches up to Western Sahara.
➢ Northeast Africa
It is also called the horn of Africa which extends several hundred kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It contains countries such as Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
➢ Eastern Africa
The extensive area stretches from the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa to Mozambique including Burundi, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
➢ Central Africa
It is the large landmass situated exactly in the middle of the continent covering Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and PrÃncipe.
➢ Southern Africa
It is the southern most part of the continent and covers the countries such as Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland.
➢ Western Africa
It is situated roughly at 100° E longitude covering countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
MAJOR PHYSICAL DIVISIONS OF AFRICA
The major physical divisions of African continent are:
➢ The Plateaus
The vast African continents are famous for its saucer-shaped and steep edged plateaus that are facing towards the coast and extending from Guinea coast to Somali Land and north Sahara to the Cape Province.
These are divided into three groups:
(i) South African plateau – The South African plateau as far as about 12°S, bounded east, west and south by bands of high ground which fall steeply to the coasts. The South African plateau is connected towards the north-east with the East African plateau.
(ii) East African plateau – The East African plateau, with probably a slightly greater average elevation, and marked by some distinct features. It is formed by a widening out of the eastern axis of high ground, which becomes subdivided into a number of zones running north and south and consisting in turn of ranges, tablelands and depressions.
(iii) Ethiopian Highlands – The third division of the higher region of Africa is formed by the Ethiopian Highlands, a rugged mass of mountains forming the largest continuous area of its altitude in the whole continent.
Plateaus –
(i) Katanga Plateau Farming, ranching, resource-rich – copper and Uranium deposits
(ii) Ethiopian Plateau Lake Tana (Source of Blue Nile), cooler despite close to the equator
(iii) Great Karoo Semi-desert region
(iv) Bie Plateau Important for copper, Agriculture and cattle rearing
(v) Adamawa Plateau Savannah vegetation, Bauxite deposits
➢ Mountains
Some of the well known mountain ranges are:
Atlas Mountains –
Ruwenzori Mountains –
Mount Elgon –
Tibesti Mountains –
Ahaggar Mountains –
The Drakensberg –
Mount Kenya –
Kilimanjaro –