The main issue of this article ischaracteristic of Africa. The first thing you need to know is that Africa constitutes 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.
Characteristics of Africa will be considered by us withfrom different sides, we will get to know countries, natural zones, belts, nations and natural resources. Africa has more than 50 countries, or more precisely 55. It is customary to divide the mainland into the following regions:
- North.
- Tropical.
- SOUTH AFRICA.
So school textbooks offer us, but the scientific literature adheres to a somewhat different division:
- North.
- South.
- Western.
- East.
- Central.
Colonies and the slave trade
Characteristics of Africa are impossible without mentioningcolonies 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 was called Namibia.
Characteristics of Africa, and more precisely the assessment of the EGP countriescan occur according to different criteria, but we take the main thing - the presence or absence of access to the sea. Since Africa is a fairly 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 characteristics of Africa include andanalysis of the natural resources of the continent, which it is very rich. The main wealth of Africa - minerals. What is mined in the territory of this boundless continent:
- Oil.
- Gas.
- Iron ore.
- Manganese ore.
- Uranium ore.
- Copper ore.
- Gold.
- Diamonds.
- Phosphorites.
Итак, какова же общая характеристика Африки?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. By the presence of minerals, South Africa stands out in particular, oil, gas and bauxite are not produced here.
There is little need for the country's water resources, as there are lakes such as:
- Victoria.
- Tanganyika.
- Nyasa
Forest
The forest in Africa takes more than tenpercent of the total area of countries. It is second only to Latin America and Russia. Now these equatorial forests are being actively cut down, leading to desertification of the territory. The characteristics of African countries, namely the availability of agro-climatic resources, cannot be considered unequivocally, since there is a lot of heat and moisture is uneven. Forest areas cover 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
В Африке можно насчитать порядка пятисот этносов, 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 boundaries between them are fuzzy (they do not separate one nationality from another), and this leads to interethnic conflicts.
With regard to natural growth, in Africa there is the highest birth rate, especially in some states:
- Kenya.
- Benin.
- Uganda.
- Nigeria.
- Tanzania.
As high as the birth rate and mortality,This is dominated by youth 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 is growing at a very slow pace, now in Africa only twenty percent of the millionaire cities.
Zones
Since the mainland has a relatively flatrelief, and the majority is located between the tropics, then there is a pronounced zonality. What is the characteristic of the zones of Africa? First you need to divide the entire territory into parts. Next will be presented a detailed description of the belts of Africa. So, allocate the belt:
- Equatorial.
- Subequatorial.
- Tropical.
It should be noted that both sides ofEquatorial forests are alternately alternating with variable-wet forests, savannas, light forests, deserts, semi-deserts, and subtropical forests, but they are located differently towards the south or north.
Equatorial belt
This is a fairly large area, occupyingterrain 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 in the intervals of 24 to 28 degrees, there is no change of seasons. Precipitation falls quite often and evenly over 365 days. For the year falls to 2.5 thousand millimeters of rain.
Considered a complete characteristic of naturalAfrica’s zones are impossible without the mention of the fact that this territory is a humid equatorial forest. It happened due to the same daily precipitation. During the day, there is intolerable heat in this area, which is facilitated by the evening coolness, rain or thunderstorm.
Subequatorial belt
The further we move away from the equator, the less precipitation falls there. In addition, two seasons can be clearly divided in the subequatorial belt:
- Rainy.
- Dry.
Since precipitation is not enough, one can observeand such a phenomenon - dense forests are gradually replaced by rare, and they, in turn, turn into savannah. We have already mentioned that two seasons alternate, in one part rains dominate, which bring air masses from the equator, and in the other part there is a drought, since air masses from the tropics dominate there.
Tropics
Considered characteristic of natural areasAfrica must contain a description of the tropical belt. To this we now proceed. Immediately, we note that this belt can be divided into two zones:
- To the north from subequatorial.
- South Africa.
A distinctive feature - arid weather, smallprecipitation. All this contributes to the formation of deserts and savannas. The dry wind prevails here because of the distance from the sea, the deeper we go into the continent, the hotter the air and the drier the soil.
The largest desert located in tropicallatitudes, 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. Especially since at night the temperature can drop by at least twenty degrees, or it can go to negative values.
Subtropics
The climate in this part is different seasons changeIt is hot in the summer and precipitation falls in winter. But in the southeast of Africa, a humid subtropical climate prevails, this contributes to the uniform distribution of precipitation. It should be noted that the subtropics are divided into two zones:
- south;
- north.
Why is climate change going on here?In the summer, air masses from the tropical belt dominate here, and in winter from temperate latitudes. Subtropics are excellent because there are evergreen forests. This territory is ennobled by people for agriculture, therefore in its original form these latitudes are almost impossible to see.
