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Modern Africa 54 nations. Geography of Africa. Diverse Georgraphy. GEOGRAPHY Africa To the north lies Sahara , the largest desert in the world. Equatorial area is covered by tropical rain forests .
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GEOGRAPHYAfrica • To the north lies Sahara, the largest desert in the world. Equatorial area is covered by tropical rain forests. • Farther south there are areas of grassy flat highlands giving way to coastal plains. Major mountain ranges include Atlas in the north and Ruwenzri on the Uganda-Zaire border. • Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. To the east is the Great Rift Valley containing several huge lakes. • Some of the world’s longest rivers drain the continent, including the Nile, Niger, Zaire, and Zambezi.
Did you know? Africa is one of the earth’s seven continents. It is the second largest continent. Africa is a land of great beauty and resources. The earliest evidence of human beings comes from Africa. Many great cultures developed here.
The Sahara Desert The Sahara Desert The Sahara Desert, covering most of North Africa, is the largest desert in the world. From north to south the Sahara is between 800 and 1,200 miles and is at least 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from east to west. Due to the massive size of the Sahara, Africa is split into two regions: that which lies above or forms part of the Sahara and the rest of Africa south of the Sahara. On the west, the Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the Red Sea, and to the north are the Atlas Mountains and Mediterranean Sea.
The climate of the Sahara has undergone enormous variation between wet and dry over the last few hundred thousand years. During the last ice age, the Sahara was bigger than it is today, extending south beyond its current boundaries. The end of the ice age brought better times to the Sahara, from about 8000 BC to 6000 BC, perhaps due to low pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north. Once the ice sheets were gone, the northern part of the Sahara dried out. However, not long after the end of the ice sheets, the monsoon which currently brings rain to the Sahara came further north and counteracted the drying trend in the southern Sahara. The monsoon in Africa (and elsewhere) is due to heating during the summer. Air over land becomes warmer and rises, pulling in cool wet air from the ocean, which causes rain. Paradoxically, the Sahara was wetter when it received more solar insolation in the summer. In turn, changes all in solar insolation are caused by changes in the Earth's orbital parameters. By around 3400 BC, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today, leading to the desertification of the Sahara. The Sahara is currently as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago.
1. A team of French and Swiss archaeologists working in the Nile Valley have uncovered ancient statues described as sculptural masterpieces in northern Sudan. 2. The archaeologists from the University of Geneva discovered a pit full of large monuments and finely carved statues of the Nubian kings known as the black pharaohs. 3. The Swiss head of the archaeological expedition told the BBC that the find was of worldwide importance. 4. The black pharaohs, as they were known, ruled over a mighty empire stretching along the Nile Valley 2,500 years ago.
Taharqa - King of Nubia (710 - 664 B.C.) At the age of sixteen, this great Nubian king led his armies against the invading Assyrians in defense of his ally, Israel. During his 25-year reign, he controlled the largest empire in ancient Africa. Painting by: John T. Bigger
