The region of West Africa includes the southern portion of the bulge of the continent, which extends westward to the Atlantic Ocean. This region is bisected by the African Transition Zone, which borders the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The main physical features include the Sahara Desert and the Niger River.
What kind of geography did West Africa have?
Geography In the north, West Africa begins in the Sahara. To the west and south, the region is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the east, by the mountains of the present-day country of Cameroon. West Africa includes varied vegetation zones of desert, semidesert, savanna, and forest.
What is the geography of Africa like?
Africa is the most tropical of all continents. Climate and vegetation range from equatorial rainforests, tropical deserts and savanna grassland to Mediterranean. The Sahara Desert, the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, is over 10.4 million km2 n North to south is approx. 1800 kms and east-west is 5600km.
How would you describe West Africa?
The term West Africa is also often used to refer to this part of the continent. As conventionally understood, however, West Africa is primarily a political and economic designation and comprises all the areas considered here except Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and the Saharan parts of Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.
What is the geology of West Africa?
Geology. West Africa is remarkable for its geological variety. Like most of Africa, the region is largely composed of ancient Precambrian rocks (at least 541 million years old, the oldest rocks may be about 3 billion years old), which have been folded and fractured over hundreds of millions of years.
What are 3 geographical features in West Africa?
The region of West Africa includes the southern portion of the bulge of the continent, which extends westward to the Atlantic Ocean. This region is bisected by the African Transition Zone, which borders the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The main physical features include the Sahara Desert and the Niger River.
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What is the climate of West Africa?
Climate. West Africa has wet and dry seasons resulting from the interaction of two migrating air masses. … The lowland climates of West Africa are characterized by uniformly high sunshine and high temperatures throughout the year, mean annual temperatures are usually above 18°C.
Where is Africa located geographically?
The continent of Africa borders the southern half of the Mediterranean Sea. The Atlantic Ocean is to the west and the Indian Ocean is to the Southeast. Africa stretches well south of the equator to cover more than 12 million square miles making Africa the world’s second largest continent.
What is the West Ocean of Africa?
The continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Africa. Africa.
What is the westernmost point of Africa?
Cape Verde Peninsula, French Presqu’île du Cap Vert, peninsula in west-central Senegal that is the westernmost point of the African continent.
What are the landforms of West Africa?
What are the major landforms in West Africa? Most of West Africa’s mountain massifs and highlands, such as the Aïr Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Adrar des Ifoghas, and the Fouta Djallon, originated as Precambrian folds (Church, 1966).
What makes up West Africa?
The West Africa UN subregion includes the following countries:Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo .
What is West Africa known for?
West Africa is famous for its cultural diversity and rich history. Unique mud architecture and landscapes dominate Niger and Mali’s major sights. Slave forts on Goree Island and along Ghana’s coast attract many visitors.
What are the four main geographic regions of West Africa?
The West African region can be divided into four climatic sub-regions namely the Guinea Coast, Soudano-Sahel, Sahel (extending eastward to the Ethiopian border) and the Sahara, each with different climatic conditions.
What forms the boundary of West Africa in the south and west?
By convention, West Africa is the western part of Africa, bounded in the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the south by the Gulf of Guinea, and in the north by the Sahara and the Sahel, a beltlike semiarid transition zone between the Sahara desert and the Sudanian Savanna.
What are the four climate zones of West Africa quizlet?
- humid tropical – Atlantic coast and Gulf of Guinea.
- tropical savanna – south of the Sahel.
- desert – Sahara desert, northenmost zone.
- steppe – south of Sahara, semiarid strip of land called Sahel.
What is the physical geography of Central Africa?
Central Africa covers a large physical area that can range from desert conditions to the north in Chad to tropical rain forests and mountains in the equatorial region of The Congo. The entire region is roughly the same size as the United States west of the Mississippi River.
How did the geography of Africa affect its development?
The geography of Africa helped to shape the history and development of the culture and civilizations of Ancient Africa. The geography impacted where people could live, important trade resources such as gold and salt, and trade routes that helped different civilizations to interact and develop.
What is the physical geography of Nigeria?
In general, the topography of Nigeria consists of plains in the north and south interrupted by plateaus and hills in the centre of the country. The Sokoto Plains lie in the northwestern corner of the country, while the Borno Plains in the northeastern corner extend as far as the Lake Chad basin.
What is the vegetation of West Africa?
The natural vegetation in West Africa ranges from short grass at the desert border to humid rain forests at the southern border of the region near the Atlantic coast. The area in between is occupied by several vegetation zones ranging from tropical forests, to woodland, sa- vanna, shrubs, and short grass.
What are the three main types of climate in West Africa?
What are the three main types of climate in West Africa? West African domain divided into three climatic zones: Guinea (4°N–8°N), Savanna (8°N–11°N), and Sahel (11°N–16°N) (source: [49, 50]).
How did geography affect trade in West Africa?
How did geography affect trade in West Africa? Geography affected trade because there are so many regions in Africa with different resources. The different areas had to trade to get what they needed. … Most communities grew or made everything they needed, and traded with other to get what they needed and hadn’t grown.
What are the plains of Africa?
Plains. Much of Africa is made up of plains of the pediplain and etchplain type often occurring as steps. The etchplains are commonly associated with laterite soil and inselbergs. Inselberg-dotted plains are common in Africa including Tanzania, the Anti-Atlas of Morocco, Namibia, and the interior of Angola.
What is the topography of Africa?
The topography of the African continent is characterized by large-scale extensional features such as the East African Rift, widespread volcanic activity, and anomalously subsided basins and uplifted domes1.
Which part of Africa is the most mountainous?
#1.
Situated in Northern Tanzania close to the Kenya border, Mount Kilimanjaro – also known as ‘the roof of Africa’ or simply as ‘Kili’ – is the tallest mountain in Africa and the highest freestanding mountain in the world, with the summit about 4,900 meters from its base.
Which statement about the geography of Africa is most accurate?
Which statement about the geography of Africa is most accurate? Much of the land in Africa is below sea level. The variety of geographic barriers has served to promote cultural diversity. Africa has an irregular coastline with many natural harbors.
What is the shape of Africa?
Geographically, Africa resembles a bulging sandwich. The sole continent to span both the north and south temperate zones, it has a thick tropical core lying between one thin temperate zone in the north and another in the south. That simple geographic reality explains a great deal about Africa today.
Which desert is on the coast of western Africa?
The Namib Desert spans part of the west coast of southern Africa, it touches part of the countries of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa.
Which is the southernmost point of Africa?
Cape Agulhas, cape that is the southernmost point of the African continent, located 109 miles (176 km) southeast of Cape Town, S.Af.
What is the southernmost country in Africa?
The southernmost country of the African continent, South Africa is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Eswatini.
What is the easternmost part of Africa?
Horn of Africa, region of eastern Africa. It is the easternmost extension of African land and for the purposes of this article is defined as the region that is home to the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, whose cultures have been linked throughout their long history.
What type of landforms are found in Africa?
What types of landforms are found in Africa? Rift valleys, mountains, and plateaus.
Which landform is in Central Africa?
The landscapes of Central Africa are most often wide plateaus, which are smooth in the central part and etched at the periphery. The interior basin of the Congo River is joined to the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow neck traversing ridges parallel to the coast.
Which Basin is located in West Africa and is covered in tropical rainforests?
The Congo basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world.
What are the three facts about West Africa?
The 14th-century king was named the richest person in all history by the Celebrity Net Worth website. Mansa Musa I ruled West Africa’s Malian Empire in the early 1300s, making his fortune by exploiting Mali’s salt and gold production. 4. West Africa is more culturally diverse than the whole of Asia.
What are 3 major economic resources found in West Africa?
Agriculture remains a major economic sector, providing income for nearly half of Ghanaians. The country is endowed with rich natural resources. Timber, gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, and oil contribute to making Ghana among the wealthier nations in West Africa.
Who discovered West Africa?
The colonization of the Cape Verde Islands, from the 1460s onward, provided bases for trade with the fringes of the Mali empire. The most momentous discovery in western Africa, however, came in 1471, when Portuguese captains first reached the coast of modern Ghana between the mouths of the Ankobra and Volta rivers.
What is the main language in West Africa?
English. In West Africa, English is the primary language of many countries. Nations like Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana speak it officially.