Africa is a mysterious continent for many travelers. This continent has an ambiguous name too. Scientists still cannot provide people with an exact history of its name. Many historians believe the ancient Romans called “Africa” the northern part of modern Africa, which once was part of the Roman Empire. All of us know about the famous ancient Egyptian pyramids. But in fact, there are even more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt (and some of them are more beautiful than Egyptian pyramids). Nowadays, there are 220 pyramids in Sudan.
Africa is washed by the Indian Ocean in the east and south, it is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, in the northeast – the Red Sea, and in the north – the Mediterranean Sea. The continent of Africa includes a lot of islands. The total area of Africa is 30.2 million square km, including the adjacent islands (this is 20.4% of the Earth’s territory). Africa is the second largest continent on Earth.
Africa has a hot climate that ranges from tropical to subtropical. There are many deserts in Africa (for example, the Sahara Desert in northern Africa), and there are savannah plains and jungles in central and southern regions of this continent.
Many people used to consider that “it is a hot land without rain”, but there are many rivers and lakes on this continent.
The longest river in Africa is the Nile (6,671 km), which flows through Sudan, Uganda and Egypt. There are the largest African rivers: the Congo (4 320 km), the Niger (4 160 km), the Zambezi (2 660 km) and the Ouabi Shabelle (2,490 km).
As for African lakes, the largest of them are Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Chad and Rudolph.
There are several mountain systems in Africa – the Aberdare Range, the Atlas Mountains and the Cape Mountains. The highest point of this continent is the extinct volcano Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters). Slightly lower altitude near Mount Kenya (5,199 m) and Margarita Peak (5,109 m).
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