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Category
Geography of Africa
Summary
Africa is a continent comprising 63 political territories, representing the largest of the great southward projections from the main mass of Earth's surface. Within its regular outline, it comprises an area of , excluding adjacent islands. Its highest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro; its largest lake is Lake Victoria.
Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from much of Asia by the Red Sea, Africa is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez (which is transected by the Suez Canal), wide. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt – east of the Suez Canal – is often considered part of Africa. From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia, at 37°21′ N, to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, 34°51′15′′ S, is a distance approximately of ; from Cap-Vert, 17°31′13′′W, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in the Somali Puntland region, in the Horn of Africa, 51°27′52′′ E, the most easterly projection, is a distance (also approximately) of .
The main structural lines of the continent show both the east-to-west direction characteristic, at least in the eastern hemisphere, of the more northern parts of the world, and the north-to-south direction seen in the southern peninsulas. Africa is thus mainly composed of two segments at right angles, the northern running from east to west, and the southern from north to south.
The average elevation of the continent approximates closely to above sea level, roughly near to the mean elevation of both North and South America, but considerably less than that of Asia, . In contrast with other continents, it is marked by the comparatively small area of either very high or very low ground, lands under occupying an unusually small part of the surface; while not only are the highest elevations inferior to those of Asia or South America, but the area of land over is also quite insignificant, being represented almost entirely by individual peaks and mountain ranges.
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