Africa Terrain Map and Natural Geographical Features

African Terrain Map

The coastline is 30,500 kilometers long. The coastline is relatively straight and lacks bays and peninsulas. Africa is the continent with the fewest islands in the world. Only Madagascar Island (the world's fourth largest island) is large, while the rest are small islands, with a total area of about 620,000 square kilometers, accounting for less than 3% of the continent's total area.

Africa is in the shape of an inequilateral triangle, widest in the north and narrowest in the south, with its longest north-south distance approximately 8,000 kilometers and its widest east-west distance approximately 7,500 kilometers. Africa is a highland continent with relatively flat terrain, with only two prominent mountain ranges: the northern and southern ends. The average elevation is 750 meters, with more than 60% of the area at an elevation of 500-1000 meters. Approximately 5% of the area is at elevations of 2000 meters or higher. Low plains are mainly distributed in coastal areas with an elevation of less than 200 meters. The terrain is roughly divided along the line from the mouth of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the northern edge of the Ethiopian Highlands, with the southeast part higher (averaging over 1000 meters) and the northwest part lower, featuring the Ethiopian Highlands, the East African Highlands, and the South African Highlands, including the Karahandi Basin. The northwest part is known as Low Africa, with an average elevation of less than 500 meters, featuring low plateaus and basins, including the Upper Nile Basin, the Congo Basin, and the Chad Basin. The most prominent mountain ranges in Africa are located in the highlands: the Atlas Mountains along the northwest coast, the Drakensberg Mountains along the southeast coast, and the Kenyan Highlands and Mount Kilimanjaro along the east coast. Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano, with an elevation of 5,895 meters, the highest peak in Africa. East Africa has the world's largest rift valley, extending from the mouth of the Gilgil River to the Red Sea. The eastern branch extends from the Gilgil River to the Dead Sea, approximately 6,400 kilometers long, and the western branch extends to the Albert Lake. The rift valley forms a series of narrow and deep valleys and lakes, including Lake Assal, whose water surface is 156 meters below sea level, the lowest point on the African continent. Approximately 1/3 of Africa’s area is desert, the largest in any continent. The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest desert, with an area of 7,770,000 square kilometers. There are also the Namib Desert and the Kalahari Desert in southwestern Africa.