Africa physical map
With a surface area of 30 million km², Africa is the third largest continent; this represents 6% of the Earth's surface and 20% of the land surface. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, it is attached to Asia at its north-east end by the Isthmus of Suez (crossed by the Suez Canal) on 163 km. From its northern end, at Ras ben Sakka (37°21' N) in Tunisia, to its southern end, to Cape Agulhas (34°51'15" S) in South Africa, the continent extends for about 8 000 km, from Cape Verde (17°33'22" W), at its extreme west, to Ras Hafun (51°27'52" E) in Somalia, in the far east it extends over 7,400 km.
The average altitude of the continent is approximately 600 m above sea level, similar to the average elevation of both North America and South America, but considerably less than that of Asia, 950 m. In contrast to other continents, it is characterized by the lack of extremely high or extremely low zones. The lands below 180 m occupy an unusual small part of its surface, while the highest level is not only much smaller than that of South America or Asia, but the area that exceeds 3000 m is practically insignificant. As a general rule, the highest plateaus are found in the east and in the south, while a progressive decrease in altitude towards the west and north is observed. Apart from the lowlands and the Atlas mountains, the continent can be divided into two regions, high and low plateaus. The dividing line would run from the middle of the Red Sea to about 6 degrees south in the west.
Main ecosystems: Sahara Desert, Sahel, Sudanian Savanna, Congolese forests, Namib Desert, Kalahari Desert, Okavango Delta, Great Lakes, Kenya Highlands, Ethiopian Massif and Great Rift Valley.
Main islands and archipelagos: archipelago of Madeira, archipelago of the Canary Islands, archipelago of Cape Verde, Bioko, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saint Helena, Madagascar, archipelago of the Mascarenhas, archipelago of Zanzibar, archipelago of the Comoros, archipelago of the Seychelles and Socotora.
Main rivers: Senegal, Volta, Niger-Benue, Congo (the second largest in the world), Orange, Limpopo, Nile (the second longest in the world) and Zambezi.