Af′rica, one of the three great divisions of the Old World, and the second in extent of the five principal continents of the globe, forming a vast peninsula joined to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. It is of a compact form, with few important projections or indentations, and having therefore a very small extent of coast-line (about 16,000 miles, or much less than that of Europe) in proportion to its area. This continent extends from 37° 21′ N. lat. to 34° 51′ S. lat., and the extreme points, Cape Blanco and Cape Agulhas, are nearly 5000 miles apart. From west to east, between Cape Verde, lon. 17° 34′ W., and Cape Guardafui, lon. 51° 16′ E., the distance is about 4600 miles. The area is estimated at 11,500,000 sq. miles, or more than three times that of Europe. The islands belonging to Africa are not numerous, and, except Madagascar, none of them are large. They include Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Verde Islands, Fernando Po, Principe, São Thomé, Ascension, St. Helena, Mauritius, Réunion, the Comoros, Socotra, &c.
The interior of Africa is as yet imperfectly known, but we know enough of the continent as a whole to be able to point to some general features that characterize it. One of these is that almost all round it at no great distance from the sea, and, roughly speaking, parallel with the coast-line, we find ranges of mountains or elevated lands forming the outer edges of interior plateaux. The most striking feature of Northern Africa is the immense tract known as the Sahara or Great Desert, which is enclosed on the north by the Atlas Mountains (greatest height, 12,000 to 15,000 feet), the plateau of Barbary and that of Barqa, on the east by the mountains along the west coast of the Red Sea, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the Sudan. The Sahara is by no means the sea of sand it has sometimes been represented: it contains elevated plateaux and even mountains radiating in all directions, with habitable valleys between. A considerable nomadic population is scattered over the habitable parts, and in the more favoured regions there are settled communities. The Sudan, which lies to the south of the Sahara, and separates it from the more elevated plateau of Southern Africa, forms a belt of pastoral country across Africa, and includes the countries on the Niger, around Lake Tchad (or Chad), and eastwards to the elevated region of Abyssinia. Southern Africa as a whole is much more fertile and well watered than Northern Africa, though it also has a desert tract of considerable extent (the Kalahari Desert). This division of the continent consists of a tableland, or series of tablelands, of considerable elevation and great diversity of surface, exhibiting hollows filled with great lakes, and terraces over which the rivers break in falls and rapids, as they find their way to the low-lying coast tracts. The mountains which enclose Southern Africa are mostly much higher on the east than on the west, the most northerly of the former being those of Abyssinia, with heights of 10,000 to 14,000 or 16,000 feet, while the eastern edge of the Abyssinian plateau presents a steep unbroken line of 7000 feet in height for many hundred miles. Farther south, and between the great lakes and the Indian Ocean, we find Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro (19,500 feet), the loftiest in Africa, covered with perpetual snow. Of the continuation of this mountain boundary we shall only mention the Drakenberg Mountains, which stretch to the southern extremity of the continent, reaching, in Cathkin Peak, Natal, the height of over 10,000 feet. Of the mountains that form the western border the highest are the Cameroon Mountains, which rise to a height of 13,000 feet at the inner angle of the Gulf of Guinea. The average elevation of the southern plateau is from 3000 to 4000 feet.
The Nile is the only great river of Africa which flows into the Mediterranean. It receives its waters primarily from the great lake Victoria Nyanza, which lies under the equator, and in its upper course is fed by tributary streams of great size, but for the last 1200 miles of its course it has not a single affluent. It drains an area of more than 1,000,000 sq. miles. The Indian Ocean receives numerous rivers; but the only great river of South Africa which enters that ocean is the Zambezi, the fourth in size of the continent, and having in its course the Victoria Falls, one of the greatest waterfalls in the world. In Southern Africa also, but flowing westward and entering the Atlantic, is the Congo, which takes its origin from a series of lakes and marshes in the interior, is fed by great tributaries, and is the first in volume of all the African rivers, carrying to the ocean more water than the Mississippi. Unlike most of the African rivers, the mouth of the Congo forms an estuary. Of the other Atlantic rivers, the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Niger are the largest, the last being third among African streams.
With the exception of Lake Tchad there are no great lakes in the northern division of Africa, whereas in the number and magnificence of its lakes the southern division almost rivals North America. Here are the Victoria and Albert Nyanza, Lakes Tanganyika, Nyasa, Shirwa, Bangweulu, Moero, and other lakes. Of these the Victoria and Albert belong to the basin of the Nile; Tanganyika, Bangweulu, and Moero to that of the Congo; Nyasa, by its affluent the Shiré, to the Zambezi. Lake Tchad on the borders of the northern desert region is now known to be much smaller than was formerly believed, but varies in area according to the season. Lake Ngami in the far south is now a mere swamp.
The climate of Africa is mainly influenced by the fact that it lies almost entirely within the tropics. In the equatorial belt, both north and south, rain is abundant and vegetation very luxuriant, dense tropical forests prevailing for about 10° on either side of the line. To the north and south of the equatorial belt the rainfall diminishes, and the forest region is succeeded by an open pastoral and agricultural country. This is followed by the rainless regions of the Sahara on the north and the Kalahari Desert on the south, extending beyond the tropics, and bordering on the agricultural and pastoral countries of the north and south coasts, which lie entirely in the temperate zone. The low coast regions of Africa are almost everywhere unhealthy, the Atlantic coast within the tropics being the most fatal region to Europeans.
Among mineral productions may be mentioned gold, which is found in the rivers of West Africa (hence the name Gold Coast), and in Southern Africa, most abundantly in the Transvaal; diamonds have been found in large numbers in recent years in the south; iron, copper, lead, tin, and coal are also found.—Among plants are the baobab, the date-palm (important as a food plant in the north), the doum-palm, the oil-palm, the wax-palm, the shea-butter tree, trees yielding caoutchouc, the papyrus, the castor-oil plant, indigo, the coffee-plant, heaths with beautiful flowers, aloes, &c. Among cultivated plants are wheat, maize, millet, and other grains, cotton, coffee, cassava, ground-nut, yam, banana, tobacco, various fruits, &c. As regards both plants and animals, Northern Africa, adjoining the Mediterranean, is distinguished from the rest of Africa in its great agreement with Southern Europe.—Among the most characteristic African animals are the lion, hyena, jackal, gorilla, chimpanzee, baboon, African elephant (never domesticated, yielding much ivory to trade), hippopotamus, rhinoceros, giraffe, zebra, quagga, antelopes in great variety and immense numbers.—Among birds are the ostrich, the secretary-bird or serpent-eater, the honey-guide cuckoo, sacred ibis, guinea fowl.—The reptiles include the crocodile, chameleon, and serpents of various kinds, some of them very venomous. Among insects are locusts, scorpions, the tsetse-fly whose bite is so fatal to cattle, and white-ants.
The great races of which the population of Africa mainly consists are the Eastern Hamites (who are not a distinct race but a blend), the Semites, the Negroes, and the Bantus. To the Semitic stock belong the Arabs, who form a considerable portion of the population in Egypt and along the north coast, while a portion of the inhabitants of Abyssinia is of the same race. The Hamites are represented, according to Sergi, by the Copts of Egypt, the Berbers, Kabyles, &c., of Northern Africa, and the Somâli, Danâkil, &c., of East Africa. The Negro races occupy a vast territory in the Sudan and Central Africa, while the Bantus occupy the greater part of Southern Africa from a short distance north of the equator, and include the Kaffirs, Bechuanas, Swahili, and allied races. In the extreme south-west are the Hottentots and Bushmen (the latter a dwarfish race), distinct from the other races as well as, probably, from each other. In Madagascar there is a large Malay element. To these may be added the Fulahs on the Niger and the Nubians on the Nile and elsewhere, who are of a brownish colour, and are often regarded as distinct from the other races, though sometimes classed with the Negroes. In religion a great proportion of the inhabitants are heathens of the lowest type; Mohammedanism numbers a large number of adherents in North Africa, and is rapidly spreading in the Sudan; Christianity prevails only among the Copts, the Abyssinians, and the natives of Madagascar, the last-named having been converted in recent times. Elsewhere the missionaries seem to have made but little progress. Over a great part of the continent civilization is at a low ebb, yet in some parts the natives have shown considerable skill in agriculture and various mechanical arts, as in weaving and metal working. Of African trade two features are the caravans that traverse great distances, and the trade in slaves that still widely prevails, though it has been greatly restricted in recent years. Among articles exported from Africa are palm-oil, diamonds, ivory, ostrich feathers, wool, cotton, gold, esparto, caoutchouc, &c. The population is estimated at 180,000,000. Of these a small number are of European origin—French in Algeria and Morocco, British and Dutch at the southern extremity.
Great areas in Africa have been apportioned among European Powers as protectorates or spheres of influence. Among native States still more or less independent are Egypt, Abyssinia, Waday, Bagirmi, Liberia. To Britain belong the Cape Province, Natal, the Orange Free State and Transvaal, with Rhodesia,