Africa.pptVIP

Geography of Africa Geography Africa is the world‘s second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km2 including adjacent（相邻的） islands, it covers 6% of the Earth’s total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people , it accounts for about 14.72% of the worlds human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea （地中海）to the north, both the Suez Canal（苏伊士运河） and the Red Sea（红海） along the Sinai Peninsula（西奈半岛） to the northeast, the Indian Ocean（印度洋） to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean （大西洋）to the west. The continent has 54 sovereign states（主权国）, including Madagascar（马达加斯加岛） and various island groups. Climate of Africa The climate of Africa ranges from tropical（热带） to sub arctic （亚热带）on its highest peaks. Its northern half is primarily desert or arid, while its central and southern areas contain both savanna plains （热带草原）and very dense jungle (rainforest)（热带雨林） regions. In between, there is a convergence where vegetation patterns such as sahel(荒漠草原), and steppe （干草原）dominate. Africa is the hottest continent on earth; dry lands and deserts comprise 60% of the entire land surface. The record for the highest temperature recorded was set in Libya in 1992. Natural Resources Africa has a large quantity of natural resources including oil, diamonds（钻石）, gold, iron（铁）, cobalt（钴）, uranium（铀）, copper, bauxite（铝土矿）, silver, petroleum（石油）, but also woods and tropical fruits. It has lots of its natural resources undiscovered or barely tapped. Having a low human density, for a long period of time Africa has been colonized by more dynamic（有活力的） groups, exploiting African resources. Some economists have talked about the ‘scourge（灾祸） of raw materials, large quantities of rare raw materials putting Africa under heavy pressures and tensions, leading to wars and slow development. Despite these abundance of natural resources, many Western nations like the U.S., U.K., Canada, and France often exploit Af