AFRICA, second in size of the six con tinents, with a continental area of 11,262,000 square miles and islands of 239,000 more, has the Mediterranean north, the Atlantic west, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean east, the Antarctic Ocean south; and lies nearly due south of Europe and southwest of Asia. It extends from lat. 3P 20' N. to 51' S., and long. 17° 32' W. to 28' E., being nearly equal in length and breadth from its extreme points; from Cape Blanco in Tunis to Cape Agulhas in Cape Colony is nearly 5,000 miles; from Cape Verde in Senegal to Cape Guardafui in Somali land about 4,600. The northern section, how ever, has an average breadth nearly double that of the southern, owing to the great northern projection of the upper part, the western coast taking a sudden inward turn and facing south for nearly 20 degrees of longitude, forming the Gulf of Guinea.
General
From its junction with Asia at the Isthmus of Suez, the north coast runs west by a little north to the Strait of Gibraltar, its nearest approach to Europe, whose Mediterranean shore it faces, and whence for many centuries it derived its principal civili narrow expanse of the Red Sea; further south the Gulfs of Cabes and Sidra. From the Isthmus south the coast runs somewhat south east, parallel to Arabia, separated by the long narrow expanse of the Red Sea; further south it projects well to the east, overlapping the south coast of Arabia and again running nearly parallel to it, the two forming the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. From the terminus of this projection at Cape Guarda fui, the coast trends southwest with slight un dulations to the south extremity of the conti nent. About midway, separated from the main land by the Illozambique Channel, 250 miles wide, lies thegreat island of Madagascar. Save those named, Africa has no great indenta tions, and the coast line is very small relatively to its size; about 16,000 miles, a fifth less than that of Europe absolutely, and between one fourth and one-fifth as great relatively. The southern extremity presents to the Southern Ocean a coast line of nearly 400 miles exclud ing indentations, compendiously known as '
Thomas, Annobon, etc., Ascension Island, St. Helena and Tristan d'Acunha; in the Indian Ocean, Sokotra, Zanzibar, Seychelles, Amirante, Comoro Isles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, with their dependencies; and some small islands in the Southern Ocean.
Northern The interior of Africa forms two great divisions nearly corresponding with the external diversity of form already in dicated. The northern section has its greatest extension from east to west, the southern from north to south. The northern division lies for the most part above the 6th degree of north latitude, extending from the Atlantic on the west to the Somali coast and the Red Sea on the east. Its principal feature is the Sahara or Great desert, which is inclosed on the north by the elevated plateau of Barbary and that of Barca, on the east by the Nile valley, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the south by the Niger and the countries of the Sudan. The north coast region (plateau of Barbary) is traversed by the Atlas system and its continu ations, rising to the height of 13,000 feet or even more. Exclusive of the mountains it has an elevation of from 1,500 to 3,000 feet. From Barca, where the former level prevails, it de scends gradually toward Egypt. The character of the desert, though sufficiently inhospitable, is much less uniformly monotonous than till recent researches it was commonly reputed to be. Instead of an undeviating sandy plain irregularly interspersed with speck-like oases it contains elevated plateaux and even mountains with more or less permanent streams, and habit able valleys which lose themselves in the vast low-lying tracts of sand with which the more elevated regions alternate. The desert itself is furrowed with midis (dry river-beds) radiating in all directions; while under the sand collec tions of water have been found, which by means of artesian wells have been turned to account by the French in their dependency, Algeria. A considerable nomadic population is thinly scat tered over the habitable parts of the desert, and in the more favored regions there are settled communities. (See SAHARA). To the south of the Sahara, and separating it from the plateau of southern Africa, a belt of pas toral or steppe country extends across Africa. This region has received the general name of the Sudan and includes the countries on the Niger, around Lake Tchad, and east to the elevated region of Abyssinia.