Africa

(af're-kah,) one of the five great divisions of the globe, is b. N. by the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean; E. by the Isthmus of Suez, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean, dividing it from Asia; S.by the Southern Ocean; and W. by the Atlantic Ocean. A. forms an immense peninsula, joined to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez, and extending from Ras-el-Krun, Lat. 37° 20′ N., to Cape Agulhas, Lat. 34° 50′ S., abt. 5,000 m.; and from Cape Guardafui, Lon. 57° 22′ E., to Cape Verde, Lon. 17° 32′ W., nearly an equal distance. Area, estim. at 12,000,000 sq. m. The islands ofA. consist of 14 principal groups, of which there are in the Atlantic Ocean, the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries, the Cape Verde, the islands of the Gulf of Guinea, St. Matthew, Ascension, and St. Helena. In the Indian Ocean, are Socotra, the Seychelles, Zanguebar, the Comoro Islands, Madagascar, and the Mascarene Islands. The surface of A. appears to consist of a series of terraces gradually rising from the coast to the interior, forming extensive plains and elevated plateaux. The best known of its mountain systems are the range of Mount Atlas in the N.W.; the mountains of Kong, between Nigritia and N. Guinea, to the E. of which extend the Mountains of the Moon; the extreme elevation of which is inferred from the great rivers to which they give rise, and the mountains of Aby in i a in the E. The principal rivers of A. are the Nile, an affluent of the Mediterranean; the Senegal, Gambia, Niger or Quorra, the Zaire, and the Orange, which flow to the Atlantic, and the Zambesi and Juba, emptying into the Indian Ocean. The only known lakes of importance are Lake Tchadda in the interior of Nigritia, Dembea or Tzona in Aby in i a, Londieh in Tunis, Lake Nya a in Lat. 8° Fig. 12.A BEDOUIN ARAB. S., Lon. 30° E., and the lakes of Victoria and Albert N'yanza. Owing to the position ofA., the greater part of it being within the torrid zone, and the extent of its arid pia ins, its climate is exce ively hot, and its tem great character-feature ofA. is the Sahara, an immense desert region stretching acro the N. portion of the continent, between the Atlantic and the Red Sea, composed of burning plains covered with shifting sands, or arid rocks, interspersed occasionally with fertile oases. The mineral riches of A. are little known, but supposed to be very important; diamonds have very recently been discovered in Cape Colony. A. presents the most striking contrasts in its vegetable productions; in the vicinity of arid deserts there are countries covered with the richest verdure; wherever the land is sufficiently watered, as on the banks of rivers and on the slopes of mountains, vegetation is characterized by the utmost vigor and magnificence. Among its vegetable products are the baobab, one of the giants of the vegetable world; a species of teak or oak valuable for building; the cocoa-nut tree, the date, palm, orange, citron, olive, the papyrus, and numerous dye-woods, the. coffee-tree, sugar-cane, cotton, and indigo. The fauna ofA. is still very imperfectly known; it comprises the gorilla and chimpanzee; the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, zebra, giraffe, buffalo; the lion, leopard, panther; the wolf, fox, jackal, hyena, antelopes, and bears. The chief domestic animals are the camel, horse, buffalo, ox, sheep, goats, and dogs. Among the birds may be noticed the ostrich, eagles, vultures, hawks, parrots and parroquets, sun-birds, . The commerce of the interior of A. is conducted by means of caravans, and consists chiefly in gold-dust, copper, ivory, coral, gums, dye-woods, dates, and indigo,which are exchanged for European goods by traders who visit the coasts. A. was for years the chief market for the supply of slaves to America and the European colonies. The in hab. ofA. comprise many varieties of the human species; the most remarkable and best known of these are the Hottentots and Caffres, in the S.; the Negro races to the S.W., and in the interior; the Moors on the N.; the Caucasian races in Aby in i a, and the Copts of Egypt. Fetishism, a degraded superstition, is the religion of the greater number of the pop., being profe ed by nearly all the negroes, and by the great number of the natives of Madagascar. A corrupt form of the Christian religion is profe ed in Aby in i a and part of Egypt, and Mohammedanism prevails in all the other regions. A. is divided into the following countries: N., Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, and further S., the desert of Sahara, with the oases of Fezzan, Darfur, and Kordofan; on theW., Sene gambia and Guinea; on the S., Cape Colony, Caffraria, and the Hottentot country; on the E., Nubia, Aby in i a, Adel, Zanguebar, Mozambique, and Sofala; and in the centre, Soudan or Nigritia.The peninsular form of A. was probably known to the ancients, but their accounts are very brief and indefinite. No definite knowledge of Central and Southern A. was obtained till the commencement of the 15th cent. The Portuguese doubled Cape Bojador in 1433, and discovered in 1486 the Capeof Good Hope, which was doubled by Vasco de Gama in 1497. The subsequent discoveries are noticed under their proper names. The pop. of A. is variously estimated from 80,000,000 to 200,000,000; but there is, in fact, no good authority for the one or the other of these figures. Partial and incorrect census have only been taken in the European colonies and in Egypt; and as to the interior, the vague statements of travellers form the only source of our information. [s. 12]