Land of Africa

Relief

Physical regions of Africa

The physiography of Africa is essentially a reflection of the geologic history
and geology that is described in the previous section. The continent, composed largely of
a vast rigid block of ancient rocks, has geologically young mountains at its extremities in
the highlands of the Atlas Mountains in the northwest and the Cape ranges in the south.
Between these mountainous areas is a series of plateau surfaces, with huge areas that
are level or slightly undulating, above which stand occasional harder and more
resistant rock masses. Surrounding these surfaces is a zone of plateau slopes below
which are narrow coastal belts widening along the Mediterranean coast, the coastlands
of Tanzania and Mozambique, a narrow belt between the Niger and Cunene (Kunene)
rivers, and an area northward of the Gambia and Sénégal rivers.