Africa - Location

1. Second largest continent and the continent which remained unexplored till
middle of nineteenth century.

2. It was called the “Dark Continent” for a long time because

1. Its position on a high plateau, rising straight from the coast, made entry into the
continent practically impossible.
2. It posseses a largely unbroken and straight coastline which does not make for good
harbours. This made it difficult for ships to reach the continent.
3. The vast Sahara desert in the northen part also acted as an obstacle for explorers to
move south from Mediterranean coast. The Namib and Kalahari deserts were also
acted as barriers.
4. The hot and humid climatic conditions and fear of diseases like malaria and sleeping
sickness discouraged western explorers from venturing too far within the continent.

3. Discoverers of Africa
1. James Bruce- invented Africa when he went in search of source of the River Nile.
2. Mungo Park – explored Niger River
3. Robert Moffat , a missionary – travelled extensively in West and South Africa
4. David Livingstone – discoverer of Victoria Falls, which he named after Queen Victoria.
 Africa- Boundary
1. It is almost completely surrounded by water.
2. lies between 17 W and 51 E longitudes.
3. 37 N and 35 S latitude.
4. Sinai Peninsula is the only portion of land joining Asia to
Africa.
5. Mediterranean Sea lies to its north, separating it from Europe.
6. Atlantic Ocean on west and to its east lies the Indian ocean.
7. The Equator divides Africa into almost two equal halves.
8. The only continent which has Tropic of Cancer, Equator and
Tropic of Capicon running through it.
 Africa- Physical Features
1. Most of the Africa is plateau. It is lower in the north and highest
in the south.
2. There are five major divisions in Africa:
1. Mountains
2. Plateaus
3. Great Rift Valley
4. Rivers
5. Deserts
3. Mountains:
1. There are not too many mountains.
2. The Atlas mountains lie in the northwest of the continent and are
young fold mountains like Himalayas.
3. This mountain chain consists of roughly parallel ranges, which stretch
from Atlantic coast of Morocco to northen Tunisia, consisting of 2250
km.
4. Djebel Toubkal ( 4167 m) is located in the High Atlas mountain of
Morocco.
 Africa–Physical Features
The Plaateaus
1. The northen part of the African Plateau stretches from the
Atlantic coast in the west to the Nile valley in the west.
2. The Ahaggar Plateau and sahara Desert are located here.
3. The southern part of the African Plateau is divided into:
1. The Ethiopian Highlands
2. Central Lake Plateau
3. South African Plateau.

4. The Ethiopian Highlands has Dashan (4620 m) as its

highest peak.

5. Mt, Kenya, Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro ( 5895 m)-

Africa’s highest peak are located in Ethiopian Highlands.
 Africa–Physical Features
The Great rift Valley
1. It’s a special feature of African Plateau.

2. It’s a long deep calley with vertical cracks or rifts in the land as a result of
movement of Earth;s crust.

3. It runs all the way from Mozambique along the east coast to the Red Sea.

3. Then it moves valley of River Jordan and Syria in Asia.

4. The valley is widening gradually and in the process causing volcanic eruptions
and earthquakes.

5. The cracks and rifts have filled up with many freshwater lakes like:
1. Lake Malawai
2. Lake tanganyika
3. Lake Ruolf

6. The world’s largest freshwater lake , Victoria does not lie here but along the Rift valley.
 Africa –Physical Features
The Rivers and the Deserts
1. Occupies about one-third of the total area of Australia.
2. Lies between the Western Plateau and the Eastern
Highlands.
3. Spread all the way from the Gulf of carpentaria in the
north to the Encounter Bay in the South.
4. There are three drainage areas of river water in this plains.
5. The lowland around Gulf of Carpentaria at the north.
6. The Murray- Darlingat Basin- area of inland drainage at
southeast wards.
7. The Lake Eyre Basin – is an area of inland drainage as
there is no outlet to the sea.
8. Australia along with New Zealand, the island of New
Guinea and the other neighbouring islands in the Pacafic
Ocean are together known as Australasia. ( Very IMP)
 Australia –Rivers and Lake in
The Central Lowlands
1. Murray
1. is fed by mountain snow, so it never runs dry.
2. It is 2570 km long.
3. It forms the state boundry between New South Wales and Victoria.
4. It finally flows into the to south of Adelaide.
5. It is used for irrigation.
2. Darling
1. It is main tributary of the Murray.
2. It is 3057 km long.
3. It has an erratic flow of water, low in times of draught , floods
during heavy rains.
3. Lake Eyre.
1. It is a salt-water Lake.
2. It close to 11 m below the sea level.
3. It is a seasonal lake because it stays dry except when it rains.
 Australia –The Central Lowlands
The Great Artesian Basin
1. What is artesian basin and acquifer?
1. In an artesian basin, a layer of porous rocks lies between two layers of
non-porous rocks.
2. The water that seeps underground gets collected in this porous layer.
3. The layer in which the water gets collected is called as acquifer.
4. The water can not get escaped as it lies between two layers of non-porous
layers.
5. The well bored into acquifer is known as artesian well.
6. The water of artesian well is useful for cattle farmer but cannot be used
for irrigation as as it is brakish ( salty) water.

2. Location
1. It is world’s largest artesian basin.
2. Found in Murray –Darling Basin, the lowlands of Carpentaria and
northern parts of Lake Eyre basin.
3. It is most reliable source of water for most of inland Australia.
4. It compensates for the shortgae of rains in lowlands.
 Australia –The Great Western Plateau
1. Made up of old hard rocks and it is rich in minerals.
2. It covers almost 2/3 ( two-third)of Australian continent.
3. Most of it is desert or semi-desert.
4. It is home for the Great Australian Desert.
5. The pateau includes western Australia, major part of
Northen Teritory and South Australia.
6. The average height of the plateau is 3 mtrs above the sea
level.
7. Darling Range, Mcdonnell Range and Musgrave Range are
some of the mountain ranges in the Western Plateau.
8. One of the Australia’s most famous feature, Uluru or Ayers
Rock is located and almost in the center of continent.
9. Uluru is the Aboriginal name and is sacred to the Aborigines.
10. It was named as Ayre Rock after the then Chief Secretary Sir
Henry Ayers. ( Imp)