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Africa: continents, countries and grid references

Africa’s place in the world, its countries, oceans and deserts, and how to use grid references. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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Africa on the world map

The Earth has seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia (Oceania), Europe, North America and South America. Asia is the largest. South Africa lies at the southern tip of Africa, a continent with about 54 countries.

  • West of Africa: the Atlantic Ocean.
  • East of Africa: the Indian Ocean.
  • North of Africa: the Mediterranean Sea.
  • The North Pole is at the top of the globe and the South Pole at the bottom; the equator lies halfway between them.
  • The equator crosses Africa through Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya and Somalia. Most of Africa lies north of the equator; South Africa lies far to the south of it.
South AfricaEgyptKenyaNigeriaMadagascar
Some of Africa’s countries.
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Countries and landforms

Where in AfricaWhat is there
NorthThe Sahara Desert
North-westThe Atlas Mountains
North-eastEgypt, on the Nile
East, in the seaMadagascar, a big island
SouthSouth Africa, with Lesotho inside it

North of South Africa lie Botswana and Zimbabwe; the Limpopo River forms part of the border with both. To find a country quickly, you use a political map of Africa.

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Grid references in the atlas

A grid divides a map into blocks. A grid reference is a letter and a number, like C3: the letter tells you which column, the number which row.

ABCDE4321
The school is in B3.
Rule

The index at the back of an atlas gives the page and the grid block for every place.

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Cities, islands and capitals

  • Big cities of Africa: Cairo (Egypt), Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya) and Johannesburg (South Africa).
  • Madagascar is a country and an island. Zanzibar is an island that belongs to Tanzania.
  • A country is landlocked if it has no coastline. Landlocked countries in southern Africa are Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
CountryCapital
South AfricaPretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein
BotswanaGaborone
LesothoMaseru
MozambiqueMaputo
NamibiaWindhoek
Eswatini (Swaziland)Mbabane
ZimbabweHarare
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Countries, borders and the world map

A country is an area with its own government, people and borders. A border is the line where one country ends and the next one begins; on a political map borders are drawn as lines. A capital city is the city where a country’s government has its main offices.

South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria (the government offices), Cape Town (Parliament) and Bloemfontein (the Supreme Court of Appeal).

  • On a world map Europe lies north of Africa, across the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Asia lies north-east of Africa and North America north-west.
  • South America lies west of Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean.
  • Australia lies east of Africa, across the Indian Ocean.
  • Antarctica lies far to the south, around the South Pole.
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Reading photos of Africa

To read a photo of a landscape in Africa, ask yourself four questions:

  • Which physical features do I see? Mountains, rivers, desert, forest or the coast?
  • What kind of settlement is it? A farm or village in the countryside, or a big city?
  • Which buildings do I see? Huts, farmhouses, factories or tall office buildings?
  • What are the people doing? Farming, fishing, trading or helping tourists?
Rule

If a map gives a grid reference for each photo, such as D2, find block D2 on the map: then you know roughly where the photo was taken.

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Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • There are seven continents; South Africa is in Africa, which has about 54 countries.
  • The Atlantic Ocean is west of Africa, the Indian Ocean east, and the Mediterranean Sea north.
  • Egypt is in the north-east on the Nile; Madagascar is a big island in the east.
  • The Sahara covers North Africa; the Atlas Mountains lie in the north-west.
  • A grid reference is a letter and a number, like B4; the atlas index gives the page and block.

Write these points in your book. Read them again the night before the test.

Memory trick

Africa’s water: Atlantic on the left (west), Indian on the right (east), Mediterranean on top (north).

Flash cards · Tap to turn over

Important words

First say what the word means, then turn the card over.

Test yourself · Part 2

True or false?

Read the question and the answer. Is the answer right? Tap True or False.

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