Physical Map of Africa

Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, Africa is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez (transected by the Suez Canal), 130 km wide. From the most northerly point, Cape Blanc (Ra’s al Abyad) in Tunisia, to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, is a distance approximately of 8,000 km; from Cape Verde, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, the most easterly projection, is a distance (also approximately) of 7,400 km. The coastline is 26,000 km long, and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is shown by the fact that Europe, which covers only 9,700,000 km2, has a coastline of 32,000 km.