The environment in each of the geographical regions of Africa played a huge role in human development

and interactions and the development of societies

Africa is a continent South of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean Africa is the second
largest continent on earth after Asia with a land mass of about 30.3million km2. Africa is the most
tropical continent with about one fifth of it's land mass lying in the tropics. The equatior divides Africa
almost equally. African is bounded in the North by the Mediterranean sea, in the South by the Indian
ocean in the West by the Atlantic Ocean and in the East by the red sea and Indian Ocean. The highest
point in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro, some the major rivers of Africa are the Nile, Niger, Orange Limpopo
Zambezi

Africa is divided into several geographical regions which includes

1. Mediterranean coast: ahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, between an inhospitable
environment discouraging travel and one facilitating extensive maritime contacts. Consequently, it has
long tended to look to the north rather than to the south, constituting a frontier zone for the rest of the
African continent. Excluding the lower Nile Valley, North Africa's habitable coast to the east is so narrow
that in places the desert reaches the sea, but the coast broadens in the west into cultivable plains and
still further west there are mountains separating it from the desert. Climatically, North Africa belongs
with the Mediterranean, with hot dry summers and mild winters when most of the modest rainfall
occurs. Culturally, the region has been a meeting place for people from the Levant, Greece, Rome,
Europe, and Arabia and the indigenous Libyans. As a result, North Africa has played a role in the history
of Europe as well as in that of Africa.

2. Nile Valley : The Nile has two major tributaries – the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is
traditionally considered to be the headwaters stream. However, the Blue Nile is the source of most of
the water of the Nile downstream, containing 80% of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and
rises in the Great Lakes region. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan.
The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers
meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely
through the Nubian Desert to Cairo and its large delta, and the river flows into the Mediterranean Sea at
Alexandria. Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river and its annual
flooding since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile
valley north of the Aswan Dam. Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt developed
and are found along river banks.

3. Sahara desert: he name "Sahara" is derived from the Arabic word for "desert" The desert covers much
of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the
Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and the Sudan.It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the
Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes
from desert to coastal plains.

4. Ethiopian highland.: The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass
of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the
continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 m (4,900 ft), while the summits reach heights of
up to 4,550 m (14,930 ft). It is sometimes called the "Roof of Northeastern Africa" due to its height and
large area. It is the only country in the region with such a high elevated surface. This elevated surface is
bisected diagonally by the Great East African Rift System which extends from Syria to Mozambique
across the East African Lakes. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia,
and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrea. The Ethiopian highlands has a very rich soil and
abundant rainfall every year the. Between the fertile highlands and the sea lies dry torrid plain of Somali
suitable for only nomadic herdsmen

5. East and Central Africa: further south again the African continent consists of a vast plateau rising to its
highest point in the Ruwenzori mountains, sometimes described as the spine of Africa. To the west of
the Ruwenzori lies the great basin of the Congo and Kasai rivers system much of it covered by forest
which towards the south gives way to savannah and the Benguella and Katanga plateaus where the
Zambezi river has its source East of the Ruwenzori is the region of the Great lakes, Victoria, Tanganyika,
Malawi and many others that are smaller but still large and important in spite of the presence of the
Great lakes much of this East and Central African plateau is hot and rather dry, covered with a poor tree
scrub. There are important exceptions the cool and fertile highlands of Kenya provide excellent farming
country The area between Lakes Victoria, kyoga and Kivu, the so called inter- lacustrine region which
forms the heart of modern Uganda, benefits from abundant rains which make it a green smiling land
here was another natural center for the development of African civilization The slopes of Mount
Kilimanjaro and the Shire highlands of modern Malawi are other examples

6. West Africa Sudan: The geographic region known as the Sudan extends across much of the continent
south of the Sahara. The Western Sudan covers a vast territory from Senegal through Chad that ranges
from areas of desert to grassland to wooded Savannah This area is nourished by rains brought by the
warm equatorial winds from the Atlantic .Three celebrated empires flourished in the Western Sudan
between the 8th and 17th centuries: Ghana (c. 8th-11th century), Mali (c. 13th-16th century), and
Songhai (c. 15th-17th century). Their great power came from the trans-Saharan trade and the export of
gold, ivory, kola nuts, and slaves. Trade was also the principal means for the introduction and spread of
Islam.

7. West Africa rain forest: South of the Sudanic belt along the coast of much of West Africa stretching
inland to varying distances lies the great West African rain forest which with a few gaps, meets the
dense forests of the Congo to form one of the large tropical Forest in the world

8. Southern Africa: Southern Africa, southernmost region of the African continent, comprising the
countries of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The island nation of Madagascar is excluded because of its distinct language and
cultural heritage. The interior of Southern Africa consists of a series of undulating plateaus that cover
most of South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana and extend into central Angola. Contiguous with this are
uplands in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Coastal mountains and escarpments, flanking the high ground, are
found in northern Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, and along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe
border. Coastal plains abut the Indian Ocean in Mozambique and the Atlantic in Angola and Namibia.
The Kalahari desert forms the central depression of the Southern African plateau. Its elevation rises to
the Great Escarpment, which flanks the plateau in an almost unbroken line from the Zambezi River to
Angola. Southern Zimbabwe and much of South Africa are within a region of scrublands and grasslands
known as the veld. To the southeast of the veld is the Drakensberg range, which includes the region’s
highest peak—Lesotho’s Mount Ntlenyana, at 11,424 feet (3,482 metres). In Namibia the coastal margin
includes the extremely dry Namib desert, which, in the south, merges eastward into the great sandy
expanse of the Kalahari.The region is generally drained eastward toward the Indian Ocean, a pattern
exemplified by the largest rivers, the Zambezi and Limpopo. The Zambezi is the longest river in the
region, and its catchment includes much of Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The only major river flowing
into the Atlantic Ocean is the Orange, which drains parts of South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia.
Southern African climates are seasonal, ranging from arid to semiarid and from temperate to tropical.
The seasonality is an important control on plant growth and a regulator of river flows. Droughts are
common in much of the region. Four main types of vegetation are found: savanna woodlands (known as
miombo forest) in the north, a series of dry woodlands to the south of these, arid and semiarid
grassland, scrubland, and bushland in the Namib and Kalahari deserts and their environs, and
Mediterranean vegetation along the southern coast.