from Roman middle-class life, and he himself tells us that
he borrowed freely from Menander and others. His style was
vigorous and correct; his moral tone that of the period.
Horace, Epp. ii. 1. 57; Cicero, Brutus, 45, de Fin.
i. 3; Quitilian x 1. 100; fragments, about 400 lines, in
Ribbeck, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta, ii. (1898).
AFRICA, the name of a continent representing the largest of
the three great southward projections from the main mass of
the earth's surface. It includes within its remarkably regular
outline an area, according to the most recent computations,
of 11,262,000 sq. m., excluding the islands.1 Separated from
Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, it is joined to Asia at its
N.E. extremity by the Isthmus of Suez, 80 m. wide. From the
most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka, a little west of Cape
Blanc, in 37 deg. 21' N., to the most southerly point, Cape
Agulhas, 34 deg. 51' 15'' S., is a distance approximately of
5000 m.; from Cape Verde, 17 deg. 33' 22'' W., the westernmost
point, to Ras Hafun, 51 deg. 27' 52'' E., the most easterly
projection, is a distance (also approximately) of 4600 m.
The length of coast-line is 16,100 m. and the absence of deep
indentations of the shore is shown by the fact that Europe,
which covers only 3,760,000 sq. m., has a coast-line of 19,800 m.
I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
The main structural lines of the continent show both the
east-to-west direction characteristic, at least in the eastern
hemisphere, of the more northern parts of the world, and the
north-to-south direction seen in the southern peninsulas. Africa
is thus composed of two segments at right angles, the northern
running from east to west, the southern from north to south, the
subordinate lines corresponding in the main to these two directions.
Main Geographical Features.--The mean elevation of the
continent approximates closely to 2000 ft., which is roughly
the elevation of both North and South America, but is
considerably less than that of Asia (3117 ft.). In contrast
with the other continents it is marked by the comparatively
small area both of very high and of very low ground, lands
under 600 ft. occupying an unusually small part of the surface;
while not only are the highest elevations inferior to those
of Asia and South America, but the area of land over 10,000
ft. is also quite insignificant, being represented almost
entirely by individual peaks and mountain ranges. Moderately
elevated tablelands are thus the characteristic feature of the
continent, though the surface of these is broken by higher
peaks and ridges. (So prevalent are these isolated peaks and
ridges that a special term [Inselberg-landschaft] has been
adopted in Germany to describe this kind of country, which
is thought to be in great part the result of wind action.)
As a general rule, the higher tablelands lie to the east and
south, while a progressive diminution in altitude towards the
west and north is observable. Apart from the lowlands and
the Atlas range, the continent may be divided into two regions
of higher and lower plateaus, the dividing line (somewhat
concave to the north-west) running from the middle of the
Red Sea to about 6 deg. S. on the west coast. We thus obtain
the following four main divisions of the continent:---(1) The
coast plains---often fringed seawards by mangrove swamps--never
stretching far from the coast, except on the lower courses of
streams. Recent alluvial flats are found chiefly in the delta
of the more important rivers. Elsewhere the coast lowlands
merely form the lowest steps of the system of terraces which
constitutes the ascent to the inner plateaus. (2) The Atlas
range, which, orographically, is distinct from the rest of
the continent, being unconnected with any other area of high
ground, and separated from the rest of the continent on the south
by a depressed and desert area (the Sahara), in places below
sea-level. (3) The high southern and eastern plateaus, rarely
falling below 2000 ft., and having a mean elevation of about
3500 ft. (4) The north and west African plains, bordered and
traversed by bands of higher ground, but generally below 2000
ft. This division includes the great desert of the Sahara.
The third and fourth divisions may be again subdivided.
Thus the high plateaus include:--(a) The South African
plateau as far as about 12 deg. S., bounded east, west and
south by bands of high ground which fall steeply to the
coasts. On this account South Africa has a general resemblance
to an inverted saucer. Due south the plateau rim is formed
by three parallel steps with level ground between them. The
largest of these level areas, the Great Karroo, is a dry,
barren region, and a large tract of the plateau proper is
of a still more arid character and is known as the Kalahari
Desert. The South African plateau is connected towards the
north-east with (b) the East African plateau, with probably a
slightly greater average elevation, and marked by some distinct
features. It is formed by a widening out of the eastern
axis of high ground, which becomes subdivided into a number
of zones running north and south and consisting in turn of
ranges, tablelands and depressions. The most striking feature
is the existence of two great lines of depression, due largely
to the subsidence of whole segments of the earth's crust, the
lowest parts of which are occupied by vast lakes. Towards
the south the two lines converge and give place to one great
valley (occupied by Lake Nyasa), the southern part of which
is less distinctly due to rifting and subsidence than the
rest of the system. Farther north the western depression,
sometimes known as the Central African trough or Albertine
rift-valley, is occupied for more than half its length by
water, forming the four lakes of Tanganyika, Kivu, Albert
Edward and Albert, the first-named over 400 m. long and the
longest freshwater lake in the world. Associated with these
great valleys are a number of volcanic peaks, the greatest
of which occur on a meridional line east of the eastern
trough. The eastern depression, known as the East African
trough or rift-valley, contains much smaller lakes, many of
them brackish and without outlet, the only one comparable
to those of the western trough being Lake Rudolf or Basso
Norok. At no great distance east of this rift-valley are
Kilimanjaro--with its two peaks Kibo and Mawenzi, the former
19,321 ft., and the culminating point of the whole continent--and
Kenya (17,007 ft.). Hardly less important is the Ruwenzori
range (over 16,600 ft.), which lies east of the western
trough. Other volcanic peaks rise from the floor of the
valleys, some of the Kirunga (Mfumbiro) group, north of Lake
Kivu, being still partially active. (c) The third division
of the higher region of Africa is formed by the Abyssinian
highlands, a rugged mass of mountains forming the largest
continuous area of its altitude in the whole continent, little
of its surface falling below 5000 ft., while the summits
reach heights of 15,000 to 16,000 ft. This block of country
lies just west of the line of the great East African trough,
the northern continuation of which passes along its eastern
escarpment as it runs up to join the Red Sea. There is,
however, in the centre a circular basin occupied by Lake Tsana.
Both in the east and west of the continent the bordering
highlands are continued as strips of plateau parallel to the
coast, the Abyssinian mountains being continued northwards
along the Red Sea coast by a series of ridges reaching in
places a height of 7000 ft. In the west the zone of high
land is broader but somewhat lower. The most mountainous
districts lie inland from the head of the Gulf of Guinea
(Adamawa, &c.), where heights of 6000 to 8000 ft. are
reached. Exactly at the head of the gulf the great peak
of the Cameroon, on a line of Volcanic action continued
by the islands to the south-west, has a height of 13,370
ft., while Clarence Peak, in Fernando Po, the first of the
line of islands, rises to over 9000. Towards the extreme
west the Futa Jallon highlands form an important diverging
point of rivers, but beyond this, as far as the Atlas
chain, the elevated rim of the continent is almost wanting.
The area between the east and west coast highlands, which north
of 17 deg. N. is mainly desert, is divided into separate basins by
other bands of high ground, one of which runs nearly centrally
through North Africa in a line corresponding roughly with the
curved axis of the continent as a whole. The best marked of
the basins so formed (the Congo basin) occupies a circular area
bisected by the equator, once probably the site of an inland
sea. The arid region, the Sahara--the largest desert in the
world, covering 3,500,000 sq. m.--extends from the Atlantic to
the Red Sea. Though generally of slight elevation it contains
mountain ranges with peaks rising to 8000 ft. Bordered N.W.
by the Atlas range, to the N.E. a rocky plateau separates it
from the Mediterranean; this plateau gives place at the extreme
east to the delta of the Nile. That river (see below) pierces
the desert without modifying its character. The Atlas range,
the north-westerly part of the continent, between its seaward
and landward heights encloses elevated steppes in places 100 m.
broad. From the inner slopes of the plateau numerous wadis
take a direction towards the Sahara. The greater part of that
now desert region is, indeed, furrowed by old water-channels.
The following table gives the approximate altitudes
of the chief mountains and lakes of the continent:--
Mountains. Ft. Lakes. Ft.
Rungwe (Nyasa) . 10,400 Chad . . . . 8502
Drakensberg . . 10,7002 Leopold II . . 1100
Lereko or Sattima . 13,2143 Rudolf . . . 1250
(Aberdare Range) Nyasa . . . 16453
Cameroon . . 13,370 Albert Nyanza . 20282
Elgon . . . 14,1523 Tanganyika . . 26243
Karissimbi . . Ngami . . . . 2950
(Mfumbiro) . 14,6833 Mweru . . . . 3000
Meru . . . 14,9553 Albert Edward . 30043
Taggharat (Atlas) . 15,0002 Bangweulu. . . 3700
Simen Mountains, . 15,1602 Victoria Nyanza. 37203
Abyssinia Abai . . . . 4200
Ruwenzori . . 16,6193 Kivu . . . . 48293
Kenya . . . 17,0073 Tsana . . . . 5690
Kilimanjaro . . 19,3213 Naivasha . . . 61353
The Hydrographic Systems.---From the outer margin of the
African plateaus a large number of streams run to the sea
with comparatively short courses, while the larger rivers flow
for long distances on the interior highlands before breaking
through the outer ranges. The main drainage of the continent
is to the north and west, or towards the basin of the Atlantic
Ocean. The high lake plateau of East Africa contains the
head-waters of the Nile and Congo: the former the longest,
the latter the largest river of the continent. The upper
Nile receives its chief supplies from the mountainous region
adjoining the Central African trough in the neighbourhood
of the equator. Thence streams pour east to the Victoria
Nyanza, the largest African lake (covering over 26,000 sq.
m.), and west and north to the Albert Edward and Albert
Nyanzas, to the latter of which the effluents of the other
two lakes add their waters. Issuing from it the Nile flows
north, and between 7 deg. and 10 deg. N. traverses a vast marshy
level during which its course is liable to blocking by floating
