Africa covers an area of more than 30 million km2 (11 million mi2) and is second in size only to Asia. Of all continents, it is the most symmetrically located with regard to the equator, and this is reflected in its climatic zonation. The coastline is remarkably smooth and the continent has been called a giant plateau for there is a relative absence of very pronounced topography, although some high mountains exist, especially in the East African region (Kilimanjaro, 5,894 m; Mount Kenya, 5,199 m; and the Ruwenzoris, 5,120 m). Lake Victoria, astride the equator, covers an area of 70,000 km2 (27,000 mi2) and is exceeded in size only by Lake Superior among the world's fresh water lakes.
We will note below how certain evidence can be used to reconstruct the early climate of Africa, but climatic observations really only began with the European explorers of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Then, in the last few decades of the nineteenth century, meteorological services were...
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© 1987 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Griffiths, J.F. (1987). Africa , climate of . In: Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_5
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