"this all-encompassing ocean was instead known as Oceanus, the gigantic river that encircled the world; in contrast to the enclosed seas well known to the Greeks: the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In contrast, the term ""Atlantic"" originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word ""thalassa"" has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of millions of years ago. The term ""Aethiopian Ocean"", derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late"
"coast of Northwest Africa, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Nile Delta. It is bordered by Algeria on the west and southwest and Libya on the south east. It lies between latitudes 30° and 38°N, and longitudes 7° and 12°E. An abrupt southward turn of the Mediterranean coast in northern Tunisia gives the country two distinctive Mediterranean coasts, west-east in the north, and north-south in the east. Though it is relatively small in size, Tunisia has great environmental diversity due to its north-south extent. Its east-west extent is limited. Differences in Tunisia, like the rest of the Maghreb, are"
"for Africans. Member states of the African Union cover almost the entirety of continental Africa, except for several territories held by Spain (Canary Islands, Plazas de soberanía); France (Mayotte, Réunion, Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean); Portugal (Madeira, Savage Islands); and the United Kingdom (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha). Consequently, the geography of the African Union is wildly diverse, including the world's largest hot desert (the Sahara), huge jungles and savannas, and the world's longest river (the Nile). The AU presently has an area of , with of coastline. The vast majority of this area is on continental"
"Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Nigeria and Togo Geographic coordinates: Map references: Africa Area: ""total:"" 112 622 km ""land:"" 110 622 km ""water:"" 2 000 km Area comparative Land boundaries: ""total:"" 2 123 km ""border countries:"" Burkina Faso 386 km, Niger 277 km, Nigeria 809 km, Togo 651 km Coastline: 121 km Maritime claims: ""territorial sea:"" 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) Climate: tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains Elevation extremes: ""lowest point:"" Atlantic Ocean 0 m ""highest point:"" Mont Sokbaro 658 m Natural"
"territory in the south Atlantic Ocean. In the United Nations scheme of African regions, the region includes 17 states and the island of Saint Helena, an overseas territory: Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Niger are mostly in the Sahel, a transition zone between the Sahara desert and the Sudanian Savanna, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Nigeria compose Guinea, the traditional name for the area near the Gulf of Guinea, Cape Verde is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean, Mauritania lies in the Maghreb, the northwestern region of Africa that has historically been"
"– has a coastline of . From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia (37°21' N), to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15"" S), is a distance of approximately . Cape Verde, 17°33'22"" W, the westernmost point, is a distance of approximately to Ras Hafun, 51°27'52"" E, the most easterly projection that neighbours Cape Guardafui, the tip of the Horn of Africa. Africa's largest country is Algeria, and its smallest country is Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast. The smallest nation on the continental mainland is The Gambia. The African Plate is a"
"include Western Sahara in the southwest and Algeria to the south and east. To the north and west Morocco has a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean; to the north it abuts the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea. It encompasses a wide range of terrain types; there is a coastal plain in the north, and many mountain ranges running from east to west across the country, with the Rif Mountains in the northern half and the Atlas Mountains further south. The southern borders are where the Atlas foothills merge into the edges of the Sahara Desert. The coastal"
"Mauritania Mauritania (; '; Berber: ""Agawej"" or ""Cengiṭ""; ; Soninke: ""Murutaane""; Pulaar: ""Moritani""; ), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in Northwest Africa. It is the eleventh largest sovereign state in Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to the north and northwest, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the southwest. The country derives its name from the ancient Berber kingdom of Mauretania, which existed from the 3rd century BCE into the 7th century CE in the far north of modern-day Morocco and Algeria."
"Morocco has a coast by the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Spain to the north (a water border through the Strait and land borders with three small Spanish-controlled exclaves, Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera), Algeria to the east, and Western Sahara to the south. Since Morocco controls most of Western Sahara, its ""de facto"" southern boundary is with Mauritania. The internationally recognised borders of the country lie between latitudes 27° and 36°N, and longitudes 1° and 14°W. Adding Western Sahara, Morocco lies mostly between"
"point, Morocco and the European portion of Spain are separated by only . The Portuguese Atlantic island possession of the Azores is from Europe and from Africa, and is usually grouped with Europe if grouped with any continent. By contrast, the Canary and Madeira islands (including the Desertas Islands and the Savage Islands) off the Atlantic coast of Morocco are much closer to, and usually grouped with, Africa (the Canary Islands are only from the African coast at their closest point, while Madeira is from Africa and from Europe). The Mediterranean island nation of Malta is approximately from the coast"
"History of North Africa North Africa is a relatively thin strip of land between the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean, stretching from Moroccan Atlantic coast to Egypt. The region comprises seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. The history of the region is a mix of influences from many different cultures. The development of sea travel firmly brought the region into the Mediterranean world, especially during the classical period. In the 1st millennium AD, the Sahara became an equally important area for trade as the camel caravans brought goods and people from the south. The"
"Coastline of Somalia Somalia has a long coastline of about 3025 km the longest on mainland Africa. Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia is situated on eastern coast of Somalia. The northern coast is shared with the Gulf of Aden, the northeastern with Guardafui Channel and the eastern with the Indian Ocean. The coastline plays a major role in maintaining economy of country by fishing and trade, as all other fields of economy are not very productive. Somalia has second longest coastline in Africa just behind Madagaskar (4828 km). The coastline is divided between northern and eastern sides. The northern tip"
"Coastline of Somalia Somalia has a long coastline of about 3025 km the longest on mainland Africa. Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia is situated on eastern coast of Somalia. The northern coast is shared with the Gulf of Aden, the northeastern with Guardafui Channel and the eastern with the Indian Ocean. The coastline plays a major role in maintaining economy of country by fishing and trade, as all other fields of economy are not very productive. Somalia has second longest coastline in Africa just behind Madagaskar (4828 km). The coastline is divided between northern and eastern sides. The northern tip"
"Libyan Sea The Libyan Sea (Greek , Latin ""Libycum Mare"", Arabic ""البحر الليبي"") is the portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of the African coast of ancient ""Libya"", i.e. Cyrenaica, and Marmarica (the coast of what is now eastern Libya and western Egypt, between Tobruk and Alexandria). This designation was used by ancient geographers describing the southern Mediterranean, but the term is also used by modern travel writers and cartographers. The southern coastline of Crete which borders the Libyan Sea includes the Asterousia Mountains and Mesara Plain; this area is the locus of considerable ancient Bronze Age settlement including the"
"with UN assistance. A United Nations force (UNEF) was established to maintain the neutrality of the canal and the Sinai Peninsula. History of North Africa North Africa is a relatively thin strip of land between the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean, stretching from Moroccan Atlantic coast to Egypt. The region comprises seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. The history of the region is a mix of influences from many different cultures. The development of sea travel firmly brought the region into the Mediterranean world, especially during the classical period. In the 1st millennium AD,"
"North Africa The term ""North Africa"" has no single accepted definition. It is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Morocco in the west, to Egypt's Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the east. Others have limited it to the countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, a region known by the French during colonial times as “Afrique du Nord” and by the Arabs as the Maghreb (“West”). The most commonly accepted definition includes Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, as well as Libya and Egypt. “North Africa”, particularly when used in North Africa and the Middle East, often refers"
"the 16th largest nation in the world by size. Libya is bound to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, the west by Tunisia and Algeria, the southwest by Niger, the south by Chad, the southeast by Sudan, and the east by Egypt. Libya lies between latitudes 19° and 34°N, and longitudes 9° and 26°E. At , Libya's coastline is the longest of any African country bordering the Mediterranean. The portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya is often called the Libyan Sea. The climate is mostly extremely dry and desertlike in nature. However, the northern regions enjoy a milder"
"Ras Nouadhibou Ras Nouadhibou () is a peninsula or headland divided between Mauritania and Western Sahara on the African coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is internationally known as Cabo Blanco in Spanish or Cap Blanc in French (both meaning ""White Headland""). In the 14th and 15th centuries, fishing activities carried out from the nearby Canary Islands, by Spanish fishermen, inspired Spain to develop an interest in the desert coast of what is today called Western Sahara. Cabo Blanco, in the Atlantic Ocean, is the only place in the world where Mediterranean monk seals form a true colony. In 1997,"
"temperatures range from in January to in June along the coast, and from in January to in May inland. The average annual rainfall ranges from in the interior to along the coast. The grassy flood plain of the Gambia river contains Guinean mangroves near the coast, and becomes West Sudanian savanna upriver inland. Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and Senegal Geographic coordinates: Area: <br>""total:"" 11,295 km² <br>""land:"" 10,000 km² <br>""water:"" 1,295 km² Land boundaries: <br>""total:"" 749 km <br>""border countries:"" Senegal 749 km Coastline: 80 km <br>""lowest point:"" Atlantic Ocean 0 m <br>""highest point:"" Red Rock 53 m"
"Strait of Gibraltar, the thirteen kilometer wide channel that connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic to the west, and separates Morocco from Spain to the north. East along the coast from Morocco are Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, followed by Egypt, which forms the region's (and the continent's) northeastern corner. The coast turns briefly but sharply south at Tunisia, slopes more gently southeastward through the Libyan capital of Tripoli, and bumps north through Libya's second city, Benghazi, before turning straight east again through Egypt's second city, Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile. Along with the spine of Italy to its"
"Geography of South Africa South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment (Great Escarpment) that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although most of the country"
"21 May. A warmer-than-normal South Atlantic Ocean coupled with a cooler-than-normal Eastern Indian Ocean often causes the Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Kenya and Mozambique. Geographic coordinates: Map references: Africa Area: ""note:"" includes the islands of Mafia, Pemba, and Unguja Land boundaries: Coastline: Maritime claims: Terrain: plains along coast; central plateau; highlands in north, south Elevation extremes: Natural resources: hydropower, tin, phosphates, iron ore, coal, diamonds, gemstones, gold, natural gas, nickel Land use: Irrigated land: (2003) Total renewable water resources: (2011) Natural hazards: Environment - current issues: soil degradation; deforestation; desertification; destruction of coral reef threatens marine"
"kilometres, of which 8,250 are water. The principal and reliable rivers rise in the north of the country with a few notable exceptions from north-east Algeria and flow through the northern plain where sufficient rainfall supports diverse plant cover and irrigated agriculture. Tunisia is on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Nile Delta. It is bordered by Algeria on the west and Libya on the south east. It lies between latitudes 30° and 38°N, and longitudes 7° and 12°E. An abrupt southward turn of the Mediterranean coast in northern Tunisia gives the country"
"Morocco Morocco (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Morocco (; ), is a country located in the Maghreb of North West Africa with an area of . Its capital is Rabat, the largest city Casablanca. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, bordered to the east by Algeria and to the south by Mauritania. Morocco claims the areas of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, all of them currently under Spanish jurisdiction. Since the foundation of the first Moroccan state by Idris I in 788 AD, the country"
"Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa and on the east by the Levant. Although the sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually identified as a separate body of water. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years, the Messinian salinity"
"African Monsoon. Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( , ) is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Peninsular Spain in Europe from Morocco and Ceuta (Spain) in Africa. The name comes from the Rock of Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic (meaning ""Mount Tariq"") named after Tariq ibn Ziyad. It is also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, the Gut of Gibraltar (although this is mostly archaic), the STROG (Strait Of Gibraltar) in naval use, and (), ""Gate of the West"". In the Middle Ages, Muslims"
"the Alboran Sea which is the westernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean acacia-argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets, which occupy the coastal plain of southern Morocco, bounds the Mediterranean woodlands and forests on the southwest. The Mediterranean forests and woodlands surrounds the Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests ecoregion, which exists as a series of enclaves in the coastal Rif Mountains and interior Middle Atlas and High Atlas Morocco, the coastal Tell Atlas and eastern Saharan Atlas of Algeria, and the Kroumerie and Mogod ranges of Tunisia. The Mediterranean High Atlas juniper steppe ecoregion occupies the highest elevations of"
"Somalia Somalia ( ; ; ), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (; ; ), is a country with its territory located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Guardafui Channel and Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. It is separated from Socotra by the Guardafui Channel in the northeast. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with periodic monsoon winds and"
"coastline. To the east, the Red Sea defines the boundary between Africa and Asia, and thus also between Arab Africa and the Arab Middle East. This sea is a long and narrow waterway with a northwest tilt, stretching 2,300 kilometers from Egypt's Sinai peninsula southeast to the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Djibouti in Africa and Yemen in Arabia but on average just 150 kilometers wide. Though the sea is navigable along its length, historically much contact between Arab Africa and the Arab Middle East has been either overland across the Sinai or by sea across the Mediterranean or the narrow Bab"
"Kenya, respectively, are also located in the Indian Ocean, in addition to smaller islands off the coasts of other continental countries. In the Atlantic seaboard, the largest islands are Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa and Sao Tome and Principe off the southwestern seaboard. In the Atlantic Ocean, the island of Malabo and other smaller islands of Equatorial Guinea are also notable. The Canary Islands and other territories of Spain are present in the Mediterranean Sea in the north Atlantic Ocean, and the British possessions of Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and Tristan da Cunha are located off the"
"al Mendeb strait. From northwest to southeast, Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea form the African coastline, with Djibouti marking Bab al Mendeb's African shore. Southeast along the coast from Djibouti is Somalia, but the Somali coast soon makes a 90-degree turn and heads northeast, mirroring a bend in the coast of Yemen across the water to the north and defining the south coast of the Gulf of Aden. The Somali coast then takes a hairpin turn back southwest to complete the horn of Africa. For six months of the year the monsoon winds blow from up equatorial Somalia, past Arabia and"
"the coast is gentle but substantial, such that Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott (18°N, 16°W), is far enough west to share longitude with Iceland (13–22°W). Nouakchott is the westernmost capital of the Arab World and the third-westernmost in Africa, and sits on the Atlantic fringe of the southwestern Sahara. Next south along the coast from Mauritania is Senegal, whose abrupt border belies the gradient in culture from Arab to indigenous African that historically characterizes this part of West Africa. Arab Africa's boundary to the north is again a continental boundary, the Mediterranean Sea. This boundary begins in the west with the narrow"
"Mediterranean Sea as follows: Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar in the west to the entrances to the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal in the east, the Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the coasts of Europe, Africa and Asia, and is divided into two deep basins: Being nearly landlocked affects conditions in the Mediterranean Sea: for instance, tides are very limited as a result of the narrow connection with the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean is characterised and immediately recognised by its deep blue colour. Evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation and river runoff in the Mediterranean, a fact that is central to"