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DESCRIPTION:
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.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 21' N., to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas, 34 51' 15"
S., is a distance approximately of 5000 m.; from Cape Verde, 17 33'
22" W., the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun, 51 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.
INSET SHOWS AFRICA AS KNOWN IN 1850
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