Geography of Angola

Angola is between 4 ° 22 'and 18 ° 02' South latitude and 11 ° 41 'and 24 ° 05 ' east longitude. The country is roughly divided into a narrow valley along the Atlantic coast, which rises to the east, the inland out to the highlands of Bié. To the north, east and south several major rivers drain the highlands. In eastern Angola, a spacious, dry savannahs level, which is sparsely populated stretches. The total area is 1.2467 million square kilometers.

Confines

The land borders of Angola have a total length of 5198 km. The exclave of Cabinda borders the Congo Republic (201 km ) and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (225 km). The rest of the territory is bordered on the north and northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo ( 2286 km ), to the east by Zambia ( 1110 km ), and to the south by Namibia ( 1376 km ). The Angolan coastline on the Atlantic Ocean has a length of 1,600 km.

Provincial nature

Coastal region

Angola has only a narrow coastal lowland, which extends over 1,400 kilometers along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. There are three of the five largest cities in the country, namely the capital Luanda and Benguela and Lobito large cities on the coast. The northernmost part of the Angolan coastal region is the province of Cabinda, which is an Angolan exclave. It is separated by the Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo estuary counting from the Angolan territory.

The Congo River forms at this point almost 150 km border between the DRC and Angola. To the south, a rather sparsely populated hill country joins, which is crossed by a number of medium-sized rivers that flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. These include the MBridge, which flows with N'Zeto, and the Lodge ( Estuary at Ambriz ) and Dande ( Estuary at Barra do Dande ).

About 350 kilometers south of the Congo estuary lies the Angolan capital, Luanda, which is about 5 million people, by far the largest city in the country and the undisputed economic and commercial center of Angola. Luanda is located in a flood plain between the mouths of the rivers Bengo and Cuanza, both of which come from the highlands of Bié. The 965 km long Cuanza is the most important river of central Angola, as it is navigable upstream from its mouth of 200 km.

South of Luanda is the National Park Quiçama. The flat coastal strip to the south ever narrower, eventually the highlands ranges here almost to the coast approach. Major rivers that flow into the Atlantic between Luanda and 440 km south of Benguela, are for example Longa, Queve, Cubal, Balombo and Catumbela. Benguela itself is situated at the mouth of Caimbambo. Beyond the third largest city in the country, the vegetation merges into thorn savannah, the population density is low. South of the Serra da Neve begin the semi-desert areas, which merge into the Namib desert from the town of Namibe. The rivers that flow south of Benguela in the Atlantic, have no greater importance, among them are eg Hanja, Bentiaba and Bero. The extreme south-west Angola, which already belongs to the Namib Desert, was declared a National Park Iona. The Cunene forms the southern border with Namibia.

The climate of the entire coastal region is influenced by the cold Benguela current. In the center and south of the region there is a short rainy season from February to April. Winters are mild, summers are hot and dry. In Cabinda, and the northern coastal region it rains spread over the entire year.

Highland

East of the coastal region closes in Angola up to 500 km wide belt of highland that extends from the low- threshold Guinea to the north over nearly 1,400 miles to the river plain of the Cunene and goes there in the mountains of Namibia. The Highlanders, whose greatest is the highlands of Bié, are mostly covered by savannah or in the province Cuanza Norte of tropical forest height. They are, among others, for the cultivation of coffee ( between Caxito and Uige ), maize (north of Huambo in the valley of Cutato ) used ( to Cuango ) and cotton. Many rivers in the region have their origin in the highlands. They drain both about the Congo or directly to the Atlantic and down the Zambezi to the Indian Ocean.

The largest city in the entire region of Huambo, the capital of the province and second largest city of the country. Through its inhabitants, there is no definite information, but there are more than 200,000 residents. In the province of Huambo also contains the highest elevations in the high country, among them the Moco, the highest mountain with 2,619 m of Angola. The water-rich rivers of the highlands are used in some places for energy. Hydropower plants exist on the Cunene at Matala ( Huila province ) and in Calueque ( Cunene Province ); on Cuanza at Dondo ( Cuanza Norte province ) and some smaller rivers.

The most important rivers of the highlands are next Cunene and Cuanza the Cuango, a left tributary of the Kasai. This arises in Luena in the hilly dry savannah eastern Angola, then forms over 300 km of the border between the DRC and the Angolan provinces of Uige and Malanje and finally ends in Bandundu in the Kasai. To the east of Huambo stems from the Okavango ( Cubango in Angola ) leaving Angola in the south-east and in the arid interior of Botswana feeds the Okavangobecken.

In the highlands, the rainy season lasts from November to April, that she is followed by a cool dry season from May to October.

Eastern plain

Inland, the up to 2,600 m high Highlanders go into largely flat savannah regions, extending east to the Zambezi. This area includes most of Angola, but houses because of its inhospitality few inhabitants. It is on average 1,000 to 1,200 m above sea level. In the northeast the mountains of Lundaschwelle rise up to 1,600 m above sea level. The open dry savannah, which covers the eastern part of the country is broken only in a few places by agricultural land. At the headwaters of the Kasai ( in Angola Cassai ) is to Luena and Dilolo (DRC) corn grown in Canconga in the province of Moxico and to Saurimo ( Lunda Sul province ) peanuts.

The rivers east of Angola drain in all directions, except in the west, where the highland blocks the way to the ocean. Cuango, Cuilo and Cassai arise in the provinces of Lunda Sul and Moxico and flow north into the Congo Basin. The Cassai forms over almost 400 km, the eastern border of Angola to the DRC. The rivers in the central regions of eastern Angola drain mostly to the southeast to the Zambezi, such as Luena, Lungwebungu and Cuando. Also, the upper reaches of the Zambezi itself lies at about 330 km in length on Angolan territory. At the Chavuma cases the flow Angola leaves again.

The area between the rivers Cuando and Cuito in the extreme southeast of the country is sparsely populated and was provided to a large extent under protection. The rivers of the Southeast dehydrate in the desert-like interior of Botswana, these include Cubango and Cuito.

The savannah areas in the eastern Angola are not favorable transport connections associated with the more densely populated parts of the country in the highlands and on the coast. The road conditions are rather poor, which is further supported by the change between dry and rainy seasons. Also, the east of the country the region where the opposition União Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA ) has served for decades as a retreat and was therefore affected by the consequences of war - especially in the sense that any development was blocked there ..

Bibliography

Manfred Kuder, Angola: A geographical, social and economic geography, Darmstadt University Press, 1971

Other regions: Ceuta and Melilla | Canary Islands | Mayotte | Réunion

Disputed territories: Puntland | Somaliland | Western Sahara

Geography of the States of: Asia | Europe | North America | Oceania | South America

Geography (Africa)
Geography (Angola)

Cuanza River Matala (Angola) Dondo (Angola) Luena, Moxico Province Bandundu (city) Luena River, Angola Lungwebungu River Cuando River Geography of Africa Geography of the Gambia Geography of Ghana Geography of Namibia Geography of Sudan

366326