REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY
CLIMATE OF AFRICA
Factors Affecting the Climate of Africa Latitude: Latitude refers to the location of a place on the earth’s surface in relation to the equator. Tropical latitudes where the sun’s altitude is always high have hotter temperature than lower latitudes where the sun’s altitude is generally low. These differences in temperature in relation to different latitudes affect climate. Altitude: Altitude refers to the height of a place above the sea-level. As one moves higher into the atmosphere, the temperature decreases by 6.5˚C for every 1000m of ascent. This is called the normal lapse rate. High altitudes like high mountains contain less dust and water vapour and so allow heat to escape…
VEGETATION OF AFRICA
Factors Affecting Vegetation The factors affecting the vegetation of Africa include: Climatic factors. Geomorphic factors. Edaphic factors. Biotic factors. Climatic Factors High temperature with low rainfall leads to sparse vegetation. The higher the rainfall, the denser the vegetation. High temperature and high rainfall lead to luxuriant vegetation. Where temperature is low, no plant grows. Sunshine provides energy for photosynthesis needed for luxuriant growth. Geomorphic or Topographic Factors The steeper the slope, the lesser the vegetation. Rainfall on steep slopes leads to run-off, leading to low vegetation. Eroded top soil in sloppy area does not support vegetation growth. Given the same climate and soil, flat lands have denser vegetation.…
DRAINAGE OF NIGERIA
Drainage refers to water bodies like rivers and lakes. Drainage of Nigeria is discussed in two parts – rivers and lakes. RIVERS IN NIGERIA: Nigeria is drained by two main rivers – Rivers Niger and Benue. River Niger, the largest river in Nigeria has its source from Guinea highlands in Guinea. It passes through Mali and Niger Republic to Nigeria. River Benue has its source from eastern highlands and joins the Niger at Lokoja. Because of this, Lokoja is known as a confluence town. Other rivers in Nigeria take their sources from highlands in Nigeria known as Hydrological centres. These are: Western Highlands: They have rivers such as Ogun, Osun…
RELIEF OF NIGERIA
Relief refers to the surface features of the land above the sea level. Relief of Nigeria can be grouped into two main classes which are lowlands and highlands. Lowlands: Lowlands refer to the areas below 300m above the sea level. Areas of Lowland in Nigeria and their Altitude or Height The Sokoto plain in the North West (200 – 300m). The Niger-Benue trough/valley (100 – 300m). The Chad basin or Borno plain (100 – 300m). The Niger Delta (0 – 100m). The Cross River basin (120 – 180m). The interior coastal lowland of Western Nigeria (100 – 300m). The coastal plain (0 – 100m). Rocks Associated with Lowlands…
LOCATION, POSITION AND SIZE OF NIGERIA
LOCATION: Nigeria lies within latitude 4˚N – 14˚N of the equator and longitude 3˚E – 15˚E of the Greenwich Meridian. It therefore follows that Nigeria has a latitudinal stretch of 10˚ and longitudinal extent of 12˚. POSITION: Nigeria is in West Africa. She is bounded in the west by Benin Republic, in the north by Niger Republic, in the east by Cameroun Republic, in the north-east by Chad Republic and in the south by Atlantic Ocean. SIZE: Nigeria is the fourth largest country in West Africa in terms of land area after Niger, Mali and Mauritania. The total land area of Nigeria is approximately 923,768 square kilometers. The greatest distance…
