Africa3

Geography has made the continent of Africa the cradle of humankind and the place of origin of many civilizations and cultures. The first known African civilization, namely the Egyptian civilization, began along the Nile River. The Nile River is the longest river in the world. It starts at Lake Albert and Victoria and flows northward toward the Mediterranean Sea, where it forms a delta. Other major rivers where African civilizations and empires developed include the Senegal and Niger River in West Africa, the Congo River in Central Africa, and the Zambezi River in southeast Africa.

For a long time, Africa remained isolated from the rest of the world due to oceans, deserts, and forests. Africa is surrounded on all sides by water - the Mediterranean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Indian Ocean and Red Sea to the east. There are three deserts in Africa, the Sahara Desert in the north and the smaller Kalahari and Namib Deserts in the south. The Sahara Desert (al-Sahara in Arabic, which means "desert") occupies the greater part of northern Africa. It was a major barrier separating northern Africa and African territory south of the Sahara, which is known as sub-Saharan Africa. This separation affected the course of African history by keeping the Islamic Civilization in the north largely separated from the African civilizations to the south.