MAP OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT plus islands.

[Zurie]

Africa is a vast continent of great variety, with, currently, about 54 countries on the main land mass.

It stretches from the Mediterranean, across the Sahara desert, down to the lush vegetation and fertile soils of the Equator, and on down to cooler climes.

Saudi-Arabia and the countries you see in the top right-hand corner are not part of Africa.

For practical purposes, this forum also includes the tiny islands on the west side, Principe and Sao Tome, the island of Madagascar, the small islands of Mauritius and Réunion, and the Seychelles Islands group, some way off the coast of Somalia, and not visible on this map.

(The black line drawn through the centre of the continent is the Equator).

It might not be very clear on the map, but the two little red "islands" in South Africa are the two tiny landlocked countries, Swaziland and Lesotho.

PLEASE NOTE: Some years ago, due to the size of Africa, it was decided to create a new forum, which became the North African and Middle Eastern Cooking forum.

Therefore Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt form part of the North African and Middle East Cooking Forum. The foods of these countries tend to vary in many ways from the foods of Africa south of the Sahara. So, for queries on the cuisine of those countries, please go to the N A & M E Forum. Thanks! They are the extreme northern African countries bordering on the Mediterranean.

The newest country (July 2011) is now called Southern Sudan -- see Sudan at the right edge, top, of the continent. I drew an arbitrary line through the Sudan, as I'm not yet clear where the boundary is.