African Geography for Kids Trivia Quiz

Answer: Second biggest in both area and population.

Asia is the biggest continent, being half as big again as Africa, which in turn, is bigger than North or South America and three times bigger than Europe.

In 2016, Africa had 1.2 billion people which was four times less than Asia, the most populous continent. Africa, though, had nearly twice as many people as the third most populous continent - Europe.

Answer: True

Because all three imaginary lines pass through Africa, the whole continent lies within the sub-tropics and tropics. The equator passes through more countries in Africa than it does in any other continent. The seven African countries are Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Sao Tome and Principe, and Somalia.
The Tropic of Cancer passes through seven African countries: Niger, Algeria, Mauritania, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Western Sahara.
The Tropic of Capricorn passes through five African countries: Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar.

As a result, Africa is the hottest continent.

Answer: Mojave

The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, being as big as China or America.
The Kalahari Desert and the Namib Desert are both in southern Africa and cover parts of Botswana, South Africa, Namibia; the Namib also extends north into Angola. The Namib Desert is unusual in that the desert goes right up to the Atlantic Ocean for 2000 kilometres on the west coast of Namibia and Angola to the north and South Africa to the south.

The Mojave Desert is in the United States.

Answer: True

Africa tends to be either a mass of coastal plains or a large inland plateau. There are mountains but the only large chain is the Atlas mountains. They are in the north-east, and stretch for 2500 km through Algeria and Morocco. Nevertheless Africa has 12 peaks taller than 10000 feet and Mt Kilimanjaro is 19306 feet tall.

It is a old volcano - it is unlikely to erupt again but volcanic gases still escape occasionally from its interior. The snows are receding due to climate change.

Answer: It is the only major African river that runs south to north

Rivers have always been an important part of African culture as they are often the only way you can reach the interior. Africa is blessed with more than a few wide navigable rivers.
The Nile is the longest in the world, starting as the White Nile in Burundi through Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan (where it meets the Blue Nile which starts in Ethiopia), Ethiopia, and Egypt. It is the only significant African River that flows south to north.
Other important African rivers include: Congo, Niger, Limpopo, Orange and Zambesi.

Answer: Zambesi

The Zambezi River is the fourth longest river in Africa. It is the biggest river flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The river flows through Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In the local Lozi language the falls are called Mosi-oa-Tunya, or "The Smoke that Thunders". These falls are the world's largest, based on its width of 1,708 metres and height of 108 metres making the falls the world's largest expanse of falling water.
Dr Livingstone was believed to be the first European to see the falls in 1855.

Answer: The Mediterranean Sea

I paddle south from the Suez Canal in Egypt, through the Red Sea south into the Indian Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope and head north to north west to Morocco before turning east. I will then go turn right and head east through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea where I will meet up with my starting place at the top of the Suez Canal at Egypt.
The part of the Mediterranean Coast between Morocco and Libya is called the Barbary Coast and is famous for its history of pirates and the slave trade.

Answer: Madagascar

Of the 54 nations in Africa the five smallest in area are all island nations. Madagascar is the the sixth island nation, and is the fourth largest island in the world. It is located off the south east coast of Africa. It is as big as France or half as big again as California. In 2019 there were an estimated 31 million people living there.

Comoros is a tiny island nation between Madagascar and mainland Africa in the Mozambique channel.
Seychelles is the smallest African nation and Mauritius is the third smallest, Both these nations are east of Madagascar and in the remoter parts of the Indian Ocean.

There are two small island nations off the Atlantic coast of Africa.
Sao Tome and Principe are two islands 140 kilometres apart near Equatorial Guinea. Cape Verde is a group of ten islands in the mid-Atlantic near the Azores and Madeira (both Portuguese dependencies) and the Canary Islands (Spanish dependency). Both Sao Tome and Principe and Cape Verde were uninhabited until the Portuguese arrived in the 15th Century

Answer: 1886

One of Africa's biggest problems is that the cities are growing faster than the infrastructure can be put in place to support the people. Lagos in Nigeria, for example, had over 21 million people in its metropolitan area in 2016 but had less than one million, a century earlier.

Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa and indeed in all of southern Africa. It was first settled in 1886 when gold was discovered there, and despite being one of the few global cities not situated on the coast or a river, its metropolitan area population in 2016 was estimated at 4.4 million people.

Answer: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo

In the scramble for Africa that occurred in the 1800s when European powers colonised near all of Africa, the country now known as Republic of the Congo was colonised by the French and what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo was controlled by the Belgians. Unfortunately in this 'carve-up' there was no consideration for the cultural groups within these colonies which created racial tension within these affected counties. Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, is located on the Congo River, immediately across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There is no bridge connecting the two cities, just a ferry downstream.