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Location: Southern Africa, bordering the South Atlantic
Ocean, between Namibia and Democratic Republic of the Congo
Geographic coordinates: 12 30 S, 18 30 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 1,246,700 sq km
land: 1,246,700 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of
Texas
Land boundaries:
total: 5,198 km
border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 2,511
km (of which 220 km is the boundary of discontiguous Cabinda Province),
Republic of the Congo 201 km, Namibia 1,376 km, Zambia 1,110 km
Coastline: 1,600 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: semiarid in south and along coast to Luanda; north
has cool, dry season (May to October) and hot, rainy season (November
to April)
Terrain: narrow coastal plain rises abruptly to vast interior
plateau
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Morro de Moco 2,620 m
Natural resources: petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates,
copper, feldspar, gold, bauxite, uranium
Land use:
arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 23%
forests and woodland: 43%
other: 32% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 750 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: locally heavy rainfall causes periodic
flooding on the plateau
Environment - current issues: overuse of pastures and subsequent
soil erosion attributable to population pressures; desertification;
deforestation of tropical rain forest, in response to both international
demand for tropical timber and to domestic use as fuel, resulting
in loss of biodiversity; soil erosion contributing to water pollution
and siltation of rivers and dams; inadequate supplies of potable
water
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Desertification, Law of the Sea
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change
Geography - note: Cabinda is separated from rest of country
by the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Angola
GEOGRAPHY
Size: Approximately 1,246,700 square kilometers,
including enclave of Cabinda.
Topography: Coastal lowland along Atlantic; Namib
Desert south of Benguela; hills and mountains paralleling coast
rise to high plateau in east, divided by many rivers and streams.
Much of Cabinda Province coastal plain and hills.
Climate: Hotter and drier along coast than in
mountains and plateau. Rainy season in northern part of country
from September to April; in southern part from November to about
February. Coolest months July and August. Warm and wet in Cabinda
Province.
Data as of February 1989
Angola
PHYSICAL SETTING
A total area of 1,246,700 square kilometers (including Cabinda
Province) makes Angola the seventh largest state in Africa, but
it is also one of the most lightly populated (see
fig. 1). The country is bordered to the north and east by Zaire,
to the east by Zambia, and to the south by Namibia. The 7,270-square-kilometer
enclave of Cabinda, which is separated from the rest of Angola by
a strip of Zairian territory, is bordered on the north by Congo.
Data as of February 1989
Angola
Terrain
Angola has three principal natural regions: the coastal lowland,
characterized by low plains and terraces; hills and mountains, rising
inland from the coast into a great escarpment; and an area of high
plains, called the high plateau (planalto), which extends
eastward from the escarpment (see
fig. 3).
The coastal lowland rises from the sea in a series of low terraces.
This region varies in width from about 25 kilometers near Benguela
to more than 150 kilometers in the Cuanza River Valley just south
of Angola's capital, Luanda, and is markedly different from Angola's
highland mass. The Atlantic Ocean's cold, northwardflowing Benguela
Current substantially reduces precipitation along the coast, making
the region relatively arid or nearly so south of Benguela (where
it forms the northern extension of the Namib Desert), and quite
dry even in its northern reaches. Even where, as around Luanda,
the average annual rainfall may be as much as fifty centimeters,
it is not uncommon for the rains to fail. Given this pattern of
precipitation, the far south is marked by sand dunes, which give
way to dry scrub along the middle coast. Portions of the northern
coastal plain are covered by thick brush.
The belt of hills and mountains parallels the coast at distances
ranging from 20 kilometers to 100 kilometers inland. The Cuanza
River divides the zone into two parts. The northern part rises gradually
from the coastal zone to an average elevation of 500 meters, with
crests as high as 1,000 meters to 1,800 meters. South of the Cuanza
River, the hills rise sharply from the coastal lowlands and form
a high escarpment, extending from a point east of Luanda and running
south through Namibia. The escarpment reaches 2,400 meters at its
highest point, southeast of the town of Sumbe, and is steepest in
the far south in the Serra da Chela mountain range.
The high plateau lies to the east of the hills and mountains and
dominates Angola's terrain. The surface of the plateau is typically
flat or rolling, but parts of the Benguela Plateau and the Humpata
Highland area of the Huνla Plateau in the south reach heights of
2,500 meters and more. The Malanje Plateau to the north rarely exceeds
1,000 meters in height. The Benguela Plateau and the coastal area
in the immediate environs of Benguela and Lobito, the Biι Plateau,
the Malanje Plateau, and a small section of the Huνla Plateau near
the town of Lubango have long been among the most densely settled
areas in Angola.
Data as of February 1989
Angola
Climate
Like the rest of tropical Africa, Angola experiences distinct,
alternating rainy and dry seasons. In the north, the rainy season
may last for as long as seven months--usually from September to
April, with perhaps a brief slackening in January or February. In
the south, the rainy season begins later, in November, and lasts
until about February. The dry season (cacimbo) is often
characterized by a heavy morning mist. In general, precipitation
is higher in the north, but at any latitude it is greater in the
interior than along the coast and increases with altitude.
Temperatures fall with distance from the equator and with altitude
and tend to rise closer to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus at Soyo, at
the mouth of the Congo River, the average annual temperature is
about 26°C, but it is under 16°C at Huambo on the temperate
central plateau. The coolest months are July and August (in the
middle of the dry season), when frost may sometimes form at higher
altitudes.
Data as of February 1989
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