The Great Rift Valley is the most unusual feature of East Africa’s physical geography. Sometimes it is called the Great Rift system because it is not one single valley. Rather, it is a series of large valleys and depressions in Earth’s surface.

The physical geography of East Africa is dominated by the Great Rift Valley, which extends through the middle of the region from north to south. Associated with the rift valleys are vast savannas such as the Serengeti Plain, large lakes, high mountains, and the highlands of Ethiopia.

The Sahara is the worlds largest hot desert, covering 8.5 million square kilometers (3.3 million square miles), about the size of the South American country of Brazil. Defining Africa’s northern bulge, the Sahara makes up 25 percent of the continent.

Here are a few interesting geography facts related to Africa.

• Africa is home to the second longest river in the world.
• Africa has the world’s largest non-polar desert.
• Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain on the continent.
• Africa lies on all four hemispheres of the Earth.
• Africa is hot!

Oceans and continents are the highest-order landforms. A body of water is any significant accumulation of water, usually covering the Earth. The term “body of water” most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it may also include smaller pools of water such as ponds, creeks or wetlands.

Natural features: Are those dominated by natural features such as landforms and vegetation. This includes the earth’s soil, water, air, sunlight and all living things. These are often referred to as the natural environment.

Geographic characteristics are divided into two categories: physical characteristics and human characteristics. Physical characteristics describe the natural environment of the place. They include: • physical features – are landforms and bodies of water. weather – is how hot or cold and how wet or dry a place is.

Aside from being part of a continental landform, the United States is covered in geographical features.

• Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains may be some of the oldest mountains on earth.
• Rocky Mountains.
• Great Salt Lake.
• Grand Canyon.
• Great Plains.
• Mississippi River.
• Mojave Desert & Death Valley.

Geographers categorize regions in two basic ways: physical and cultural. Physical regions are defined by landform (continents and mountain ranges), climate, soil, and natural vegetation. Cultural regions are distinguished by such traits as language, politics, religion, economics, and industry.

Take a tour of earth’s physical features and learn how they are formed. Highlights major types of landforms, including continents, islands, peninsulas, plains, and plateaus. Also reviews earth’s water features, such as oceans, seas, gulfs, bays, lagoons, and others.

Earth consists of land, air, water and life. The land contains mountains, valleys and flat areas. The air is made up of different gases, mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The water includes oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, rain, snow and ice.

Mount Everest

Natural features means components and processes present in or produced by nature, including, but not limited to, soil types, geology, slopes, vegetation, surface water, drainage patterns, aquifers, recharge areas, climate, flood plains, aquatic life, and wildlife.

Human-made features in a community are modifications or changes that people have made to the land. Buildings, bridges, railroad tracks, and monuments are all human-made features.

Human features are those made by humans and which humans have changed or influenced.

Features include railroads, roads, road interchanges, bridges, bridge structures, and conduits.

The physical and human characteristics of a place make it unique. Physical characteristics include the natural environment, such as landforms, elevation, water features, climate, soil, natural vegetation, and animal life. Geographers can also use place to compare and contrast different locations.

An understanding of place is fundamental to the concept of livability, including transportation-related aspects of livability. People live in places, move within and between places, and depend on the movement of goods to and from places. The individual characteristics of places are vital in determining quality of life.

The political, financial and social aspects of a society are certainly important. But one cannot ignore the other important facets namely tradition, history and culture. Most major cities are cosmopolitan in nature, that is, they have people of different societies living together.