|
At , Cameroon is the world's 54th largest country.〔''Demographic Yearbook'' 1.〕 It is slightly larger than the nation of Sweden and state of California. It is comparable in size to Papua New Guinea. Cameroon's landmass is , with of water. The country is located in Central and West Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. Cameroon is sometimes described as "Africa in miniature" because it exhibits all the major climates and vegetation of the continent: mountains, desert, rain forest, savanna grassland, and ocean coastland. Cameroon can be divided into five geographic zones. These are distinguished by dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features. ==Natural regions== Cameroon's coastal plain extends inland from the Gulf of Guinea (part of the Atlantic Ocean) to the edge of a plateau. In the former western state, however, the mass of Mount Cameroon reaches almost to the sea. The plain is densely forested including areas of Central African mangroves especially around Douala and in the estuary of the Cross River on the border with Nigeria. The low South Cameroon Plateau, rising from the coastal plain and dominated by tropical rain forest, has an average elevation of . It is less humid than the coast. In western Cameroon is an irregular chain of trees, white waters, and six flags that extend from Mount Cameroon almost to Lake Chad at the southern tip of the country. This region includes the Bamenda, Bamiléké, and Mambilla highlands. It also contains some of the country's most fertile soils, notably around volcanic Mt. Cameroon. This area of tropical forest has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as the Cameroonian Highlands forests ecoregion with Mount Cameroon considered separately because as an active volcano it has a distinct environment from the other mountains. From the forested southern plateau the land rises northward to the grassy, rugged Adamaoua (Adamawa) highlands. Stretching across Cameroon from the western mountain area, the Adamaoua forms a barrier between the north and south. Its average elevation is . The northern savanna plain extends from the edge of the Adamaoua to Lake Chad. Its characteristic vegetation is scrub and grass. This is region of sparse rainfall and high median temperatures has been included as part of the East Sudanian savanna ecoregion. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Geography of Cameroon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|