|
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 Huíla 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
Bié Plateau, the Malanje Plateau, and a small section of
the Huíla
Plateau near the town of Lubango have long been among the
most
densely settled areas in Angola.
Data as of February 1989
|
