Plateaus, Rainforests and Rivers
To describe Africa’s geography is to identify the major impediments to its development. The bulk of the continent consists of raised plateaus. Escarpments lie close to the coasts, allowing only narrow coastal plains for human habitation and rendering the construction of roads and rails extraordinarily difficult. The narrow and rocky continental shelf makes for few natural quays (compared to Europe, for instance). Tectonic activity creates extensive rifting and fault lines in East Africa, and the world’s largest desert gives sub-Saharan Africa its name and its northern border. South of the Sahara, the impenetrable tropical rainforests of the Congo Basin extend through Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), filling the center of the continent and obstructing the regular passage of people and goods.
Rivers provide the best means of transportation through stretches of inhospitable territory, but in Africa the major rivers are unreliable for commerce, in great part because the continental escarpment generates rapids. The Niger River, Africa’s longest, carries ships and barges with food, fuel and other basic goods and supports roughly 100 million people in its valley, though it flows slowly and irregularly and often floods. The Congo River transports people and goods through the expansive rainforests, but it is surrounded by the densest of forests. To the south, one of the most commercial-friendly rivers, the Zambezi, flows through Zambia into the Mozambique Channel. But a series of rapids and cataracts (such as Victoria Falls) as well as hydroelectric dams interrupt the river’s course, making it navigable only on certain stretches. South Africa’s Orange River is entirely un-navigable, while the Limpopo, forming South Africa’s border with Zimbabwe and Botswana, is accessible by steamship only at high tide and navigable for a mere 130 miles inland.
In short, Africa’s waterways are treacherous and frequently obstructed. Some rivers are entirely navigable, such as the Volta River and the Benue, both in West Africa. But the number of side channels, dams, locks and weirs that developers would have to construct to make the continent’s entire river system dependable for 21st century economies of scale would require one of the greatest and most expensive infrastructure projects in human history. Such a project will not happen any time soon.