Africa is the second largest continent in the world and the second largest continent with the largest population. Let's talk about it next.

: Gulf of Guinea

Gulf of Guinea. An arm of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa. From Cape Palmas in Liberia in the west to Cape Lopez in Gabon in the east. Coastal countries depend on Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, an island country at the head of the Gulf.

history

/kloc-After the invasion of European colonists in the 5th century, it became a trade channel between West Africa and America, and the coast was an important base for plundering pepper, gold, ivory and slave trade, so different regions were called "slave coast", "gold coast", "ivory coast" and "pepper coast". The main coastal ports are Abidjan, Accra, Lomé, porto-novo, Lagos, Douala and Libreville.

petroleum

There are abundant petroleum resources in the Gulf of Guinea and its adjacent areas 10 countries. At present, the proven oil reserves exceed 80 billion barrels, accounting for about 10% of the world's total reserves. In 200 1 year, of the 8 billion barrels of crude oil newly discovered in the world, 7 billion barrels came from the Gulf of Guinea. Like the Persian Gulf in the Middle East, the Gulf of Guinea has become the focus of the world's attention because of oil warming.

Hot spots. The Gulf of Guinea has great resource potential. At present, countries with proven oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Guinea include Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe and Chad. Authoritative sources predict that in the next five years, 1/4 of the global oil production increase will belong to Africa.

In 2007, Nigeria's oil production will exceed 3 million barrels a day, and Angola will also reach 2 million barrels. By 20 10, Nigeria's proven oil reserves will reach 40 billion barrels. The oil resources in the Gulf of Guinea are mainly divided into four types: land, offshore, deep sea and ultra-deep sea. At present, it is mainly a part of offshore development, and the land oil resources have not been fully developed, so there is great room for development in oil exploration and development. The oil in the Gulf of Guinea has three advantages: First, its geographical position is superior. Most of them are distributed near the Atlantic coast and offshore waters, generally only a dozen to dozens of kilometers offshore. Offshore oil development can avoid the political or social interference of some countries, and it is convenient to transport abroad, and the transportation cost is relatively low. Second, there are many kinds of oil with high quality. Most of the oil in the Gulf of Guinea is shallow oil, with more than 40 kinds, most of which belong to low sulfur and high quality oil. The development and refining cost is low, and it is easy to be refined into automobile fuel. Third, West African oil is "shared by several countries that have no historical ties with each other", and the political relations between these West African countries and the United States are generally good, so it is unlikely that they will unite to impose an "embargo" on the United States. Due to the above reasons, western powers have long realized the importance of the Gulf of Guinea, constantly strengthened their diplomatic offensive against the oil-producing countries in the region, encouraged domestic oil groups to seize the oil-producing area in the Gulf of Guinea, and stepped up the implementation of Africa's oil and gas reserve strategy. At the same time, in recent years, Gulf of Guinea countries have attached great importance to energy production and the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources, and have promulgated or revised laws on oil and mineral resources, gradually breaking monopoly and relaxing restrictions, hoping that international oil companies will participate in the exploration and development of their own oil and gas resources in order to revitalize their own economies. Analysts predict that the Gulf of Guinea will become one of the most important oil-producing areas in the world in the future, and its rich oil resources will play an important role in meeting the world's growing energy demand.

climate

Along the Gulf of Guinea, the vast areas on both sides of the tropical rain forest climate have savanna climate. Although the East African Plateau is located near the equator, it has a high altitude and does not have the conditions to form a tropical rain forest, so it is also savanna climate. The tropical desert climate is distributed near the two sides of the Tropic of Cancer in the tropical grassland climate, but the southern tropical desert climate is narrow. The Mediterranean climate is also very small, limited to the southernmost coastal areas. The climate of Africa as a whole is symmetrically distributed from north to south with the equator as the central axis.

The tropical grassland climate is distributed on both sides of the tropical rain forest climate belt in the west and middle of the mainland, and a year is divided into two distinct wet and dry seasons: wet season, when the wind blows from the sea, there is abundant precipitation. The grass on the savanna can grow to 2 meters high, and the branches and leaves on the tree are bright green, which can meet the needs of herbivores such as zebras, giraffes and antelopes on the grassland. This is also the most active season for carnivores such as lions and leopards. In the cultivated savanna area, if the rainy season is timely and sufficient, the field can get a good harvest.

In dry season, controlled by subtropical high, it is dry and rainy. The tall grass on the savanna withered in brown, leaving only sporadic short grass, all the leaves on the trees withered, and wild animals migrated to places with aquatic plants in droves, making it difficult to cultivate in the field. In some years, the dry season is prolonged, or there are droughts for several years in a row, and famine will occur. ?