Geography of Liberia
Liberia is a country in West Africa. It is on the north Atlantic side to the southwest (580 kilometers (360 mi) of sea) and three other African countries on the other three sides, Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the northeast and Ivory Coast to the east.[1]
In total, Liberia comprises 111,369 square kilometers (43,000 sq mi) of which 96,300 square kilometers (37,190 sq mi) is land and 15,000 square kilometers (5,810 sq mi) is water.
Physical geography[change | change source]
Liberia goes from between 4.21°N and 8.34°N to 7.27°W and 11.31°W. It is almost in a rectangle shape measuring about 510 km (317 mi) in length from northwest to southeast, with a width of about 275 km (171 mi). The coastline is about 680 km (423 mi), with river mouths up to one kilometre wide.[2]
Drainage of the whole country is directly to the sea, with a lot of short rivers flowing directly into the sea. These are, from west to east, the Mano River on the border with Sierra Leone, the Mafa River, the Lofa River, the Saint Paul River, the Mesurado River, the Farmington River, the Saint John River, the Timbo River, the Cestos River, the Sehnkwehn River, the Sinoe River, the Dugbe River, the Dubo River, the Grand Cess River and the Cavalla River on the border with Ivory Coast.[1]
In the west, the sea is low and sandy, but in the central and eastern parts of the country it is sandy and rocky and of mild height, often broken by the mouths of the rivers. The plains varies in width, being narrow between Monrovia and Buchanan, but being much wider in the west and in the Cestos Valley in the center, becoming smaller again in the eastern end of the country.[1]
Further in, the land rises, to a plateau some 300 to 400 m (1,000 to 1,300 ft) above sea level. This is split by the river valleys and hilly ridges between some of those river valleys. The land goes further in the north and northwest of the country, with mountains that nears 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in several places, the tallest point in the country being in the Wologizi Range at 1,440 m (4,724 ft).[2]
Terrain[change | change source]
Liberia has mostly hilly land, it also has rolling plains along the sea to a plateau and low mountains in the northeast.
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Philip's (1994). Atlas of the World. Reed International. p. 100. ISBN 0-540-05831-9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hughes, R.H. (1992). A Directory of African Wetlands. IUCN. pp. 385–386. ISBN 978-2-88032-949-5.