contains several mosques (one of them a very handsome building), and is the seat of an Armenian bishop. The town is connected by railway with Smyrna, Konia, Angora and Constantinople.
See V. Cuinet, Turquie d’Asie (Paris, 1894), vol. iv.
A FORTIORI (Lat. “from a stronger [reason]”), a term used of an argument which justifies a statement not itself specifically demonstrated by reference to a proved conclusion which includes it; thus, if A is proved less than B, and is known to be greater than C, it follows a fortiori that C is less than B without further proof. The argument is frequently based merely on a comparison of probabilities (cf. Matt. vi. 30), when it constitutes an appeal to common sense.
AFRANIUS, LUCIUS, Roman general, lived in the times of the Sertorian (79–72), third Mithradatic (74–61) and Civil Wars. Of humble origin (Cic. ad Att. i. 16. 20), from his early years he was a devoted adherent of Pompey. In 60, chiefly by Pompey’s support, he was raised to the consulship, but in performing the duties of that office he showed an utter incapacity to manage civil affairs. In the following year, while governor of Cisalpine Gaul, he obtained the honour of a triumph, and on the allotment of Spain to Pompey (55), Afranius and Marcus Petreius were sent to take charge of the government. On the rupture between Caesar and Pompey they were compelled, after a short campaign in which they were at first successful, to surrender to Caesar at Ilerda (49), and were dismissed on promising not to serve again in the war. Afranius, regardless of his promise, joined Pompey at Dyrrhachium, and at the battle of Pharsalus (48) had charge of Pompey’s camp. On the defeat of Pompey, Afranius, despairing of pardon from Caesar, went to Africa, and was present at the disastrous battle of Thapsus (46). Escaping from the field with a strong body of cavalry, he was afterwards taken prisoner, along with Faustus Sulla, by the troops of Sittius, and handed over to Caesar, whose veterans rose in tumult and put them to death.
See Hirtius, Bell. Afric. 95; Plutarch, Pompey; Dio Cassius xxxvii., xli.-xliii.; Caesar, B.C. i. 37-87; Appian, B.C. ii.; for the history of the period, articles on Caesar and Pompey.
AFRANIUS, LUCIUS, Roman comic poet, flourished about 94 B.C. His comedies chiefly dealt with everyday subjects from Roman middle-class life, and he himself tells us that he borrowed freely from Menander and others. His style was vigorous and correct; his moral tone that of the period.
Horace, Epp. ii. 1. 57; Cicero, Brutus, 45, de Fin. i. 3; Quintilian x. 1. 100; fragments, about 400 lines, in Ribbeck, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta, ii. (1898).
AFRICA, the name of a continent representing the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of the earth’s surface. It includes within its remarkably regular outline an area, according to the most recent computations, of
11,262,000 sq. m., excluding the islands.[1] Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, it is joined to Asia at its N.E. extremity by the Isthmus of Suez, 80 m. wide. From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka, a little west of Cape Blanc, in 37° 21′ N., to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas, 34° 51′ 15″ S., is a distance approximately of 5000 m.; from Cape Verde, 17° 33′ 22″ W., the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun, 51° 27′ 52″ E., the most easterly projection, is a distance (also approximately) of 4600 m. The length of coast-line is 16,100 m. and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is shown by the fact that Europe, which covers only 3,760,000 sq. m., has a coast-line of 19,800 m.
I. Physical Geography
The main structural lines of the continent show both the east-to-west direction characteristic, at least in the eastern hemisphere, of the more northern parts of the world, and the north-to-south direction seen in the southern peninsulas. Africa is thus composed of two segments at right angles, the northern running from east to west, the southern from north to south, the subordinate lines corresponding in the main to these two directions. `
Main Orographical Features.—The mean elevation of the continent approximates closely to 2000 ft., which is roughly the elevation of both North and South America, but is considerably less than that of Asia (3117 ft.). In contrast with the other continents it is marked by the comparatively small area both of very high and of very low ground, lands under 600 ft. occupying an unusually small part of the surface; while not only are the highest elevations inferior to those of Asia and South America, but the area of land over 10,000 ft. is also quite insignificant, being represented almost entirely by individual peaks and mountain ranges. Moderately elevated tablelands are thus the characteristic feature of the continent, though the surface of these is broken by higher peaks and ridges. (So prevalent are these isolated peaks and ridges that a special term [Inselberglandschaft] has been adopted in Germany to describe this kind of country, which is thought to be in great part the result of wind action.) As a general rule, the higher tablelands lie to the east and south, while a progressive diminution in altitude towards the west and north is observable. Apart from the lowlands and the Atlas range, the continent may be divided into two regions of higher and lower plateaus, the dividing line (somewhat concave to the north-west) running from the middle of the Red Sea to about 6° S. on the west coast. We thus obtain the following four main divisions of the continent:—(1) The coast plains often fringed seawards by mangrove swamps never stretching far from the coast, except on the lower courses of streams. Recent alluvial flats are found chiefly in the delta of the more important rivers. Elsewhere the coast lowlands merely form the lowest steps of the system of terraces which constitutes the ascent to the inner plateaus. (2) The Atlas range, which, orographically, is distinct from the rest of the continent, being unconnected with any other area of high ground, and separated from the rest of the continent on the south by a depressed and desert area (the Sahara), in places below sea-level. (3) The high southern and eastern plateaus, rarely falling below 2000 ft., and having a mean elevation of about 3500 ft. (4) The north and west African plains, bordered and traversed by bands of higher ground, but generally below 2000 ft. This division includes the great desert of the Sahara.
The third and fourth divisions may be again subdivided. Thus the high plateaus include:—(a) The South African plateau as far as about 12° S., bounded east, west and south by bands of high ground which fall steeply to the coasts. On this account South Africa has a general resemblance to an inverted saucer. Due south the plateau rim is formed by three parallel steps with level ground between them. The largest of these level areas, the Great Karroo, is a dry, barren region, and a large tract of the plateau proper is of a still more arid character and is known as the Kalahari Desert. The South African plateau is connected towards the north-east with (b) the East African plateau, with probably a slightly greater average elevation, and marked by some distinct features. It is formed by a widening out of the eastern axis of high ground, which becomes subdivided into a number of zones running north and south and consisting in turn of ranges, tablelands and depressions. The most striking feature is the existence of two great lines of depression, due largely to the subsidence of whole segments of the earth’s crust, the lowest parts of which are occupied by vast lakes Towards the south the two lines converge and give place to one great valley (occupied by Lake Nyasa), the southern part of which is less distinctly due to rifting and subsidence than the rest of the system. Farther north the western depression, sometimes known as the Central African trough or Albertine rift-valley, is occupied for more than half its length by water, forming the four lakes of Tanganyika, Kivu, Albert Edward and Albert, the first-named over 400 m. long and the longest freshwater lake in the world. Associated with these great valleys are a number of volcanic peaks, the greatest of which occur on a meridional line east of the eastern trough. The eastern depression, known as the East African trough or rift-valley, contains much smaller lakes, many of them brackish and without outlet, the only one comparable to those of the western trough being Lake Rudolf or Basso Norok. At no great distance east
- ↑ With the islands, 11,498,000 sq. m.
