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TheAfrican Union covers almost the entirety of continentalAfrica and several off-shore islands. Consequently, it is wildly diverse, including the world's largest hotdesert (theSahara), hugejungles andsavannas, and the world's longest river (theNile).

The AU presently has an area of 29,922,059 square kilometres (11,552,972 sq mi), with 24,165 square kilometres (9,330 sq mi) of coastline. The vast majority of this area is oncontinental Africa, while the only significant territory off the mainland is the island ofMadagascar (the world's fourth largest), accounting for slightly less than 2% of the total.

African Union at large

Northernmost	Ras ben Sakka	Tunisia	(37°21′ N)
Southernmost	Cape Agulhas	South Africa	(34°51'15"S)[1]
Westernmost	Santo Antão	Cape Verde	(25°25'W)
Easternmost	Rodrigues	Mauritius	(63°30'E)
Most distant point from the coastline	African pole of inaccessibility		near the townObo.
Highest point above land	Mount Kilimanjaro	Tanzania	5,895 m (6,447 yd)
Lowest point below sea level	Lake Asal	Djibouti	−156 m (−171 yd)
Longest River	Nile		6,650 km (4,130 miles) long
Deepest Lake	Lake Tanganyika		1,470 m (4,820 ft) deep
Largest lake by area	Lake Victoria		68,800 km2 (26,600 sq mi)
Highest waterfall	Tugela Falls	South Africa	948 m (3,110 feet)
Largest Island	Madagascar Island	Madagascar	587,040 km2 (226,657 sq mi)

The AU has two land borders:Morocco borders the Spanish semi-enclaves ofCeuta,Melilla, andPeñón de Vélez de la Gomera andEgypt'sSinai Peninsula borders theGaza Strip for 11 km (6.8 mi) andIsrael for 400 km (248 mi) on its western frontier. Since it isAsian, the Sinai is the only territorial region of the AU on another geopoliticalcontinent.

The AU is the successor to theOrganisation of African Unity, aninternational organization that gradually includedsovereign Africanstates as the continent wasdecolonized. The membership of the African Union, and consequently its borders, have not changed since its founding.

• The Gambia – Surrounded bySenegal.
• Guinea-Bissau – A dependent area ofPortugal, joined on November 19, 1973, prior to internationally recognized independence, borderingGuinea to the east and south, and Senegal to the north.
• Kenya – Acolony of theUnited Kingdom at the time, Kenya joined on December 13, 1963, the day after its independence. It is bordered byEthiopia to the north,Somalia to the east,Tanzania to the south,Uganda to the west, andSudan to the northwest.
• Malawi – A colony of the United Kingdom at the time, Malawi joined on July 13, 1964, one week after independence.
• Portugal – At the time,Angola was aprovince, with theDemocratic Republic of the Congo to its north; theCabindaenclave is surrounded by theRepublic of the Congo to its north and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on its east and south. Angola joined on February 11, 1975, prior to its internationally recognized independence.
• Spain – Enclaves ofCeuta andMelilla are surrounded by Morocco;Spanish Sahara was aprovince at the time, to the south.Equatorial Guinea was also a province, borderingCameroon to the north andGabon to the east and south.
• Zambia – A colony of the United Kingdom at the time, Zambia joined the AU in October, 1965, after gaining independence on October 24, the year prior. The Democratic Republic of the Congo andTanzania lie to the north.

• Kenya joins the OAU.

• Malawi joins the OAU.

• Zambia joins the OAU. It bordered the following territories to the south:
• Botswana – Acolony of the United Kingdom at the time, Botswana joined the OAU on October 31, 1966; it achieved independence the September 30 prior.
• South West Africa – A colony of the United Kingdom under the mandate ofSouth Africa, the territory wouldn't become independent until March 21, 1990, asNamibia. It joined the OAU in June of that year.
• Zimbabwe – A colony of the United Kingdom at the time, Zimbabwe joined the OAU in June, 1980; it achieved independence asRhodesia on November 11, 1965.

• The Gambia joins the OAU.

• Botswana and Lesotho join the OAU. The bordered:
• South Africa – While independent, South Africa was ruled under the system ofapartheid, and was ineligible and uninterested in membership. Following a democratic revolution in 1994, it joined the OAU that June 6; becoming the most recent member. It bordered Botswana to the south and is perforated by Lesotho.

• Mauritius joins the OAU.

• Swaziland joins the OAU.

• Equatorial Guinea joins the OAU upon independence. The OAU still shares a border with Spain alongCeuta andMelilla (via Morocco), andSpanish Sahara (via Algeria, Mauritania, and Morocco.)

• Guinea-Bissau joins the OAU. At the time, it was still considered a dependency of Portugal. It gained independence on September 10, 1974.

• Angola joins the OAU. At the time, it was still considered a dependency of Portugal. It gained independence on November 11, 1975.

Cape Verde,Comoros,Mozambique, andSão Tomé and Príncipe join the OAU.

• TheSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is declared inWestern Sahara as Spain decolonizes. This leads to a land war between theSahrawi nationalistPolisario Front andthe armies of Mauritania and Morocco.

• Seychelles joins the OAU.

• Djibouti becomes independent of France and joins the OAU.

Zimbabwe joins the OAU.

• The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic joins the OAU. It does not participate in the next two summits, due to pressure from Morocco.

• Morocco leaves the OAU; leaving no border with Spain.

• Namibia becomes independent of the South African mandate.

• Namibia joins the OAU.

• Eritrea becomes independent from Ethiopia and joins the OAU.

• South Africa joins the OAU after the fall ofapartheid.

• South Sudan joins the African Union after becoming an independent state followinga referendum.

• Morocco readmitted, moving the border to Spain.

• Most geographic data comes from theCIA World Factbook, 2006 edition.

• Geography of Africa
• African Union

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