African Union

== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of the African Union}}
[[File:Regions of the African Union.png|thumb|[[Regions of the African Union]]:<br />
{{Color box|#DAA520|'''Northern Region'''
 (Sahara)|border=darkgray}}<br />
{{Color box|#87CEEB|'''Southern Region'''
 (Kalahari)|border=darkgray}}<br />
{{Color box|#90EE90|'''Eastern Region'''
 (Nile)|border=darkgray}}<br />
{{Color box|#FA8072|'''Western Regions A and B'''
 (Niger and Volta Niger)|border=darkgray}}<br />
{{Color box|#B88FFF|'''Central Region'''
(Congo)|border=darkgray}}]]

Member [[sovereign state|states]] of the African Union cover almost the entirety of continental Africa, except for several territories held by Spain ([[Ceuta]], [[Melilla]], and [[Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera]]). In addition, European countries have dependencies among the offshore islands of Africa: Spain (the [[Canary Islands]] and the islands of the [[plazas de soberanía]]); France ([[Mayotte]], [[Réunion]], and the [[Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean]]); Portugal (the [[Azores]], [[Madeira]], and the [[Savage Islands]]); and the United Kingdom ([[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]]). The geography of the African Union is wildly diverse, including the world's largest hot desert (the [[Sahara]]), huge jungles and [[savanna]]s, and the world's longest river (the [[Nile]]).

The AU has an area of {{convert|29922059|km2}}, with {{convert|24165|km}} of coastline. The vast majority of this area is on continental Africa, while the only significant territories off the mainland are the island of [[Madagascar]] (the world's largest [[continental fragment|microcontinent]] and [[list of islands by area|fourth-largest island]]) and the [[Sinai Peninsula]] (geographically a part of Asia), accounting for slightly less than 2% of the total area.