What is the smallest country in Africa?

Answer 1

Hawkin, Seychelles is in Africa my friend. It is located north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Some of its island border Comoros. At 176 sq miles Seychelles is the smallest African country. Reunion is also 986 sq miles so it is much smaller the Equatorial Guinea.
You are perhaps thinking of Maldives these islands are not located in Africa, but in Asia. However, unless the islands physically move into Asia, Seychelles has and will be part at its current position in Africa.
Hawkin, my friend your argument is deeply flowed. Though the largest group of islands of: Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Zanzibar (part of Tanzania), Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius are not part of the inland African Continent they are however, part of the African Continent. I also agree with your definition of a continent that you try to pass across to the readers. If I understand it correctly you have a classical definition that the continent is understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water. However, there is a problem in the argument for all geographers identify continents by their convention and not by the definition stated above. Also, geographers who include continental shelf and the islands that are found in the ocean constantly rebut the ideal definition. Using your argument then UK, Indonesia, Philippines, New Zealand, Tasmania, Sri Lanka, Japan, Taiwan, Hainan, Cuba, New Caledonia, Malta, all African islands that I mentioned above, Jamaica, Ireland, Solomon Islands, Cyprus, Iceland and all other large and small islands should be continents by themselves and should not belong to their prospective continents. So, people living in UK are then using your argument are living in their own continent. Do you now see how your argument is flowed? Or people living in the Falkland Islands are living in their own continent? But yet again as example for New Zealand that encompasses two large islands, which using your definition would mean that each large island is its own continent. So, accept the fact that islands are part of continents.

Answer 2

When you said "do not consider irelands," I presume you meant 'islands'. Of the countries on the African mainland, Gambia is the smallest at 11,295 km². 2nd smallest: Swaziland, 17,364 km² ; 3rd smallest: Djibouti, 23,200 km² ; 4th smallest: Rwanda, 26,338 km² ; 5th smallest: Burundi, 27,834 km² ; 6th smallest: Equatorial Guinea, 28,051 km² . If you do include island countries, the answer becomes much more complicated, because you have to ask the question: "What is a country ?" Would you count Mayotte as a 'country' ? It's a French dependency (technically, a collectivité territoriale). Its area is only 372 km². And what about Ascension Island ? This is a British colony with an area of 88 km². But it is 2500 km from the nearest point on the African mainland. So is it part of Africa or not ? If you only consider independent African island-nations, the smallest is the Seychelles at 455 km² , followed by Sâo Tomé & Principé at 964 km² , follwed by Mauritius at 2040 km² .

Answer 3

they Seychelles is NOT IN AFRICA. Dear lord.

thats like saying New Zealand is the smallest country in Australia!

(stop using Wikipedia as a reference, it is not a factual site, anyone can change anything on it!)

Gambia is the smallest of the mainland African states, covering an area of 11,300 sq km (4,363 sq mi).

and in case you were wondering, the Republic of Sudan, in north-eastern Africa, is the largest country of the African continent. Sudan has a total area of 2,505,800 sq km (967,490 sq mi).


P.S. To those who say it is in Africa, it is not, I know where it is, MAXNHL, we can all look on a map and verify that, it is not on the continent, it is not in Africa, it is next to it, and as such referring to the question is not the correct answer.

P.S2: No, those you mentioned would be islands. They are land masses, which are especially smaller than a continent and entirely surrounded by water. And a continent is considered the mainland, as distinguished from islands or peninsulas. But alas, I suppose you have your definition of an island and a continent and so do I.

Answer 4

Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa, measuring only 455 km² = 176 square miles.

Answer 5

Technically speaking Seychelles IS the smallest country in AFRICA(1) [Land Area 270 sq km (104 sq miles)] What other continent could it be placed on? As for the smallest MAINLAND country (a.k.a. non-island nation) in Africa is Gambia(2) [Land Area 10,000 sq km (3,861 sq miles)]

Answer 6

The Seychelles-453 sq km

Answer 7

smallest country is the Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast.

Answer 8

Mozambique

Answer 9

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=smallest+African+country

Answer 10

Just a guess...Lesotho, a state that is completely enclosed by S. Africa.