Top 10 African Countries by Coastline

Name the African nations that have the longest coastlines.
Includes marginal seas
Keep in mind the effect of irregular coastlines
Quiz by gjcsarris
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Last updated: April 18, 2019
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First submittedApril 26, 2016
Times taken41,548
Average score70.0%
Rating4.29
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Kilometers
Country
5,440
Madagascar
3,840
Mozambique
3,790
Egypt
3,070
South Africa
2,710
Morocco
2,440
Somalia
2,190
Nigeria
1,920
Guinea-Bissau
1,910
Tanzania
1,900
Gabon
+3
Level ∞
Apr 18, 2019
Redid the quiz to use our new and better source.
+29
Level ∞
Apr 18, 2019
Guinea-Bissau makes the lists due to its very irregular coastline. Meanwhile Algeria and Libya have very smooth coastlines, which makes them relatively smaller.
+62
Level 88
Apr 18, 2019
Guinea-Bissau would've been one of my last answers, behind a couple landlocked countries. I'll be darned.
+4
Level 75
Jan 6, 2021
I literally did try a few landlocked countries but not GB lol
+2
Level 67
Sep 13, 2023
Where's Chad?
+16
Level ∞
Apr 18, 2019
#11: Angola #12: Libya
+4
Level 73
Apr 18, 2019
Guinea Bissau not mentioned on other lists of longest African coastlines despite its irregular coastline - only 350 km apparently.
+12
Level 63
Apr 19, 2019
Yeah; I call BS on GB being longer than Angola or Libya
+5
Level 82
Apr 19, 2019
QM called BS on other lists :)
+12
Level ∞
Apr 19, 2019
Look at the map at Guinea-Bissau. It is practically a real-life example of a Koch snowflake.
+4
Level 62
Apr 19, 2019
Guinea-Bissau and Gabon beating out larger countries was certainly a shock to me. But those irregular coastlines tricked us!
+1
Level 82
Apr 19, 2019
I got Guinea-Bissau but only because I was getting desperate and guessing everything.
+1
Level 62
Feb 27, 2021
I got Gabon out of despiration but I never would have gotten Guinea-Bissau.
+4
Level 61
Apr 19, 2019
Great quiz. Thanx.

However, the facts need to be checked once more. There are many different ways of measuring coast lines. But including Guinea-Bissau seems bizarre.

+12
Level ∞
Apr 19, 2019
A lot of Guinea-Bissau experts in here all of a sudden. But there's nothing to check. The computer measured the coastlines not me.
+3
Level ∞
Apr 22, 2019
By the way, people would have been happier if I just manually fudged the numbers to make Guinea-Bissau smaller. If I did that, no one would have noticed and no one would have complained.
+7
Level 79
Apr 23, 2019
Coast lines are notoriously hard to measure. Like my mother used to say, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure." (Not calling you a liar, just saying coastlines are subjective.)
+1
Level 70
Apr 26, 2019
And the coastline of a beach magically doubles when you replace the sand by gravel - not to talk about rocks, right? ;-)
+3
Level 66
Aug 14, 2019
coastlines are subjective hahaha. No they are not, they don't magically change size, a coastline is not an opinion. They way you decide to measure them can give varying results yes.

But that is like saying how tall I am is subjective. I really only have one size...

+1
Level 66
Jan 29, 2022
wtf is this answer?
+2
Level 75
May 1, 2019
The 'fractal' nature of coastlines make measuring them accurately impossible. The best you can do (that I can think of) is take a set distance to use as a minimum tolerance and ignore discrepancies smaller than that distance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

+2
Level 75
Jan 6, 2021
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be consistently imperfect.
+2
Level 66
Aug 14, 2019
How much more does it needs to be checked? If QM just to make you happy, would check it once more. And guinea-bissau would remain on the list, you or someone else would ask agian, it needs to be checked once more..

As long as guinea-bissau remains on the list you would want it to be checked again. So what you are really saying is that you want the answers to be changed, that you want guinea-bissau of the list.

+3
Level 73
Jun 11, 2019
I'm surprised that Namibia isn't on the list. I really thought, I found the last of the 10 when i wrote it. But turned out Guinea-Bissau has a longer coastline.
+1
Level 35
Jul 9, 2019
Guinea-Bissau and Gabon? Why do these small African countries have such irregular coastlines?
+3
Level 75
Jul 23, 2019
Because Allah loves wondrous variety
+5
Level 66
Aug 14, 2019
Thank you Morgan Freeman!
+1
Level 66
Aug 14, 2019
read the caveat AND the comments
+1
Level 62
Feb 12, 2020
That delta
+2
Level 59
Jul 14, 2020
Zlarty Bartfast
+1
Level 74
Feb 23, 2023
Geology
+3
Level 79
Aug 14, 2019
I was surprised that Guinea-Bissau has a longer coastline that Angola, Namibia and Libya (among others)!
+1
Level 91
Aug 14, 2019
I thought the same about Guinea Bissau, but look at the Wikipedia article titled "Geography of Guinea Bissau" and then look at the map image that is included and you get a sense for the "irregular" coastline.....
+1
Level 50
Aug 14, 2019
I was surprised that Guinea-Bissau was on there and Algeria, Libya, and Angola weren't!
+1
Level 26
Aug 14, 2019
How the hell does Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau have longer coastlines than Angola?
+3
Level 79
Aug 14, 2019
Lots and lots of inlets and estuaries
+1
Level 74
Feb 23, 2023
And a nice cluster of islands, also with irregular coastlines.
+2
Level 54
Aug 15, 2019
This is the coastline paradox in full swing
+2
Level 41
Aug 16, 2019
Right?! I swear the quiz winked at me and said "I'm so quirky!"
+2
Level 32
Nov 30, 2019
Guinea Gissau have longer coast line than Angola lol
+3
Level 77
Jan 10, 2020
You said that without moving your lips!
+1
Level 43
Jan 14, 2020
Eritrea?
+1
Level 76
Mar 10, 2020
Yeah, I was expecting Eritrea to be on here
+2
Level 49
Jan 16, 2020
Everything correct except for Guinea-Bissau and Gabon.
+1
Level 31
May 1, 2020
Namibia and Angola?
+1
Level 34
Mar 4, 2021
how about cape verde, sao tome, mauritius, comoros and seychelles
+1
Level 74
May 12, 2021
How about them Cowboys
+1
Level 65
Oct 3, 2021
Guinea Bissau's coastline is a good example of how fractals work.
+1
Level 77
Jun 6, 2022
Wow...I kept typing Namibia and Angola thinking that i must be spelling them wrong. They have a crazy smooth coast line. That's amazing.
+1
Level 46
Jun 13, 2022
I did a double take when I saw that Guinea-Bessau was on the list.
+1
Level 55
Jul 29, 2022
Let's go 100% first try.