headland

{{short description|Landform extending into a body of water, often with significant height and drop}}

File:Land's End - geograph.org.uk - 171343.jpg, England]]

A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John (1984). Dictionary of Physical Geography. London: Penguin, 1984, pp. 80, 246. {{ISBN|0-14-051094-X}}. Headlands are characterised by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, and steep sea cliff.

Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is flanked by land on three sides, whereas a headland is flanked by water on three sides. Headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form when weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, and granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Through the deposition of sediment within the bay and the erosion of the headlands, coastlines eventually straighten out, then start the same process all over again.

List of notable headlands

=Africa=

File:Cape Malabata Lighthouse.jpg, Morocco]]

{{Lang|fr|Cap Blanc|italic=no}}, Mauritania
Cap-Vert, Senegal
Cape Agulhas, South Africa, Africa's southernmost point
Cape Bojador, Morocco
Cape Correntes, Mozambique
Cape Delgado, Mozambique
Cape Juby, Morocco
Cape Malabata, Morocco
Cape Spartel, Morocco
Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
{{Transliteration|ar|Ras ben Sakka}}, Tunisia, Africa's northernmost point

=Asia=

Beirut, Lebanon
Cabo de Rama, Goa, India
Cape Comorin or Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India
Cape Dezhnev, Russia
Cape Engaño, Philippines
Cape of Fire, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
Coconut Tree Hill, Mirissa, Sri Lanka
Indira Point, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

=Europe=

File:Beachy Head and Lighthouse, East Sussex, England - April 2010 crop horizon corrected.jpg, England]]

Beachy Head, England
{{Lang|pt|Cabo da Roca|italic=no}}, Portugal, the western tip of mainland Europe
Cap Gris-Nez, France
Cape Arkona, Germany
Cape Emine, Bulgaria
Cape Enniberg, Faroe Islands
Cape Finisterre, Galicia, Spain
San Vito lo Capo, Sicily,Italy
Cape Greco, Cyprus
Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria
Cape St. Vincent/Sagres Point, Portugal, the southwestern tip of mainland Europe
Cape Tainaron, Greece, the southernmost tip of mainland Europe
Cape Wrath, Scotland
Dungeness, England
Gibraltar, British Overseas Territory
Great Orme, Wales
Hengistbury Head, England
Land's End, Cornwall, England
Mull of Kintyre, Scotland
North Cape, Norway, the northern tip of mainland Europe
Pointe du Raz, France
St Bees Head, UK, the most westerly point of northern England