Abstract The Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic setting of the African continent is characterized by an extensional stress regime, as is evident from the evolution of the West, Central and East African rift systems, the opening of the Indian and Atlantic oceans and the development of Tethys domain, as well as from the results of geophysical investigations. The most prominent feature of the Bouguer gravity anomaly map of Africa is a great belt of negative Bouguer anomalies which extends across the entire African continent from Ethiopia in the East to Benguela in the West. In conjunction with the Red Sea spreading zone this belt appears to encircle a “centre” in Cameroon. It probably corresponds to a distinct zone of lithospheric thinning and extension. The entire African continent is characterized by higher-than-normal elevations. It is located inside the African residual geoid high. Earthquake fault-plane solutions confirm the extensional character of the present tectonic regime of eastern and southern Africa where normal faulting predominates. The average orientation of T axes is N-S in South Africa, NW-SE in Zambia, Mozambique and Madagascar, E-W in Kenya and Ethiopia, and NE-SW in the Red Sea region. From north to south, the orientation of T axes rotates systematically in a clockwise sense by 130° and describes a radial pattern centred on equatorial West Africa. This indicates that the African lithosphere has been subject to continent-wide radial extension around a hypothetical West African “spreading centre”, referred to as the African Spreading Centre A (ASC-A), which coincides with the geographical centre of the African plate. Shear traction exerted by the convecting mantle on the base of the lithosphere is considered to be a major driving force of plate movements. In the case of Africa, the continent-wide regularities in the pattern of lithospheric extension, the elevated position of the continent, as well as the evolution of the mid-oceanic ridge system surrounding Africa, provide distinct boundary conditions for the pattern of large-scale mantle flow beneath the African plate. It is proposed that relatively warm and less dense mantle material rises below Africa, forming a single mega-plume or a number of plumes. At the base of the African lithosphere, the ascending material diverges and flows radially away from the centre of ascent, corresponding to the ASC-A. This ascending flow forms part of a very large mantle convection cell which occupies the Eurafrican hemisphere. The descending branch of this convection cell is located at a distance of 80–90° from the ASC-A. The mid-oceanic ridges surrounding the African continent are located between the upwelling and the downwelling branches of this convection cell, at a distance of 50–60° from the ASC-A. Upper mantle flow below the sea-floor spreading axes is uni-directional and horizontal and is directed away from the ASC-A.