Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population.
The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent has 56 sovereign states, which includes Madagascar and various island groups, and two unrecognised countries.
History
Paleohistory
At the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, Africa was joined with Earth's other continents in Pangaea. Africa shared the supercontinent's relatively uniform fauna, which was dominated by theropods, prosauropods and primitive ornithischians by the close of the Triassic period. Late Triassic fossils are found through-out Africa, but are more common in the south than north. The boundary separating the Triassic and Jurassic marks the advent of an extinction event with global impact, although African strata from this time period have not been thoroughly studied.
Early Jurassic strata are distributed in a similar fashion to Late Triassic beds, with more common outcrops in the south and less common fossil beds which are predominated by tracks to the north. As the Jurassic proceeded, larger and more iconic groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods proliferated in Africa. Middle Jurassic strata are neither well represented nor well studied in Africa. Late Jurassic strata are also poorly represented apart from the spectacular Tendaguru fauna in Tanzania. The Late Jurassic life of Tendaguru is very similar to that found in western North America's Morrison Formation.
Prehistory
Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the human species originating from the continent. During the middle of the 20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have evolved into modern man, such as Australopithecus afarensis Paranthropus boisei and Homo ergaster (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BC) have been discovered.
Throughout humanity's prehistory, Africa (like all other continents) had no nation states, and was instead inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers such as the Khoi and San.
At the end of the Ice Ages, estimated to have been around 10,500 BC, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in Sub-Saharan Africa[citation needed]. However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5000 BC the Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa. Since this time dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa, and increasingly during the last 200 years, in Ethiopia.
Geography of Africa
Africa is the largest of the three great southward projections from the largest landmass of the Earth. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, it is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez (transected by the Suez Canal), 163 km (101 mi) wide. (Geopolitically, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is often considered part of Africa.
Africa's largest country is Algeria, and its smallest country is the Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast. The smallest nation on the continental mainland is The Gambia.
According to the ancient Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to Anatolia and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geographer Ptolemy (85–165 AD), indicating Alexandria along the Prime Meridian and making the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge.
Geologically, Africa includes the Arabian Peninsula; the Zagros Mountains of Iran and the Anatolian Plateau of Turkey mark where the African Plate collided with Eurasia. The Afrotropic ecozone and the Saharo-Arabian desert to its north unite the region biogeographically, and the Afro-Asiatic language family unites the north linguistically.
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a 54 member federation consisting of all of Africa's states except Morocco. The union was formed, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as its headquarters, on 26 June 2001. The union was officially established on 9 July 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). In July 2004, the African Union's Pan-African Parliament (PAP) was relocated to Midrand, in South Africa, but the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights remained in Addis Ababa. There is a policy in effect to decentralize the African Federation's institutions so that they are shared by all the states.
The African Union, not to be confused with the AU Commission, is formed by the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which aims to transform the African Economic Community, a federated commonwealth, into a state under established international conventions. The African Union has a parliamentary government, known as the African Union Government, consisting of legislative, judicial and executive organs. It is led by the African Union President and Head of State, who is also the President of the Pan African Parliament. A person becomes AU President by being elected to the PAP, and subsequently gaining majority support in the PAP. The powers and authority of the President of the African Parliament derive from the Constitutive Act and the Protocol of the Pan African Parliament, as well as the inheritance of presidential authority stipulated by African treaties and by international treaties, including those subordinating the Secretary General of the OAU Secretariat (AU Commission) to the PAP. The government of the AU consists of all-union (federal), regional, state, and municipal authorities, as well as hundreds of institutions, that together manage the day-to-day affairs of the institution.
Political associations such as the African Union offer hope for greater co-operation and peace between the continent's many countries. Extensive human rights abuses still occur in several parts of Africa, often under the oversight of the state. Most of such violations occur for political reasons, often as a side effect of civil war. Countries where major human rights violations have been reported in recent times include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Côte d'Ivoire.
Economy of Africa
Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continent, the result of a variety of causes that may include the spread of deadly diseases and viruses (notably HIV/AIDS and malaria), corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations, failed central planning, high levels of illiteracy, lack of access to foreign capital, and frequent tribal and military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide). According to the United Nations' Human Development Report in 2003, the bottom 25 ranked nations (151st to 175th) were all African.
Poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation, as well as poor health, affect a large proportion of the people who reside in the African continent. In August 2008, the World Bank announced revised global poverty estimates based on a new international poverty line of $1.25 per day (versus the previous measure of $1.00). 80.5% of the Sub-Saharan Africa population was living on less than $2.50 (PPP) a day in 2005, compared with 85.7% for India.
African people and Demographics of Africa
Africa's population has rapidly increased over the last 40 years, and consequently, it is relatively young. In some African states, half or more of the population is under 25 years of age. The total number of people in Africa grew from 221 million in 1950 to 1 billion in 2009.
Speakers of Bantu languages (part of the Niger–Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and southeast Africa. The Bantu-speaking farmers from West Africa's inland savanna progressively expanded over most of Sub-Saharan Africa. But there are also several Nilotic groups in South Sudan and East Africa, the mixed Swahili people on the Swahili Coast, and a few remaining indigenous Khoisan ('San' or 'Bushmen') and Pygmy peoples in southern and central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon. In the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the Bushmen have long been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.
The peoples of North Africa comprise two main groups: Berbers and Arabic-speaking peoples in the west, and Egyptians and Libyans in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the 7th century introduced the Arabic language and Islam to North Africa. The Semitic Phoenicians (who founded Carthage) and Hyksos, the Indo-Iranian Alans, the Indo- European Greeks, Romans and Vandals settled in North Africa as well. Berbers still make up the majority in Morocco, while they are a significant minority within Algeria. They are also present in Tunisia and Libya. The Berber-speaking Tuareg and other often-nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.
Religion in Africa
Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs[94] and statistics on religious affiliation are difficult to come by since they are too sensitive a topic for governments with mixed populations.According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Islam is the largest religion in Africa, followed by Christianity. However, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, 45% of the population are Christians, 40% are Muslims and less than 15% continue to follow traditional African religions. A small number of Africans are Hindu, Baha'i, or have beliefs from the Judaic tradition. Examples of African Jews are the Beta Israel, Lemba peoples and the Abayudaya of Eastern Uganda. There is also a small minority of Africans who are non-religious.
List of countries in Africa
Eastern Africa
Country Area Population Density Capital
Burundi 27830 8988091 322.9 Bujumbura
Comoros 2170 752438 346.7 Moroni
Djibouti 23000 516055 22.7 Djibouti
Eritrea 121320 5647168 4605 Asmara
Ethiopia 1,127,127 85,237,338 75.6 Addis Ababa
Kenya 582,650 39,002,772 66.0 Nairobi
Madagascar 587040 20,653,556 35.1 Antananarivo
Malawi 118480 14268711 120.4 Lilongwe
Mauritius 2040 1284264 629.5 Port Louis
Mayotte 374 223,765 489.7 Mamoudzou
Mozambique 801,590 21,669,278 27.0 Maputo
Réunion 2,512 743,981 296.2 Saint-Denis
Rwanda 26,338 10,473,282 397.6 Kigali
Seychelles 455 87,476 192.2 Victoria
Somalia 637,657 9,832,017 15.4 Mogadishu
Tanzania 945,087 41,048,532 43.3 Dodoma
Uganda 236,040 32,369,558 137.1 Kampala
Zambia 752,614 11,862,740 15.7 Lusaka
Central Africa
Country Area Population Density Capital
Angola 1,246,700 12,799,293 10.3 Luanda
Cameroon 475,440 18,879,301 39.7 Yaoundé
Central African
Republic 622,984 4,511,488 7.2 Bangui
Chad 1,284,000 10,329,208 8.0 N'Djamen
Republic of the
Congo 342,000 4,012,809 11.7 Brazzaville
Democratic Republic
of the Congo 2,345,410 68,692,542 29.2 Kinshasa
Equatorial Guinea 28,051 633,441 22.6 Malabo
Gabon 267,667 1,514,993 5.6 Libreville
São Tomé and
Príncipe 1,001 212,679 212.4 São Tomé
Northern Africa
Country Area Population Density Capital
Algeria 2,381,740 34,178,188 14.3 Algiers
Canary Islands 7,492 2,118,519 226.2 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Egypt 1,001,450 83,082,869 82.9 Cairo
Libya 1,759,540 6,310,434 3.6 Tripoli
Madeira 797 245,000 307.4 Funchal
Morocco 446,550 34,859,364 78.0 Rabat
South Sudan 619,745 8,260,490 13.3 Juba
Sudan 1,861,484 36,787,012 19.7 Khartoum
Tunisia 163,610 10,486,339 64.1 Tunis
Sahrawi Arab
Democratic Republic 266,000 405,210 1.5 Aaiún
Southern Africa
Country Area Population Density Capital
Botswana 600,370 1,990,876 3.3 Gaborone
Lesotho 30,355 2,130,819 70.2 Maseru
Zimbabwe 390,580 11,392,629 29.1 Harare
Namibia 825,418 2,108,665 2.6 Windhoek
South Africa 1,219,912 49,052,489 40.2 Bloemfontein, Cape Town,
Pretoria
Swaziland 17,363 1,123,913 64.7 Mbabane
Western Africa
Country Area Population Density Capital
Benin 112,620 8,791,832 78.0 Porto-Novo
Burkina Faso 274,200 15,746,232 57.4 Ouagadougou
Cape Verde 4,033 429,474 107.3 Praia
Gambia 11,300 1,782,893 157.7 Banjul
Ghana 239,460 23,832,495 99.5 Accra
Guinea 245,857 10,057,975 40.9 Conakry
Guinea-Bissau 36,120 1,533,964 42.5 Bissau
Liberia 111,370 3,441,790 30.9 Monrovia
Mali 1,240,000 12,666,987 10.2 Bamako
Mauritania 1,030,700 3,129,486 3.0 Nouakchott
Niger 1,267,000 15,306,252 12.1 Niamey
Nigeria 923,768 158,259,000 161.5 Abuja
Saint Helena 410 7,637 14.4 Jamestown
Senegal 196,190 13,711,597 69.9 Dakar
Sierra Leone 71,740 6,440,053 89.9 Freetown
Togo 56,785 6,019,877 106.0 Lomé
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