Africa

Africa

File:Africa (orthographic projection).svg
Area	30,370,000 km2 (11,730,000 sq mi), 2nd
Population	1.2 billion (2016, 2nd)
Population density	36.4/km2 (94/sq mi)
Demonym	African
Countries	54 (and 2 disputed)
Dependencies	External (3) Mayotte Réunion Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Internal (4) Canary Islands Ceuta Madeira Islands Melilla
Languages	1250-3000 native languages
Time zones	UTC-1 to UTC+4
Largest cities	List of cities in Africa Lagos Cairo Kinshasa Johannesburg Khartoum Dar es Salaam Alexandria Abidjan Algiers Kano Casablanca Ibadan Nairobi Abuja

File:AfricaCIA-HiRes.jpg

Map of Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20.4 % of its total land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% 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 includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states (countries), nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition.

Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria by population. Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, Homo habilis and Homo ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones.

Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa. Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century.

Religion

Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs, and statistics on religious affiliation are difficult to come by since they are often a sensitive a topic for governments with mixed religious populations. According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Islam is the largest religion in Africa, followed by Christianity. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, 45% of the population are Christians, 40% are Muslims, and 10% follow traditional religions. A small number of Africans are Hindu, Buddhist, Confucianist, Bahá'í Faith, or Jewish. There is also a minority of Africans who are irreligious.

Further reading

• Moore, Clark D., and Ann Dunbar (1968). Africa Yesterday and Today, in series, The George School Readings on Developing Lands. New York: Praeger Publishers.
• Naipaul, V. S. The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief. Picador, 2010. ISBN 978-0-330-47205-0
• Besenyő, János. Western Sahara (2009), free online PDF book, Publikon Publishers, Pécs, ISBN 978-963-88332-0-4, 2009

External links

General information

• Africa at DMOZ
• African & Middle Eastern Reading Room from the United States Library of Congress
• Africa South of the Sahara from Stanford University
• The Index on Africa from The Norwegian Council for Africa
• Aluka Digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa
• Africa Interactive Map from the United States Army Africa
• One of the new competitors in Africa

History

• African Kingdoms
• The Story of Africa from BBC World Service
• Africa Policy Information Center (APIC)
• Hungarian military forces in Africa

News media

• allAfrica.com current news, events and statistics
• Focus on Africa magazine from BBC World Service