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. [1] With a billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the World's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Not counting the disputed territory of Western Sahara, there are 53 countries, including Madagascar and various island groups, associated with the continent.
Africa, particularly central eastern Africa, is widely regarded within the scientific community to be the origin of humans and the Hominidae tree (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
, H. habilis
and H. ergaster
– with the earliest Homo sapiens
(human) found in Ethiopia being dated to ca. 200,000 years ago. [2]
Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. [3]
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AFRICA TICKETS
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Etymology
Afri was the name of several peoples who dwelt in
North Africa near
Carthage. Their name is usually connected with
Phoenician afar
, "dust", but a 1981 theory
[4] has asserted that it stems from a
Berber word
ifri
or Ifran meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers
[5]. Africa or Ifri or Afer
is name of
Banu Ifran from
Algeria and
Tripolitania (
Berber Tribe of
Yafran)
[6].
In Roman times, Carthage became the capital of
Africa Province, which also included the coastal part of modern
Libya. The Roman suffix "-ca" denotes "country or land".
[7] The later Muslim kingdom of
Ifriqiya, modern-day
Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name.
Other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":
- the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (Ant. 1.15
) asserted that it was named for Epher, grandson of Abraham according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya.
- Latin word aprica
("sunny") mentioned by Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae
XIV.5.2.
- the Greek word aphrike
, meaning "without cold." This was proposed by historian Leo Africanus (1488–1554), who suggested the Greek word phrike
(f????, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the privative prefix "a-", thus indicating a land free of cold and horror.
- Massey, in 1881, derived an etymology from the Egyptian af-rui-ka
, "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The Ka is the energetic double of every person and "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace." [8]
The
Irish female name Aifric
is sometimes
anglicised as
Africa
, but the given name is unrelated to the
geonym.
History
Paleohistory
thumb
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.
[9]
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 Tendeguru fauna in Tanzania.
The Late Jurassic life of Tendeguru is very similar to
that found in western North America's
Morrison Formation.
Midway through the Mesozoic, about 150-160 million years ago, Madagascar separated from Africa, although it remained connected to India and the rest of the Gondwanan landmasses.
Fossils from Madagascar include
abelisaurs and
titanosaurs.
thumb
was the largest known carnivorous dinosaur. Later into the Early Cretaceous epoch, the India-Madagascar landmass separated from the rest of Gondwana.
By the Late Cretaceous, Madagascar and India had permanently split ways and continued until later reaching their modern configurations.
By contrast to Madagascar, mainland Africa was relatively stable in position through-out the Mesozoic.
Despite the stable position, major changes occurred to its relation to other landmasses as the remains of Pangea continued to break apart.
By the beginning of the Late Cretaceous epoch South America had split off from Africa, completing the southern half of the Atlantic Ocean.
This event had a profound effect on global climate by altering ocean currents.
During the Cretaceous, Africa was populated by allosauroids and spinosaurids, including the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs.
Titanosaurs were significant herbivores in its ancient ecosystems.
Cretaceous sites are more common than Jurassic ones, but are often unable to be dated radiometrically making it difficult to know their exact ages.
Paleontologist Louis Jacobs, who spent time doing field work in Malawi, says that African beds are "in need of more field work" and will prove to be a "fertile ground...for discovery."
Pre-history
thumb, an
Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered on November 24, 1974 in the
Awash Valley of
Ethiopia's
Afar Depression
Africa is considered by most
paleoanthropologists to be the
oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the
human species originating from the continent.
[10] [11] During the middle of the twentieth 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
(
radiometrically dated to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years
BC),
[12] Paranthropus boisei
(c. 2.3–1.4 million years BC)
[13] 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.
[14] [15] [16]
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. 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.
The domestication of cattle in Africa preceded agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gathering cultures. It is speculated that by 6000 BC cattle were already domesticated in North Africa.
[17] In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals including the pack ass, and a small screw horned goat which was common from Algeria to
Nubia.
In the year 4000 BC the climate of the Sahara started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace.
[18] This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing
desertification. This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and helped to cause migrations of farming communities to the more tropical climate of
West Africa.
By the first millennium BC
ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa and quickly spread across the Sahara into the northern parts of sub-Saharan Africa
[19] and by 500 BC metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa. Ironworking was fully established by roughly 500 BC in many areas of East and West Africa, although other regions didn't begin ironworking until the early centuries AD. Copper objects from Egypt, North Africa, Nubia and Ethiopia dating from around 500 BC have been excavated in West Africa, suggesting that trans-saharan trade networks had been established by this date.
Early civilizations
thumb at
Abu Simbel, Egypt, date from around 1400 BC.
At about 3300 BC, the historical record opens in Northern Africa with the rise of literacy in the
Pharaonic civilisation of
Ancient Egypt.
[20] One of the world's earliest and longest-lasting civilizations, the Egyptian state continued, with varying levels of influence over other areas, until 343 BC.
[21] [22] Egyptian influence reached deep into modern-day Libya, north to Crete
[23] and
Canaan, and south to the kingdoms of
Aksum and
Nubia. An independent centre of
civilisation with trading links to
Phoenicia was established on the north-west African coast at
Carthage.
[24] [25]
European exploration of Africa began with
Ancient Greeks and
Romans. In 332 BC,
Alexander the Great was welcomed as a liberator in
Persian-occupied Egypt. He founded
Alexandria in Egypt, which would become the prosperous capital of the
Ptolemaic dynasty after his death.
[26] Following the conquest of North Africa's Mediterranean coastline by the
Roman Empire, the area was integrated economically and culturally into the Roman system.
Roman settlement occurred in modern Tunisia and elsewhere along the coast.
Christianity spread across these areas from Palestine via Egypt, also passing south, beyond the borders of the Roman world into
Nubia and by at least the 6th century into
Ethiopia.
In the early 7th century, the newly formed Arabian Islamic
Caliphate expanded into Egypt, and then into North Africa. In a short while the local Berber elite had been integrated into Muslim Arab tribes. When the Ummayad capital Damascus fell in the eight century, the Islamic center of the Mediterranean shifted from Syria to
Qayrawan in North Africa. Islamic North Africa had become diverse, and a hub for mystics, scholars, jurists and philosophers. During the above mentioned period, Islam spread to sub-Saharan Africa, mainly through trade routes and migration.
[27]
9th - 18th century
thumb town of
Igbo Ukwu, now at the
British Museum [28]
Pre-colonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities
[29] characterised by many different sorts of political organisation and rule. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the
San people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the
Bantu-speaking people of central and southern Africa, heavily-structured clan groups in the
Horn of Africa, the large Sahelian Kingdoms, and autonomous city-states and kingdoms such as those of the
Yoruba and
Igbo people (also misspelled as Ibo) in West Africa, and the
Swahili coastal trading towns of
East Africa.
By the 9th century AD a string of dynastic states, including the earliest
Hausa states, stretched across the sub-saharan savannah from the western regions to central Sudan.The most powerful of these states were
Ghana,
Gao, and the
Kanem-Bornu Empire. Ghana declined in the 11th century but was succeeded by the
Mali Empire which consolidated much of western Sudan in the 13th century. Kanem accepted Islam in the 11th century.
In the forested regions of the West African coast, independent kingdoms grew up with little influence from the
Muslim north. The
Kingdom of Nri of the
Igbo was established around the 9th century and was one of the first. It is also one of the oldest Kingdom in modern day
Nigeria and was ruled by the
Eze Nri. The Nri kingdom is famous for its elaborate
bronzes, found at the town of
Igbo Ukwu. The bronzes have been dated from as far back as the 9th century.
[30]
The
Ife, historically the first of these
Yoruba city-states or kingdoms, established government under a priestly
oba, (
oba means 'king' or 'ruler' in the
Yoruba language), called the
Ooni of Ife
.
Ife was noted as a major religious and cultural centre in Africa, and for its unique naturalistic tradition of bronze sculpture. The Ife model of government was adapted at
Oyo, where its
obas or kings, called the
Alaafins of Oyo
once controlled a large number of other Yoruba and non Yoruba city states and Kingdoms, the
Fon Kingdom of Dahomey
was one of the non Yoruba domains under
Oyo control.
The
Almoravids, was a
Berber dynasty from the
Sahara that spread over a wide area of northwestern Africa and the Iberian peninsula during the 11th century.
[31] The
Banu Hilal and
Banu Ma'qil were a collection of
Arab Bedouin tribes from the
Arabian peninsula who migrated westwards via Egypt between the 11th and 13th centuries. Their
migration resulted in the fusion of the Arabs and Berbers, where the locals were
Arabized, and Arab culture absorbed elements of the local culture, under the unifying framework of
Islam.
[32]
thumb (11th-15th c.)
Following the breakup of Mali a local leader named
Sonni Ali (1464–1492) founded the
Songhai Empire in the region of middle Niger and the western Sudan and took control of the trans-Saharan trade. Sonni Ali seized
Timbuktu in 1468 and
Jenne in 1473, building his regime on trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor
Askia Mohammad I (1493–1528) made Islam the official religion, built mosques, and brought Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship, to Gao.
[33] By the 11th century some
Hausa states - such as
Kano,
jigawa,
Katsina, and
Gobir - had developed into walled towns engaging in trade, servicing
caravans, and the manufacture of goods. Until the 15th century these small states were on the periphery of the major Sudanic empires of the era, paying tribute to Songhai to the west and Kanem-Borno to the east.
Height of slave trade
Slavery has been practiced in Africa, as well as other places, throughout recorded history.
[34] [35] Between the seventh and twentieth centuries,
Arab slave trade (also known as slavery in the East) took 18 million slaves from Africa via trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean routes. Between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the
Atlantic slave trade took 7-12 million slaves to the New World.
[36] [37] [38]
In
West Africa, the decline of the
Atlantic slave trade in the 1820s caused dramatic economic shifts in local polities. The gradual decline of slave-trading, prompted by a lack of demand for slaves in the
New World, increasing
anti-slavery legislation in Europe and America, and the
British Royal Navy's increasing presence off the West African coast, obliged African states to adopt new economies. Between 1808 and 1860, the British
West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard.
[39] Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for example against "the usurping King of
Lagos", deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers.
[40] The largest powers of West Africa: the
Asante Confederacy, the
Kingdom of Dahomey, and the
Oyo Empire, adopted different ways of adapting to the shift. Asante and Dahomey concentrated on the development of "legitimate commerce" in the form of
palm oil,
cocoa,
timber and
gold, forming the bedrock of West Africa's modern export trade. The Oyo Empire, unable to adapt, collapsed into civil wars.
[41]
Colonialism and the "Scramble for Africa"
thumb
In the late nineteenth century, the European
imperial powers engaged in a major
territorial scramble and occupied most of the continent, creating many
colonial nation states, and leaving only two independent nations:
Liberia, an independent state partly settled by
African Americans; and
Orthodox Christian Ethiopia (known to Europeans as "Abyssinia"). Colonial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of
World War II, when all colonial states gradually obtained formal independence.
Independence movements in Africa gained momentum following
World War II, which left the major European powers weakened. In 1951,
Libya, a former Italian colony, gained independence. In 1956,
Tunisia and
Morocco won their independence from France.
Ghana followed suit the next year, becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be freed. Most of the rest of the continent became independent over the next decade, most often through relatively peaceful means, though in some countries, notably Algeria, it came only after a violent struggle. Though South Africa was one of the first African countries to gain independence, it remained under the rule of its white settler population, in a policy known as
Apartheid, until 1994.
Post-colonial Africa
Today, Africa contains 53 independent and sovereign countries, most of which still have the borders drawn during the era of European colonialism. Since colonialism, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and
authoritarianism. The vast majority of African nations are
republics that operate under some form of the
presidential system of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain
democratic governments, and many have instead cycled through a series of
coups, producing
military dictatorships. A number of Africa's post-colonial political leaders were military generals who were poorly educated and ignorant on matters of governance. Great instability, however, was mainly the result of marginalization of other ethnic groups and graft under these leaders. For
political gain, many leaders fanned ethnic conflicts that had been exacerbated, or even created, by colonial rule. In many countries, the
military was perceived as being the only group that could effectively maintain order, and it ruled many nations in Africa during the 1970s and early 1980s. During the period from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, Africa had more than 70 coups and 13 presidential
assassinations. Border and territorial disputes were also common, with the European-imposed borders of many nations being widely contested through armed conflicts.
Cold War conflicts between the United States and the
Soviet Union, as well as the policies of the
International Monetary Fund, also played a role in instability. When a country became independent for the first time, it was often expected to align with one of the two
superpowers. Many countries in
Northern Africa received Soviet military aid, while many in Central and Southern Africa were supported by the United States, France or both. The 1970s saw an escalation, as newly independent
Angola and
Mozambique aligned themselves with the Soviet Union, and the West and South Africa sought to contain Soviet influence by funding insurgency movements. There was a
major famine in Ethiopia, when hundreds of thousands of people starved. Some claimed that Marxist/Soviet polices made the situation worse.
[42] [43] [44]
The most devastating military conflict in modern independent Africa has been the
Second Congo War. By 2008, this conflict and its aftermath had killed 5.4 million people. Since 2003 there has been an ongoing
conflict in Darfur which has become a humanitarian disaster.
AIDS has also been a prevalent issue in post-colonial Africa.
Geography
thumb
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 miles) wide.
[45] (
Geopolitically,
Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is often considered part of Africa, as well.)
[46] From the most northerly point,
Ras ben Sakka in
Tunisia (37°21' N), to the most southerly point,
Cape Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15" S), is a distance of approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles);
[47] from
Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W, the westernmost point, to
Ras Hafun in
Somalia, 51°27'52" E, the most easterly projection, is a distance of approximately 7,400 km (4,600 miles).
[48] The coastline is 26,000 km (16,100 miles) long, and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is illustrated by the fact that Europe, which covers only 10,400,000 km² (4,010,000 square miles) – about a third of the surface of Africa – has a coastline of 32,000 km (19,800 miles).
Africa's largest country is
Sudan, and its smallest country is the
Seychelles, an
archipelago off the east coast.
[49] The smallest nation on the continental mainland is
The Gambia.
thumbs of Africa (see
world vegetation map for key)
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.
Climate
The climate of Africa ranges from
tropical to
subarctic on its highest peaks. Its northern half is primarily
desert or
arid, while its central and southern areas contain both
savanna plains and very dense
jungle (
rainforest) regions. In between, there is a convergence where vegetation patterns such as
sahel, and
steppe dominate.
Fauna
Africa boasts perhaps the world's largest combination of density and "range of freedom" of
wild animal populations and diversity, with wild populations of large
carnivores (such as
lions,
hyenas, and
cheetahs) and
herbivores (such as
buffalo,
deer,
elephants,
camels, and
giraffes) ranging freely on primarily open non-private plains. It is also home to a variety of jungle creatures (including
snakes and
primates) and
aquatic life (including
crocodiles and
amphibians).
Politics
The
African Union (AU) is a federation consisting of all of Africa's states except
Morocco. The union was formed, with
Addis Ababa as its headquarters, on 26 June 2001. 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 decentralise the African Federation's institutions so that they are shared by all the states.
Image:BlankMap-Africa.png|thumb|341px|Political map of Africa. (Hover mouse to see name, click area to go to article.)
poly 196 26 224 30 239 61 232 68 201 67 Egypt
poly 241 64 253 88 245 94 231 128 241 145 224 151 214 144 192 112 198 89 198 70 235 69 Sudan
poly 247 102 262 102 253 89 Eritrea
poly 247 106 259 103 268 115 271 125 290 134 274 148 253 150 235 134 242 116 Ethiopia
poly 272 112 272 118 269 118 268 115 Djibouti
poly 275 121 281 124 306 117 306 124 294 149 270 174 265 164 270 152 283 146 292 133 Somalia
poly 238 151 245 147 254 153 266 150 263 160 267 172 257 186 249 179 238 172 242 162 Kenya
poly 223 152 236 151 239 160 235 169 225 174 221 169 Uganda
poly 217 177 219 179 224 177 221 175 Rwanda
poly 222 182 216 189 216 186 222 182 Burundi
poly 223 175 233 174 247 181 255 189 261 216 245 219 236 208 233 210 224 202 219 191 Tanzania
poly 239 221 248 221 261 217 262 231 260 240 248 247 237 259 240 270 238 277 229 283 227 289 225 273 233 250 229 243 220 240 231 232 236 235 239 242 243 239 Mozambique
poly 233 213 237 215 240 230 242 235 240 240 237 234 232 231 232 225 Malawi
poly 278 243 299 229 302 237 289 277 274 279 274 271 Madagascar
poly 224 293 222 290 224 286 225 288 Swaziland
poly 214 299 212 297 204 303 208 307 213 304 Lesotho
poly 225 283 224 271 216 269 200 285 189 285 174 300 172 313 175 324 198 322 210 310 226 295 220 290 South Africa
poly 201 250 206 250 217 240 230 246 232 250 227 266 215 267 206 256 Zimbabwe
poly 183 253 199 251 213 268 197 285 191 280 187 288 182 289 176 279 177 269 Botswana
poly 181 249 180 262 175 277 175 297 170 299 162 295 160 288 156 268 146 247 150 245 168 248 Namibia
poly 145 244 160 245 188 247 184 241 187 228 193 225 193 219 186 214 186 204 178 199 174 206 164 198 148 195 153 204 Angola
poly 195 220 203 220 209 224 218 230 223 226 216 221 213 213 219 207 228 211 232 219 230 231 216 240 208 249 200 246 190 245 186 239 Zambia
poly 147 192 155 191 171 169 177 149 198 148 210 150 219 149 225 154 221 164 219 172 213 177 215 188 218 203 213 212 216 222 210 222 198 218 191 218 188 201 181 198 172 203 164 196 Democratic Republic of the Congo
poly 165 154 173 152 169 159 170 165 162 183 149 191 145 186 147 180 154 177 155 170 154 168 152 159 Republic of the Congo
poly 136 164 142 164 145 159 147 159 152 166 155 174 146 175 142 182 135 173 Gabon
poly 120 165 125 166 129 177 116 177 113 163 São Tomé and Príncipe
poly 138 159 142 159 143 164 139 164 137 161 Equatorial Guinea
poly 138 158 133 147 135 141 142 137 148 131 153 116 157 119 153 123 156 134 155 139 159 155 160 160 151 156 138 156 Cameroon
poly 160 153 155 144 159 136 165 136 191 119 194 129 204 142 199 145 192 150 179 147 Central African Republic
poly 159 65 166 65 192 80 193 93 185 102 189 116 164 133 159 133 156 126 160 121 159 114 150 104 161 91 162 78 Chad
poly 107 137 107 126 111 119 108 115 117 105 128 108 139 110 150 108 156 113 150 124 147 135 138 135 130 144 123 146 Nigeria
poly 97 100 113 98 114 83 120 81 145 62 153 65 157 66 159 74 158 91 151 104 140 108 129 108 120 102 107 114 99 105 Niger
poly 72 120 95 100 97 107 106 113 101 117 83 118 84 125 77 124 Burkina Faso
poly 101 118 105 113 107 118 106 139 104 137 102 126 Benin
poly 96 120 98 117 101 125 102 136 100 138 97 133 Togo
poly 82 120 93 119 96 131 98 140 86 143 83 136 83 125 Ghana
poly 61 122 71 121 75 125 81 125 80 136 81 143 67 147 64 141 61 136 62 130 Côte d'Ivoire
poly 49 138 51 131 58 136 63 144 59 145 Liberia
poly 46 135 49 131 50 127 47 123 43 128 47 132 Sierra Leone
poly 35 117 38 111 49 113 51 117 58 113 61 122 61 129 61 134 52 128 47 122 42 124 39 120 Guinea
poly 34 116 39 112 36 111 30 112 Guinea-Bissau
poly 26 97 33 91 39 95 46 106 48 110 39 111 32 111 28 111 32 107 37 109 39 106 33 103 29 105 27 102 Senegal
poly 26 106 34 104 38 106 30 107 26 107 27 109 Gambia
poly 29 73 45 73 42 68 46 64 47 51 59 52 61 46 72 54 69 55 70 97 48 97 45 104 39 95 34 92 31 92 Mauritania
poly 46 99 72 97 71 56 76 56 109 83 114 82 112 96 96 98 89 106 76 109 73 119 67 121 63 120 57 112 48 112 45 104 Mali
poly 44 44 61 44 61 51 49 50 47 62 42 65 42 71 25 72 26 67 39 48 Western Sahara
poly 44 43 61 43 61 38 71 32 80 30 83 25 89 20 89 13 81 11 78 8 76 11 64 21 59 32 52 40 Morocco
poly 91 11 104 3 112 2 125 5 132 4 130 7 126 16 133 29 135 40 132 50 136 59 143 62 119 82 112 82 64 45 62 38 68 33 77 32 90 23 93 18 Algeria
poly 129 4 132 2 136 0 139 7 138 12 142 18 138 23 136 30 134 25 129 17 131 8 Tunisia
poly 144 20 154 23 160 27 168 31 176 31 178 27 176 23 180 19 198 25 196 75 193 79 163 62 157 66 146 61 138 53 136 48 Libya
poly 234 27 239 37 253 61 267 82 277 107 316 88 337 68 322 58 307 59 296 51 289 32 296 26 309 42 322 43 339 53 334 2 313 1 292 1 242 1 236 16 Middle East
poly 139 1 141 15 151 19 160 21 163 25 174 28 178 19 186 18 197 23 218 26 228 27 234 26 238 4 221 5 201 1 Mediterranean Sea
poly 337 89 316 105 312 129 292 170 267 194 271 224 258 248 245 260 243 284 228 305 215 325 244 336 306 338 333 334 333 280 305 268 292 272 281 293 271 286 266 268 273 244 287 229 300 219 310 235 299 263 299 269 332 283 Indian Ocean
poly 272 99 261 82 253 59 236 41 233 42 246 69 252 84 264 100 274 110 Red Sea
poly 0 3 66 3 70 7 52 23 53 30 25 67 27 81 20 110 39 139 65 155 90 152 108 158 112 228 128 281 151 319 160 337 6 337 Atlantic Ocean
poly 64 2 81 2 83 6 68 6 Strait of Gibraltar
desc bottom-left
The African Union, not to be confused with the AU Commission, is formed by an
Act of 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
Union 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.
There are clear signs of increased networking among African organisations and states. In the civil war in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (former
Zaire), rather than rich, non-African countries intervening, neighbouring African countries became involved (see also
Second Congo War). Since the conflict began in 1998, the estimated death toll has reached 5 million.
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
thumb map
Although it has abundant
natural resources, Africa remains the world's
poorest and most
underdeveloped continent, due to 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).
[50] According to the
United Nations' Human Development Report in 2003, the bottom 25 ranked nations (151st to 175th) were all African.
[51]
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
[52] 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.
[53] The new figures confirm that sub-Saharan Africa has been the least successful region of the world in reducing poverty ($1.25 per day); some 50% of the population living in poverty in 1981 (200 million people), a figure that rose to 58% in 1996 before dropping to 50% in 2005 (380 million people). The average poor person in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to live on only 70 cents per day, and was poorer in 2003 than he or she was in 1973
[54] indicating increasing poverty in some areas. Some of it is attributed to unsuccessful economic liberalization programs spearheaded by foreign companies and governments, but other studies and reports have cited bad domestic government policies more than external factors.
[55] [56] [57]
From 1995 to 2005, Africa's rate of economic growth increased, averaging 5% in 2005. Some countries experienced still higher growth rates, notably
Angola,
Sudan and
Equatorial Guinea, all three of which had recently begun extracting their
petroleum reserves or had expanded their
oil extraction capacity. In recent years, the
People's Republic of China has built increasingly stronger ties with African nations. In 2007, Chinese companies invested a total of US$1 billion in Africa.
[58]
Demographics
thumb man from
Algeria
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.
[59]
Speakers of
Bantu languages (part of the Niger-Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and East Africa proper. But there are also several
Nilotic groups in East Africa, 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 (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "
Hottentots") 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.
right man from
Botswana
The peoples of
North Africa comprise two main groups;
Berber and
Arabic-speaking peoples in the west, and
Egyptians in the east. The
Arabs who arrived in the seventh century introduced the
Arabic language and
Islam to North Africa. The Semitic
Phoenicians, the Iranian
Alans, the 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.
[60] The
Tuareg and other often-
nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.
Nubians are a
Nilo-Saharan-speaking group (though many also speak Arabic), who developed an ancient civilisation in northeast Africa.
Some
Ethiopian and
Eritrean groups (like the
Amhara and
Tigrayans, collectively known as "
Habesha") speak
Semitic languages. The
Oromo and
Somali peoples speak
Cushitic languages, but some Somali clans trace their founding to legendary Arab founders.
Sudan and
Mauritania are divided between a mostly Arabized north and a native African south (although the "Arabs" of Sudan clearly have a predominantly native African ancestry themselves). Some areas of East Africa, particularly the island of
Zanzibar and the Kenyan
island of Lamu, received Arab Muslim and
Southwest Asian settlers and merchants throughout the
Middle Ages and in antiquity.
[61]
Prior to the
decolonisation movements of the post-
World War II era,
Whites were represented in every part of Africa.
[62] Decolonisation during the 1960s and 1970s often resulted in the mass emigration of European-descended settlers out of Africa – especially from Algeria (
pieds-noirs
),
[63] Kenya, Congo,
[64] Angola,
[65] Mozambique and Rhodesia. Nevertheless,
White Africans remain an important minority in many African states. The African country with the largest White African population is
South Africa.
[66] The
Afrikaners, the
Anglo-Africans and the
Coloureds are the largest European-descended groups in Africa today.
thumb
European colonisation also brought sizeable groups of
Asians, particularly people from the
Indian subcontinent, to British colonies. Large
Indian communities are found in South Africa, and smaller ones are present in Kenya, Tanzania, and some other southern and East African countries. The large
Indian community in Uganda was
expelled by the dictator
Idi Amin in 1972, though many have since returned. The islands in the Indian Ocean are also populated primarily by people of Asian origin, often mixed with Africans and Europeans. The
Malagasy people of
Madagascar are a
Austronesian people, but those along the coast are generally mixed with Bantu, Arab, Indian and European origins. Malay and Indian ancestries are also important components in the group of people known in South Africa as
Cape Coloureds (people with origins in two or more races and continents). During the 20th century, small but economically important communities of
Lebanese and
Chinese[ have also developed in the larger coastal cities of West and East Africa, respectively. [67]
]
Languages
thumb
By most estimates, well over a thousand languages (UNESCO has estimated around two thousand) are spoken in Africa. [68] Most are of African origin, though some are of European or Asian origin. Africa is the most multilingual continent in the world, and it is not rare for individuals to fluently speak not only multiple African languages, but one or more European ones as well. There are four major language families indigenous to Africa.
- The Afro-Asiatic
languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout the Horn of Africa, North Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia.
- The Nilo-Saharan
language family consists of more than a hundred languages spoken by 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by Nilotic tribes in Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, and northern Tanzania.
- The Niger-Congo
language family covers much of Sub-Saharan Africa and is probably the largest language family in the world in terms of different languages.
- The Khoisan
languages number about fifty and are spoken in Southern Africa by approximately 120,000 people. Many of the Khoisan languages are endangered. The Khoi and San peoples are considered the original inhabitants of this part of Africa.
Following the end of colonialism, nearly all African countries adopted official languages that originated outside the continent, although several countries also granted legal recognition to indigenous languages (such as Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa). In numerous countries, English and French (see African French
) are used for communication in the public sphere such as government, commerce, education and the media. Arabic, Portuguese, Afrikaans and Malagasy are examples of languages that trace their origin to outside of Africa, and that are used by millions of Africans today, both in the public and private spheres.
Culture
thumb woman in Kenya
Modern African culture is characterised by conflicted responses to Arab nationalism and European imperialism. Increasingly, beginning in the late 1990s, Africans have been reasserting their identity. In North Africa, especially because of the rejection of the label Arab or European, there is now an upsurge of demands for special protection of indigenous Berber languages and culture in Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. The re-emergence of Pan-Africanism since the fall of apartheid has heightened calls for a renewed sense of African identity. In South Africa, intellectuals from settler communities of European descent increasingly identify as African for cultural, rather than geographical or racial, reasons. Famously, some have undergone ritual ceremonies to become members of the Zulu or other communities.
Many aspects of traditional African cultures have become less practiced in recent years as a result of years of neglect and suppression by colonial and post-colonial regimes. There is now a resurgence in the attempts to rediscover and revalourise African traditional cultures, under such movements as the African Renaissance, led by Thabo Mbeki, Afrocentrism, led by a group of scholars, including Molefi Asante, as well as the increasing recognition of traditional spiritualism through decriminalization of Vodou and other forms of spirituality. In recent years, traditional African culture has become synonymous with rural poverty and subsistence farming.
thumb is built in an architectural style prevalent in the interior regions of West Africa.
The vast majority of the scholarship on Africa was extraneous and catered to the demand for exotic and outlandish representations of Africa. The enforcement of government decrees and policies tended to produce effects that confirmed the prejudices of the European colonialists.
Visual art and architecture
African art and architecture reflect the diversity of African cultures. The oldest existing examples of art from Africa are 82,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius
shells that were found in the Aterian levels at Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt, Morocco. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was the world's tallest structure for 4,000 years, until the completion of Lincoln Cathedral around the year 1300. The stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe are also noteworthy for their architecture, and the complexity of monolithic churches at Lalibela, Ethiopia, of which the Church of St. George is representative.
Music and dance
thumb, a traditional instrument of Ethiopia
Egypt has long been a cultural focus of the Arab world, while remembrance of the rhythms of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular West Africa, was transmitted through the Atlantic slave trade to modern samba, blues, jazz, reggae, rap, and rock and roll. The 1950s through the 1970s saw a conglomeration of these various styles with the popularization of Afrobeat and Highlife music. Modern music of the continent includes the highly-complex choral singing of southern Africa and the dance rhythms of the musical genre of soukous, dominated by the music of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Indigenous musical and dance traditions of Africa are maintained by oral traditions, and they are distinct from the music and dance styles of North Africa and Southern Africa. Arab influences are visible in North African music and dance and, in Southern Africa, Western influences are apparent due to colonisation.
Sports
Fifty-three African countries have football (soccer) teams in the Confederation of African Football, while Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana have advanced to the knockout stage of recent FIFA World Cups. South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup tournament, and will be the first African country to do so.
Cricket is popular in some African nations. South Africa and Zimbabwe have Test status, while Kenya is the leading non-test team in One-Day International cricket and has attained permanent One-Day International status. The three countries jointly hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Namibia is the other African country to have played in a World Cup. Morocco in northern Africa has also hosted the 2002 Morocco Cup, but the national team has never qualified for a major tournament.
Religion
Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs [69] and statistics on religious affiliation are difficult to come by since they are too sensitive a topic for governments with mixed populations. [70] 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 Muslims, 40% are Christians and less than 15% are non-religious or follow 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.
Territories and regions
The countries in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.