Africa

Short description: Continent

Africa

Show national borders

Hide national borders

Area| 30,370,000 km2 (11,730,000 sq mi)  (2nd)
Population| 1,275,920,972[1][2] (2018; 2nd)
Population density| Script error: No such module "Pop density". (2018)
GDP (PPP)| $8.05 trillion (2022 est; 4th)[3]
GDP (nominal)| $2.96 trillion (2022 est; 5th)[4]
GDP per capita| $2,180 (Nominal; 2022 est; 6th)[5]
Religions|

* Christianity (49%)
* Islam (42%)
* Traditional faiths (8%)
* Others (1%)[6]

Demonym| African
Countries| 54+2*+4** (*disputed) (**territories)
Dependencies|

External (4)

* Bouvet Island
* Template:Country data French Southern and Antarctic Lands
* Template:Country data Heard Island and McDonald Islands
* Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Internal (6+1 disputed)

* France (Mayotte and Réunion)
* Italy (Pantelleria and Pelagie Islands)
* Morocco (Southern Provinces)
* Portugal (Madeira)
* Spain (Alboran Island, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and Plazas de soberanía)
* Tanzania (Zanzibar)
* Yemen (Socotra)

Languages| 1250–3000 native languages
Time zones| UTC-1 to UTC+4
Largest cities| Largest urban areas:

* Cairo
* Lagos
* Kinshasa
* Johannesburg
* Luanda
* Khartoum
* Onitsha
* Dar es Salaam
* Abidjan
* Alexandria
* Kigali
* Nairobi
* Algiers
* Cape Town
* Kano
* Dakar
* Casablanca
* Addis Ababa
* Kampala

The size of Africa compared to the other continents

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area.[7] With 1.3 billion people[1][2] as of 2018, it accounts for about 17% of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents;[8][9] the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.[10] Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism,[11] colonialism, the Cold War,[12][13] neocolonialism, lack of democracy, and corruption.[11] Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context.

The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea 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 recognised sovereign states, eight cities and islands that are part of non-African states, and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. This count does not include Malta and Sicily, which are geologically part of the African continent. Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population. African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.

Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian. It is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zones.[14] The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion and a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, the northern tip of Mauritania, and the entire territories of Morocco, Ceuta, Melilla, and Tunisia which in turn are located above the tropic of Cancer, in the northern temperate zone. In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia, southern Botswana, great parts of South Africa , the entire territories of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are located below the tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone.

Africa is highly biodiverse;[15] it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity and pollution. These entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts Africa. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as the continent most vulnerable to climate change.[16][17]

The history of Africa is long, complex, and has often been under-appreciated by the global historical community.[18] Africa, particularly Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes). The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to around 7 million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster—the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) remains, found in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Morocco, date to circa 233,000, 259,000, and 300,000 years ago, respectively, and Homo sapiens is believed to have originated in Africa around 350,000–260,000 years ago.[lower-alpha 1] Africa is also considered by anthropologists to be the most genetically diverse continent as a result of being the longest inhabited.[25][26][27]

Early human civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt and Carthage emerged in North Africa. Following a subsequent long and complex history of civilizations, migration and trade, Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. The last 400 years have witnessed an increasing European influence on the continent. Starting in the 16th century, this was driven by trade, including the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which created large African diaspora populations in the Americas. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, European nations colonized almost all of Africa, reaching a point when only Ethiopia and Liberia were independent polities.[28] Most present states in Africa emerged from a process of decolonisation following World War II.

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 History
* 2.1 Prehistory
* 2.2 Emergence of civilization
* 2.3 Early civilizations
* 2.4 Ninth to eighteenth centuries
* 2.5 Height of the slave trade
* 2.6 Colonialism
* 2.7 Independence struggles
* 2.8 Post-colonial Africa
* 3 Geology, geography, ecology, and environment
* 3.1 African plate
* 3.2 Climate
* 3.3 Climate change
* 3.4 Ecology and biodiversity
* 3.5 Fauna
* 3.6 Environmental issues
* 4 Infrastructure
* 4.1 Water resources
* 5 Politics
* 5.1 African Union
* 5.2 Boundary conflicts
* 6 Economy
* 6.1 Electricity generation
* 7 Demographics
* 7.1 Alternative Estimates of African Population, 0–2018 AD (in thousands)
* 7.2 Shares of Africa and World Population, 0–2020 AD (% of world total)
* 7.3 Religion
* 7.4 Languages
* 7.5 Health
* 8 Culture
* 8.1 Visual art
* 8.2 Architecture
* 8.3 Cinema
* 8.4 Music
* 8.5 Dance
* 8.6 Sports
* 9 Territories and regions
* 10 See also
* 11 Notes
* 12 References
* 12.1 Sources
* 13 Further reading
* 14 External links

## Etymology

The totality of Africa seen by the Apollo 17 crew

Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of then-known northern Africa to the west of the Nile river, and in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean (Ancient Libya).[29][30] This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe, an ancestor of modern Berbers; see Terence for discussion. The name had usually been connected with the Phoenician word ʿafar meaning "dust",[31] but a 1981 hypothesis[32] has asserted that it stems from the Berber word ifri (plural ifran) meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers.[33] The same word[33] may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, a Berber tribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane) in northwestern Libya,[34] as well as the city of Ifrane in Morocco.

Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province it then named Africa Proconsularis, following its defeat of the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War in 146 BC, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya.[35] The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land (e.g., in Celtica from Celtae, as used by Julius Caesar). The later Muslim region of Ifriqiya, following its conquest of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire's Exarchatus Africae, also preserved a form of the name.

According to the Romans, Africa lies 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 CE), 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.

Other etymological hypotheses 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.
* Isidore of Seville in his 7th-century Etymologiae XIV.5.2. suggests "Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning "sunny".
* Massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The Ka is the energetic double of every person and the "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace."[36]
* Michèle Fruyt in 1976 proposed[37] linking the Latin word with africus "south wind", which would be of Umbrian origin and mean originally "rainy wind".
* Robert R. Stieglitz of Rutgers University in 1984 proposed: "The name Africa, derived from the Latin *Aphir-ic-a, is cognate to Hebrew Ophir ['rich']."[38]
* Ibn Khallikan and some other historians claim that the name of Africa came from a Himyarite king called Afrikin ibn Kais ibn Saifi also called "Afrikus son of Abraham" who subdued Ifriqiya.[39][40][41]
* Arabic afrīqā (feminine noun) and ifrīqiyā, now usually pronounced afrīqiyā (feminine) 'Africa', from ‘afara [‘ = ‘ain, not ’alif] 'to be dusty' from ‘afar 'dust, powder' and ‘afir 'dried, dried up by the sun, withered' and ‘affara 'to dry in the sun on hot sand' or 'to sprinkle with dust'.[42]
* Possibly Phoenician faraqa in the sense of 'colony, separation'.[43]

## History

### Prehistory

Main page: History:Prehistoric Africa

Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered in 1974 in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Triangle

Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the Human species originating from the continent.[44] During the mid-20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as seven million years ago (Before present, BP). Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have evolved into modern humans, such as Australopithecus afarensis radiometrically dated to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years BP,[45] Paranthropus boisei (c. 2.3–1.4 million years BP)[46] and Homo ergaster (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BP) have been discovered.[7]

After the evolution of Homo sapiens approximately 350,000 to 260,000 years BP in Africa,[20][21][22][23] the continent was mainly populated by groups of hunter-gatherers.[47][48] These first modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the globe during the Out of Africa II migration dated to approximately 50,000 years BP, exiting the continent either across Bab-el-Mandeb over the Red Sea,[49][50] the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco,[51][52] or the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt.[53]

Other migrations of modern humans within the African continent have been dated to that time, with evidence of early human settlement found in Southern Africa, Southeast Africa, North Africa, and the Sahara.[54]

### Emergence of civilization

The size of the Sahara has historically been extremely variable, with its area rapidly fluctuating and at times disappearing depending on global climatic conditions.[55] At the end of the Ice ages, estimated to have been around 10,500 BCE, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in sub-Saharan Africa, with rock art paintings depicting a fertile Sahara and large populations discovered in Tassili n'Ajjer dating back perhaps 10 millennia.[56] However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5000 BC, the Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. Around 3500 BC, due to a tilt in the Earth's orbit, the Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification.[57] 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.

Saharan rock art in the Fezzan, Libya

The domestication of cattle in Africa preceded agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gatherer cultures. It is speculated that by 6000 BC, cattle were domesticated in North Africa.[58] In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals, including the donkey and a small screw-horned goat which was common from Algeria to Nubia.

Between 10,000 and 9,000 BC, pottery was independently invented in the region of Mali in the savannah of West Africa.[59][60]

In the steppes and savannahs of the Sahara and Sahel in Northern West Africa, people possibly ancestral to modern Nilo-Saharan and Mandé cultures started to collect wild millet,[61] around 8000 to 6000 BCE. Later, gourds, watermelons, castor beans, and cotton were also collected.[62] Sorghum was first domesticated in Eastern Sudan around 4000 BC, in one of the earliest instances of agriculture in human history. Its cultivation would gradually spread across Africa, before spreading to India around 2000 BC.[63][64]

People around modern-day Mauritania started making pottery and built stone settlements (e.g., Tichitt, Oualata). Fishing, using bone-tipped harpoons, became a major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains.[65] In West Africa, the wet phase ushered in an expanding rainforest and wooded savanna from Senegal to Cameroon. Between 9,000 and 5,000 BC, Niger–Congo speakers domesticated the oil palm and raffia palm. Black-eyed peas and voandzeia (African groundnuts), were domesticated, followed by okra and kola nuts. Since most of the plants grew in the forest, the Niger–Congo speakers invented polished stone axes for clearing forest.[66]

Colossal statues of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt, date from around 1250 BC.

Around 4000 BC, the Saharan climate started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace.[67] 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 encouraged migrations of farming communities to the more tropical climate of West Africa.[67] During the first millennium BC, a reduction in wild grain populations related to changing climate conditions facilitated the expansion of farming communities and the rapid adoption of rice cultivation around the Niger River.[68][69]

By the first millennium BC, ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa. Around that time it also became established in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, either through independent invention there or diffusion from the north[70][71] and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years,[72] 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 did not begin ironworking until the early centuries CE. 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.[67]

### Early civilizations

Diachronic map showing African empires spanning roughly 500 BC to 1500 AD

At about 3300 BC, the historical record opens in Northern Africa with the rise of literacy in the Pharaonic civilization of ancient Egypt.[73] 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.[74][75] Egyptian influence reached deep into modern-day Libya and Nubia, and, according to Martin Bernal, as far north as Crete.[76]

An independent centre of civilization with trading links to Phoenicia was established by Phoenicians from Tyre on the north-west African coast at Carthage.[77][78][79]

European exploration of Africa began with the Ancient Greece and Romans.[80][81] 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.[82]

Roman ruins of Timgad, in modern-day Algeria

Ruins of the Punic district of Carthage

Nubian pyramids at Meroë, Sudan

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. The first Roman emperor native to North Africa was Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya - his mother was Italian Roman and his father was Punic.[83]

Christianity spread across these areas at an early date, from Judaea via Egypt and beyond the borders of the Roman world into Nubia;[84] by 340 AD at the latest, it had become the state religion of the Aksumite Empire. Syro-Greek missionaries, who arrived by way of the Red Sea, were responsible for this theological development.[85]

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 Umayyad capital Damascus fell in the 8th century, the Islamic centre 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.[86]

In West Africa, Dhar Tichitt and Oualata in present-day Mauritania figure prominently among the early urban centers, dated to 2,000 BC. About 500 stone settlements litter the region in the former savannah of the Sahara. Its inhabitants fished and grew millet. It has been found by Augustin Holl that the Soninke of the Mandé peoples were likely responsible for constructing such settlements. Around 300 BCE, the region became more desiccated and the settlements began to decline, most likely relocating to Koumbi Saleh.[87] Architectural evidence and the comparison of pottery styles suggest that Dhar Tichitt was related to the subsequent Ghana Empire. Djenné-Djenno (in present-day Mali) was settled around 300 BC, and the town grew to house a sizable Iron Age population, as evidenced by crowded cemeteries. Living structures were made of sun-dried mud. By 250 BCE, Djenné-Djenno had become a large, thriving market town.[88][89]

Further south, in central Nigeria, around 1,500 BC, the Nok culture developed on the Jos Plateau. It was a highly centralized community. The Nok people produced lifelike representations in terracotta, including human heads and human figures, elephants, and other animals. By 500 BC, and possibly earlier, they were smelting iron. By 200 AD, the Nok culture had vanished.[71] and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years. Based on stylistic similarities with the Nok terracottas, the bronze figurines of the Yoruba kingdom of Ife and those of the Bini kingdom of Benin are suggested to be continuations of the traditions of the earlier Nok culture.[90][72]

### Ninth to eighteenth centuries

The intricate 9th-century bronzes from Igbo-Ukwu, in Nigeria displayed a level of technical accomplishment that was notably more advanced than European bronze casting of the same period.[91]

Pre-colonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities[92] characterized by many different sorts of political organization 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 peoples of central, southern, and eastern 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 Akan; Edo, Yoruba, and Igbo people in West Africa; and the Swahili coastal trading towns of Southeast Africa.

By the ninth 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 eleventh century, but was succeeded by the Mali Empire which consolidated much of western Sudan in the thirteenth century. Kanem accepted Islam in the eleventh century.

In the forested regions of the West African coast, independent kingdoms grew with little influence from the Muslim north. The Kingdom of Nri was established around the ninth century and was one of the first. It is also one of the oldest kingdoms in present-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 ninth century.[93]

The Kingdom of Ife, historically the first of these Yoruba city-states or kingdoms, established government under a priestly oba ('king' or 'ruler' in the Yoruba language), called the Ooni of Ife. Ife was noted as a major religious and cultural centre in West Africa, and for its unique naturalistic tradition of bronze sculpture. The Ife model of government was adapted at the Oyo Empire, 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.

Ruins of Great Zimbabwe (flourished eleventh to fifteenth centuries)

The Almoravids were a Berber dynasty from the Sahara that spread over a wide area of northwestern Africa and the Iberian peninsula during the eleventh century.[94] 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 eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Their migration resulted in the fusion of the Arabs and Berbers, where the locals were Arabized,[95] and Arab culture absorbed elements of the local culture, under the unifying framework of Islam.[96]

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 to Gao Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship.[97] By the eleventh 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 fifteenth 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 the slave trade

Major slave trading regions of Africa, 15th–19th centuries.

Slavery had long been practiced in Africa.[98][99] Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 7–12 million slaves to the New World.[100][101][102] In addition, more than 1 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries.[103]

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.[104]

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.[105] 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.[106]

### Colonialism

Main page: History:Colonial Africa

Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913

This section is an excerpt from Scramble for Africa[ edit ]

### Independence struggles

European control in 1939

Imperial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of World War II, when almost all remaining colonial territories 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.[107] Ghana followed suit the next year (March 1957),[108] becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be granted independence. Most of the rest of the continent became independent over the next decade.

Portugal's overseas presence in sub-Saharan Africa (most notably in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe) lasted from the 16th century to 1975, after the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in a military coup in Lisbon. Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, under the white minority government of Ian Smith, but was not internationally recognized as an independent state (as Zimbabwe) until 1980, when black nationalists gained power after a bitter guerrilla war. Although South Africa was one of the first African countries to gain independence, the state remained under the control of the country's white minority, initially through qualified voting rights and from 1956 by a system of racial segregation known as apartheid, until 1994.

### Post-colonial Africa

Today, Africa contains 54 sovereign countries, most of which have borders that were drawn during the era of European colonialism. Since independence, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African states are republics that operate under some form of the presidential system of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments on a permanent basis - per the criteria laid out by Lührmann et al. (2018), only Botswana and Mauritius have been consistently democratic for the entirety of their post-colonial history. Most African countries have experienced several coups or periods of military dictatorship. Between 1990 and 2018, though, the continent as a whole has trended towards more democratic governance.[109]

Upon independence an overwhelming majority of Africans lived in extreme poverty. The continent suffered from the lack of infrastructural or industrial development under colonial rule, along with political instability. With limited financial resources or access to global markets, relatively stable countries such as Kenya still experienced only very slow economic development. Only a handful of African countries succeeded in obtaining rapid economic growth prior to 1990. Exceptions include Libya and Equatorial Guinea, both of which possess large oil reserves.

Instability throughout the continent after decolonization resulted primarily from marginalization of ethnic groups, and corruption. In pursuit of personal political gain, many leaders deliberately promoted ethnic conflicts, some of which had originated during the colonial period, such as from the grouping of multiple unrelated ethnic groups into a single colony, the splitting of a distinct ethnic group between multiple colonies, or existing conflicts being exacerbated by colonial rule (for instance, the preferential treatment given to ethnic Hutus over Tutsis in Rwanda during German and Belgian rule).

Faced with increasingly frequent and severe violence, military rule was widely accepted by the population of many countries as means to maintain order, and during the 1970s and 1980s a majority of African countries were controlled by military dictatorships. Territorial disputes between nations and rebellions by groups seeking independence were also common in independent African states. The most devastating of these was the Nigerian Civil War, fought between government forces and an Igbo separatist republic, which resulted in a famine that killed 1–2 million people. Two civil wars in Sudan, the first lasting from 1955 to 1972 and the second from 1983 to 2005, collectively killed around 3 million. Both were fought primarily on ethnic and religious lines.

Cold War conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union also contributed to instability. Both the Soviet Union and the United States offered considerable incentives to African political and military leaders who aligned themselves with the superpowers' foreign policy. As an example, during the Angolan Civil War, the Soviet and Cuban aligned MPLA and the American aligned UNITA received the vast majority of their military and political support from these countries. Many African countries became highly dependent on foreign aid. The sudden loss of both Soviet and American aid at the end of the Cold War and fall of the USSR resulted in severe economic and political turmoil in the countries most dependent on foreign support.

There was a major famine in Ethiopia between 1983 and 1985, killing up to 1.2 million people, which most historians attribute primarily to the forced relocation of farmworkers and seizure of grain by communist Derg government, further exacerbated by the civil war.[110][111][112][113] In 1994 a genocide in Rwanda resulted in up to 800,000 deaths, added to a severe refugee crisis and fueled the rise of militia groups in neighboring countries. This contributed to the outbreak of the first and second Congo Wars, which were the most devastating military conflicts in modern Africa, with up to 5.5 million deaths,[114] making it by far the deadliest conflict in modern African history and one of the costliest wars in human history.[115]

* An animated map shows the order of independence of African nations, 1950–2011

* Africa's wars and conflicts, 1980–96

Major Wars/Conflict (>100,000 casualties)

Minor Wars/Conflict

Other Conflicts

* Political map of Africa in 2021

Various conflicts between various insurgent groups and governments continue. Since 2003 there has been an ongoing conflict in Darfur (Sudan) which peaked in intensity from 2003 to 2005 with notable spikes in violence in 2007 and 2013–15, killing around 300,000 people total. The Boko Haram Insurgency primarily within Nigeria (with considerable fighting in Niger, Chad, and Cameroon as well) has killed around 350,000 people since 2009. Most African conflicts have been reduced to low-intensity conflicts as of 2022. However, the Tigray War which began in 2020 has killed an estimated 300,000–500,000 people, primarily due to famine.

Overall though, violence across Africa has greatly declined in the 21st century, with the end of civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone, and Algeria in 2002, Liberia in 2003, and Sudan and Burundi in 2005. The Second Congo War, which involved 9 countries and several insurgent groups, ended in 2003. This decline in violence coincided with many countries abandoning communist-style command economies and opening up for market reforms, which over the course of the 1990s and 2000s promoted the establishment of permanent, peaceful trade between neighboring countries (see Capitalist peace).

Improved stability and economic reforms have led to a great increase in foreign investment into many African nations, mainly from China,[116] which further spurred economic growth. Between 2000 and 2014, annual GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa averaged 5.02%, doubling its total GDP from $811 Billion to $1.63 Trillion (Constant 2015 USD).[117] North Africa experienced comparable growth rates.[118] A significant part of this growth can also be attributed to the facilitated diffusion of information technologies and specifically the mobile telephone.[119] While several individual countries have maintained high growth rates, since 2014 overall growth has considerably slowed, primarily as a result of falling commodity prices, continued lack of industrialization, and epidemics of Ebola and COVID-19.[120][121]

## Geology, geography, ecology, and environment

Topography 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.[122] (Geopolitically, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is often considered part of Africa, as well.)[123]

The coastline is 26,000 km (16,000 mi) long, and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is illustrated by the fact that Europe, which covers only 10,400,000 km2 (4,000,000 sq mi) – about a third of the surface of Africa – has a coastline of 32,000 km (20,000 mi).[124] 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 mi).[125] Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W, the westernmost point, is a distance of approximately 7,400 km (4,600 mi) to Ras Hafun, 51°27'52" E, the most easterly projection that neighbours Cape Guardafui, the tip of the Horn of Africa.[124]

Africa's largest country is Algeria, and its smallest country is Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast.[126] The smallest nation on the continental mainland is The Gambia.

### African plate

Today, the African Plate is moving over Earth's surface at a speed of 0.292° ± 0.007° per million years, relative to the "average" Earth (NNR-MORVEL56)

This section is an excerpt from African Plate[ edit ]

### 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 dense jungle (rainforest) regions. In between, there is a convergence, where vegetation patterns such as sahel and steppe dominate. Africa is the hottest continent on Earth and 60% of the entire land surface consists of drylands and deserts.[127] The record for the highest-ever recorded temperature, in Libya in 1922 (58 °C (136 °F)), was discredited in 2013.[128][129]

### Climate change

This section is an excerpt from Climate change in Africa[ edit ]

### Ecology and biodiversity

The main biomes in Africa.

Africa has over 3,000 protected areas, with 198 marine protected areas, 50 biosphere reserves, and 80 wetlands reserves. Significant habitat destruction, increases in human population and poaching are reducing Africa's biological diversity and arable land. Human encroachment, civil unrest and the introduction of non-native species threaten biodiversity in Africa. This has been exacerbated by administrative problems, inadequate personnel and funding problems.[127]

Deforestation is affecting Africa at twice the world rate, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).[130] According to the University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center, 31% of Africa's pasture lands and 19% of its forests and woodlands are classified as degraded, and Africa is losing over four million hectares of forest per year, which is twice the average deforestation rate for the rest of the world.[127] Some sources claim that approximately 90% of the original, virgin forests in West Africa have been destroyed.[131] Over 90% of Madagascar 's original forests have been destroyed since the arrival of humans 2000 years ago.[132] About 65% of Africa's agricultural land suffers from soil degradation.[133]

### Fauna

Savanna at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

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, elephants, camels, and giraffes) ranging freely on primarily open non-private plains. It is also home to a variety of "jungle" animals including snakes and primates and aquatic life such as crocodiles and amphibians. In addition, Africa has the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna.

### Environmental issues

This section is an excerpt from Environmental issues in Africa[ edit ]

## Infrastructure

### Water resources

Water development and management are complex in Africa due to the multiplicity of trans-boundary water resources (rivers, lakes and aquifers).[134] Around 75% of sub-Saharan Africa falls within 53 international river basin catchments that traverse multiple borders.[135][134] This particular constraint can also be converted into an opportunity if the potential for trans-boundary cooperation is harnessed in the development of the area's water resources.[134] A multi-sectoral analysis of the Zambezi River, for example, shows that riparian cooperation could lead to a 23% increase in firm energy production without any additional investments.[135][134] A number of institutional and legal frameworks for transboundary cooperation exist, such as the Zambezi River Authority, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol, Volta River Authority and the Nile Basin Commission.[134] However, additional efforts are required to further develop political will, as well as the financial capacities and institutional frameworks needed for win-win multilateral cooperative actions and optimal solutions for all riparians.[134]

## Politics

### African Union

Regions of the African Union:
Northern Region ,  Southern Region ,  Eastern Region ,  Western Regions A and B ,  Central Region

The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states. The union was formed, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as its headquarters, on 26 June 2001. The union was officially established on 9 July 2002[136] 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.

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, regional, state, and municipal authorities, as well as hundreds of institutions, that together manage the day-to-day affairs of the institution.

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 Ivory Coast.

### Boundary conflicts

Further information: The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 and List of conflicts in Africa

This section is an excerpt from Military history of Africa#Post-colonial[ edit ]

## Economy

Map of the African Economic Community.

CEN-SAD

COMESA

EAC

ECCAS

ECOWAS

IGAD

SADC

UMA

Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and least-developed continent (other than Antarctica), the result of a variety of causes that may include corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations, failed central planning, high levels of illiteracy, low self-esteem, lack of access to foreign capital, legacies of colonialism, the slave trade, and the Cold War, and frequent tribal and military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide).[137] Its total nominal GDP remains behind that of the United States, China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, India and France. According to the United Nations' Human Development Report in 2003, the bottom 24 ranked nations (151st to 175th) were all African.[138]

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[139] announced revised global poverty estimates based on a new international poverty line of $1.25 per day (versus the previous measure of $1.00). Eighty-one percent of the sub-Saharan African population was living on less than $2.50 (PPP) per day in 2005, compared with 86% for India.[140]

Sub-Saharan Africa is 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 in 1973,[141] indicating increasing poverty in some areas. Some of it is attributed to unsuccessful economic liberalization programmes spearheaded by foreign companies and governments, but other studies have cited bad domestic government policies more than external factors.[142][143]

Africa is now at risk of being in debt once again, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries. The last debt crisis in 2005 was resolved with help from the heavily indebted poor countries scheme (HIPC). The HIPC resulted in some positive and negative effects on the economy in Africa. About ten years after the 2005 debt crisis in sub-Saharan Africa was resolved, Zambia fell back into debt. A small reason was due to the fall in copper prices in 2011, but the bigger reason was that a large amount of the money Zambia borrowed was wasted or pocketed by the elite.[144]

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 of which had recently begun extracting their petroleum reserves or had expanded their oil extraction capacity.

In a recently published analysis based on World Values Survey data, the Austrian political scientist Arno Tausch maintained that several African countries, most notably Ghana, perform quite well on scales of mass support for democracy and the market economy.[145]

Rank  | Country  | GDP (nominal, Peak Year)
millions of USD | Peak Year

|
|
|

— | Template:Country data African Union | 2,945,709 | 2022
1 |  Nigeria | 568,499 | 2014
2 |  Egypt | 476,748 | 2022
3 |  South Africa | 458,708 | 2011
4 |  Algeria | 224,107 | 2023
5 |  Ethiopia | 155,804 | 2023
6 |  Morocco | 147,343 | 2023
7 |  Angola | 145,712 | 2014
8 |  Kenya | 113,701 | 2022
9 |  Libya[146] | 92,542 | 2012
10 |  Tanzania | 84,033 | 2023
Rank  | Country  | GDP (PPP, Peak Year)
millions of USD | Peak Year

|
|
|

— | Template:Country data African Union | 8,865,179 | 2023
1 |  Egypt | 1,809,425 | 2023
2 |  Nigeria | 1,365,903 | 2023
3 |  South Africa | 997,444 | 2023
4 |  Algeria | 628,990 | 2023
5 |  Ethiopia | 393,297 | 2023
6 |  Morocco | 385,337 | 2023
7 |  Kenya | 338,964 | 2023
8 |  Angola | 260,323 | 2023
9 |  Tanzania | 227,725 | 2023
10 |  Ghana | 227,189 | 2023

Tausch's global value comparison based on the World Values Survey derived the following factor analytical scales: 1. The non-violent and law-abiding society 2. Democracy movement 3. Climate of personal non-violence 4. Trust in institutions 5. Happiness, good health 6. No redistributive religious fundamentalism 7. Accepting the market 8. Feminism 9. Involvement in politics 10. Optimism and engagement 11. No welfare mentality, acceptancy of the Calvinist work ethics. The spread in the performance of African countries with complete data, Tausch concluded "is really amazing". While one should be especially hopeful about the development of future democracy and the market economy in Ghana, the article suggests pessimistic tendencies for Egypt and Algeria, and especially for Africa's leading economy, South Africa. High Human Inequality, as measured by the UNDP's Human Development Report's Index of Human Inequality, further impairs the development of human security. Tausch also maintains that the certain recent optimism, corresponding to economic and human rights data, emerging from Africa, is reflected in the development of a civil society.

African countries by GDP (PPP) per capita in 2020

The continent is believed to hold 90% of the world's cobalt, 90% of its platinum, 50% of its gold, 98% of its chromium, 70% of its tantalite,[147] 64% of its manganese and one-third of its uranium.[148] The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has 70% of the world's coltan, a mineral used in the production of tantalum capacitors for electronic devices such as cell phones. The DRC also has more than 30% of the world's diamond reserves.[149] Guinea is the world's largest exporter of bauxite.[150] As the growth in Africa has been driven mainly by services and not manufacturing or agriculture, it has been growth without jobs and without reduction in poverty levels. In fact, the food security crisis of 2008 which took place on the heels of the global financial crisis pushed 100 million people into food insecurity.[151]

In recent years, the People's Republic of China has built increasingly stronger ties with African nations and is Africa's largest trading partner. In 2007, Chinese companies invested a total of US$1 billion in Africa.[116]

A Harvard University study led by professor Calestous Juma showed that Africa could feed itself by making the transition from importer to self-sufficiency. "African agriculture is at the crossroads; we have come to the end of a century of policies that favoured Africa's export of raw materials and importation of food. Africa is starting to focus on agricultural innovation as its new engine for regional trade and prosperity."[152]

### Electricity generation

The main source of electricity is hydropower, which contributes significantly to the current installed capacity for energy.[134] The Kainji Dam is a typical hydropower resource generating electricity for all the large cities in Nigeria as well as their neighbouring country, Niger.[153] Hence, the continuous investment in the last decade, which has increased the amount of power generated.[134]

## Demographics

Proportion of total African population by country

Nigeria (15.38%)

Ethiopia (8.37%)

Egypt (7.65%)

Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.57%)

Tanzania (4.55%)

South Africa (4.47%)

Kenya (3.88%)

Uganda (3.38%)

Algeria (3.36%)

Other (42.39%)

Africa's population has rapidly increased over the last 40 years, and is consequently relatively young. In some African states, more than half the population is under 25 years of age.[154] The total number of people in Africa increased from 229 million in 1950 to 630 million in 1990.[155] As of 2018, the population of Africa is estimated at 1.3 billion [1][2]. Africa's total population surpassing other continents is fairly recent; African population surpassed Europe in the 1990s, while the Americas was overtaken sometime around the year 2000; Africa's rapid population growth is expected to overtake the only two nations currently larger than its population, at roughly the same time – India and China's 1.4 billion people each will swap ranking around the year 2022.[156] This increase in number of babies born in Africa compared to the rest of the world is expected to reach approximately 37% in the year 2050; while in 1990 sub-Saharan Africa accounted for only 16% of the world's births.[157]

The total fertility rate (children per woman) for Sub-Saharan Africa is 4.7 as of 2018, the highest in the world.[158] All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs (average number of children) above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27.1% of global livebirths.[159] In 2021, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 29% of global births.[160]

Speakers of Bantu languages (part of the Niger–Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and southeast Africa. The Bantu-speaking peoples from the Sahel progressively expanded over most of sub-Saharan Africa.[161] 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 (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.[citation needed] Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.[162]

The peoples of West Africa primarily speak Niger–Congo languages, belonging mostly to its non-Bantu branches, though some Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic speaking groups are also found. The Niger–Congo-speaking Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Akan, and Wolof ethnic groups are the largest and most influential. In the central Sahara, Mandinka or Mande groups are most significant. Chadic-speaking groups, including the Hausa, are found in more northerly parts of the region nearest to the Sahara, and Nilo-Saharan communities, such as the Songhai, Kanuri and Zarma, are found in the eastern parts of West Africa bordering Central Africa.

Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 12.5 MP

Map of Africa indicating Human Development Index (2018).

0.800–0.849

0.750–0.799

0.700–0.749

0.650–0.699

0.600–0.649

0.550–0.599

0.500–0.549

0.450–0.499

0.400–0.449

≤ 0.399

No data

|

The peoples of North Africa consist of three main indigenous groups: Berbers in the northwest, Egyptians in the northeast, and Nilo-Saharan-speaking peoples in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the 7th century CE introduced the Arabic language and Islam to North Africa. The Semitic Phoenicians (who founded Carthage) and Hyksos, the Indo-Iranian Alans, the Indo- European Ancient Greece , Romans, and Vandals settled in North Africa as well. Significant Berber communities remain within Morocco and Algeria in the 21st century, while, to a lesser extent, Berber speakers are also present in some regions of Tunisia and Libya.[163] The Berber-speaking Tuareg and other often-nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. In Mauritania, there is a small but near-extinct Berber community in the north and Niger–Congo-speaking peoples in the south, though in both regions Arabic and Arab culture predominates. In Sudan, although Arabic and Arab culture predominate, it is mostly inhabited by groups that originally spoke Nilo-Saharan, such as the Nubians, Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, who, over the centuries, have variously intermixed with migrants from the Arabian peninsula. Small communities of Afro-Asiatic-speaking Beja nomads can also be found in Egypt and Sudan.[164]

In the Horn of Africa, some Ethiopian and Eritrean groups (like the Amhara and Tigrayans, collectively known as Habesha) speak languages from the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, while the Oromo and Somali speak languages from the Cushitic branch of Afro-Asiatic.

Prior to the decolonization movements of the post-World War II era, Europeans were represented in every part of Africa.[165] Decolonization during the 1960s and 1970s often resulted in the mass emigration of white settlers – especially from Algeria and Morocco (1.6 million pieds-noirs in North Africa),[166] Kenya, Congo,[167] Rhodesia, Mozambique and Angola.[168] Between 1975 and 1977, over a million colonials returned to Portugal alone.[169] Nevertheless, white Africans remain an important minority in many African states, particularly Zimbabwe, Namibia, Réunion, and South Africa .[170] The country with the largest white African population is South Africa.[171] Dutch and British diasporas represent the largest communities of European ancestry on the continent today.[172]

European colonization also brought sizable groups of Asians, particularly 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 southeast 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 an 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[116] have also developed in the larger coastal cities of West and East Africa, respectively.[173]

### Alternative Estimates of African Population, 0–2018 AD (in thousands)

Source: Maddison and others. (University of Groningen).[174]

Year[174] | 0  | 1000  | 1500  | 1600  | 1700  | 1820  | 1870  | 1913  | 1950  | 1973  | 1998  | 2018  | 2100
(projected)

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Africa | 16 500  | 33 000  | 46 000  | 55 000  | 61 000  | 74 208  | 90 466  | 124 697  | 228 342  | 387 645  | 759 954  | 1 321 000[175] | 3 924 421[176]
World | 230 820  | 268 273  | 437 818  | 555 828  | 603 410  | 1 041 092  | 1 270 014  | 1 791 020  | 2 524 531  | 3 913 482  | 5 907 680  | 7 500 000[177] | 10 349 323[176]

### Shares of Africa and World Population, 0–2020 AD (% of world total)

Source: Maddison and others (University of Groningen).[174]

Year[174] | 0  | 1000  | 1500  | 1600  | 1700  | 1820  | 1870  | 1913  | 1950  | 1973  | 1998  | 2020  | 2100
(projected)

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Africa | 7.1  | 12.3  | 10.5  | 9.9  | 10.1  | 7.1  | 7.1  | 7.0  | 9.0  | 9.9  | 12.9  | 18.2[175] | 39.4[178]

### Religion

A map showing religious distribution in Africa

While Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs, the majority of the people respect African religions or parts of them. However, in formal surveys or census, most people will identify with major religions that came from outside the continent, mainly through colonisation. There are several reasons for this, the main one being the colonial idea that African religious beliefs and practices are not good enough. Religious beliefs and statistics on religious affiliation are difficult to come by since they are often a sensitive topic for governments with mixed religious populations.[179][180] According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Islam and Christianity are the two largest religions in Africa. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, 45% of the population are Christians, 40% are Muslims, and 10% follow traditional religions.[citation needed] A small number of Africans are Hindu, Buddhist, Confucianist, Baháʼí, or Jewish. There is also a minority of people in Africa who are irreligious.

### Languages

By most estimates, well over a thousand languages (UNESCO has estimated around two thousand) are spoken in Africa.[181] 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.[further explanation needed] There are four major groups indigenous to Africa:

A simplistic view of language families spoken in Africa

* The Afroasiatic 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 languages consist of a group of several possibly related families,[182] spoken by 30 million people between 100 languages. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by ethnic groups in Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and northern Tanzania.
* The Niger-Congo language family covers much of sub-Saharan Africa. In terms of number of languages, it is the largest language family in Africa and perhaps one of the largest in the world.
* The Khoisan languages form a group of three unrelated[183] families and two isolates and number about fifty in total. They are mainly spoken in Southern Africa by approximately 400,000 people.[184] 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 Spanish 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. Italian is spoken by some in former Italian colonies in Africa. German is spoken in Namibia, as it was a former German protectorate. In total, at least a fifth of Africans speak the former colonial languages.[185][186][187][lower-alpha 2]

### Health

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa, total (% of population ages 15–49), in 2011 (World Bank)

over 15%

5–15%

2–5%

1–2%

0.5-1%

0.1–0.5%

not available

More than 85% of individuals in Africa use traditional medicine as an alternative to often expensive allopathic medical health care and costly pharmaceutical products. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) Heads of State and Government declared the 2000s decade as the African Decade on African traditional medicine in an effort to promote The WHO African Region's adopted resolution for institutionalizing traditional medicine in health care systems across the continent.[188] Public policy makers in the region are challenged with consideration of the importance of traditional/indigenous health systems and whether their coexistence with the modern medical and health sub-sector would improve the equitability and accessibility of health care distribution, the health status of populations, and the social-economic development of nations within sub-Saharan Africa.[189]

AIDS in post-colonial Africa is a prevalent issue. Although the continent is home to about 15.2 percent of the world's population,[190] more than two-thirds of the total infected worldwide – some 35 million people – were Africans, of whom 15 million have already died.[191] Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for an estimated 69 percent of all people living with HIV[192] and 70 percent of all AIDS deaths in 2011.[193] In the countries of sub-Saharan Africa most affected, AIDS has raised death rates and lowered life expectancy among adults between the ages of 20 and 49 by about twenty years.[191] Furthermore, the life expectancy in many parts of Africa has declined, largely as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic with life-expectancy in some countries reaching as low as thirty-four years.[194]

## Culture

The Senegambian stone circles, lying in The Gambia and Senegal, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Some aspects of traditional African cultures have become less practised in recent years as a result of neglect and suppression by colonial and post-colonial regimes. For example, African customs were discouraged, and African languages were prohibited in mission schools.[195] Leopold II of Belgium attempted to "civilize" Africans by discouraging polygamy and witchcraft.[195]

Obidoh Freeborn posits that colonialism is one element that has created the character of modern African art.[196] According to authors Douglas Fraser and Herbert M. Cole, "The precipitous alterations in the power structure wrought by colonialism were quickly followed by drastic iconographic changes in the art."[197] Fraser and Cole assert that, in Igboland, some art objects "lack the vigor and careful craftsmanship of the earlier art objects that served traditional functions.[197] Author Chika Okeke-Agulu states that "the racist infrastructure of British imperial enterprise forced upon the political and cultural guardians of empire a denial and suppression of an emergent sovereign Africa and modernist art."[198] Editors F. Abiola Irele and Simon Gikandi comment that the current identity of African literature had its genesis in the "traumatic encounter between Africa and Europe."[199] On the other hand, Mhoze Chikowero believes that Africans deployed music, dance, spirituality, and other performative cultures to (re)assert themselves as active agents and indigenous intellectuals, to unmake their colonial marginalization and reshape their own destinies."[200]

There is now a resurgence in the attempts to rediscover and revalue 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.

As of March 2023, 98 African properties are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. Among these proprieties, 54 are cultural sites, 39 are natural sites and 5 are mixed sites. The List Of World Heritage in Danger includes 15 African sites.[201]

### Visual art

Nok figure (5th century BCE-5th century CE)

This section is an excerpt from African art[ edit ]

### Architecture

This section is an excerpt from Architecture of Africa[ edit ]

### Cinema

This section is an excerpt from Cinema of Africa[ edit ]

### Music

This section is an excerpt from Music of Africa[ edit ]

### Dance

This section is an excerpt from African dance[ edit ]

### Sports

Best results of African men's national football teams at the FIFA World Cup

Supporters watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup in the township of Soweto, South Africa

Fifty-four African countries have football teams in the Confederation of African Football. Egypt has won the African Cup seven times, and a record-making three times in a row. Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, and Algeria have advanced to the knockout stage of recent FIFA World Cups. Morocco made history at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA Men's World Cup. South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup tournament, becoming the first African country to do so. The top clubs in each African football league play the CAF Champions League, while lower-ranked clubs compete in CAF Confederation Cup.

In recent years, the continent has made major progress in terms of state-of-the-art basketball facilities which have been built in cites as diverse as Cairo, Dakar, Johannesburg, Kigali, Luanda and Rades.[202] The number of African basketball players who drafted into the NBA has experienced major growth in the 2010s.[203]

Cricket is popular in some African nations. South Africa and Zimbabwe have Test status, while Kenya is the leading non-test team and previously had One-Day International cricket (ODI) status (from 10 October 1997, until 30 January 2014). 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.

Rugby is popular in several southern African nations. Namibia and Zimbabwe both have appeared on multiple occasions at the Rugby World Cup, while South Africa is the most successful national team at the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament on four occasions, in 1995, 2007, 2019, and 2023. [204]

## Territories and regions

Template:Africa Labelled Map

The countries in this table are categorized 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.

Arms  | Flag  | Name of region[lower-alpha 3] and
territory, with flag  | Area
(km2)  | Population[205] | Year  | Density
(per km2)  | Capital  | Name(s) in official language(s) | ISO 3166-1

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

North Africa
|  | Algeria  | 2,381,740  | 46,731,000  | 2022  | 17.7  | Algiers | الجزائر (al-Jazāʾir)/Algérie  | DZA
|  | Canary Islands (Spain)[lower-alpha 4] | 7,492  | 2,154,905  | 2017  | 226  | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
Santa Cruz de Tenerife | Canarias  | IC
|  | Pelagie Islands (Italy)  | 25.5  | 6,556  | 2019  | 247  | Lampedusa  | Pelagie/Isole Pelagie/Ìsuli Pilaggî  | ITA
| Template:Country data Ceuta | Ceuta (Spain)[lower-alpha 5] | 20  | 85,107  | 2017  | 3,575  | —  | Ceuta/Sebta/سَبْتَة (Sabtah)  | EA
|  | Egypt[lower-alpha 6] | 1,001,450  | 82,868,000  | 2012  | 83  | Cairo | مِصر (Miṣr)  | EGY
|  | Libya | 1,759,540  | 6,310,434  | 2009  | 4  | Tripoli | ليبيا (Lībiyā)  | LBY
|  | Madeira (Portugal)[lower-alpha 7] | 797  | 245,000  | 2001  | 307  | Funchal | Madeira  | PRT-30
| Template:Country data Melilla | Melilla (Spain)[lower-alpha 8] | 12  | 85,116  | 2017  | 5,534  | —  | Melilla/Mlilt/مليلية  | EA
|  | Morocco  | 446,550  | 35,740,000  | 2017  | 78  | Rabat | المغرب (al-maḡrib)/ⵍⵎⵖⵔⵉⴱ (lmeɣrib)/Maroc  | MAR

Error creating thumbnail: limit.sh: timed out executing command "convert -background "#ffffff00" -thumbnail 20x24\\! '/tmp/svg_dcc7b5277d02f9ba405b28f7/Insigne_Sudaniae.svg' PNG:'/tmp/transform_9ae48eb5559a.png'"

|  | Sudan  | 1,861,484  | 30,894,000  | 2008  | 17  | Khartoum | Sudan/السودان (as-Sūdān)  | SDN
|  | Tunisia  | 163,610  | 10,486,339  | 2009  | 64  | Tunis | تونس (Tūnis)/Tunest/Tunisie  | TUN
|  | Western Sahara[lower-alpha 9] | 266,000  | 405,210  | 2009  | 2  | El Aaiún  | الصحراء الغربية (aṣ-Ṣaḥrā' al-Gharbiyyah)/Taneẓroft Tutrimt/Sáhara Occidental  | ESH
East Africa
|  | Burundi  | 27,830  | 8,988,091  | 2009  | 323  | Gitega | Uburundi/Burundi/Burundi  | BDI
|  | Comoros  | 2,170  | 752,438  | 2009  | 347  | Moroni | Komori/Comores/جزر القمر (Juzur al-Qumur)  | COM
|  | Djibouti  | 23,000  | 828,324  | 2015  | 22  | Djibouti | Yibuuti/جيبوتي (Jībūtī)/Djibouti/Jabuuti  | DJI
|  | Eritrea  | 121,320  | 5,647,168  | 2009  | 47  | Asmara | Eritrea  | ERI
|  | Ethiopia  | 1,127,127  | 84,320,987  | 2012  | 75  | Addis Ababa | ኢትዮጵያ (Ītyōṗṗyā)/Itiyoophiyaa/ኢትዮጵያ/Itoophiyaa/Itoobiya/ኢትዮጵያ  | ETH
| Template:Country data French Southern and Antarctic Lands | French Southern Territories (France)  | 439,781  | 100  | 2019  | —  | Saint Pierre  | Terres australes et antarctiques françaises  | FRA-TF
|  | Kenya  | 582,650  | 39,002,772  | 2009  | 66  | Nairobi | Kenya  | KEN
|  | Madagascar | 587,040  | 20,653,556  | 2009  | 35  | Antananarivo | Madagasikara/Madagascar  | MDG
|  | Malawi  | 118,480  | 14,268,711  | 2009  | 120  | Lilongwe | Malaŵi/Malaŵi  | MWI
|  | Mauritius | 2,040  | 1,284,264  | 2009  | 630  | Port Louis | Maurice/Moris  | MUS
|  | Mayotte (France)  | 374  | 223,765  | 2009  | 490  | Mamoudzou | Mayotte/Maore/Maiôty  | MYT
|  | Mozambique  | 801,590  | 21,669,278  | 2009  | 27  | Maputo | Moçambique/Mozambiki/Msumbiji/Muzambhiki  | MOZ
|  | Réunion (France)  | 2,512  | 743,981  | 2002  | 296  | Saint Denis | La Réunion  | FRA-RE
|  | Rwanda | 26,338  | 10,473,282  | 2009  | 398  | Kigali | Rwanda  | RWA
|  | Seychelles  | 455  | 87,476  | 2009  | 192  | Victoria | Seychelles/Sesel  | SYC
|  | Somalia  | 637,657  | 9,832,017  | 2009  | 15  | Mogadishu | 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖 (Soomaaliya) /الصومال (aṣ-Ṣūmāl)  | SOM
|  | Somaliland  | 176,120  | 5,708,180  | 2021  | 25  | Hargeisa | Soomaaliland/صوماليلاند (Ṣūmālīlānd)  |
|  | South Sudan  | 619,745  | 8,260,490  | 2008  | 13  | Juba | South Sudan  | SSD
|  | Tanzania  | 945,087  | 44,929,002  | 2009  | 43  | Dodoma | Tanzania/Tanzania  | TZA
|  | Uganda  | 236,040  | 32,369,558  | 2009  | 137  | Kampala | Uganda/Yuganda  | UGA
|  | Zambia  | 752,614  | 11,862,740  | 2009  | 16  | Lusaka | Zambia  | ZMB
|  | Zimbabwe  | 390,580  | 11,392,629  | 2009  | 29  | Harare | Zimbabwe  | ZWE
Central Africa
|  | Angola  | 1,246,700  | 12,799,293  | 2009  | 10  | Luanda | Angola  | AGO
|  | Cameroon  | 475,440  | 18,879,301  | 2009  | 40  | Yaoundé | Cameroun/Kamerun  | CMR
|  | Central African Republic  | 622,984  | 4,511,488  | 2009  | 7  | Bangui | Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka/République centrafricaine  | CAF
|  | Chad  | 1,284,000  | 10,329,208  | 2009  | 8  | N'Djamena | تشاد (Tšād)/Tchad  | TCD
|  | Republic of the Congo  | 342,000  | 4,012,809  | 2009  | 12  | Brazzaville | Congo/Kôngo/Kongó  | COG
|  | Democratic Republic of the Congo  | 2,345,410  | 69,575,000  | 2012  | 30  | Kinshasa | République démocratique du Congo  | COD
|  | Equatorial Guinea  | 28,051  | 633,441  | 2009  | 23  | Malabo | Guinea Ecuatorial/Guinée Équatoriale/Guiné Equatorial  | GNQ
|  | Gabon  | 267,667  | 1,514,993  | 2009  | 6  | Libreville | gabonaise  | GAB
|  | São Tomé and Príncipe  | 1,001  | 212,679  | 2009  | 212  | São Tomé | São Tomé e Príncipe  | STP
Southern Africa
|  | Botswana  | 600,370  | 1,990,876  | 2009  | 3  | Gaborone | Botswana/Botswana  | BWA
|  | Eswatini  | 17,363  | 1,123,913  | 2009  | 65  | Mbabane | eSwatini/Eswatini  | SWZ
|  | Lesotho  | 30,355  | 2,130,819  | 2009  | 70  | Maseru | Lesotho/Lesotho  | LSO
|  | Namibia  | 825,418  | 2,108,665  | 2009  | 3  | Windhoek | Namibia  | NAM
|  | South Africa | 1,219,912  | 51,770,560  | 2011  | 42  | Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Pretoria[lower-alpha 10] | yaseNingizimu Afrika/yoMzantsi-Afrika/Suid-Afrika/Afrika-Borwa/Aforika Borwa/Afrika Borwa/Afrika Dzonga/yeNingizimu Afrika/Afurika Tshipembe/yeSewula Afrika  | ZAF
West Africa
|  | Benin  | 112,620  | 8,791,832  | 2009  | 78  | Porto-Novo | Bénin  | BEN
|  | Burkina Faso  | 274,200  | 15,746,232  | 2009  | 57  | Ouagadougou | Burkina Faso  | BFA
|  | Cape Verde  | 4,033  | 429,474  | 2009  | 107  | Praia | Cabo Verde/Kabu Verdi  | CPV
|  | The Gambia  | 11,300  | 1,782,893  | 2009  | 158  | Banjul | The Gambia  | GMB
|  | Ghana  | 239,460  | 23,832,495  | 2009  | 100  | Accra | Ghana  | GHA
|  | Guinea  | 245,857  | 10,057,975  | 2009  | 41  | Conakry | Guinée  | GIN
|  | Guinea-Bissau  | 36,120  | 1,533,964  | 2009  | 43  | Bissau | Guiné-Bissau  | GNB
|  | Ivory Coast  | 322,460  | 20,617,068  | 2009  | 64  | Abidjan,[lower-alpha 11] Yamoussoukro | Côte d'Ivoire  | CIV
|  | Liberia  | 111,370  | 3,441,790  | 2009  | 31  | Monrovia | Liberia  | LBR
|  | Mali  | 1,240,000  | 12,666,987  | 2009  | 10  | Bamako | Mali/Maali/مالي (Mālī)/𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Maali)/ߡߊߟߌ (Mali)  | MLI
|  | Mauritania  | 1,030,700  | 3,129,486  | 2009  | 3  | Nouakchott | موريتانيا (Mūrītānyā)  | MRT
|  | Niger  | 1,267,000  | 15,306,252  | 2009  | 12  | Niamey | Niger  | NER
|  | Nigeria  | 923,768  | 166,629,000  | 2012  | 180  | Abuja | Nigeria  | NGA
|  | Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)  | 420  | 7,728  | 2012  | 13  | Jamestown | Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha  | SHN
|  | Senegal  | 196,190  | 13,711,597  | 2009  | 70  | Dakar | Sénégal  | SEN
|  | Sierra Leone  | 71,740  | 6,440,053  | 2009  | 90  | Freetown | Sierra Leone  | SLE
|  | Togo  | 56,785  | 6,019,877  | 2009  | 106  | Lomé | togolaise  | TGO
Africa Total  | 30,368,609  | 1,001,320,281  | 2009  | 33  |

## See also

* Index of Africa-related articles
* African historiography
* Outline of Africa

## Notes

1. ↑ [19][20][21][22][23][24]
2. ↑ The previous three references show that there a total of 130 million English speakers, 120 million French speakers, and over 30 million Portuguese speakers in Africa, making them about 20% of Africa's 2022 population of 1.4 billion people.
3. ↑ Continental regions as per UN categorizations/map.
4. ↑ The Spanish Canary Islands, of which Las Palmas de Gran Canaria are Santa Cruz de Tenerife are co-capitals, are often considered part of Northern Africa due to their relative proximity to Morocco and Western Sahara; population and area figures are for 2001.
5. ↑ The Spanish exclave of Ceuta is surrounded on land by Morocco in Northern Africa; population and area figures are for 2001.
6. ↑ Egypt is generally considered a transcontinental country in Northern Africa (UN region) and Western Asia; population and area figures are for African portion only, west of the Suez Canal.
7. ↑ The Portuguese Madeira Islands are often considered part of Northern Africa due to their relative proximity to Morocco; population and area figures are for 2001.
8. ↑ The Spanish exclave of Melilla is surrounded on land by Morocco in Northern Africa; population and area figures are for 2001.
9. ↑ The territory of Western Sahara is claimed by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Morocco. The SADR is recognized as a sovereign state by the African Union. Morocco claims the entirety of the country as its Southern Provinces. Morocco administers 4/5 of the territory while the SADR controls 1/5. Morocco's annexation of this territory has not been recognized internationally.
10. ↑ Bloemfontein is the judicial capital of South Africa, while Cape Town is its legislative seat, and Pretoria is the country's administrative seat.
11. ↑ Yamoussoukro is the official capital of Ivory Coast, while Abidjan is the de facto seat.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ""World Population prospects – Population division"". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. https://population.un.org/wpp/.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 ""Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (xslx). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators (Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/1_Population/WPP2019_POP_F01_1_TOTAL_POPULATION_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx.
3. ↑ "GDP PPP, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2022. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD.
4. ↑ "GDP Nominal, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2022. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD.
5. ↑ "Nominal GDP per capita". International Monetary Fund. 2022. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD.
6. ↑ "Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, African Christianity, 2020". 18 March 2020. https://www.gordonconwell.edu/blog/african-christianity-101/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=a1d4c1d931e6c38110d5c3f059ae64bb66bafafa-1590463375-0-AezHrWRbV9jUadPbMq1KCYOzXRnMTcuigdG5X7oahVbSoI1-HbOZFVzICpNQM3DD6h-V4OowV97KMQvA_Z5xrEIueURh3cAjh_JOwgzb_0xJ8ApebiYm1YKfWINm1tpYbvki0LdD6UCp1tdLlxQ9SRwtdKFDMRidCaiTEuKpAgqahxqDYDT9efnF_jaiIEUQu0uIx-pJ0jUDCQtArMqdHTN8eI_S59hxJlvlxrSqBFOFsKFbiRy66EYOzblYbhaniwzQPIxiovSOAM7Yj6fu-5jMYVAPJtBJplpKoRDBlTtl44pnDC6wJInEyJbLw46dPuXcViyFEB57ebEfmUnpcYoJDlysExw35Ay28x7nvUDx3aIEa6ZhJsxwn62dv-R57g.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sayre, April Pulley (1999), Africa, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN:0-7613-1367-2.
8. ↑ Swanson, Ana (17 August 2015). "5 ways the world will look dramatically different in 2100". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/17/5-ways-the-world-will-look-dramatically-different-in-2100/.
9. ↑ Harry, Njideka U. (11 September 2013). "African Youth, Innovation and the Changing Society". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/njideka-u-harry/african-youth-innovation-_b_3904408.html.
10. ↑ Janneh, Abdoulie (April 2012). "item, 4 of the provisional agenda – General debate on national experience in population matters: adolescents and youth". United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. https://www.un.org/esa/population/cpd/cpd2012/Agenda item 4/UN system statements/ECA_Item4.pdf.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Collier, Paul; Gunning, Jan Willem (1 August 1999). "Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?". Journal of Economic Perspectives 13 (3): 3–22. doi:10.1257/jep.13.3.3.
12. ↑ Alemazung, Joy Asongazoh (1 September 2010). "Post-colonial colonialism: an analysis of international factors and actors marring African socio-economic and political development". Journal of Pan African Studies 3 (10): 62–85. Gale A306596751. http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol3no10/3.10Post-Colonial.pdf. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
13. ↑ Bayeh, Endalcachew (February 2015). "The political and economic legacy of colonialism in the post-independence African states". International Journal in Commerce, IT & Social Sciences 2 (2): 89–93. doi:10.4000/poldev.78. https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/78. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
14. ↑ "Africa. General info". Visual Geography. http://www.visualgeography.com/continents/africa.html.
15. ↑ Studies, the Africa Center for Strategic. "African Biodiversity Loss Raises Risk to Human Security" (in en-US). https://africacenter.org/spotlight/african-biodiversity-loss-risk-human-security/.
16. ↑ Schneider, S.H. (2007). "19.3.3 Regional vulnerabilities". in Parry, M.L.. Chapter 19: Assessing Key Vulnerabilities and the Risk from Climate Change. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability: contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press (CUP): Cambridge, UK: Print version: CUP. This version: IPCC website. ISBN 978-0-521-88010-7. http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch19s19-3-3.html. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
17. ↑ Niang, I., O.C. Ruppel, M.A. Abdrabo, A. Essel, C. Lennard, J. Padgham, and P. Urquhart, "2014: Africa". In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Barros, V.R., C.B. Field, D.J. Dokken et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, and New York, pp. 1199–1265. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap22_FINAL.pdf
18. ↑ "One of Africa's best kept secrets – its history" (in en-GB). BBC News. 1 July 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40420910.
19. ↑ "Homo sapiens: University of Utah News Release: 16 February 2005". http://web.utah.edu/unews/releases/05/feb/homosapiens.html.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Schlebusch, Carina M; Malmström, Helena; Günther, Torsten; Sjödin, Per; Coutinho, Alexandra; Edlund, Hanna; Munters, Arielle R; Vicente, Mário et al. (2017). "Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago". Science 358 (6363): 652–655. doi:10.1126/science.aao6266. PMID 28971970. Bibcode: 2017Sci...358..652S.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Sample, Ian (7 June 2017). "Oldest Homo sapiens bones ever found shake foundations of the human story". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/07/oldest-homo-sapiens-bones-ever-found-shake-foundations-of-the-human-story.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Zimmer, Carl (10 September 2019). "Scientists Find the Skull of Humanity's Ancestor - on a Computer - By comparing fossils and CT scans, researchers say they have reconstructed the skull of the last common forebear of modern humans.". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/science/human-ancestor-skull-computer.html.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Mounier, Aurélien; Lahr, Marta (2019). "Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species". Nature Communications 10 (1): 3406. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11213-w. PMID 31506422. Bibcode: 2019NatCo..10.3406M.
24. ↑ Vidal, Celine M. et al. (Jan 2022). "Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa". Nature 601 (7894): 579–583. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8. PMID 35022610. Bibcode: 2022Natur.601..579V.
25. ↑ "The genetic diversity in Africa is greater than in any other region in the world". 19 July 2018. https://blogs.bcm.edu/2018/07/19/genetic-diversity-in-africa-is-greater-than-in-any-other-region-in-the-world/.
26. ↑ "New study confirms that Africans are the most genetically diverse people on Earth. And it claims to pinpoint our center of origin.". https://ksj.mit.edu/tracker-archive/new-study-confirms-africans-are-most-gen/.
27. ↑ "Africa is most genetically diverse continent, DNA study shows". 9 June 2009. https://www.bionews.org.uk/page_91054.
28. ↑ The Egba United Government, a government of the Egba people, was legally recognized by the British as independent until being annexed into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914: Daly, Samuel Fury Childs (4 May 2019). "From Crime to Coercion: Policing Dissent in Abeokuta, Nigeria, 1900–1940". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 47 (3): 474–489. doi:10.1080/03086534.2019.1576833. ISSN 0308-6534. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03086534.2019.1576833. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
29. ↑ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918). "Afri". in Georges, Heinrich (in de). Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch (8th ed.). Hannover. http://latin_german.deacademic.com/1644. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
30. ↑ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879). "Afer". A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=Afer. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
31. ↑ Venter & Neuland, NEPAD and the African Renaissance (2005), p. 16
32. ↑ Desfayes, Michel (25 January 2011). "The Names of Countries". http://michel-desfayes.org/namesofcountries.html. "Africa. From the name of an ancient tribe in Tunisia, the Afri (adjective: Afer). The name is still extant today as Ifira and Ifri-n-Dellal in Greater Kabylia (Algeria). A Berber tribe was called Beni-Ifren in the Middle Ages and Ifurace was the name of a Tripolitan people in the 6th century. The name is from the Berber language ifri 'cave'. Troglodytism was frequent in northern Africa and still occurs today in southern Tunisia. Herodote wrote that the Garamantes, a North African people, used to live in caves. The Ancient Greek called troglodytēs an African people who lived in caves. Africa was coined by the Romans and 'Ifriqiyeh' is the arabized Latin name. (Most details from Decret & Fantar, 1981)."
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Babington Michell, Geo (1903). "The Berbers". Journal of the Royal African Society 2 (6): 161–194. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a093193. https://zenodo.org/record/1782363. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
34. ↑ Edward Lipinski, Itineraria Phoenicia , Peeters Publishers, 2004, p. 200. ISBN:90-429-1344-4
35. ↑ "Africa African Africanus Africus". Consultos.com. http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/africa.htm.
36. ↑ "Nile Genesis: the opus of Gerald Massey". Gerald-massey.org.uk. 29 October 1907. http://gerald-massey.org.uk/massey/cmc_nile_genesis.htm.
37. ↑ Fruyt, M. (1976). "D'Africus ventus a Africa terrain". Revue de Philologie 50: 221–238.
38. ↑ Stieglitz, Robert R. (1984). "Long-Distance Seafaring in the Ancient Near East". The Biblical Archaeologist 47 (3): 134–142. doi:10.2307/3209914.
39. ↑ Hallikan, 'Abu-l-'Abbas Sams-al-din 'Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn (1842) (in en). Kitab Wafayat Ala'yan. Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary Transl. by (Guillaume) B(aro)n Mac-Guckin de Slane. Benjamin Duprat. https://books.google.com/books?id=3cdLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
40. ↑ al-Andalusi, Sa'id (2010) (in en). Science in the Medieval World. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0292792319. https://books.google.com/books?id=mcN7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
41. ↑ Upton, Roger D. (1881) (in en). Travels in the Arabian Desert: With Special Reference to the Arabian Horse and Its Pedigree. C.K. Paul & Company. https://books.google.com/books?id=pbo5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA113. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
42. ↑ Modified from Wilhelm Sturmfels and Heinz Bischof: Unsere Ortsnamen im ABC erklärt nach Herkunft und Bedeutung, Bonn, 1961, Ferdinand Dümmlers Verlag.
43. ↑ Serge Losique: Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de pays et de peuples, Paris, 1971, Éditions Klincksieck.
44. ↑ Herrera, Rene J.; Garcia-Bertrand, Ralph (2018). Ancestral DNA, Human Origins, and Migrations. Elsevier Science. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-0-12-804128-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZF1gDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
45. ↑ Kimbel, William H. and Yoel Rak and Donald C. Johanson. (2004) The Skull of Australopithecus Afarensis, Oxford University Press US. ISBN:0-19-515706-0
46. ↑ Tudge, Colin. (2002) The Variety of Life., Oxford University Press. ISBN:0-19-860426-2
47. ↑ Mokhtar, G. (1990) UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition: Ancient Africa, University of California Press. ISBN:0-85255-092-8
48. ↑ Eyma, A.K. and C.J. Bennett. (2003) Delts-Man in Yebu: Occasional Volume of the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum No. 1, Universal Publishers. p. 210. ISBN:1-58112-564-X
49. ↑ Wells, Spencer (December 2002) The Journey of Man . National Geographic
50. ↑ Oppenheimer, Stephen. The Gates of Grief . bradshawfoundation.com
51. ↑ "15. Strait of Gibraltar, Atlantic Ocean/Mediterranean Sea". https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/humanimprints/slide_15.html.
52. ↑ Fregel, Rosa; Méndez, Fernando L.; Bokbot, Youssef; Martín-Socas, Dimas; Camalich-Massieu, María D.; Santana, Jonathan; Morales, Jacob; Ávila-Arcos, María C. et al. (26 June 2018). "Ancient genomes from North Africa evidence prehistoric migrations to the Maghreb from both the Levant and Europe". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (26): 6774–6779. doi:10.1073/pnas.1800851115. PMID 29895688. Bibcode: 2018PNAS..115.6774F.
53. ↑ Derricourt, Robin (2005). "Getting "Out of Africa": Sea Crossings, Land Crossings and Culture in the Hominin Migrations". Journal of World Prehistory 19 (2): 119–132. doi:10.1007/s10963-006-9002-z. http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/arheo/ska/tekstovi/out_of_africa.pdf. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
54. ↑ Goucher, Candice; Walton, Linda (2013). World History: Journeys from Past to Present. Routledge. pp. 2–20. ISBN 978-1-134-72354-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=gY7cAAAAQBAJ. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
55. ↑ Keenan, Jeremy (2013). The Sahara: Past, Present and Future. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-97001-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=KUKPAQAAQBAJ. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
56. ↑ Mercier, Norbert (2012). "OSL dating of quaternary deposits associated with the parietal art of the Tassili-n-Ajjer plateau (Central Sahara)". Quaternary Geochronology 10: 367–373. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2011.11.010. Bibcode: 2012QuGeo..10..367M.
57. ↑ "Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started by Changes in Earth's Orbit, Accelerated by Atmospheric and Vegetation Feedbacks" , Science Daily
58. ↑ Diamond, Jared. (1999) Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: Norton, p. 167. ISBN:978-0813498027
59. ↑ Jesse, Friederike (2010). "Early Pottery in Northern Africa – An Overview". Journal of African Archaeology 8 (2): 219–238. doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10171.
60. ↑ Simon Bradley, A Swiss-led team of archaeologists has discovered pieces of the oldest African pottery in central Mali, dating back to at least 9,400BC , SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), 18 January 2007
61. ↑ Beldados, Alemseged; Manzo, Andrea; Murphy, Charlene; Stevens, Chris J.; Fuller, Dorian Q. (2018). "Evidence of Sorghum Cultivation and Possible Pearl Millet in the Second Millennium BC at Kassala, Eastern Sudan". Plants and People in the African Past. pp. 503–528. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_22. ISBN 978-3-319-89838-4. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_22. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
62. ↑ Ehret (2002), pp. 64–75.
63. ↑ Winchell, Frank; Stevens, Chris J.; Murphy, Charlene; Champion, Louis; Fuller, Dorianq. (2017). "Evidence for Sorghum Domestication in Fourth Millennium BC Eastern Sudan: Spikelet Morphology from Ceramic Impressions of the Butana Group". Current Anthropology 58 (5): 673–683. doi:10.1086/693898. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/693898?journalCode=ca. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
64. ↑ "Earliest Evidence of Domesticated Sorghum Discovered | Sci.News". September 28, 2017. https://www.sci.news/archaeology/earliest-evidence-domesticated-sorghum-05271.html.
65. ↑ "Katanda Bone Harpoon Point" (in en). 22 January 2010. http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/getting-food/katanda-bone-harpoon-point.
66. ↑ Ehret (2002), pp. 82–84.
67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 O'Brien, Patrick K. ed. (2005) Oxford Atlas of World History. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN:978-0199746538
68. ↑ Cubry, Philippe; Tranchant-Dubreuil, Christine; Thuillet, Anne-Céline; Monat, Cécile; Ndjiondjop, Marie-Noelle; Labadie, Karine; Cruaud, Corinne; Engelen, Stefan et al. (2018). "The Rise and Fall of African Rice Cultivation Revealed by Analysis of 246 New Genomes". Current Biology 28 (14): 2274–2282.e6. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.066. PMID 29983312.
69. ↑ Shawn Sabrina Murray (January 2004). "Searching for the Origins of African Rice Domestication". Antiquity (78). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265663363.
70. ↑ Martin and O'Meara, "Africa, 3rd Ed." Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1995
71. ↑ 71.0 71.1 Breunig, Peter. 2014. Nok: African Sculpture in Archaeological Context: p. 21.
72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 Fagg, Bernard. 1969. Recent work in west Africa: New light on the Nok culture. World Archaeology 1(1): 41–50.
73. ↑ Were Egyptians the first scribes? BBC News (15 December 1998)
74. ↑ Hassan, Fekri A. (2002) Droughts, Food and Culture, Springer. p. 17. ISBN:0-306-46755-0
75. ↑ McGrail, Sean. (2004) Boats of the World, Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN:0-19-927186-0
76. ↑ Shavit, Jacob; Shavit, Yaacov (2001). History in Black: African-Americans in Search of an Ancient Past. Taylor & Francis. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-7146-8216-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=VlNkzTO6IecC&pg=PA77. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
77. ↑ Fage, J.D. (1979), The Cambridge History of Africa, Cambridge University Press. ISBN:0-521-21592-7
78. ↑ Law, R. C. C. (1979). "North Africa in the period of Phoenician and Greek colonization, c.800 to 323 BC". The Cambridge History of Africa. pp. 87–147. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521215923.004. ISBN 978-1-139-05456-0.
79. ↑ Oliver, Roland and Anthony Atmore (1994), Africa Since 1800, Cambridge University Press. ISBN:0-521-42970-6
80. ↑ "The Berlin Conference | Western Civilization II (HIS 104) – Biel". https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-fmcc-worldcivilization2-1/chapter/the-berlin-conference/.
81. ↑ "Greeks, Romans and Barbarians". https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/Greeks-Romans-and-barbarians.
82. ↑ "Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt: 332 BC – 395 AD". Wsu.edu. 6 June 1999. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/PTOLEMY.HTM.
83. ↑ "New exhibition about Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at the Yorkshire Museum". The Press. 2 February 2011. http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/features/8826893.New_exhibition_about_Roman_Emperor_Septimius_Severus_at_the_Yorkshire_Museum/.
84. ↑ "The Story of Africa – Christianity". BBC World Service. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section8.shtml.
85. ↑ Tesfagiorgis, Mussie (2010). Eritrea. ABC-CLIO. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-59884-232-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=f0R7iHoaykoC&pg=PA153. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
86. ↑ Ayoub, Mahmoud M. (2004). Islam: Faith and History. Oxford: Oneworld. pp. 76, 92–93, 96–97.
87. ↑ Holl, Augustin (June 1985). "Background to the Ghana empire: Archaeological investigations on the transition to statehood in the Dhar Tichitt region (mauritania)". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 4 (2): 73–115. doi:10.1016/0278-4165(85)90005-4.
88. ↑ Iliffe, John (2007). pp. 49–50[incomplete short citation]
89. ↑ Collins and Burns (2007), p. 78.[incomplete short citation]
90. ↑ Shillington 2005, p. 39.
91. ↑ Honour, Hugh; Fleming, John (2005). A world history of art (7th ed.). London: Laurence King. ISBN 978-1856694513.
92. ↑ Meredith, Martin (20 January 2006). "The Fate of Africa – A Survey of Fifty Years of Independence". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/01/11/DI2006011101372.html.
93. ↑ "Igbo-Ukwu (c. 9th century) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/igbo/hd_igbo.htm.
94. ↑ Glick, Thomas F. (2005) Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages. Brill Academic Publishers, p. 37. ISBN:978-9004147713
95. ↑ "Mauritania – Arab Invasions". http://countrystudies.us/mauritania/8.htm.
96. ↑ Nebel, A (1 April 2010). "Genetic Evidence for the Expansion of Arabian Tribes into the Southern Levant and North Africa". American Journal of Human Genetics 70 (6): 1594–1596. doi:10.1086/340669. PMID 11992266.
97. ↑ Lapidus, Ira M. (1988) A History of Islamic Societies, Cambridge.
98. ↑ Historical survey: Slave societies , Encyclopædia Britannica
99. ↑ Swahili Coast , National Geographic
100. ↑ Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History , Encyclopædia Britannica
101. ↑ "Focus on the slave trade". bbc.co.uk (BBC News – Africa). 3 September 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1523100.stm.
102. ↑ Lovejoy, Paul E. (2000). Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-521-78430-6. https://archive.org/details/transformationsi0000love.
103. ↑ Rees Davies, "British Slaves on the Barbary Coast" , BBC, 1 July 2003
104. ↑ Jo Loosemore, Sailing against slavery . BBC
105. ↑ "The West African Squadron and slave trade". Pdavis.nl. http://www.pdavis.nl/Background.htm#WAS.
106. ↑ Simon, Julian L. (1995) State of Humanity, Blackwell Publishing. p. 175. ISBN:1-55786-585-X
107. ↑ Bély, Lucien (2001). The History of France. Editions Jean-paul Gisserot. p. 118. ISBN 978-2-87747-563-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ltzav890zpIC&pg=PA118. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
108. ↑ Aryeetey, Ernest; Harrigan, Jane; Machiko, Nissanke (2000). Economic Reforms in Ghana: The Miracle and the Mirage. Africa World Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-86543-844-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=87V55ZHppSYC&pg=PA5. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
109. ↑ tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1613980
110. ↑ "BBC: 1984 famine in Ethiopia". BBC News. 6 April 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/703958.stm.
111. ↑ Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa 1990, ISBN:0-521-36022-6, pp. 295–296
112. ↑ Steven Varnis, Reluctant aid or aiding the reluctant?: U.S. food aid policy and the Ethiopian Famine Relief 1990, ISBN:0-88738-348-3, p. 38
113. ↑ Woldemeskel, Getachew (1989). "The Consequences of Resettlement in Ethiopia". African Affairs 88 (352): 359–374. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098187. https://www.jstor.org/stable/722691. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
114. ↑ Rayner, Gordon (27 September 2011). "Is your mobile phone helping fund war in Congo?". The Daily Telegraph (London). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/democraticrepublicofcongo/8792068/Is-your-mobile-phone-helping-fund-war-in-Congo.html.
115. ↑ "Congo war-driven crisis kills 45,000 a month-study". Reuters. 22 January 2008. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-democratic-death-idUSL2280201220080122.
116. ↑ 116.0 116.1 116.2 Malia Politzer, "China and Africa: Stronger Economic Ties Mean More Migration" , Migration Information Source. August 2008
117. ↑ "GDP (Constant 2015 US$) – Sub-Saharan Africa | Data". https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?end=2014&locations=ZG&start=2000.
118. ↑ Onyishi, Augustine; Solomon, Ogbonna (2019). "The African Continental Free Trade Zone (AFCFTZ): Economic Tsunami Or Development Opportunities In Sub-Sahara Africa". Journal of Development and Administrative Studies. (1): 133–149. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344266156.
119. ↑ Jenny Aker, Isaac Mbiti, "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa" SSRN
120. ↑ Frankema, Ewout; Van Waijenburg, Marlous (October 2018). "Africa rising? A historical perspective". African Affairs 117 (469): 543–568. doi:10.1093/afraf/ady022. https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/117/469/543/5038419. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
121. ↑ "Development prospects in Africa undermined by a severe economic downturn". Africa Renewal. 25 January 2021. https://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/development-prospects-africa-undermined-severe-economic-downturn.
122. ↑ Drysdale, Alasdair and Gerald H. Blake. (1985) The Middle East and North Africa, Oxford University Press US. ISBN:0-19-503538-0
123. ↑ "Atlas – Xpeditions". National Geographic Society. 2003. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=africa&Rootmap=&Mode=d.
124. ↑ 124.0 124.1 (1998) Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary (Index), Merriam-Webster, pp. 10–11. ISBN:0-87779-546-0
125. ↑ Lewin, Evans. (1924) Africa, Clarendon press
126. ↑ Hoare, Ben. (2002) The Kingfisher A–Z Encyclopedia, Kingfisher Publications. p. 11. ISBN:0-7534-5569-2
127. ↑ 127.0 127.1 127.2 "Africa: Environmental Atlas, 06/17/08." African Studies Center , University of Pennsylvania. Accessed June 2011.
128. ↑ El Fadli, KI (September 2012). "World Meteorological Organization Assessment of the Purported World Record 58°C Temperature Extreme at El Azizia, Libya (13 September 1922)". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 94 (2): 199. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00093.1. Bibcode: 2013BAMS...94..199E. (The 136 °F (57.8 °C), claimed by 'Aziziya, Libya, on 13 September 1922, has been officially deemed invalid by the World Meteorological Organization.)
129. ↑ "World Meteorological Organization World Weather / Climate Extremes Archive". http://wmo.asu.edu/world-highest-temperature.
130. ↑ Deforestation reaches worrying level – UN . AfricaNews. 11 June 2008
131. ↑ Forests and deforestation in Africa – the wasting of an immense resource . afrol News
132. ↑ World Wildlife Fund, ed (2001). "Madagascar subhumid forests". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20100308064632/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0118.html.
133. ↑ "Nature laid waste: The destruction of Africa" , The Independent, 11 June 2008.
134. ↑ 134.0 134.1 134.2 134.3 134.4 134.5 134.6 134.7 The United Nations World Water Development Report 2016: Water and Jobs. Paris: UNESCO. 2016. ISBN 978-92-3-100146-8. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license.
135. ↑ 135.0 135.1 "Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA)". http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/cooperation-in-international-waters-in-africa.
136. ↑ Mbeki, Thabo (9 July 2002). "Launch of the African Union, 9 July 2002: Address by the chairperson of the AU, President Thabo Mbeki". ABSA Stadium, Durban, South Africa: africa-union.org. http://www.africa-union.org/official_documents/Speeches_&_Statements/HE_Thabo_Mbiki/Launch of the African Union, 9 July 2002.htm.
137. ↑ Sandbrook, Richard (1985) The Politics of Africa's Economic Stagnation, Cambridge University Press. passim
138. ↑ "Human Development Reports – United Nations Development Programme". http://hdr.undp.org/.
139. ↑ "World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing World". World Bank. 26 August 2008. http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:21882162~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:469382,00.html.
140. ↑ "The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty". World Bank. http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&piPK=64165421&theSitePK=469372&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000158349_20080826113239.
141. ↑ Economic report on Africa 2004: unlocking Africa's potential in the global economy (Substantive session 28 June–23 July 2004), United Nations
142. ↑ "Neo-Liberalism and the Economic and Political Future of Africa". Globalpolitician.com. 19 December 2005. http://www.globalpolitician.com/21498-africa-malawi-poverty.
143. ↑ "The Number of the Poor Increasing Worldwide while Sub-Saharan Africa is the Worst of All". Turkish Weekly. 29 August 2008. http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=58925.
144. ↑ "Zambia's looming debt crisis is a warning for the rest of Africa" (in en). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/09/15/zambias-looming-debt-crisis-is-a-warning-for-the-rest-of-africa.
145. ↑ Tausch, Arno (2018). "Africa on the Maps of Global Values: Comparative Analyses, Based on Recent World Values Survey Data". doi:10.2139/ssrn.3214715. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/87966/1/MPRA_paper_87966.pdf.
146. ↑ "Peak GDP (Nominal) for Libya". https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/October/weo-report?c=522,672,&s=NGDPD,&sy=1980&ey=2023&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1.
147. ↑ "Africa: Developed Countries' Leverage On the Continent ". AllAfrica.com. 7 February 2008
148. ↑ Africa, China's new frontier . Times Online. 10 February 2008
149. ↑ "DR Congo poll crucial for Africa". BBC. 16 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5209428.stm.
150. ↑ China tightens grip on Africa with $4.4bn lifeline for Guinea junta. The Times. 13 October 2009 (Subscription content?)
151. ↑ The African Decade? . Ilmas Futehally. Strategic Foresight Group.
152. ↑ "Africa Can Feed Itself in a Generation, Experts Say" , Science Daily, 3 December 2010
153. ↑ "An inside look at Kainji Dam". 2012-10-14. http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/other-sections/star-feature/14058-an-inside-look-at-kainji-dam.
154. ↑ "Africa Population Dynamics". overpopulation.org. http://www.overpopulation.org/Africa.html.
155. ↑ Past and future population of Africa . Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013)
156. ↑ Gladstone, Rick (29 July 2015). "India Will Be Most Populous Country Sooner Than Thought, U.N. Says". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/world/asia/india-will-be-most-populous-country-sooner-than-thought-un-says.html.
157. ↑ "What to do about Africa's dangerous baby boom" (in en). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/09/22/what-to-do-about-africas-dangerous-baby-boom.
158. ↑ "Fertility rate, total (births per woman) – Sub-Saharan Africa". https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=ZG.
159. ↑ "Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950–2019: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019". The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30977-6/fulltext.
160. ↑ United Nations . Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World Population Prospects 2022. Summary of Results. New York. p. 14. https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf.
161. ↑ Luc-Normand Tellier (2009). Urban world history: an economic and geographical perspective . PUQ. p. 204. ISBN:2-7605-1588-5
162. ↑ Pygmies struggle to survive in war zone where abuse is routine . Times Online. 16 December 2004
163. ↑ "Q&A: The Berbers". BBC News. 12 March 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3509799.stm.
164. ↑ Blench, Roger (2019). "The Linguistic Prehistory of the Sahara". Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond. pp. 431–463. doi:10.1017/9781108634311.014. ISBN 978-1-108-63431-1.
165. ↑ "We Want Our Country" (3 of 10) . Time, 5 November 1965
166. ↑ Raimondo Cagiano De Azevedo (1994). Migration and development co-operation. . Council of Europe, p. 25. ISBN:92-871-2611-9
167. ↑ "Jungle Shipwreck" . Time 25 July 1960
168. ↑ "Flight from Angola" , The Economist , 16 August 1975
169. ↑ Portugal – Emigration , Eric Solsten, ed. Portugal: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1993
170. ↑ Holm, John A. (1989). Pidgins and Creoles: References survey. Cambridge University Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-521-35940-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=PcD7p9y3EIcC&pg=PA394. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
171. ↑ South Africa: People: Ethnic Groups. CIA World Factbook
172. ↑ "Africa". World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc.. 1989. ISBN 978-0-7166-1289-6. https://archive.org/details/1989worldbookencyclo22worl.
173. ↑ Naomi Schwarz, "Lebanese Immigrants Boost West African Commerce" , VOANews.com, 10 July 2007
174. ↑ 174.0 174.1 174.2 174.3 Maddison (27 July 2016). "Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820". http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf.
175. ↑ 175.0 175.1 "Africa Population (LIVE)". https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/.
176. ↑ 176.0 176.1 "Five key findings from the 2022 UN Population Prospects". https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-update-2022.
177. ↑ "World Population Day: July 11, 2018". 11 July 2018. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/2018/world-population.html.
178. ↑ "World's population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century". 17 June 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/17/worlds-population-is-projected-to-nearly-stop-growing-by-the-end-of-the-century/.
179. ↑ "African Religion on the Internet". Stanford University. http://library.stanford.edu/africa/religion.html.
180. ↑ Onishi, Normitsu (1 November 2001). "Rising Muslim Power in Africa Causing Unrest in Nigeria and Elsewhere". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/world/rising-muslim-power-in-africa-causes-unrest-in-nigeria-and-elsewhere-963950.html. [|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
181. ↑ "Africa". UNESCO. 2005. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=8048&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.
182. ↑ Wolff, Ekkehard. Linguistic features and typologies in languages commonly referred to as 'Nilo-Saharan'. Cambridge University Press. pp. 326–381. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335691200. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
183. ↑ Güldemann, Tom (29 August 2014) (in en). Beyond 'Khoisan': Historical relations in the Kalahari Basin. pp. 1–40. https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027269928#overview. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
184. ↑ "Khoisan Languages". http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Khoisan.html.
185. ↑ Oluwole, Victor (2021-09-12). "A comprehensive list of all the English-speaking countries in Africa" (in en). https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/a-comprehensive-list-of-all-the-english-speaking-countries-in-africa/hdp1610.
186. ↑ Stein-Smith, Kathleen (2022-03-17). "Africa and the French language are growing together in global importance" (in en). http://theconversation.com/africa-and-the-french-language-are-growing-together-in-global-importance-179224.
187. ↑ Babbel.com; GmbH, Lesson Nine. "How Many People Speak Portuguese, And Where Is It Spoken?" (in en). https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/how-many-people-speak-portuguese-and-where-is-it-spoken.
188. ↑ Kofi-Tsekpo, Mawuli (11 February 2005). "Editorial: Institutionalization of African Traditional Medicine in Health Care Systems in Africa". African Journal of Health Sciences 11 (1): i–ii. doi:10.4314/ajhs.v11i1.30772. PMID 17298111.
189. ↑ Dunlop, David W. (November 1975). "Alternatives to 'modern' health delivery systems in Africa: Public policy issues of traditional health systems". Social Science & Medicine 9 (11–12): 581–586. doi:10.1016/0037-7856(75)90171-7. PMID 817397.
190. ↑ "World Population by continents and countries – Nations Online Project". http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/world_population.htm.
191. ↑ 191.0 191.1 Appiah, Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis (2010). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. pp. 8.
192. ↑ ""Global Fact Sheet", Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, 20 November 2012". http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/epidemiology/2012/gr2012/20121120_FactSheet_Global_en.pdf.
193. ↑ "UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2012". http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids//documents/epidemiology/2012/gr2012/20121120_UNAIDS_Global_Report_2012_with_annexes_en.pdf.
194. ↑ Stearns, Peter N. (2008). The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Modern World. Oxford University Press. pp. 556.
195. ↑ 195.0 195.1 "Pearsonhighered.com". http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205208606.pdf.
196. ↑ Freeborn, Odiboh (2005). "The Crisis of Appropriating Identity for African Art and Artists: The Abayomi Barber School Responsorial Paradigm". Gefame. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/gefame/4761563.0002.103/--crisis-of-appropriating-identity-for-african-art-and-artists?rgn=main;view=fulltext. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
197. ↑ 197.0 197.1 Fraser, Douglas; Cole, Herbert M. (2004). African Art and Leadership. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-299-05824-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=sSIxOcgE378C&pg=PA95. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
198. ↑ Okeke-Agulu, Chika (2015). Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria. Duke University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8223-7630-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=ojPJBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT63. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
199. ↑ Gikandi, Simon (2000). "African literature and the colonial factor". The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature. pp. 379–397. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521832755.021. ISBN 978-1-139-05463-8.
200. ↑ Chikowero, Mhoze (2015). African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe. Indiana University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0253018090. https://books.google.com/books?id=o3y9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
201. ↑ "Africa". https://whc.unesco.org/en/africa/.
202. ↑ "Getting to know Africa's flashy basketball arenas". FIBA. 2 September 2019. https://www.fiba.basketball/news/getting-to-know-africas-flashy-basketball-arenas.
203. ↑ Nxumalo, Lee (20 December 2020). "Basketball's next frontier is Africa". New Frame. https://www.newframe.com/basketballs-next-frontier-is-africa/.
204. ↑ "RWC 2023 Spotlight: South Africa ｜ Rugby World Cup 2023". https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/news/608463/rwc-2023-spotlight-south-africa.
205. ↑ "IDB: Countries Ranked by Population". 28 November 1999. https://www.census.gov\/cgi-bin/ipc/idbrank.pl.

### Sources

* Brantlinger, Patrick (1985). "Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent". Critical Inquiry 12 (1): 166–203. doi:10.1086/448326. http://www.uwf.edu/dearle/imperialadventure/imperial adventure/documents/brantlinger victorians and africans.pdf.
* Malone, Jacqui (1996). Steppin' on the Blues: the Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. University of Illinois Press. OCLC 891842452.
* Robinson, Ronald; Gallagher, John; Denny, Alice (1961). Africa and the Victorians: The official mind of imperialism (2 ed.). Macmillan. ISBN 9780333310069.
* Shillington, Kevin (2005). History of Africa. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-59957-0.
* Southall, Roger; Melber, Henning (2009). A New Scramble For Africa?: Imperialism, Investment and Development. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
* Welsh-Asante, Kariamu (2009) (in en). African Dance. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-2427-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=WrbrTfSO3fwC.

## Further reading

* Asante, Molefi (2007). The History of Africa. US: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77139-9.
* Clark, J. Desmond (1970). The Prehistory of Africa. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-02069-2.
* Crowder, Michael (1978). The Story of Nigeria. London: Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-04947-9.
* Davidson, Basil (1966). The African Past: Chronicles from Antiquity to Modern Times. Harmondsworth: Penguin. OCLC 2016817.
* Gordon, April A.; Gordon, Donald L. (1996). Understanding Contemporary Africa. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55587-547-3.
* Khapoya, Vincent B. (1998). The African experience: an introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-745852-3. https://archive.org/details/africanexperienc00khap.
* 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
* Wade, Lizzie (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aaa7864.

## External links

General information

* Africa at the Encyclopædia Britannica
* Africa: Human Geography at the National Geographic Society
* African & Middle Eastern Reading Room from the United States Library of Congress
* Africa South of the Sahara from Stanford University
* Aluka, digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa

History

* The Story of Africa from BBC World Service

Articles related to Africa

* v
* t
* e

Continents of the world

|  |

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia

Europe

North America

South America

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

|  |

Afro-Eurasia

America

Eurasia

Oceania

|
|
|
|

|  |

* Prehistoric supercontinents
Gondwana
* Laurasia
* Pangaea
* Pannotia
* Rodinia
* Columbia
* Kenorland
* Nena
* Sclavia
* Ur
* Vaalbara

* Other prehistoric continents
Amazonia
* Arctica
* Asiamerica
* Atlantica
* Avalonia
* Baltica
* Cimmeria
* Congo Craton
* Euramerica
* Kalaharia
* Kazakhstania
* Laurentia
* North China
* Siberia
* South China
* East Antarctica
* Pampia
* Cuyania
* Chilenia

|
|

|  |

* Submerged continents
Kerguelen Plateau
* Zealandia
* Sahul
* Sunda

* Possible future supercontinents
Pangaea Ultima
* Amasia
* Novopangaea

* Mythical and hypothesised continents
Atlantis
* Kumari Kandam
* Lemuria
* Meropis
* Mu
* Hyperborea
* Terra Australis

* Subcontinents
Arabian Peninsula
* Indian subcontinent
* Madagascar

|
|
|
|

* See also Regions of the world
* Continental fragment

* Book
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Earth's primary regions

* v
* t
* e

Regions of Africa

Central Africa|

* Guinea region
* Gulf of Guinea
* Cape Lopez
* Mayombe
* Igboland
* Mbaise
* Pool Malebo
* Congo Basin
* Chad Basin
* Cameroonian Highlands forests
* Congolian rainforests
* Ouaddaï highlands
* Ennedi Plateau

East Africa|

* African Great Lakes
* Albertine Rift
* East African Rift
* Great Rift Valley
* Gregory Rift
* Rift Valley lakes
* Virunga Mountains
* Kavirondo
* Zanj
* East African montane forests
* Eastern Arc Mountains
* Serengeti
* Horn of Africa
* Afar Triangle
* Al-Habash
* Barbara
* Danakil Alps
* Danakil Desert
* Ethiopian Highlands
* Dahlak Archipelago
* Hanish Islands
* Gulf of Aden
* Gulf of Tadjoura
* Red Sea
* Indian Ocean islands
* Comoro Islands
* Lamu Archipelago
* Zanzibar Archipelago
* Swahili coast

North Africa|

* Eastern Desert
* Maghreb
* Ancient Libya
* Atlas Mountains
* Barbary Coast
* Bashmur
* Gibraltar Arc
* Ifriqiya
* Nile Valley
* Nile Delta
* Cataracts of the Nile
* Darfur
* Gulf of Aqaba
* Lower Egypt
* Lower Nubia
* Middle Egypt
* Nile Delta
* Nuba Mountains
* Nubia
* The Sudans
* Upper Egypt
* Tibesti Mountains
* Western Sahara

West Africa|

* Pepper Coast
* Gold Coast
* Slave Coast
* Ivory Coast
* Cape Palmas
* Cape Mesurado
* Guinea region
* Guinean Forests of West Africa
* Upper Guinean forests
* Lower Guinean forests
* Guinean forest-savanna mosaic
* Guinea Highlands
* Gulf of Guinea
* Niger Basin
* Dahomey Gap
* Niger Delta
* Inner Niger Delta
* Yorubaland

Southern Africa|

* Madagascar
* Central Highlands (Madagascar)
* Northern Highlands
* Rhodesia
* North
* South
* Thembuland
* Succulent Karoo
* Nama Karoo
* Bushveld
* Maputaland
* Highveld
* Fynbos
* Cape Floristic Region
* Skeleton Coast
* Kalahari Desert
* Okavango Delta
* Cape Peninsula
* False Bay
* Hydra Bay

Macro-regions|

* Aethiopia
* Afromontane
* Arab world
* Commonwealth realm
* Equatorial Africa
* Françafrique
* Greater Middle East
* Guineo-Congolian region
* Islands of Africa
* List of countries where Arabic is an official language
* Mediterranean Basin
* MENA
* MENASA
* Middle East
* Miombo woodlands
* Mittelafrika
* Negroland
* Northeast Africa
* Portuguese-speaking African countries
* Sahara
* Sahel
* Sub-Saharan Africa
* Sudan (region)
* Sudanian Savanna
* East Sudanian Savanna
* Tropical Africa
* Zambezian region

* v
* t
* e

Regions of Asia

Central|

* Greater Middle East
* Aral Sea
* Aralkum Desert
* Caspian Sea
* Dead Sea
* Sea of Galilee
* Tartary
* Transoxiana
* Turan
* Greater Khorasan
* Ariana
* Arachosia
* Khwarazm
* Sistan
* Kazakhstania
* Kazakh Steppe
* Betpak-Dala
* Eurasian Steppe
* Asian Steppe
* Kazakh Steppe
* Pontic–Caspian steppe
* Mongolian-Manchurian grassland
* Wild Fields
* Yedisan
* Muravsky Trail
* Ural
* Ural Mountains
* Volga region
* Idel-Ural
* Pryazovia
* Bjarmaland
* Kuban
* Zalesye
* Ingria
* Novorossiya
* Gornaya Shoriya
* Tulgas
* Iranian Plateau
* Altai Mountains
* Pamir Mountains
* Tian Shan
* Badakhshan
* Wakhan Corridor
* Wakhjir Pass
* Mount Imeon
* Mongolian Plateau
* Western Regions
* Taklamakan Desert
* Karakoram
* Trans-Karakoram Tract
* Siachen Glacier

North|

* Arctic
* Arctic Circle
* Inner Asia
* Northeast
* Ural
* Ural Mountains
* Far East
* Russian Far East
* Okhotsk-Manchurian taiga
* Beringia
* Chukchi Peninsula
* Kamchatka Peninsula
* Extreme North
* Tartary
* Siberia
* Baikalia (Lake Baikal)
* Baraba steppe
* Khatanga Gulf
* Transbaikal
* West
* Amur Basin
* Yenisei Gulf
* Yenisei Basin
* Sikhote-Alin
* Kolyma
* Bering Strait
* Ring of Fire
* Asia-Pacific

East|

* Orient
* Japanese archipelago
* Northeastern Japan Arc
* Sakhalin Island Arc
* Korean Peninsula
* Gobi Desert
* Taklamakan Desert
* Greater Khingan
* Mongolian Plateau
* Inner Asia
* Inner Mongolia
* Outer Mongolia
* China proper
* Manchuria
* Outer Manchuria
* Inner Manchuria
* Northeast China Plain
* Mongolian-Manchurian grassland
* North China Plain
* Yan Mountains
* Kunlun Mountains
* Liaodong Peninsula
* High-mountain Asia
* Himalayas
* Tibetan Plateau
* Tibet
* Karakoram
* Tarim Basin
* Sichuan Basin
* Northern Silk Road
* Hexi Corridor
* Nanzhong
* Lingnan
* Liangguang
* Jiangnan
* Jianghuai
* Guanzhong
* Huizhou
* Wu
* Jiaozhou
* Zhongyuan
* Shaannan
* Ordos Loop
* Loess Plateau
* Shaanbei
* Hamgyong Mountains
* Central Mountain Range
* Japanese Alps
* Suzuka Mountains
* Leizhou Peninsula
* Gulf of Tonkin
* Yangtze River
* Yangtze River Delta
* Yellow River
* Pearl River Delta
* Yenisei Basin
* Altai Mountains
* Wakhan Corridor
* Wakhjir Pass
* Far East
* Ring of Fire
* Asia-Pacific
* Tropical Asia

West|

* Greater Middle East
* MENA
* MENASA
* Middle East
* Red Sea
* Hanish Islands
* Caspian Sea
* Mediterranean Sea
* Zagros Mountains
* Elam
* Persian Gulf
* Pirate Coast
* Strait of Hormuz
* Greater and Lesser Tunbs
* Al-Faw Peninsula
* Gulf of Oman
* Gulf of Aqaba
* Gulf of Aden
* Balochistan
* Arabian Peninsula
* Najd
* Al-Yamama
* Hejaz
* Tihamah
* Eastern Arabia
* South Arabia
* Hadhramaut
* Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert
* Al-Sharat
* Tigris–Euphrates
* Mesopotamia
* Upper Mesopotamia
* Lower Mesopotamia
* Sawad
* Nineveh plains
* Akkad (region)
* Babylonia
* Canaan
* Aram
* Aram-Naharaim
* Eber-Nari
* Suhum
* Eastern Mediterranean
* Mashriq
* Kurdistan
* Levant
* Southern Levant
* Transjordan
* Jordan Rift Valley
* Levantine Sea
* Holy Land
* Palestine
* Land of Israel
* Golan Heights
* Hula Valley
* Galilee
* Gilead
* Judea
* Samaria
* Arabah
* Anti-Lebanon Mountains
* Sinai Peninsula
* Arabian Desert
* Syrian Desert
* Fertile Crescent
* Azerbaijan
* Syria
* Hauran
* Iranian Plateau
* Dasht-e Kavir
* Armenian Highlands
* Caucasus
* Caucasus Mountains
* Greater Caucasus
* Lesser Caucasus
* North Caucasus
* South Caucasus
* Shirvan
* Kur-Araz Lowland
* Lankaran Lowland
* Alborz
* Absheron Peninsula
* Kartli
* Anatolia
* Taurus Mountains
* Aeolis
* Paphlagonia
* Phasiane
* Isauria
* Ionia
* Bithynia
* Cilicia
* Cappadocia
* Caria
* Corduene
* Chaldia
* Doris
* Lycaonia
* Lycia
* Lydia
* Galatia
* Pisidia
* Pontus
* Mysia
* Arzawa
* Speri
* Sophene
* Biga Peninsula
* Troad
* Tuwana
* Alpide belt

South|

* Orient
* Greater India
* Indian subcontinent
* Himalayas
* Hindu Kush
* Bactria
* Carnatic region
* Tamilakam
* Western Ghats
* Eastern Ghats
* Ganges Basin
* Ganges Delta
* Guzgan
* Pashtunistan
* Punjab
* Balochistan
* Gedrosia
* Makran
* Marathwada
* Kashmir
* Kashmir Valley
* Pir Panjal Range
* Thar Desert
* Indus Valley
* Indus River Delta
* Indus Valley Desert
* Indo-Gangetic Plain
* Eastern Coastal Plains
* Kalinga
* Western Coastal Plains
* Meghalaya subtropical forests
* MENASA
* Lower Gangetic plains moist deciduous forests
* Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows
* Doab
* Bagar tract
* Great Rann of Kutch
* Little Rann of Kutch
* Deccan Plateau
* Coromandel Coast
* Konkan
* False Divi Point
* Hindi Belt
* Ladakh
* Aksai Chin
* Gilgit-Baltistan
* Baltistan
* Shigar Valley
* High-mountain Asia
* Karakoram
* Saltoro Mountains
* Siachen Glacier
* Bengal
* Bay of Bengal
* Gulf of Khambhat
* Gulf of Kutch
* Halar
* Gulf of Mannar
* Trans-Karakoram Tract
* Wakhan Corridor
* Wakhjir Pass
* Lakshadweep
* Laccadive Islands
* Amindivi Islands
* Paropamisadae
* Andaman and Nicobar Islands
* Andaman Islands
* Nicobar Islands
* Maldive Islands
* Alpide belt
* Asia-Pacific
* Tropical Asia

Southeast|

* Orient
* Sundaland
* Mainland
* Indochina
* Malay Peninsula
* Northern Triangle temperate forests
* Maritime
* Peninsular Malaysia
* Sunda Islands
* Greater Sunda Islands
* Lesser Sunda Islands
* Indonesian Archipelago
* Wallacea
* Timor
* Philippine Archipelago
* Luzon
* Visayas
* Mindanao
* Leyte Gulf
* Gulf of Thailand
* East Indies
* Nanyang
* Alpide belt
* Far East
* Ring of Fire
* Asia-Pacific
* Tropical Asia

* v
* t
* e

Regions of Europe

North|

* Arctic
* Arctic Circle
* Nordic
* Northwestern
* Scandinavia
* Scandinavian Peninsula
* Fennoscandia
* Baltoscandia
* Jutland
* Gotland
* Sápmi
* Ingria
* West Nordic
* Baltic
* Baltic Sea
* Gulf of Bothnia
* Gulf of Finland
* Iceland
* Faroe Islands
* British Isles

East|

* Danubian countries
* Prussia
* Galicia
* Volhynia
* Wallachia
* Transylvania
* Moldavia
* Bukovina
* Bessarabia
* Livonia
* Ruthenia
* Carpathian Ruthenia
* Donbass
* Sloboda Ukraine
* Sambia Peninsula
* Amber Coast
* Curonian Spit
* Izyum Trail
* Lithuania Minor
* Nemunas Delta
* Baltic
* Baltic Sea
* Vyborg Bay
* Karelia
* East Karelia
* Karelian Isthmus
* Lokhaniemi
* Southeastern
* Crimea
* Epirus
* Rumelia
* Balkans
* Aegean Sea
* Aegean Islands
* Attica
* Boeotia
* Opuntian Locris
* Phocis
* Megaris
* Peloponnese
* Chalkidiki
* Aetolia
* Gulf of Chania
* North Caucasus
* Greater Caucasus
* Kabardia
* Istria
* European Russia
* Arctic
* Arctic Circle
* Taman Peninsula
* Southern Russia
* Kola Peninsula

Central|

* North European Plain
* Baltic
* Baltic Sea
* Alpine states
* Alpide belt
* Visegrád Group
* Rhineland
* Eastphalia
* Westphalia
* Prussia
* Lusatia
* Bohemia
* Moravia
* Silesia
* Czech Silesia
* Pomerania
* Pomerelia
* Kashubia
* Bukovina
* Istria
* Transdanubia
* Polesia
* Germania
* Germania Slavica

West|

* Benelux
* Low Countries
* Northwest
* British Isles
* English Channel
* Channel Islands
* Cotentin Peninsula
* Doggerland
* Upper Rhine Plain
* Upper Rhine
* Gaul
* Gascony
* Normandy
* Brittany
* Septimania
* Batavia
* Gulf of Lion
* Iberia
* Al-Andalus
* Baetic System
* Pyrenees
* Alpide belt

South|

* Po Valley (Padania)
* Italian Peninsula
* Tuscan Archipelago
* Insular Italy
* Aegadian Islands
* Occitania
* Iberia
* Al-Andalus
* Baetic System
* Gibraltar Arc
* Southeastern
* Mediterranean
* Alpide belt

* Germanic
* Romance
* Celtic
* Slavic countries
* European Plain
* Eurasian Steppe
* Pontic–Caspian steppe
* Wild Fields
* Pannonian Basin
* Great Hungarian Plain
* Little Hungarian Plain
* Eastern Slovak Lowland

* v
* t
* e

Regions of North America

North
(Canada)|

| Eastern|

* Central Canada
* Atlantic Canada
* Atlantic Northeast
* The Maritimes
* Great Lakes region

|

Western|

* Pacific Northwest
* Prairie Pothole Region

Northern|

* Arctic
* Arctic Circle
* Canadian Arctic Archipelago
* Greenland

* Canadian Prairies
* The Maritimes
* French Canada
* English Canada
* Acadia
* Acadian Peninsula
* Quebec City–Windsor Corridor
* Peace River Country
* Cypress Hills
* Palliser's Triangle
* Canadian Shield
* Interior Alaska-Yukon lowland taiga
* Kodiak Island
* Newfoundland (island)
* Vancouver Island
* Gulf Islands
* Strait of Georgia
* Labrador Peninsula
* Gaspé Peninsula
* Avalon Peninsula
* Bay de Verde Peninsula
* Brodeur Peninsula
* Melville Peninsula
* Bruce Peninsula
* Banks Peninsula (Nunavut)
* Cook Peninsula
* Gulf of Boothia
* Georgian Bay
* Hudson Bay
* James Bay

North
(United States)|

| Arctic|

* Aleutian Arc
* Aleutian Range
* Alaska Peninsula
* Aleutian Islands
* Arctic
* Arctic Circle
* Bering Strait
* Gulf of Alaska

|

Eastern|

* East Coast
* Northeast
* Atlantic Northeast
* The Maritimes
* New England
* Mid-Atlantic
* Commonwealth
* Southeast

Western|

* West Coast
* Mountain states
* Intermountain West
* Great Basin
* Basin and Range Province
* Northwestern United States
* Inland Northwest
* Pacific Northwest
* Southwest
* Old Southwest
* Four Corners

Central|

* Great Lakes
* Tallgrass prairie
* Midwest
* Upper Midwest
* South Central
* Gulf Coast

Southern|

* Deep South
* Old South
* Upland South
* Santa Fe de Nuevo México

* Pacific Coast Ranges
* Oregon Trail
* Mormon Corridor
* Calumet Region
* Llano Estacado
* Third Coast
* Backcountry
* Trans-Mississippi
* Great North Woods
* Great Plains
* Interior Plains
* Great Basin
* Great Basin Desert
* Acadia
* Ozarks
* Ark-La-Tex
* Waxhaws
* Siouxland
* Twin Tiers
* Driftless Area
* Palouse
* Piedmont
* Atlantic coastal plain
* Outer Lands
* Black Dirt Region
* Blackstone Valley
* Piney Woods
* Rocky Mountains
* Mojave Desert
* The Dakotas
* The Carolinas
* Shawnee Hills
* San Fernando Valley
* Tornado Alley
* North Coast
* Lost Coast
* Emerald Triangle
* San Francisco Bay Area
* San Francisco Bay
* North Bay
* East Bay
* Silicon Valley
* Interior Alaska-Yukon lowland taiga
* Gulf of Mexico
* Lower Colorado River Valley
* Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta
* Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta
* Colville Delta
* Arkansas Delta
* Mobile–Tensaw River Delta
* Mississippi Delta
* Mississippi River Delta
* Columbia River Estuary
* Great Basin
* High Desert
* Monterey Peninsula
* Upper Peninsula of Michigan
* Lower Peninsula of Michigan
* Virginia Peninsula
* Keweenaw Peninsula
* Middle Peninsula
* Delmarva Peninsula
* Alaska Peninsula
* Kenai Peninsula
* Niagara Peninsula
* "Belt" regions
* Bible Belt
* Black Belt
* Corn Belt
* Cotton Belt
* Frost Belt
* Rice Belt
* Rust Belt
* Sun Belt
* Snow Belt

Middle|

| Northern|

* Basin and Range Province
* Baja California Peninsula
* Gulf of California
* Colorado River Delta
* Gulf of Mexico

|

Southern|

* Soconusco
* Tierra Caliente
* La Mixteca
* La Huasteca
* Bajío
* Valley of Mexico
* Mezquital Valley
* Sierra Madre de Oaxaca
* Yucatán Peninsula
* Gulf of Mexico

Central|

* Northern Triangle of Central America
* Western Caribbean Zone
* Isthmus of Panama
* Gulf of Panama
* Pearl Islands
* Azuero Peninsula
* Mosquito Coast

Caribbean|

* Antilles
* Greater Antilles
* Lesser Antilles
* Leeward
* Leeward Antilles
* Windward
* Lucayan Archipelago
* Southern Caribbean
* West Indies

* Aridoamerica
* Mesoamerica
* Oasisamerica
* Anglo
* Latin
* French
* Hispanic
* American Cordillera
* Ring of Fire
* LAC

* v
* t
* e

Regions of Oceania

Australia|

| Australian Capital Territory|

* Australian Capital Territory

|

New South Wales|

* Central Coast
* Central Tablelands
* Central Western Slopes
* Greater Western Sydney
* Hunter
* Mid North Coast
* Northern Rivers
* North West Slopes
* Northern Tablelands
* Riverina
* South Coast
* South West Slopes
* Southern Tablelands
* Western Plains

Northern Territory|

* Arnhem Land
* Barkly Tableland
* Central Australia
* Darwin
* Katherine

Queensland|

* Central West
* Central
* Darling Downs
* Far North
* Gulf Country
* North
* South East
* South West
* Wide Bay–Burnett

South Australia|

* Adelaide Hills
* Barossa Light and Lower North
* Eastern Adelaide
* Eyre Western
* Far North
* Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island
* Limestone Coast
* Murray and Mallee
* Northern Adelaide
* Southern Adelaide
* Western Adelaide
* Yorke and Mid North

Tasmania|

* Central Highlands
* East Coast
* Midlands
* North East
* North West
* Northern
* South West
* Southern
* West Coast

Victoria|

* Barwon South West
* Gippsland
* Grampians
* Greater Melbourne
* Hume
* Loddon Mallee

Western Australia|

* Gascoyne
* Goldfields-Esperance
* Great Southern
* Kimberley
* Mid West
* Peel
* Pilbara
* South West
* Wheatbelt

Melanesia|

* Islands Region
* Bismarck Archipelago
* Solomon Islands
* North Solomon Islands
* Solomon Islands
* Fiji
* New Caledonia
* New Guinea
* Bonis Peninsula
* Papuan Peninsula
* Huon Peninsula
* Huon Gulf
* Bird's Head Peninsula
* Gazelle Peninsula
* Vanuatu

Micronesia|

* Caroline Islands
* Federated States of Micronesia
* Palau
* Kiribati
* Mariana Islands
* Guam
* Northern Mariana Islands
* Marshall Islands
* Nauru
* Wake Island

Polynesia|

* Easter Island
* Hawaiian Islands
* Cook Islands
* French Polynesia
* Austral Islands
* Gambier Islands
* Mangareva Islands
* Marquesas Islands
* Society Islands
* Tuamotus
* Kermadec Islands
* New Zealand
* South Island
* North Island
* Niue
* Pitcairn Islands
* Samoan Islands
* American Samoa
* Independent State of Samoa
* Tokelau
* Tonga
* Tuvalu

* Asia-Pacific
* Ring of Fire

* v
* t
* e

Regions of South America

East|

* Amazon basin
* Atlantic Forest
* Caatinga
* Cerrado

North|

* Caribbean South America
* West Indies
* Los Llanos
* The Guianas
* Amazon basin
* Amazon rainforest
* Gulf of Paria
* Paria Peninsula
* Paraguaná Peninsula
* Orinoco Delta

South|

* Tierra del Fuego
* Patagonia
* Pampas
* Pantanal
* Gran Chaco
* Chiquitano dry forests
* Valdes Peninsula
* Triple Frontier
* Río de la Plata
* Río de la Plata Basin

West|

* Andes
* Tropical Andes
* Wet Andes
* Dry Andes
* Pariacaca mountain range
* Altiplano
* Atacama Desert

* Latin
* Hispanic
* Bolivarian
* American Cordillera
* Ring of Fire
* LAC

* v
* t
* e

Earth's Polar regions of Earth

Antarctic|

* Antarctic Peninsula
* East Antarctica
* West Antarctica
* Eklund Islands
* Ecozone
* Extreme points
* Islands

Arctic|

* Arctic Alaska
* British Arctic Territories
* Canadian Arctic Archipelago
* Finnmark
* Greenland
* Northern Canada
* Northwest Territories
* Nunavik
* Nunavut
* Russian Arctic
* Sakha
* Sápmi
* Yukon
* North American Arctic

* v
* t
* e

Earth's Borders of the oceans

Arctic Ocean|

* Amundsen Gulf
* Barents Sea
* Beaufort Sea
* Chukchi Sea
* East Siberian Sea
* Greenland Sea
* Gulf of Boothia
* Kara Sea
* Laptev Sea
* Lincoln Sea
* Prince Gustav Adolf Sea
* Pechora Sea
* Queen Victoria Sea
* Wandel Sea
* White Sea

Atlantic Ocean|

* Adriatic Sea
* Aegean Sea
* Alboran Sea
* Archipelago Sea
* Argentine Sea
* Baffin Bay
* Balearic Sea
* Baltic Sea
* Bay of Biscay
* Bay of Bothnia
* Bay of Campeche
* Bay of Fundy
* Black Sea
* Bothnian Sea
* Caribbean Sea
* Celtic Sea
* English Channel
* Foxe Basin
* Greenland Sea
* Gulf of Bothnia
* Gulf of Finland
* Gulf of Lion
* Gulf of Guinea
* Gulf of Maine
* Gulf of Mexico
* Gulf of Saint Lawrence
* Gulf of Sidra
* Gulf of Venezuela
* Hudson Bay
* Ionian Sea
* Irish Sea
* Irminger Sea
* James Bay
* Labrador Sea
* Levantine Sea
* Libyan Sea
* Ligurian Sea
* Marmara Sea
* Mediterranean Sea
* Myrtoan Sea
* North Sea
* Norwegian Sea
* Sargasso Sea
* Sea of Åland
* Sea of Azov
* Sea of Crete
* Sea of the Hebrides
* Thracian Sea
* Tyrrhenian Sea
* Wadden Sea

Indian Ocean|

* Andaman Sea
* Arabian Sea
* Bali Sea
* Bay of Bengal
* Flores Sea
* Great Australian Bight
* Gulf of Aden
* Gulf of Aqaba
* Gulf of Khambhat
* Gulf of Kutch
* Gulf of Oman
* Gulf of Suez
* Java Sea
* Laccadive Sea
* Mozambique Channel
* Persian Gulf
* Red Sea
* Timor Sea

Pacific Ocean|

* Arafura Sea
* Banda Sea
* Bering Sea
* Bismarck Sea
* Bohai Sea
* Bohol Sea
* Camotes Sea
* Celebes Sea
* Chilean Sea
* Coral Sea
* East China Sea
* Gulf of Alaska
* Gulf of Anadyr
* Gulf of California
* Gulf of Carpentaria
* Gulf of Fonseca
* Gulf of Panama
* Gulf of Thailand
* Gulf of Tonkin
* Halmahera Sea
* Koro Sea
* Mar de Grau
* Molucca Sea
* Moro Gulf
* Philippine Sea
* Salish Sea
* Savu Sea
* Sea of Japan
* Sea of Okhotsk
* Seram Sea
* Seto Inland Sea
* Shantar Sea
* Sibuyan Sea
* Solomon Sea
* South China Sea
* Sulu Sea
* Tasman Sea
* Visayan Sea
* Yellow Sea

Southern Ocean|

* Amundsen Sea
* Bellingshausen Sea
* Cooperation Sea
* Cosmonauts Sea
* Davis Sea
* D'Urville Sea
* King Haakon VII Sea
* Lazarev Sea
* Mawson Sea
* Riiser-Larsen Sea
* Ross Sea
* Scotia Sea
* Somov Sea
* Weddell Sea

Endorheic basins|

* Aral Sea
* Caspian Sea
* Dead Sea
* Salton Sea

* Book
* Category

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Earth:Africa&oldid=3292794"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template