With an Area of 30,370,000 km2 which is equal to 11,730,000 sq miles Africa is the world’s second-largest continent. As of September 10, 2023, the population of Africa was 1,467,117,215, this is according to the United Nations estimates. This makes it the world’s second most populous continent. Do you that the population of Africa accounts for 18% of the world’s population?
For the size and population, the African continent is only second to Asia.
Africa occupies 6% of the world’s total area. In addition, the continent size of about 30 million kn2 is equal to 20% of the earth’s dry land area.
About African Countries
But do you that despite being slightly smaller than Asia, Africa has more countries than Asia? Yes, Asia has 51 although only 49 are recognized by the UN. On the other hand, Africa has 54 recognized countries, 2 disputed territories of Western Sahara and Somaliland, and 12 foreign territories and dependents. See Complete list of all the countries in Africa.
Home of Mankind
Did anyone tell you that Africa is the Cradle of Mankind? What this means is that all human beings originated from Africa. Simply put, Africa is the home of humanity. When you visit Africa next time, remember you are coming home. Africa is where some millions years ago your relatives set off to go where you call home be it in China, USA and Australia or wherever, the fact remains you all came from Africa. You may not like it, but some million years ago you were all Africans, despite your current fancy names like Americans, Caucasians, Chinese, Australians name it. Going back to the roots, your original nationality was African. Learn More about Africa: A Historical Perspective
Africa’s Geography
The size of Africa
Africa is the world’s second largest continent, Asia is the largest. Africa is the home of the second and 13th deepest lakes in the world; Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi respectively. World deepest is Lake Baikal in Russia. Lake Victoria in the Eastern African region is world second biggest lake, after Lake Superior in North America.
Mountains of Africa
Africa is also endowed with great mountains. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is world second highest mountains in the world; Mt Kenya is one of the world’s highest, while Ruwenzori is one of the three snowcapped mountains near the equator. What about the magnificent Drakensberg and the Atlas mountains, which are a sight to remember. Do you know Sahara Desert is world largest and Namib Desert is one of the world’s hottest desert. What about Okavango and Lake Chad some of the world largest inland deltas, while Lake Turkana in Kenya is world’s largest permanent desert lake.
Rivers of Africa
Africa’s River Nile, world’s longest river and covers a whole 6,650 km, giving a lifeline to 11 African countries. The Congo basin is world second after Amazon with an area 3.7 million square kilometers. Besides, Congo is the deepest river in the world and has many magnificent islands.
Topology
World second and third lowest points are in Africa. The Assal Lake at 155 meters below sea level in Djibouti is world second lowest after the Dead Sea in Middle East, while Egypt’s Qattara Depression is world third lowest.
Do you know that the world’s greatest fault system that one can view for the moon surface is in Africa? This is the Great Rift Valley and starts in Lebanon and ends in Mozambique, scaring the earth for over 6000 kilometers from north to south and creating such magnificent landscapes that you will never tire to stare without blinking.
Islands of Africa
Madagascar is world 4th largest island after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo, and that’s one place I would suggest you visit to see wonders of the world. In Madagascar, humanity have discovered many species that do not exist anywhere else in the world.
Religion and civilization
There are misconception that Christianity was brought to Africa by European colonizers in the 19th Century,. This is not true because Ethiopia Orthodox is one of the world oldest Christian denominations. It started in the 4th century. Today there is a debate between Ethiopia and Armenia, which was the first in the world to convert to Christian faith. Egypt is the world oldest civilization and metal smelting may have started in Melowe in modern eastern Africa and probably the discovery of fire can be traced back to Africa.
Next time do not allow anyone to lie to you that Africa is a place of doom, poverty and pain, because that is not true. Now you know.
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