Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous
continent, after
Asia. At about 30,300,000
km² (11,700,000
mi²) including adjacent islands, it covers 5.9% of the
Earth's total surface area, and 20.3% of the total land area.
[Sayre, April Pulley. (1999) Africa, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1367-2.] With more than 840,000,000 people (as of 2005) in 61 territories, it accounts for more than 12% of the world's
human population.
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A satellite composite image of Africa |
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World map showing location of Africa |
The name
Africa came into Western use through the
Romans, who used the name
Africa terra " "land of the Afri" (plural, or "
Afer" singular) " for the northern part of the continent, as the
province of Africa with its capital
Carthage, corresponding to modern-day
Tunisia.
The Afri were a tribe " possibly
Berber " who dwelt in
North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of
Afer may be connected with
Phoenician `afar,
dust (also found in most other
Semitic languages). Some other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name 'Africa' that are much more debatable include:
*the
Latin word
aprica, meaning "sunny";:*the
Greek word
aphrike, meaning "without cold". This was proposed by historian
Leo Africanus (1488-1554), who suggested the Greek word
phrike (φρίκη, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the negating prefix "a-", thus indicating a land free of cold and horror. However, as the change of sound from
ph to
f in Greek is datable to about the 10th century, it is unlikely this is the origin.
Ancient Africa lay to the west of
Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to
Anatolia and lands to the east. Originally Egypt and the
Levant had an indeterminate position between these locations, though as part of the
Persian empire they were sometimes absorbed in the loose concept of "Asia". A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geographer
Ptolemy (85 - 165 AD), indicating
Alexandria along the
Prime Meridian and making the
isthmus of Suez and the
Red Sea the boundary between
Asia and Africa. As
Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of
Africa expanded with their knowledge.
Africa is the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of the Earth's surface. 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), 130 km (80 miles) wide.
[Drysdale, Alasdair & Gerald H. Blake. (1985) The Middle East and North Africa, Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0-19-503538-0.] (
Geopolitically,
Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is often considered part of Africa, as well.) From the most northerly point,
Ras ben Sakka in
Tunisia (37°21' N), to the most southerly point,
Cape Agulhas in
South Africa (34°51'15" S), is a distance of approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles);
[Lewin, Evans. (1924) Africa, Clarendon press.] from
Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W, the westernmost point, to
Ras Hafun in
Somalia, 51°27'52" E, the most easterly projection, is a distance of approximately 7,400 km (4,600 miles).
[(1998) Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary (Index), Merriam-Webster. pp. 10-11. ISBN 0-87779-546-0.] The coastline is 26,000 km (16,100 miles) long, and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is illustrated by the fact that Europe, which covers only
9,700,000 km² (3,760,000 square miles) — less than a third of the surface of Africa — has a coastline of 32,000 km (19,800 miles).
The main structural lines of the continent show both the east-to-west direction characteristic, at least in the eastern hemisphere, of the more northern parts of the world, and the north-to-south direction seen in the southern peninsulas. Africa is thus composed of two segments at right angles, the northern running from east to west, the southern from north to south, the subordinate lines corresponding in the main to these two directions.
Africa's largest country is
Sudan, and its smallest country is the
Seychelles, an
archipelago off the east coast.
[Hoare, Ben. (2002) The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia, Kingfisher Publications. p. 11. ISBN 0-7534-5569-2.] The smallest nation on the continental mainland is
The Gambia.
Climate, flora and fauna
The climate of Africa ranges from
tropical to
subtropical. Its northern half is primarily
desert or
arid, while its central and southern areas contain both
savanna plains and very dense
jungle (
rainforest) regions. In between, there is a convergence where vegetation patterns such as
sahel, and
steppe dominate.
Africa boasts perhaps the world's largest combination of highest density and "range of freedom" of
wild animal populations and diversity, with wild populations of large
carnivores (such as (
lions,
hyenas, and
cheetahs) and
herbivores (such as
buffalo,
deer,
elephants, and
giraffes) ranging freely on primarily open nonprivate plains, as well as jungle creatures (including
snakes and
primates) and
aquatic life (
crocodiles and
amphibians, for example).
Africa is the
oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the
human species originating from the continent. During the middle of the twentieth century,
anthropologists discovered many
fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have
evolved into modern man, such as
Australopithecus afarensis (
radiometrically dated to c. 3.9-3.0 million years
BC),
[Kimbel, William H. & Yoel Rak & Donald C. Johanson. (2004) The Skull of Australopithecus Afarensis, Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0-19-515706-0.] Paranthropus boisei (c. 2.3-1.4 million BC)
[Tudge, Colin. (2002) The Variety of Life., Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860426-2.] and
Homo ergaster (c. 600,000-1.9 million BC) have been discovered.
The
Ishango bone, dated to about 25,000 years ago, shows
tallies in
mathematical notation. Throughout humanity's
prehistory, Africa (like all other continents) had no
nation states, and was instead inhabited by groups of
hunter-gatherers such as the
Khoi and
San (formerly known as
Bushmen).
[Sertima, Ivan Van. (1995) Egypt: Child of Africa/S V12 (Ppr), Transaction Publishers. pp. 324-325. ISBN 1-56000-792-3.][Mokhtar, G. (1990) UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition: Ancient Africa, University of California Press. ISBN 0-85255-092-8.][Eyma, A. K. & C. J. Bennett. (2003) Delts-Man in Yebu: Occasional Volume of the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum No. 1, Universal Publishers. p. 210. SBN 1-58112-564-X.]Early civilizations and trade
About 3300 BC, the historical record opens in Africa with the rise of literacy in the Pharaonic-ruled civilisation of
Egypt, which continued, with varying levels of influence over other areas, until 343 BC.
[Hassan, Fekri A. (2002) Droughts, Food and Culture, Springer. p. 17. ISBN 0-306-46755-0.][McGrail, Sean. (2004) Boats of the World, Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-19-927186-0.] Prominent
civilizations at different times include
Carthage, the
Kingdom of Aksum, the
Nubian kingdoms, the empires of the
Sahel (
Kanem-Bornu,
Ghana,
Mali, and
Songhai),
Great Zimbabwe, and the
Kongo.
[Fage, J. D. (1979) The Cambridge History of Africa, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-21592-7.][Oliver, Roland & Anthony Atmore. (1994) Africa Since 1800, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42970-6.]Apart from the
Nile valley, the
Sahara desert presented a near impenetrable barrier between north and south, until the introduction of the
camel.
[Stearns, Peter N. (2001) The Encyclopedia of World History, Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 16. ISBN 0-395-65237-5.] This beast of burden was first brought to Egypt by the
Persians after 525 BC, although large herds did not become common enough in North Africa to establish the
trans-Saharan trade until the eighth century AD.
[McEvedy, Colin (1980) Atlas of African History, p. 44. ISBN 0-87196-480-5.] The
Sanhaja Berbers were the first to exploit this, and after the spread of
Islam a steady trade in precious metals, ivory, salt and
slaves ensued between the Muslim states in the
Maghreb and the
Sahelian kingdoms.
[Fage, J. D. (2001) A History of Africa, Routledge (UK). p. 256. ISBN 0-415-25248-2.]Precolonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities [
1] characterised by different sorts of political organisation and rule. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the
San people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the
Bantu-speaking people of central and southern Africa and heavily-structured clan groups in the
Horn of Africa, the Sahelian Kingdoms, and autonomous city-states such as the
Swahili coastal trading towns of the
East African coast, whose trade network extended as far as
China.
In 1482, the
Portuguese established the first of many trading stations along the Guinea coast at
Elmina. The chief commodities dealt in were slaves, gold, ivory and spices. The European discovery of the Americas in 1492 was followed by a great development of the
slave trade, which, before the Portuguese era, had been an overland trade almost exclusively, and never confined to any one continent.
[Oliver, Roland. (1977) The Cambridge History of Africa, Cambridge University Press. p. 453. ISBN 0-521-20981-1.]Slavery began to be phased out in Europe and America in the early nineteenth century, resulting in a dramatic shift in the economies of coastal states such as
Dahomey and
Ashante.
[Simon, Julian L. (1995) State of Humanity, Blackwell Publishing. p. 175. ISBN 1-55786-585-X.]Precolonial exploration
In the mid nineteenth century European and particularly British explorers became interested in exploring the heart of the continent and opening the area for trade, mining and other commercial exploitation. In addition, there was a desire to convert the inhabitants to
Christianity. The central area of Africa was still largely unknown to Europeans at this time.
David Livingstone explored the continent between 1852 and his death in 1873, amongst other claims to fame, he was the first European to see the
Victoria Falls. A prime goal for explorers was to locate the source of the
River Nile. Expeditions by
Burton and
Speke (1857-1858) and Speke and
Grant (1863) located
Lake Tanganyika and
Lake Victoria. The latter was eventually proven as the source of the Nile. With subsequent expeditions by
Baker and
Stanley, Africa was well explored by the end of the century and this was to lead the way for the colonisation which followed.
Colonialism and the "scramble for Africa"
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Map showing European claimants to the African continent at the beginning of World War I |
In the late nineteenth century, the European
imperial powers staged a major "
scramble for Africa" and occupied most of the continent, creating many
colonial nation states, and leaving only two independent nations:
Liberia, the Black American colony, and Orthodox Christian
Abyssinia (Ethiopia). This colonial occupation continued until after the conclusion of
World War II, when all the colonial states gradually obtained formal independence.
Colonialism had a destabilizing effect on what had been a number of ethnic groups that is still being felt in African politics. Before European influence, national borders were not much of a concern, with Africans generally following the practice of other areas of the world, such as the Arabian peninsula, where a group's territory was congruent with its military or trade influence. The European insistence of drawing borders around territories to isolate them from those of other colonial powers often had the effect of separating otherwise contiguous political groups, or forcing traditional enemies to live side by side with no buffer between them. For example, although the
Congo River appears to be a natural geographic boundary, there were groups that otherwise shared a
language,
culture or other similarity who resided on both sides. The division of the land between
Belgium and
France along the river isolated these groups from each other. Those who lived in Saharan or
Sub-Saharan Africa and traded across the continent for centuries often found themselves crossing borders that existed only on European maps.
In nations that had substantial European populations, for example
Rhodesia and
South Africa, systems of second-class citizenship were often set up in order to give Europeans
political power far in excess of their numbers. In the
Congo Free State, personal property of King
Leopold II of Belgium, the native population was submitted to inhumane treatments, and a near slavery status assorted with forced labor. However, the lines were not always drawn strictly across racial lines. In
Liberia, the citizens who were descendants of American slaves managed to have a political system for over 100 years that gave ex-slaves and natives to the area roughly equal
legislative power despite the fact the ex-slaves were outnumbered ten to one in the general population. The inspiration for this system was the
United States Senate, which had balanced the power of free and slave states despite the much-larger population of the former.
Europeans often changed the balance of power, created ethnic divides where they did not previously exist, and introduced a cultural dichotomy detrimental to the native inhabitants in the areas they controlled. For example, in what are now
Rwanda and
Burundi, two ethnic groups
Hutus and
Tutsis had merged into one culture by the time German colonists had taken control of the region in the nineteenth century. No longer divided by ethnicity as intermingling, intermarriage, and merging of cultural practices over the centuries had long since erased visible signs of a culture divide, the Belgians (the territories having been mandated to them following the First World War) instituted a policy of racial categorization, upon taking control of the region, as racial based categorization and philosophies was a fixture of the European culture of that time. The term
Hutu originally referred to the agricultural-based Bantu-speaking tribes that moved into present day Rwandan and Burundi from the West, and the term
Tutsi referred to Northeastern cattle-based tribes that migrated into the region later. The terms to the indigenous peoples eventually came to describe a person's economic class. Individuals who owned roughly 10 or more cattle were considered Tutsi, and those with fewer were considered Hutu, regardless of ancestral history. This was not a strict line but a general rule of thumb, and one could move from Hutu to Tutsi and vice versa.
The Belgians introduced a racialized system. Individuals who had characteristics the Europeans admired " fairer skin, ample height, narrow noses, etc. " were given power amongst the colonized peoples. The Belgians determined these features were more ideally
Hamitic, and in turn more ideally European and belonged to those people closest to Tutsi in ancestry. They instituted a policy of issuing identity cards based on this philosophy. Those closest to this ideal were proclaimed Tutsi and those not were proclaimed Hutu.
Post-colonial Africa
Today, Africa is home to 53 independent countries, which mostly still have the
borders drawn during the era of European colonialism.
Since colonialism, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and
authoritarianism. The vast majority of African nations are
republics that operate under some form of the
presidential system of rule. Few nations in Africa have been able to sustain
democratic governments, and many have instead cycled through a series of brutal
coups and
military dictatorships. A number of Africa's post-colonial political leaders were military generals who were poorly educated and ignorant on matters of governance. Great instability, however, was mainly the result of marginalization of other ethnic groups and graft under these leaders. For
political gain, many leaders fanned ethnic conflicts that had been exacerbated, or even created, by colonial rule. In many countries, the
military was perceived as being the only group that could effectively maintain order, and it ruled many nations in Africa during the 1970s and early 1980s. During the period from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, Africa had more than 70 coups and 13 presidential
assassinations.
Cold War conflicts between the
United States and the
Soviet Union, as well as the policies of the
International Monetary Fund, also played a role in instability. When a country became independent for the first time, it was often expected to align with one of the two
superpowers. Many countries in
Northern Africa received Soviet military aid, while many in Central and Southern Africa were supported by the
United States,
France or both. The 1970s saw an escalation, as newly independent
Angola and
Mozambique aligned themselves with the
Soviet Union and the West and
South Africa sought to contain Soviet influence. Border and territorial disputes have also been common, with the European-imposed borders of many nations being widely contested through armed conflicts.
Failed government policies and political corruption combined with the effects of global climate change have resulted in many widespread
famines, and significant portions of Africa remain with distribution systems unable to disseminate enough food or water for the population to survive. What had before colonialism been the source for 90% of the world's gold had become the poorest continent on earth, its former riches enjoyed by those on other continents. The spread of
disease is also rampant, especially the spread of the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the associated
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), which has become a deadly
epidemic on the continent. Despite numerous hardships, there have been some signs the continent has hope for the future.
Democratic governments seem to be spreading, though they are not yet the majority (The
National Geographic Society claims 13 African nations can be considered truly democratic). As well, many nations have recognized basic
human rights for all
citizens (though in practice these are not always recognized) and have created reasonably independent
judiciaries.
There are clear signs of increased networking among African organisations and states. In the civil war in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (former
Zaire), rather than rich, non-African countries intervening, about half a dozen neighbouring African countries became involved (see also
Second Congo War). Since the conflict began in 1998, the estimated death toll has reached 4 million.
[http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1198921,00.html]Many observers suggest that the conflict played a role similar to that of
World War II for Europe, after which the people in the neighbouring countries decided to integrate their societies in such a way that war between them becomes as unthinkable as a war between, say,
France and
Germany would be today. Political associations such as the
African Union are also offering hope for greater co-operation and peace between the continent's many countries. Extensive human rights abuses still occur in several parts of Africa, often under the oversight of the state. Most of such violations occur for political reasons, often as a side effect of civil war. Countries where major human rights violations have been reported in recent times include the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Sierra Leone,
Liberia,
Sudan, and
Côte d'Ivoire.
Due largely to the effects of colonialism, corrupt governments and
despotism, Africa is the world's poorest inhabited continent. According to the
United Nations' Human Development Report in
2003, the bottom 25 ranked nations (151th to 175th) were all African nations. [
2]
While rapid growth in
China and now
India, and moderate growth in
Latin America, has lifted millions beyond subsistence living, Africa has gone backwards in terms of foreign
trade,
investment, and
per capita income. This
poverty has widespread effects, including lower
life expectancy,
violence, and
instability -- factors intertwined with the continent's poverty.
Some areas, notably
Botswana and
South Africa, have experienced economic success, including the opening of the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This is partly due to its wealth of
natural resources, being the world's leading producer of both
gold and
diamonds, and partly due to its well-established legal system. South Africa also has access to financial capital, numerous markets, skilled labor (decades of apartheid left both a legacy of social and racial division, but also a very large and highly skilled white population), and first world infrastructure in much of the country. Other African countries are making comparable progress, such as
Ghana, and some, like
Egypt, have a longer history of commercial and economic success.
Nigeria sits on one of the largest proven oil reserves in the world and has the highest population among nations in Africa, with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
From 1995 to 2005, economic growth picked up, averaging 5% in 2005. However some countries experienced much higher growth (10+%) in particular,
Angola,
Sudan and
Equatorial Guinea, all three of which have recently begun extracting their petroleum reserves.
Africans may be grouped according to whether they live north or south of the
Sahara Desert; these groups are called
North Africans and
Sub-Saharan Africans, respectively.
Afro-Asiatic speaking peoples predominate in North Africa, while Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by a number of populations grouped according to their language —
Niger-Congo predominantly in West Africa,
Nilo-Saharan in the Eastern highlands and
Khoisan in the south. Many Western Africans have European ancestry much like some Africans in the nation of South Africa. Many West Africans have dark skin phenotypes and some have light skin phenotypes but many, especially along the West African coast have European ancestry, mainly British and Portuguese among others.
Speakers of
Bantu languages (part of the Niger-Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and east Africa proper. But there are also several
Nilotic groups in East Africa, and a few remaining
indigenous Khoisan ('
San' or '
Bushmen') and
Pygmy peoples in southern and central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon and southern Somalia. In the
Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "
Hottentots") have long been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.
The peoples of
North Africa comprise two main groups;
Berber and
Arabic-speaking peoples in the west, and
Egyptians in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the seventh century introduced the
Arabic language and
Islam to North Africa. The Semitic
Phoenicians, the European
Greeks,
Romans and
Vandals settled in North Africa as well. Berbers still make up the majority in
Morocco, while they are a significant minority within
Algeria. They are also present in
Tunisia and
Libya. The
Tuareg and other often-nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.
Nubians are a
Nilo-Saharan-speaking group (though many also speak Arabic), who developed an ancient civilization in northeast Africa.
During the past century or so, small but economically important colonies of
Lebanese and
Chinese have also developed in the larger coastal cities of
West and
East Africa, respectively.
Some
Ethiopian and
Eritrean groups (like the
Amhara and
Tigrayans, collectively known as "
Habesha") speak
Semitic languages. The
Oromo and
Somali peoples speak Cushitic languages, but most Somali clans can trace some Arab ancestry as well.
Sudan and
Mauritania are divided between a mostly Arabized north and a native African south (although the "Arabs" of Sudan clearly have a predominantly native African ancestry themselves). Some areas of East Africa, particularly the island of
Zanzibar and the Kenyan
island of Lamu, received Arab Muslim and
Southwest Asian settlers and merchants throughout the
Middle Ages and in antiquity.
Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans such as the
Portuguese and
Dutch began to establish
trading posts and
forts along the coasts of western and southern Africa. Eventually, a large number of Dutch augmented by French
Huguenots and
Germans settled in what is today
South Africa. Their descendants, the
Afrikaners and the
Coloureds, are the largest European-descended groups in Africa today. In the nineteenth century, a second phase of colonization brought a large number of French and
British settlers to Africa. The Portuguese settled mainly in Angola, but also in Mozambique. The French settled in large numbers in
Algeria where they became known collectively as
pieds-noirs, and on a smaller scale in other areas of North and West Africa as well as in Madagascar. The British settled chiefly in South Africa as well as the colony of
Rhodesia, and in the highlands of what is now
Kenya. Germans settled in what is now
Tanzania and
Namibia, and there is still a population of German-speaking white Namibians. Smaller numbers of European soldiers, businessmen, and officials also established themselves in administrative centers such as
Nairobi and
Dakar. Decolonization during the 1960s often resulted in the mass emigration of European-descended settlers out of Africa — especially from Algeria, Angola, Kenya and Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe). However, in South Africa and Namibia, the white minority remained politically dominant after independence from Europe, and a significant population of Europeans remained in these two countries even after
democracy was finally instituted at the end of the
Cold War. South Africa has also become the preferred destination of white Anglo-Zimbabweans, and of migrants from all over southern Africa.
European colonization also brought sizeable groups of
Asians, particularly people from the
Indian subcontinent, to British colonies. Large
Indian communities are found in South Africa, and smaller ones are present in Kenya, Tanzania, and some other southern and east African countries. The large Indian community in
Uganda was expelled by the dictator
Idi Amin in 1972, though many have since returned. The islands in the
Indian Ocean are also populated primarily by people of Asian origin, often mixed with Africans and Europeans. The
Malagasy people of
Madagascar are a
Malay 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).
By most estimates, Africa contains well over a thousand
languages, some have estimated it to be over two thousand languages (most of African origin, NOT European origin). Africa is the most polyglot continent in the world. There are four major
language families native to Africa.
* The
Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout
East Africa, North Africa, the Sahel, and
Southwest Asia.
* The
Nilo-Saharan language family consists of more than a hundred languages spoken by 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are mainly spoken in
Chad,
Ethiopia,
Kenya,
Sudan,
Uganda, and northern
Tanzania.
* The
Niger-Congo language family covers much of Sub-Saharan Africa and is probably the largest language family in the world in terms of different languages. A substantial number of them are the
Bantu languages spoken in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
* The
Khoisan languages number about 50 and are spoken in Southern Africa by approximately 120 000 people. Many of the Khoisan languages are
endangered. The
Khoi and
San peoples are considered the original inhabitants of this part of Africa.
With a few notable exceptions in
East Africa, nearly all African countries have adopted
official languages that originated outside the continent and spread through
colonialism or
human migration, even though some countries' languages of native origin are used more than the "official" language. For example, in numerous countries
English and
French are used for communication in the public sphere such as government, commerce, education and the media.
Arabic,
Portuguese,
Afrikaans and
Malagasy are other examples of originally non-African languages that are used by millions of Africans today, both in the public and private spheres. But the rise of the use of languages like Swahili is spreading throughout East and South Africa, promoting the use of languages native to Africa. And the official languages of European origin in countries throughout Africa are not usually the ONLY official languages (from example, South Africa has 11 official languages, most not of European origin), and English is the second official language of Tanzania, AFTER Swahili. Uganda's official language is English, but most people speak Luganda.
Africa has a number of overlapping cultures, with several thousand ethnic groups. The most conventional distinction is that between sub-Saharan Africa and the North African countries from
Egypt to
Morocco, who largely associate themselves with
Arabic culture. In this comparison, the nations to the south of the
Sahara are considered to consist of many cultural areas, in particular that of the
Bantu language group.
Divisions may also be made between
French West Africa and the rest of Africa, in particular the former British colonies of
southern and
East Africa. Another cultural fault-line is that between those Africans living traditional lifestyles and those who are essentially modern. The traditionalists are sometimes subdivided into
pastoralists and
agriculturalists.
African art and
architecture reflect the diversity of African cultures. The oldest existing examples of art from Africa are 75,000 year old
beads made from
Nassarius shells that were found in
Blombos Cave. The
Great Pyramid of Giza in
Egypt was the world's tallest architectural accomplishment for 4,000 years until the creation of the
Eiffel Tower. The Ethiopian complex of
monolithic churches at
Lalibela, of which the
Church of St. George is representative, is regarded as another marvel of engineering.
Music and dance
The
music of Africa is one of its most dynamic art forms. Egypt has long been a cultural focus of the Arab world, while remembrance of the rhythms of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular west Africa, was transmitted through the
Atlantic slave trade to modern
samba,
blues,
jazz,
reggae,
rap, and
rock and roll. Modern music of the continent includes the highly complex choral singing of southern Africa and the dance rhythms of
soukous, dominated by the
music of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recent developments include the emergence of
African hip hop, in particular a form from
Senegal blended with traditional
mbalax, and
Kwaito, a South African variant of
house music.
Afrikaans music, also found is South Africa, is idiosyncratic being composed mostly of traditional
Boere musiek, while more recent immigrant communities have introduced the music of their homes to the continent.
Indigenous musical and dance traditions of Africa are maintained by oral traditions and they are distinct from the music and dance styles of the
North Africa and the
Southern Africa.
Arab influences are visible in the North African music and dance and in Southern Africa western influences are apparent due to
colonization.
Many African languages are
tone languages, in which pitch level determines the meaning. This also finds expression in African musical melodies and rhythms. A variety of musical instruments are used, including
drums (most widely used),
bells,
musical bow,
lute,
flute, and
trumpet.
African dances are important mode of communication and dancers use gestures,
masks,
costumes,
body painting and a number of visual devices. The basic movements are sometimes simple, emphasizing only the upper body or torso or the feet. Such movements are sometimes complex involving coordination of different body parts. The dances are sometimes performed solo or in small group of two or three persons. Team dances are also performed with various formations, like linear, circular, and serpentine and so on.
With
urbanization and
modernization, modern African dance and music exhibit influences assimilated from several other cultures.
Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs [
3], with
Christianity and
Islam being the most widespread. Approximately 46.3% of all Africans are Christians and another 40.5% are Muslims. Roughly 11.8% of Africans primarily follow indigenous
African religions. A small number of Africans are Hindu, or have beliefs from the
Judaic tradition. Examples of
African Jews are the
Beta Israel and
Lemba tribes.
The indigenous Sub-Saharn African religions tend to revolve around
animism and
ancestor worship. A common thread in traditional belief systems was the division of the
spiritual world into "helpful" and "harmful". Helpful
spirits are usually deemed to include ancestor spirits that help their descendants, and powerful spirits that protect entire communities from natural disaster or attacks from enemies; whereas harmful spirits include the
souls of murdered victims who were buried without the proper
funeral rites, and spirits used by hostile spirit
mediums to cause illness among their enemies. While the effect of these early forms of worship continues to have a profound influence, belief systems have evolved as they interact with other religions.
The formation of the
Old Kingdom of
Egypt in the
third millennium BCE marked the first known complex religious system on the continent. Around the
ninth century BCE,
Carthage (in present-day
Tunisia) was founded by the Phoenicians, and went on to become a major cosmopolitan center where
deities from neighboring Egypt,
Rome and the
Etruscan city-states were worshipped. Today, many Jewish peoples also live in North Africa, particularly in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
The
Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the
Eritrean Orthodox Church officially date from the
fourth century, and are thus one of the first established
Christian churches anywhere. At first, Christian Orthodoxy made gains in modern-day Sudan and other neighbouring regions. However, after the spread of Islam, growth was slow and restricted to the highlands.
Islam entered Africa as Muslims conquered North Africa between 640 and 710, beginning with Egypt. They established Mogadishu, Melinde, Mombasa, Kilwa, and Sofala, following the sea trade down the coast of
East Africa, and diffusing through the Sahara desert into the interior of Africa -- following in particular the paths of Muslim traders. Muslims were also among the Asian peoples who later settled in British-ruled Africa.
Many Sub-Saharan Africans were converted to
West European forms of Christianity during the colonial period. In the last decades of the twentieth century, various sects of
Charismatic Christianity rapidly grew. A number of Roman Catholic African bishops were even mentioned as possible
papal candidates in 2005. African Christians appear to be more socially conservative than their co-religionists in much of the industrialized world, which has quite recently led to tension within
denominations such as the
Anglican and
Methodist Churches.
The
African Initiated Churches have experienced significant growth in the twentieth and twenty first centuries.
The countries in this table are categorised according to the
scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.
thumb|200px|{{subregion|Regions}} of Africa:
]] | |- |
| Satellite Photo of Africa. |
|
Name of region[Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map.]
and
territory, with flag | Area
(km²) | Population
(1 July 2002 est.) | Population density
(per km²)! Capital |
|---|
| Eastern Africa: |
| British Indian Ocean Territory (UK) | 60 | ~3,500 | 58.3 | None |
| Burundi | 27,830 | 6,373,002 | 229.0 | Bujumbura |
| Comoros | 2,170 | 614,382 | 283.1 | Moroni |
| Djibouti | 23,000 | 472,810 | 20.6 | Djibouti |
| Eritrea | 121,320 | 4,465,651 | 36.8 | Asmara |
| Ethiopia | 1,127,127 | 67,673,031 | 60.0 | Addis Ababa |
| Kenya | 582,650 | 31,138,735 | 53.4 | Nairobi |
| Madagascar | 587,040 | 16,473,477 | 28.1 | Antananarivo |
| Malawi | 118,480 | 10,701,824 | 90.3 | Lilongwe |
| Mauritius | 2,040 | 1,200,206 | 588.3 | Port Louis |
| Mayotte (France) | 374 | 170,879 | 456.9 | Mamoudzou |
| Mozambique | 801,590 | 19,607,519 | 24.5 | Maputo |
| Réunion (France) | 2,512 | 743,981 | 296.2 | Saint-Denis |
| Rwanda | 26,338 | 7,398,074 | 280.9 | Kigali |
| Seychelles | 455 | 80,098 | 176.0 | Victoria |
| Somalia | 637,657 | 7,753,310 | 12.2 | Mogadishu |
| Tanzania | 945,087 | 37,187,939 | 39.3 | Dodoma |
| Uganda | 236,040 | 24,699,073 | 104.6 | Kampala |
| Zambia | 752,614 | 9,959,037 | 13.2 | Lusaka |
| Zimbabwe | 390,580 | 11,376,676 | 29.1 | Harare |
| Middle Africa: |
| Angola | 1,246,700 | 10,593,171 | 8.5 | Luanda |
| Cameroon | 475,440 | 16,184,748 | 34.0 | Yaoundé |
| Central African Republic | 622,984 | 3,642,739 | 5.8 | Bangui |
| Chad | 1,284,000 | 8,997,237 | 7.0 | N'Djamena |
| Congo | 342,000 | 2,958,448 | 8.7 | Brazzaville |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2,345,410 | 55,225,478 | 23.5 | Kinshasa |
| Equatorial Guinea | 28,051 | 498,144 | 17.8 | Malabo |
| Gabon | 267,667 | 1,233,353 | 4.6 | Libreville |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 1,001 | 170,372 | 170.2 | São Tomé |
| Northern Africa: |
| Algeria | 2,381,740 | 32,277,942 | 13.6 | Algiers |
Egypt[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.]
| 1,001,450 | 70,712,345 | 70.6 | Cairo |
| Libya | 1,759,540 | 5,368,585 | 3.1 | Tripoli |
| Morocco | 446,550 | 31,167,783 | 69.8 | Rabat |
| Sudan | 2,505,810 | 37,090,298 | 14.8 | Khartoum |
| Tunisia | 163,610 | 9,815,644 | 60.0 | Tunis |
Western Sahara (Morocco)[Western Sahara is claimed and mostly occupied by Morocco.]
| 266,000 | 256,177 | 1.0 | El Aaiún |
| Southern Europe dependencies in Northern Africa: |
Canary Islands (Spain)[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.]
| 7,492 | 1,694,477 | 226.2 | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
Santa Cruz de Tenerife |
Ceuta (Spain)[The Spanish exclave of Ceuta is surrounded on land by Morocco in Northern Africa; population and area figures are for 2001.]
| 20 | 71,505 | 3,575.2 | " |
Madeira Islands (Portugal)[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.]
| 797 | 245,000 | 307.4 | Funchal |
Melilla (Spain)[The Spanish exclave of Melilla is surrounded on land by Morocco in Northern Africa; population and area figures are for 2001.]
| 12 | 66,411 | 5,534.2 | " |
| Southern Africa: |
| Botswana | 600,370 | 1,591,232 | 2.7 | Gaborone |
| Lesotho | 30,355 | 2,207,954 | 72.7 | Maseru |
| Namibia | 825,418 | 1,820,916 | 2.2 | Windhoek |
| South Africa | 1,219,912 | 43,647,658 | 35.8 | Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Pretoria[Bloemfontein is the judicial capital of South Africa, while Cape Town is its legislative seat, and Pretoria is the country's administrative seat.]
|
| Swaziland | 17,363 | 1,123,605 | 64.7 | Mbabane |
| Western Africa: |
| Benin | 112,620 | 6,787,625 | 60.3 | Porto-Novo |
| Burkina Faso | 274,200 | 12,603,185 | 46.0 | Ouagadougou |
| Cape Verde | 4,033 | 408,760 | 101.4 | Praia |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 322,460 | 16,804,784 | 52.1 | Abidjan, Yamoussoukro[Yamoussoukro is the official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while Abidjan is the de facto seat.]
|
| Gambia | 11,300 | 1,455,842 | 128.8 | Banjul |
| Ghana | 239,460 | 20,244,154 | 84.5 | Accra |
| Guinea | 245,857 | 7,775,065 | 31.6 | Conakry |
| Guinea-Bissau | 36,120 | 1,345,479 | 37.3 | Bissau |
| Liberia | 111,370 | 3,288,198 | 29.5 | Monrovia |
| Mali | 1,240,000 | 11,340,480 | 9.1 | Bamako |
| Mauritania | 1,030,700 | 2,828,858 | 2.7 | Nouakchott |
| Niger | 1,267,000 | 10,639,744 | 8.4 | Niamey |
| Nigeria | 923,768 | 129,934,911 | 140.7 | Abuja |
| Saint Helena (UK) | 410 | 7,317 | 17.8 | Jamestown |
| Senegal | 196,190 | 10,589,571 | 54.0 | Dakar |
| Sierra Leone | 71,740 | 5,614,743 | 78.3 | Freetown |
| Togo | 56,785 | 5,285,501 | 93.1 | Lomé |
| Total | 30,368,669 | 843,705,143 | 27.8 |
*
2005 in Africa -
2006 in Africa*
31st G8 summit*
AIDS in Africa*
African Anarchism*
African philosophy*
African slave trade*
African Union*
African cuisine*
Confederation of African Football*
Congo craton*
Ecology of Africa*
Economy of Africa*
Education in Africa*
Flags of Africa*
History of Africa*
Human rights in Africa*
Regions of Africa*
Sub-Saharan Africa*
Universities in Africa*
Heart of Africa (game)*
List of African countries by population density*
List of African countries by population*
List of African countries by GDP*
African cinema*
African musicians*
African writers*
Afrology*
African Jews*
African Century* "Africa".
The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press.
News
* allAfrica.com current news, events and statistics
* BBC News In Depth - Africa 2005: Time for Change?
* Guardian Unlimited - Special Report: Hear Africa 05
* Yale Economic Review Africa:Failed Economic History
;Photos and Information
*L'Afrique Hundreds of photographs of Rwanda, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Burundi. Also articles in French and English.
*ASAP Africa Photo Galleries and Information about African Community Development
*Jungle Photos Jungle Photos Africa provides images and information on various countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
*Afrika.no News
*Inter Press Service-Africa
;Directories
*Africa Homepage
*African Community Portal
*Contemporary Africa Database
*AfricaResource.com Africaresource.com is an educational portal that develops and distributes content.
*Columbia University - African Studies
* The Index on Africa directory from The Norwegian Council for Africa
*Library of Congress - African & Middle Eastern Reading Room
*Open Directory Project - Africa directory category
*Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara
*University of Chicago - Joseph Regenstein Library: African Studies
*University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center
;Politics
*Africa Action Africa Action is the oldest organization in the United States working on African affairs. It is a national organization that works for political, economic and social justice in Africa.
*African Anarchism: The History of a Movement
* An Irish anarchist in Africa, western Africa from anarchist perspective.
* Commission for Africa
* African Unification Front
* Working class history in Africa -- people's and grassroots historiesCulture
*Traditional African Drumming Festivals and Ceremonies;Sports
*
Confederation of African Football; in English and French;Tourism
zh-yue:非洲
