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 About Africa |
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The continent of Africa is the world's second largest continent after Asia. Although the landmass consists largely of plateau land, there are several mountain ranges in Africa, such as the Atlas Mountains in the northwest. The Sahara Desert, the largest desert in the world, splits Africa into two regions: that which lies above or forms part of the Sahara and the remainder of Africa to the south. The continent's geography is further defined by many rivers, including the world's longest river, the Nile, and many large lakes, such as Lake Victoria.
Africa is really made up of a great variety of realities. Its people live in conditions that represent both extreme contrasts, as well as a middle ground. There is deplorable poverty and vast wealth. There are people who suffer horribly from droughts and famine, and people who enjoy plenty. There are vast, magnificent nature reserves with abundant wildlife, and there are major cities with high-rise buildings and modern amenities.
Africa is the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human race originating from this continent. Throughout prehistory, Africa was inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers. Around 3300 BCE the nation state of Egypt developed. Other early civilizations include Ethiopia, the Nubian kingdom, the kingdoms of the Sahel (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai) and Great Zimbabwe.
In 1482 the Portuguese established the first of many trading stations along the Guinea coast at Elmina. Slaves, gold, ivory and spices were among the chief goods. The discovery of America in 1492 precipitated slave trade by sea, which, before the Portuguese era, had been almost entirely overland.
In the early 19th century the European powers occupied most of the continent, creating colonial nation states, and leaving only two independent nations: Liberia, the Black American colony, and Ethiopia. The European occupation continued until after the Second World War, when all colonial nation states gradually obtained formal independence. |
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Countries of Africa |
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Africa is comprised of 54 independent countries, of which 48 are mainland and 6 are island states. Most countries gained independence from European control in the 1960s. Below, in alphabetical order, is a list of the countries of Africa.
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (DRC, Zaire), Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eguatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana Guinea-Bissaau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principé, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara , Zambia, Zimbabwe.
The above countries are typically divided to regions, listed below:
West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
East Africa: Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauitius, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanazania, Uganda
North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara
Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Central Africa: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Congo (DRC, Zaire), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda |
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Location |
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Africa is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, and is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez, 130 km (80 miles) wide. From the most northerly point at Ras ben Sakka in Morocco, a little west of Cape Blanc, to the most southerly point at Cape Agulhas in South Africa, is a distance of approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles). From Cape Verde, at the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, the most easterly projection, is a distance of approximately 7,400 km (4,600 miles). The length of coast-line is 26,000 km (16,100 miles). |
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People |
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Comprised of thousands of ethnic groups, Africa is home to over 800 million people (over 13% of the world’s total) Each ethnic group has its own distinct language, traditions, arts and crafts, history, way of life, and religion. At the same time, over the centuries the different groups have influenced each other, and enriched each others’ culture. Some countries have 20 or more different ethnic groups living within their borders.
Some of the more widely known ethnic groups in Africa are the Arabs, Ashanti, Bantu, Berbers, Bushmen, Dinka, Fulani, Ganda, Hamites, Hausa, Hottentot, Kikuyu, Luba, Lunda, Malinke, Moors, Nuer, Pygmies, Semites, Swahili, Tuareg, Xhosa, and Yoruba.
There are also Europeans who moved to Africa during the colonial period and have remained in the continent.
By geographic areas, about 29% of the African people live in West Africa, 27% in East Africa, 18% in North Africa, 17% in Southern Africa, and 10% in Central Africa. The population density is highly uneven, although on average most African countries are sparsely populated. As of the mid-1990s, around one-third of Africa’s people lived in urban areas, a relatively low rate compared to other world regions. However, over the past several decades, urbanization has proceeded rapidly in Africa. North Africa is the most urbanized region in the continent, while East Africa is the least urbanized. |
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Religion |
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About 410 million Africans are Christians, and about 358 million adhere to Islam. The remainder, roughly 20% of the people, follow indigenous African religions. A small number of Africans, such as the Beta Israel and Lemba tribes, have beliefs derived from the traditions of Judaism.
Dating from the fourth century, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the first established Christian churches anywhere. At first Christian Orthodoxy made gains in present-day Sudan and neighbouring areas, but following the spread of Islam, growth was slow and concentrated in 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 along the coast of East Africa, and moved through the Sahara into the interior. Muslims were also among the Asian peoples who later settled in British-ruled Africa.
During the colonial period, many Africans were converted to western European forms of Christianity. Towards the end of the twentieth century, various sects of Charismatic Christianity grew. A number of Roman Catholic African bishops have been mentioned as possible papal candidates. African Christians seem to be more socially conservative than their co-religionists in most of the industrialized world, and recently tensions within some denominations have surfaced.
The indigenous African religions tend to be based on animism and ancestor worship, in which there is a division of the spiritual world into helpful and harmful spirits. Helpful spirits usually include ancestor spirits that help their descendants, and powerful spirits that protect communities. Harmful spirits include the souls of murdered victims who did not receive proper burials, and hostile spirits called upon by spirit mediums to cause harm to enemies. These forms of worship continue to have a profound influence on African spirtual life. However, belief systems have changed and evolved as they interacted and continue to interact with other religions. |
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Culture and Art |
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Africa has overlapping cultures that both complement and contradict each other. A clear distinction needs to be made between the cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, and of the northern countries from Egypt to Morocco, whose people mainly identify with Arabic culture. The sub-Saharan nations consist of numerous cultural groups, in particular that of the Bantu linguistic group.
Further distinctions may be made between the French-influenced countries of Africa, and the rest of the continent, in particular the former British colonies of Southern and East Africa. Another cultural fault-line is that between Africans who live traditional lifestyles, sometimes subdivided into pastoralists and agriculturalists, and those who are essentially modern.
African art is a mirror of the diversity of African cultures. Much attention has been given to the impact of African sculpture on French painters of the early 20th century. But African art is also acclaimed in its own right. The oldest existing art from Africa is the 6000-year old carvings found in Niger. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was the world's tallest architectural monument for 4000 years until the building of the Eiffel Tower. The monolithic churches at Lalibela in Ethiopia are regarded as yet another wonder of engineering.
The music of Africa is one of its most dynamic art forms. The rhythms of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular west Africa, were carried through the Atlantic slave trade to become modern 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. A recent development is African hip hop. In South Africa a form of music called Kwaito has developed, although the country has had its own form of South African jazz for some time. |
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Language |
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By most estimates well over a thousand languages are spoken in Africa. These languages may be divided to four major language families that are native to Africa.
The Afro-Asiatic languages are a family of about 240 languages, spoken by 285 million people throughout North Africa, East 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, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania. The Niger-Congo language family, including Bantu, covers much of Sub-Saharan Africa, and is probably the largest language family in the world. And the Khoisan languages number about 50 and are spoken in Southern Africa by approximately 120,000 people. Many of the Khoisan languages are endangered.
European languages are also spoken in Africa. English, French,Portuguese, and Spanish are official languages in several countries as a result of colonization. In South Africa, which was unique in having a significant number of European settlers, English and Afrikaans are the native languages of a sizable portion of the population. |
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Weather |
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With a wide tropical belt, Africa spans both the north and south temperate zones. There are several climatic zones, but overall the climate of the continent is generally uniform due to the position of the tropical zone, the impact of cool ocean currents, and the absence of mountain chains serving as climatic barriers.
The central portion of the continent and the eastern coast of Madagascar have a tropical rain forest climate with average annual temperatures at about 26.7° C (80° F), and average annual rainfall at about 1780 mm (70 in). The climate of the Guinea coast is like the equatorial climate, except that rainfall is concentrated in one season, but no months are without rain.
To the north and south the rain forest climate is replaced by a tropical savanna climate zone encompassing about one-fifth of Africa. Here the climate is characterized by a wet season during the summer and a dry season in winter. Total annual rainfall varies from 550 mm (20 in) to more than 1550 mm (60 in).
Away from the equator, to the north and south, the savanna climate zone changes into the drier steppe climate zone. Average annual rainfall varies between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and is concentrated in one season.
Africa has a proportionately large area of arid, or desert climate zones. Each of these areas, the Sahara in the north, the Horn in the east, and the Kalahari and Namib in the southwest, has less than 250 mm (10 in) of rainfall annually. In the Sahara, temperature extremes are great.
Mediterranean climate zones are found in the far northwest of Africa and in the far southwest. These regions are characterized by mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers.
In the highlands of eastern Africa, particularly in Kenya and Uganda, rainfall is well distributed throughout the year, and temperatures are equable. The climate on the high plateau of southern Africa is temperate. |
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Health |
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Before moving to Africa, it is of vital importance to get the most up-to-date information and advice on health and medical care for the continent. A visit to a specialist in tropical illnesses and diseases is recommended. The World Health Organization Website provides detailed information on diseases prevalent in Africa, plus other information for anyone about to spend time in Africa.
Some of the more common diseases in Africa are Aids/HIV and other venereal diseases, Bilharzia (Schistosomiasis), Cholera, Diahrea, Amoebic Dysentery, Hepatitis A and B, Lassa Fever, Malaria, Meningococcal Meningitis, Polio, Rabies, Rift Valley Fever, Sleeping Sickness (African Trypanosomiasis), Tuberculosis, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and West Nile Fever. Many of these diseases have similar symptoms.
For most of the more serious diseases present in Africa, vaccinations have been developed. Some vaccinations can have different side effects on different people, and you should always obtain specialist advice with regard to vaccinations.
The risk of contracting a number of the diseases can be greatly reduced if you are careful about where and what you eat and drink, and with whom and what you come into direct contact. If you are in an area with poor sanitation and hygiene, drink only canned or bottled carbonated drinks, with no ice, and beverages made with boiling water. Avoid eating raw and inadequately cooked fish or seafood and uncooked vegetables and salads. Refrain from swimming in still water pools, dams and some lower lying rivers, use an insect repellent like DEET before swimming or paddling, and after swimming dry off thoroughly with a towel. For mosquito protection, cover up, use mosquito repellent, sleep under nets, and stay clear of dark, damp places. Mosquitoes are most prevalent at dawn and dusk. Also avoid close contact with all animals, even domestic pets. If you are bitten by any animal, scrub the wound with soap under running water for five minutes, then apply povidone iodine or 40% alcohol and seek immediate medical treatment for possible rabies and tetanus.
It is also wise to remember that no matter how careful you are, or whatever precautions you take, you will still be susceptible to stomach upsets which can be caused simply by the change in diet and climate. These stomach upsets will usually pass in a few days.
There is an acute shortage of health care workers in Africa. Medical providers do not accept payment through foreign insurance companies. You are expected to pay in full at the time of treatment, and then file a claim with your insurance company for reimbursement. To be compensated you must be treated by licensed medical personnel, and provide your insurance company with proper documentation and receipts. |
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