Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers six percent of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4 percent of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people (as of 2009, see table), it accounts for about 15% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagoes. It has 54 fully recognized sovereign states ("countries"), 9 territories and three de facto states with limited recognition.
Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is the origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago – including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. The African expected economic growth rate is at about 5.0% for 2010 and 5.5% in 2011.
Read more about Africa: Etymology, Geography, Biodiversity, Politics, Economy, Demographics, Languages, Culture, Religion, Territories and Regions
Other articles related to "africa":
... dating back to the beginning of the Union of South Africa and the Boer republics before which, while repressive to black South Africans along with other minorities, had not gone nearly so far ... Population Registration Act in 1950 classified residents in South Africa into four racial groups "black", "white", "colored", and "Indian" and noted their racial identities on their identifications ... the Bantu Education Act in 1953 segregated national education in South Africa as well ...
... a distribution agent for OUP titles published in the UK, in the 1960s OUP Southern Africa started publishing local authors, for the general reader, but also for schools and ... includes Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia, as well as South Africa, the biggest market of the five ... OUP Southern Africa is now one of the three biggest educational publishers in South Africa, and focuses its attention on publishing textbooks, dictionaries, atlases and supplementary material for schools ...
... Xhosa women of South Africa have a low, rhythmic style of throat-singing called eefing that is often accompanied by call-and-response vocals ...
... Muslims had, at Prophet Muhammad's urging, sought refuge across the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa ... course of Muslim learning and practice in the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and well beyond ... from their ancestors in southeastern Africa ...
... The Book Of Common Prayer in Africa is the same as the ones in other places ... Each province has its own signature which is put on the cover pages of the book as there are some words that differ from province to another ...
Famous quotes containing the word africa:
“Day by day we hear the cry of AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS. This cry has become a positive, determined one. It is a cry that is raised simultaneously the world over because of the universal oppression that affects the Negro.”
—Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)
“Everywhere—all over Africa and South America ... you see these suburbs springing up. They represent the optimum of what people want. There’s a certain sort of logic leading towards these immaculate suburbs. And they’re terrifying, because they are the death of the soul.... This is the prison this planet is being turned into.”
—J.G. (James Graham)