Africa is the second largest continent in the world by population (after Asia) and the third largest by area (after Asia and North America).
Essential Facts About Africa
With an area of approximately 29,661,703 km² (11,452,448 mi²) excluding nearby islands, Africa accounts for 19% of the Earth’s land area. With a population of 1,384,087,771 across 54 countries as of 2021, Africa represents about 17.52% of the world’s population.
Location of Africa
Africa is the largest of the three landmasses that rise above the sea on the southern part of the Earth’s surface. It encompasses an area of about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,599 mi²) including its islands. Most of the continent lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, resulting in a warm climate year-round.
Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, the continent is connected to Asia at its northeastern tip by the Suez Isthmus (crossed by the Suez Canal), which is 130 km (80 miles) wide.
Satellite image of Africa.
Geographically, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt lies east of the Suez Canal (often also considered part of Africa). From the northernmost point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia, located west of Cape Blanc at latitude 37°21′ N, to the southernmost point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa at 34°51′15″ S, the distance is about 8,000 km (5,000 miles); from Cape Verde at 17°33′22″ W, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in Somalia at 51°27′52″ E, the distance is approximately 7,400 km (4,600 miles).
The coastline measures 26,000 km (16,100 miles). The lack of deep indentations along the coast is significantly reflected when compared to Europe, which has an area of only 9,700,000 km² (3,760,000 mi²) but a coastline of 32,000 km (19,800 miles).
The main structural lines of this continent are oriented in both the east-west direction (at least in the northern hemisphere) in the northern parts, and in the north-south direction in the southern peninsulas. Thus, Africa can be viewed as a combination of two perpendicular sections, with the northern part extending from east to west, and the southern part extending north to south.
Topography of Africa
The topography of Africa is relatively simple. The entire continent can be considered a vast plateau, with an average elevation of 750 m; it is primarily composed of plateaus interspersed with low basins. The eastern part of the continent is heavily uplifted, with fractured and subsided rock formations creating numerous deep valleys and long, narrow lakes. Africa has very few high mountains and low plains.
Climate of Africa
The climate of Africa encompasses a variety of climate types, including equatorial, humid tropical, monsoon, semi-arid (savannah and steppe), desert (hyper-arid and arid), and subtropical highland climates.
Temperate climate is very rare across the continent, except at very high altitudes and along coastal fringes. In fact, the climate of Africa is more influenced by rainfall than temperature, which tends to remain high. The deserts of Africa are the sunniest and driest areas of the continent, due to the widespread presence of subtropical highlands with dry, warm air masses.
Africa holds many records related to heat: it is home to the hottest areas year-round, the hottest summer climates, the most sunshine hours, etc.
Due to Africa’s position along the equatorial and subtropical latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres, several distinct climate types can be found within it. This continent primarily lies within the intertropical zone between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, resulting in a notably humid density. Rainfall intensity is consistently high, and the continent is hot. Warm and hot climates are prevalent across Africa, but the northern part is largely characterized by aridity and high temperatures. Only the extreme northern and southern edges of the continent have a Mediterranean climate. The equator runs through the middle of Africa, as do the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, making Africa the most tropical continent.
The already hot and dry climate along the equator makes it the most vulnerable continent to climate change.
Economy of Africa
Africa is the poorest inhabited continent in the world, and this poverty has generally increased compared to 25 years ago.
In Africa, the situation has been in an unstable transitional phase from colonialism to a new post-Cold War era, with rising corruption and authoritarian regimes as key factors explaining the weak economy. While China and now India have experienced rapid growth, and some South American countries have seen moderate growth raising the living standards of millions, Africa has stagnated, even regressed in trade, investment, and per capita income. This poverty has vast implications, including low life expectancy, violence, and instability—factors intertwined with and related to the continent’s poverty. For decades, a range of solutions has been proposed and many have been implemented, but none have achieved significant success.
Part of the problem is that foreign aid is generally used to promote the cultivation of cash crops such as cotton, cocoa, and coffee in areas of subsistence agriculture. However, during this time, industrialized nations have pursued policies aimed at lowering the prices of these crops. For example, the actual cost of cotton grown in West Africa is less than half the cost of cotton grown in America due to cheap labor. However, American cotton is sold at a lower price than African cotton due to significant subsidies for cotton farming in the U.S. As a result, the prices of these commodities today are roughly comparable to those of the 1960s.
Africa also suffers from continuous capital flight. In general, income that comes to African nations quickly leaves, either because the assets sold are foreign-owned (oil is a prime example), and the proceeds are transferred to foreign owners, or the funds must be used to pay off loans from industrialized countries or the World Bank (WB). It is estimated that Africa could significantly reduce dependence on foreign aid if all profits earned in African countries were reinvested in the region for at least 12 months.
Population of Africa
The population of Africa can be conveniently grouped according to the regions they inhabit, either north or south of the Sahara Desert; these groups are referred to as North Africans and Sub-Saharan Africans, respectively.
Arabic-speaking Berber Arabs dominate the North African region, while the Sub-Saharan African region is characterized by a large and diverse population, generally grouped together as ‘black people’ due to their darker skin tones.
There is a wide variety of body types among Sub-Saharan Africans—ranging from the tall Masai and Tutsi to the Pygmies, who are the shortest people in the world.
Languages in Africa
Map showing the distribution of language families and some major languages in Africa. The Afro-Asiatic family extends to the Sahel and Southwest Asia. The Niger-Congo family is divided to indicate the size of the Bantu language group.
According to most estimates, Africa has over a thousand languages. There are four major indigenous language families in Africa.
- Afro-Asiatic language family comprises about 240 languages spoken by 285 million people across North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia.
- Nilo-Saharan language family consists of over 100 languages used by around 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are primarily spoken in Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
- Niger-Congo language family covers most of sub-Saharan Africa and is likely the largest language family in the world in terms of the number of different languages. Notably, the Bantu languages are the most widely spoken in the sub-Saharan region.
- Khoisan language family includes over 50 languages spoken by approximately 120,000 people in southern Africa. Many languages within this family are endangered. The Khoi and San people are considered the indigenous inhabitants of this region.
- European languages also have a significant influence; English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish are official languages in several countries as a result of colonization. In the Republic of South Africa, where a substantial population of European descent resides, both English and Afrikaans are native languages for a significant portion of the population.
African Culture
Rather than having a single culture, Africa has a vast array of intertwined cultures. The most apparent differences are typically between sub-Saharan Africa and the northern countries, from Egypt to Morocco, which often identify themselves with Arab culture. In this comparison, the countries south of the Sahara Desert are seen as having multiple cultures, particularly those within the Bantu language group.
Another way to categorize Africa is to distinguish French-speaking countries from the rest, particularly the former British colonies in southern and eastern Africa. A more flawed division exists between traditional lifestyle Africans and those who lead entirely modern lifestyles. The “traditional” groups are sometimes further divided into pastoralists and agriculturalists.
African art reflects the diversity of African culture. The oldest existing art in Africa consists of rock carvings over 6,000 years old found in Niger, while the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt remained the tallest architectural structure in the world for approximately 4,000 years until the Eiffel Tower was built. The complex of rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia, particularly the Church of St. George, is regarded as another architectural marvel.
Religion in Africa
Africans adhere to various religions, with Christianity and Islam being the most prevalent. Approximately 40% of Africa’s population identifies as Christian, and another 40% as Muslim. The remaining 20% primarily practice indigenous African religions. A small number of Africans also follow Jewish beliefs, such as the Beta Israel and Lemba tribes.
Indigenous African religions typically evolve around animism and ancestor worship. The common belief among traditional belief systems is the division of the spiritual world into “beneficial” and “harmful.”
The beneficial spiritual world is generally thought to include ancestral spirits that assist their descendants or deities capable of protecting the entire community from natural disasters or enemy attacks; while the harmful spiritual world consists of the souls of murder victims—those buried without proper burial rites—and the types of spirits that shamans use to inflict illness on their enemies.
While the influence of these primitive worship rituals continues to persist and has a profound impact, these belief systems have also evolved through interactions with other religions.
