General Facts

History 

Africa is the second largest continent on earth, occupying 20% of the Earth's land area. Africa measures about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from north to south and about 4,600 miles from east to west. Africa's land area is roughly 11.724 ml. sq. ml. (30.3657 ml. sq. km). The coastline of Africa is18,950 miles. The prime meridian (0º longitude) crosses Africa from north to south, passing through Tema near Accra in Ghana. The Nile River is the world’s longest river, spanning 4,160 miles from the Mediteranean Sea in North East Africa to Lake Victoria in South East Africa. Other long rivers in Africa are the Congo, Niger, Zambezi, and Orange rivers. Africa's share of the world's major mineral reserves is estimated as follows: 8% petroleum, 27% bauxite, 29% uranium, 20% copper, 67% phosphorites, and substantial reserves of iron ore, manganese, chromium, cobalt, platinum, and titanium. Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Nigeria are the major petroleum and natural gas producing countries in Africa. Botswana, Congo (D. R.), and South Africa together produce 50% of the world's diamonds. Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe together produce nearly 50% of the world’s gold. Africa has an average elevation of about 2,200 feet (670 m). The East African Rift System constitutes Africa’s most extensive mountain system. The highest mountain in Africa is Mt Kilimanjaro (19,317 ft) in Tanzania. The Atlas Mountains along the northwestern coast rise to more than 13,000 feet (4,000 m)The Sahara is the world's largest contiguous desert with 3.5 million square miles of land area. Other major deserts in Africa are the Namib and the red-sanded Kalahari in southern Africa. The African continent is cut almost equally in two by the equator. Most of Africa lies within the tropical region, bounded on the north by the tropic of Cancer and on the south by the tropic of Capricorn. The largest lake in Africa is Lake Victoria, the chief reservoir of the Nile river. Other great lakes in Africa are Tanganyika (in Tanzania and Congo) and Nyasa in (Tanzania and Malawi). Only about 6% of Africa is arable; nearly 25% is forested or wooded. The largest country in Africa is Sudan spanning 968,000 sq mi. Africa’s population is slightly less than 14% of the total world population. The most prevalent diseases in Africa include malaria, dysentery, tuberculosis, whooping cough, typhoid fever, gonorrhea, and AIDS. Africa's major languages include Arabic (North), Berber (Morocco and Algeria), Bantu group of languages (central and southern Africa), Swahili (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), Akan (Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire), Saharan and Maba (Chad basin), Koma (the Blue Nile basin), and Songhai (upper-middle Niger River region).