Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia.
At
about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers
20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area.[7] With 1.4 billion people[1][2] as
of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population. Africa's population
is the youngest among all the continents;[8][9] the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the
worldwide median age was 30.4.[10] Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is
the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead
of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors
including geography, climate,[11] corruption,[11] colonialism, the Cold
War,[12][13] and neocolonialism. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic
expansion and the large and young population make Africa an important economic
market in the broader global context. Africa has a large quantity of natural
resources and food resources,
including diamonds, sugar, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petro
leum, natural gas, cocoa beans, and tropical fruit.
The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of
Suez and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and
the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and
various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognised sovereign states, eight cities and
islands that are part of non-African states, and two de facto independent states with
limited or no recognition. This count does not include Malta and Sicily, which are
geologically part of the African continent. Algeria is Africa's largest country by area,
and Nigeria is its largest by population. African nations cooperate through the
establishment of the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.
Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian. It is the only continent to stretch
from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zones.[14] The majority of the
continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion
and a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the continent lies in the
tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, the
northern tip of Mauritania, and the entire territories of Morocco, Ceuta, Melilla,
and Tunisia which in turn are located above the tropic of Cancer, in the northern
temperate zone. In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia,
southern Botswana, great parts of South Africa, the entire territories
of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are
located below the tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone.
Africa is highly biodiverse;[15] it is the continent with the largest number

of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene
megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental
issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, and pollution. These
entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts
Africa. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as the
continent most vulnerable to climate change.[16][17]
The history of Africa is long, complex, and varied, and has often been under-
appreciated by the global historical community.[18] Africa, particularly Eastern Africa, is
widely accepted to be the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade, also
known as the great apes. The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to
around 7 million years ago, including Sahelanthropus, Australopithecus africanus, A.
afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster, the earliest Homo sapiens (modern
human) remains, found in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Morocco, date to circa 233,000,
259,000, and 300,000 years ago, respectively, and Homo sapiens is believed to have
originated in Africa around 350,000–260,000 years ago.[a] Africa is also considered by
anthropologists to be the most genetically diverse continent as a result of being the
longest inhabited.[25][26][27]
Civilisations, such as Ancient Egypt, Kerma, Punt, and the Tichitt Tradition emerged
in North, East and West Africa during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, while the Bantu
expansion from 4000 BC until 1000 AD was substantial in laying the foundations for
societies and states in Central, East, and Southern Africa. A complex historical
patchwork of civilisations, kingdoms, and empires followed, with most African
societies recording their state apparatus, literature, and history via oral tradition. Many
empires achieved hegemony in their respective regions, such
as Ghana, Kanem, Mali, Songhai, and Sokoto in West Africa; Ancient
Egypt, Kush, Carthage, the Fatimids, Almoravids, Almohads, Ayyubids, and Mamluks in
North Africa; Aksum, Ethiopia, Adal, Kitara, Kilwa, and Imerina in East
Africa; Kongo, Luba, and Lunda in Central Africa;
and Mapungubwe, Zimbabwe, Mutapa, Rozvi, Maravi, Mthwakazi, and Zulu in Southern
Africa. Within Africa slavery was historically widespread and internal slave markets were
used to fuel various exporting slave trades, creating various diasporas, including in the
Americas. From the late 19th century to early 20th century, driven by the Second
Industrial Revolution, Africa was rapidly conquered and colonised by European nations,
reaching a point when only Ethiopia and Liberia were independent polities.[28] European
rule had significant impacts on Africa's societies and the suppression of communal
autonomy disrupted traditional local customary practices and caused the irreversible
transformation of Africa's socioeconomic systems.[29] Most present states in Africa
emerged from a process of decolonisation following World War II, and established
the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, the predecessor to the African Union.[30] The
nascent countries chose to keep their colonial borders, with traditional power
structures oft

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Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia.

Africa is highly biodiverse;[15] it is the continent with the largest number

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