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    • THE COADA    ▾
      • BACKGROUND FOR THE UNITY GATHERING
      • THE AGENDA AND THE DECISIONS
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      • Methods of Work
    • PROGRAMME OF ACTION    ▾
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  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Home
    • Function of COADA    ▾
  • African Diaspora    ▾
    • History
    • Migration
    • Social and political
    • Populations and estimated distribution
    • Autosomal genetic studies and the African contribution to Brazil
  • Africa    ▾
    • African History    ▾
      • Etymology    ▾
        • Early civilizations
        • Ninth to eighteenth centuries
        • Colonialism and the “Scramble for Africa”
        • NEW IMPERIALISM
        • Independence struggles
      • Geology and geography    ▾
        • Climate change
        • Demographics
      • African plate
      • Politics
      • Economy
      • Languages
      • Culture
      • Territories and regions
    • African Union    ▾
      • The objectives of the AU
      • History of the African Union
      • Geography of the African Union
      • AFRICAN UNION POLITICS
      • African union Membership
      • Role of African Union
      • Emblem of the African Union
      • Regional conflicts and peacekeeping
      • References
    • AFRICAN-COLOMBIANS    ▾
      • Demographics
      • Cultural contribution
      • Current issues faced by Afro-Colombians
      • Socio-economic inequalities
      • Effects of the war on Afro-Colombians
      • Health disparities in Colombia
    • Music and the African diaspora
    • AFRICAN DIASPORA SUMMIT
  • ECOWAS
  • Caribbean
    • Caribbean-Regional-Civil-Society-Organizations
    • Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)
    • Caribbean Network for Urban and Land Management (CNULM)
    • Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN)
    • Eastern Caribbean Trading Agriculture and Development Organisation (ECTAD Caribbean)
    • Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC)
    • Foundation for Development Planning, Inc (FDPI)
    • Museums Association of the Caribbean (MAC)
    • The Trust for Sustainable Livelihoods (Sustrust)
  • The Americas    ▾
    • Organization of American States
      • Goals and purpose
      • Organizational structure
      • Funding
      • General Assembly
      • Membership and adhesions
      • Canada and the OAS
      • Permanent observers
      • Official languages
    • North America
    • Central America and South America
    • Afro-Latin Americans    ▾
      • List of Afro-Latinos
      • AFRO-CARIBBEAN    ▾
        • Caribbean Community
        • Membership
        • Organizational structure
        • Celebration
        • Statistics
        • Relationship to other supranational Caribbean organizations
        • PROJECTS
  • Inter-Governmental    ▾
    • THE COADA    ▾
      • BACKGROUND FOR THE UNITY GATHERING
      • THE AGENDA AND THE DECISIONS
      • The Pan African Congresses
      • Bureaus
      • Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
      • Methods of Work
    • PROGRAMME OF ACTION    ▾
      • POLITICAL COOPERATION
      • ECONOMIC COOPERATION
      • SOCIAL COOPERATION
      • IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP
      • LEGACY PROJECTS
    • African Union
      • Constitutive Act of the African Union
    • THE UN
    • ACLADA and New Future Foundation
    • WORLD AFRICAN DIASPORA ORGANISATIONS
  • Europe     ▾
    • European countries
  • United Nations
    • Background
    • 1942 “Declaration of United Nations
    • Founding
    • Cold War era
    • Post-Cold War
      • Structure    ▾
      • Principal organs of the United Nations
      • General Assembly
      • Security Council
      • UN Secretariat
    • International Court of Justice
    • Economic and Social Council
    • Specialized agencies
    • Membership
    • Objectives
    • Human rights
    • Economic development
    • WORLD BANK  AND IMF
    • Funding
    • Evaluations, awards, and criticism
  • Contact

OVERVIEW OF AFRICA

Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth’s total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.3 billion people[1][2] as of 2018, it accounts for about 16% of the world’s human population. Africa’s average population is the youngest amongst all the continents;[5][6] the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.[7] Despite a wide range of natural resources, the continent is the least wealthy per capita, in large part due to the legacies of European colonization in Africa and the Cold War. 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.

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 (countries), eight territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. 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 encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones.[8] The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion and number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

Africa is home to much biodiversity; 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 other issues. 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 most vulnerable continent to climate change.[9][10]

Africa, particularly Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), meaning that Africa has a long and complex history.

The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to around 7 million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 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 200,000, 259,000, and 300,000 years ago respectively, and Homo sapiens is believed to have orignated in Africa around 350,000-260,000 years ago.

Early human civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt and Phoenicia emerged in North Africa. Following a subsequent long and complex history of civilizations, migration and trade, Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. The last 400 years have witnessed an increasing European influence on the continent. Starting in the 16th century, this was driven by trade, including the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which created large African diaspora populations in the Americas. In the late 19th century, European countries colonized almost all of Africa, extracting resources from the continent and exploiting local communities; most present states in Africa emerged from a process of decolonisation in the 20th century.

Africa

.

Africa
Show national bordersHide national bordersShow all
Area 30,370,000 km2 (11,730,000 sq mi)  (2nd)
Population 1,275,920,972[1][2] (2018; 2nd)
Population density 36.4/km2 (94/sq mi)
GDP (PPP) $7.16 trillion (2019; 5th)[3]
GDP (nominal) $2.45 trillion (2019; 5th)[3]
GDP per capita $1,930 (2019; 6th)[3]
Demonym African
Countries 54+2 (disputed)
Dependencies External (3)[show]

Internal (9+1 disputed)[show]

Languages 1250–3000 native languages
Time zones UTC-1 to UTC+4
Largest cities Largest urban areas:

·         Cairo

·         Lagos

·         Kinshasa

·         Johannesburg

·         Luanda

·         Khartoum

·         Dar es Salaam

·         Abidjan

·         Alexandria

·         Nairobi

·         Cape Town

·         Kano

·         Dakar

·         Casablanca

·         Addis Ababa

 

African History

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