Africa is the worlds 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 Earths total surface area and 20.4 percent of the total land area. With 1.1 billion people as of 2013, it accounts for about 15% of the worlds human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Seato the north, both the Suez Canaland the Red Seaalong the Sinai Peninsulato the northeast, the Indian Oceanto the southeast, and the Atlantic Oceanto the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It has 54 fully recognized sovereign states( countries), nine territories and two defacto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest among all the continents; 50% of Africans are 19 years old or younger. Algeriais Africas largest country by area, and Nigeriais the largest by population. Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humansand the Hominidae clade ( great apes), as evidencedby 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. habilisand 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. ......Etymology. Afriwas a Latin name used to refer to the Carthaginians, who dwelt in North Africain modern-day Tunisia. This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe;. The name is usually connected with Phoenician afar, dust, but a 1981 hypothesis has asserted that it stems from the Berberifri (pluralifran) cave, in reference to cave dwellers. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeriaand Tripolitania, a Berbertribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane) in northwestern Libya. Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of Africa Province, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land (e.g., in Celticafrom Celtae, as used by Julius Caesar). The later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the ancient Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatoliaand lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geographer Ptolemy(85–165 AD), indicating Alexandria along the Prime Meridian and making the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea ofAfrica expanded with their knowledge. #ReRising Mother Africa Again,Inc.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 19:48:55 +0000