Africa is the second
largest continent in area and in population. Only
Asia covers a larger area and has more people. Africa
covers about a fifth of the world's land area and
has about an eighth of its people. Africa is divided
into 53 independent countries and several other
political units. The largest country, Sudan, has
an area of 967,500 square miles (2,505,813 square
kilometers). The smallest country, Seychelles, has
a land area of only 176 square miles (455 square
kilometers). The most heavily populated African
nation, Nigeria, has approximately 108 million people.
However, about two-fifths of all African countries
have fewer than 5 million people each.
The African
continent is an immense plateau, broken by a few
mountain ranges and bordered in some areas by a
narrow coastal plain. It is a land of striking contrasts
and great natural wonders. In the tropical rain
forests of western and central Africa, the towering
treetops form a thick green canopy. The world's
largest desert, the Sahara, stretches across northern
Africa. It covers an area almost as large as the
entire United States. Africa also has the world's
longest river--the Nile. It flows more than 4,000
miles (6,400 kilometers) through northeastern Africa.
Much of the continent is grassland. Elephants, giraffes,
lions, zebras, and many other animals live in the
grasslands located in eastern and southern Africa.
../../Pygmies.htm more
informationtop
The African people belong to several population
groups and have many cultural backgrounds. In
the north, for example, most of the people are
Arabs. South of the Sahara, where most Africans
live, blacks form the great majority of the population.
But they are divided into over 800 ethnic groups,
each with its own language, religion, and way
of life. The large number of ethnic groups of
uneven size has helped make it difficult for many
African countries to develop into unified, modern
nations. In numerous cases, national boundaries
cut across ethnic homelands. As a result, people
may feel closer ties to neighbors in another country
than to other groups in their own country. Ethnic
differences have led to civil wars in several
African countries.
Population. Africa has a population of
about 731 million. About 597 million people live
south of the Sahara. About two-thirds of all Africans
live in rural villages. The rest live in cities
and towns.
Most African ethnic groups have their own language.
In some cases, members of different groups speak
the same language. But in most instances, language
helps identify Africans as members of a particular
ethnic group. More than 800 languages are spoken
in Africa. As a result, communication among Africans
is difficult at times. But certain languages, such
as Arabic, Swahili, and Hausa, are widely spoken.
In addition, millions of Africans speak more than
one language, which they use when traveling or conducting
business and government affairs. The languages spoken
in Africa can be classified into three broad groups:
(1) black African languages, (2) Afro-Asian languages,
and (3) Indo-European languages.
