Africa is the world's second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,370,000 km² (11,730,000 sq mi) including its adjacent islands, it covers 5.9% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.3% of the total land area. With over 840,000,000 people (as of 2005) in 57 territories, it accounts for more than 12% of the world's human population. Africa - Etymology. The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afr ...

Including:

• Africa - Etymology
• Africa - Geography
• Africa - History
• Africa - Politics
• Africa - Precolonial Africa
• Africa - Colonial Africa
• Africa - Post-colonial Africa
• Africa - Modern Africa
• Africa - Economy
• Africa - Demographics
• Africa - Languages
• Africa - Culture
• Africa - Religion
• Africa - Territories
• Africa - Independent states
• Africa - Territories possessions départements
• Africa - Disputed territories
• Africa - Table of territories and regions

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Main article: History of Africa Africa is home to the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human race originating from this continent. During the mid 20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. The famous Leakey family, with ties to both Britain and Africa, discovered several species of early ape-like humans thought to have evolved into modern day man, such as Australopithecus afarensis (radiometrically dated to 3.9-3.0 million y ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - History

Main article: History of Africa Africa is home to the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human race originating from this continent. During the mid 20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. The famous Leakey family, with ties to both Britain and Africa, discovered fossil remains of several species of early ape-like humans thought to have evolved into modern day man, such as Australopithecus afarensis (radiometrically dated to ...

See also:

Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - History

Africa - Precolonial Africa. Africa - Colonial Africa. Colonialism had a destabilizing effect on what had been a number of ethnic groups that is still being felt in African politics. Prior to European influence, national borders were not much of a concern, with Africans generally following the practice of other areas of the world, such as the Arabian peninsula, where a group's territory was congruent with its military or trade influence. The European insistence of drawing borders arou ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Politics

Africa - Independent states. East Africa East Africa proper Burundi (also sometimes considered part of Central Africa) Kenya Mozambique (also sometimes considered part of Southern Africa) Rwanda (also sometimes considered part of Central Africa) Tanzania Uganda North East Africa (Horn of Africa) Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Somalia (inclu ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Territories

Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs, with Christianity and Islam being the most widespread. Approximately 40% of all Africans are Christians and another 40% Muslims. Roughly 20% of Africans primarily follow indigenous African religions. A small number of Africans also have beliefs from the Judaic tradition, such as the Beta Israel and Lemba tribes. The indigenous African religions tend to revolve around animism and ancestor worship. A common thread in traditional belief systems was the division of the spiritual world ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Religion

Africa - Independent states. East Africa East Africa proper Burundi (also sometimes considered part of Central Africa) Kenya Rwanda (also sometimes considered part of Central Africa) Tanzania Uganda North East Africa (Horn of Africa) Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia

Africans may be grouped according to whether they live north or south of the Sahara Desert; these groups are called North Africans and Sub-Saharan Africans, respectively. Afro-Asiatic speaking peoples predominate in North Africa, while Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by a number of disparate populations grouped according to their diverse languages--Niger-Congo predominantly in West Africa, Nilo-Saharan in the East ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Demographics

Main article: Geography of Africa Africa is the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of the Earth's surface. It includes within its remarkably regular outline an area, of c. 30,360,288 km² (11,722,173 mi²), including the islands. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, it is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez (transected by the Suez Canal), 130 km (80 miles) wide. (Geopolitically, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is often considered part ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Geography

The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia. The Afri were a tribe — possibly Berber — who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of Afer may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in most other Semitic languages); some other etymologies that have ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Etymology

Main article: Economy of Africa Africa is the world's poorest inhabited continent: the United Nations' Human Development Report 2003 (of 175 countries) found that positions 151 (Gambia) to 175 (Sierra Leone) were taken up entirely by African nations. It has had (and in some ways is still having) a shaky and uncertain transition from colonialism, with increases in corruption and despotism being major contributing factors to its poor economic situation. While rapid growth in China and now India, and moderate growth in Lati ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Economy

Africans may be grouped according to whether they live north or south of the Sahara Desert; these groups are called North Africans and Sub-Saharan Africans, respectively. Arabic-speaking Arab-Berber peoples predominate in North Africa, while Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by a number of disparate populations often grouped according to their language, Niger-Congo predominately in West Africa, Nilo-Saharan in the Eastern highlands and Khoisan in the south. Speakers of Bantu languages (part of the Niger-Congo family) are the majority in southe ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Demographics

Main article: African languages By most estimates Africa contains well over a thousand languages. There are four major language families native to Africa. The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. The Nilo-Saharan language family consists of more than a hundred languages spoken by 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are mainly spoken in Chad, Sudan, Ethiop ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Languages

Rather than one culture, Africa has a number of cultures that overlap. The most conventional distinction is that between sub-Saharan Africa and the northern countries from Egypt to Morocco, who largely associate themselves with Arabic culture. In this comparison, the nations to the south of the Sahara are considered to consist of many cultural areas, in particular that of the Bantu linguistic group. Divisions may also be made between Francophone Africa and the rest of Africa, in particular the former British colonies of southern and E ...

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Africa, Africa - Etymology, Africa - Geography, Africa - History, Africa - Politics, Africa - Precolonial Africa, Africa - Colonial Africa, Africa - Post-colonial Africa, Africa - Modern Africa, Africa - Economy, Africa - Demographics, Africa - Languages, Africa - Culture, Africa - Religion, Africa - Territories, Africa - Independent states, Africa - Territories possessions départements, Africa - Disputed territories, Africa - Table of territories and regions

Read more here: » Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Culture