Amazing Africa: 28 Intriguing Facts about the Hot Continent
Africa is an extraordinary continent that holds many secrets. It's a land of vast savannas and scorching deserts, the cradle of wild untamed nature and humanity. And if you're curious to learn something interesting about Africa, this article is for you.
Interesting Facts about Africa:
● Africa is the second-largest continent by area, covering approximately 22% of the Earth's land area.
● Including the disputed territory of Western Sahara and adjacent island nations, Africa is comprised of 54 independent countries.
● The population of Africa is approximately 1.2 billion people. Over the past forty years, there has been a significant demographic explosion, resulting in a relatively young population. In many African countries, half of the population has not yet reached the age of 25.
● Africa is centrally located in terms of the world's coordinate system. It is intersected by both the Prime Meridian (0 degrees longitude) and the Equator (0 degrees latitude).
● Although Africa accounts for about 16% of the world's population, one-fourth of all languages spoken on the planet are spoken in Africa.
● Africa is home to the world's largest desert, the Sahara, which occupies a larger area than the entire continental United States.
● The Arabic language, represented by various dialects, is the most widely spoken language in Africa. 170 million Arabic speakers primarily reside in North Africa. Besides Arabic, there are over 2000 languages spoken across the continent.
● Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with a population of 174 million people. Egypt, the second most populous country, is home to over 92 million people.
● The largest city in Africa is Cairo, the capital of Egypt, with approximately 19 million inhabitants.
● The largest country in Africa is Algeria, covering a total area of 2.3 million square kilometers.
● The smallest country in Africa is the Seychelles, with a total area of only 443 square kilometers.
● Demographic experts have identified approximately 3,000 distinct ethnic groups in Africa. Nigeria alone is home to over 370 tribes.
● Africa is crossed by the world's second-longest river, the Nile, which stretches for 6650 kilometers.
● Lake Victoria in Africa is the second largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area.
● Egypt is the most attractive tourist destination in Africa, largely due to its pyramids. However, few people know that Sudan is home to 223 pyramids, twice as many as in Egypt, although they are smaller and less popular.
● Four out of the five fastest land animals live in Africa: the cheetah, wildebeest, lion, and Thomson's gazelle.
● Africa is also home to the largest terrestrial animal. The African elephant can weigh between 6 and 7 tons.
● Despite its rich natural resources, Africa is the poorest continent. On average, a poor person in non-Arab Africa lives on 70 cents per day.
● Over 17 million Africans south of the Sahara have died from AIDS, and experts estimate that there are currently at least 25 million HIV-infected individuals living there.
● Approximately 90% of all malaria cases occur in Africa.
● Central Eastern Africa is considered by many scientists to be the birthplace of both humans and human-like apes. The earliest Homo sapiens remains were found in Ethiopia, estimated to be around 200,000 years old.
● English scientist Charles Darwin was the first to suggest that human ancestors originated from Africa. However, biases against the inhabitants of this continent led many Westerners to resist this idea until the 20th century.
● In 1974, the skeleton of "Lucy" was found in Ethiopia near Hadar. Lucy lived approximately 3.2 million years ago and was identified as a common ancestor of humanity. In 1979, the oldest footprints of a human were found in Tanzania. These two discoveries provided undeniable evidence that humanity originated in Northeast Africa.
● Before the first century AD, Africa was divided into three parts: Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. The name Ethiopia also referred to the rest of the continent south of the Sahara Desert.
