Here are 10 key facts about Africa that you probably don't know.
It is widely believed that the African continent got its name from the ancient Romans who, after defeating the ancient city of Carthage in North Africa, founded a province there which they called Africa, after the tribe that inhabited the region. .
AFRICA IS THE SECOND LARGEST CONTINENT IN THE WORLD.
Africa is the second largest continent in the world with a total area of approximately 30.37 million square kilometers (11.73 million square miles); which represents 5.7% of the earth's surface as well as 20% of the total surface of our planet. It is divided into five subsections: North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa and West Africa. One of the most interesting facts about this continent is that its length and width are approximately the same: horizontal width: 7,009 km from Dakar (Senegal) to east of Mogadishu (Somalia) and vertical length: 7 248 km from Cape Town (South Africa) to the north of Tripoli (Libya).
It has 54 countries, ten territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Sudan was once the largest country in Africa until it was divided into two: Sudan and South Sudan. Algeria is now the largest African country geographically. Cairo, capital of Egypt, is the largest city.
We often think that Africa is quite isolated from the rest of the world, but this is not true. Africa and Europe are separated by less than 9 miles at the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco. Ferries are even available to take you from Africa to Europe or vice versa.
The African continent has the second largest population in the world, with 1,287,920,518 people, approximately 16.87% of the world's population (as of August 2018). It's really no surprise that Africa is home to the most genetically diverse people on Earth, being the second largest continent.
BETWEEN 1500 AND 2000 LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN IN AFRICA
There are at least 3,000 distinct ethnic groups in Africa and around 2,000 different languages are spoken; each of them having different dialects. Arabic is the most widely spoken language on the continent, followed by English and Swahili, respectively, and finally French. Don’t hesitate to take a look at our blog article entirely dedicated to 👉 African tribal languages If the fossil record is anything to go by, Africa appears to be the first continent where humans were found. Fossil remains suggested that humans had inhabited it around 7 million years ago.
AFRICA CONTAINS THE SECOND LONGEST RIVER IN THE WORLD
THE Nile is the second longest river in the world; it measures approximately 6,853 kilometers and crosses 11 countries towards the north: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt
AFRICA IS HOME TO THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD
The oldest continuously existing and functioning educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein , (Athens of Africa) founded in 859 AD by Fatima al-Fihri in Fez, Morocco, and which was originally a madrassa. The University of Bologna, Italy, was founded in 1088 and is the oldest in Europe.
THE RICHEST MAN OF ALL TIME IS AFRICAN
Mansa Musa , or Musa I of Mali, is considered the richest man in history. Musa was the tenth emperor of the Mali Empire, one of the prosperous Sahelian kingdoms that developed along the Saharan routes during the slave trade in the late medieval period. At the time of his death in 1937, his net worth was estimated at between US$300 and US$400 billion in dollars adjusted for the end of the 2000s.
THE LARGEST AND HOTTEST DESERT IN THE WORLD IS IN AFRICA
THE Sahara is the world's largest hot desert and one of the harshest environments on Earth. It is the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic, which are cold deserts. At 9.4 million square kilometers, it is larger than the United States! This desert covers 11 countries (large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia) . The vast majority are found there blue desert peoples still called the Touareg
THE BIGGEST AND FASTEST ANIMALS COME FROM AFRICA.
The African elephant is the largest land animal in the world, they are gigantic: they can weigh more than six tons and measure up to seven meters long. The tallest animal in the world, the giraffe. Male giraffes can reach up to 6 m in height, while females go to around 4.6 m.
The fastest land animal in the world, the cheetah, lives in Africa. It can reach speeds of 96.5 km/h (about 60 miles per hour). This record was set by an 11-year-old cheetah in 2012 named Sarah
SOUTH AFRICA IS HOME TO THE WORLD'S HIGHEST COMMERCIAL BRIDGE
THE Bloukrans Bridge Bungy is one of the highest commercial bridges in the world, 216 meters above the Bloukrans River. It is located at Bloukrans Bridge on the N2 road, on the Eastern Cape-Western Cape border, in the Tsitsikamma region of the Garden Route of South Africa.
AFRICA WELCOMES LARGEST WILD ANIMAL MIGRATION
The Serengeti (Tanzania) is home to the world's largest wildlife migration with more than 750,000 zebras marching ahead of 1.2 million wildebeest as they traverse this astonishing landscape
