A world map showing the continent of Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 mi²) including adjacent islands, it covers 6.0% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.^[1] With more than 900,000,000 people (as of 2005)^[2] in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. There are 46 countries including Madagascar, and 53 including all the island groups. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 407 pixel Image in higher resolution (2759 × 1404 pixel, file size: 55 KB, MIME type: image/png) this is a boring map of africa!!!!!!!!!!!! World map depicting Africa; map adapted from PDF world map at CIA World Fact Book File... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 407 pixel Image in higher resolution (2759 × 1404 pixel, file size: 55 KB, MIME type: image/png) this is a boring map of africa!!!!!!!!!!!! World map depicting Africa; map adapted from PDF world map at CIA World Fact Book File... Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (≈1,609 m) in length. ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... The current estimated world human population is 6,427,631,117. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... Suez Canal, seen from Earth orbit, NASA. Ships moored at El Ballah during transit The Suez Canal (Arabic: , transliteration: ), is a large artificial canal in Egypt west of the Sinai Peninsula. ... Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ...

Africa, especially central eastern Africa, is widely regarded within the scientific community to be the origin of humans and the Hominidae tree, as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest Hominids, as well as later ones that have been dated to around 7 million years ago including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Africanus, Homo Erectus, with the earliest humans being dated to ca. 200,000 years ago, according to this view. Categories: Africa geography stubs | Eastern Africa ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... Binomial name Sahelanthropus tchadensis Sahelanthropus tchadensis is an early fossil hominid, approximately 7 million years old from the Miocene. ... Binomial name †Australopithecus africanus Dart, 1925 Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 3. ... Binomial name †Homo erectus (Dubois, 1892) Synonyms † Pithecanthropus erectus † Sinanthropus pekinensis † Javanthropus soloensis † Meganthropus paleojavanicus Homo erectus (Latin: upright man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo. ...

Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Because of the lack of natural regular precipitation and irrigation as well as glaciers or mountain aquifer systems, there is no natural moderating effect on the climate except near the coasts. World map showing the equator in red In tourist areas, the equator is often marked on the sides of roads The equator marked as it crosses Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe. ... In geography, temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. ... Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil. ... A glacier is a large, persistent body of ice, formed largely of compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. ... An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. ...

Etymology

Afri was the name of several peoples who dwelt in North Africa near the provincial capital, Carthage. The Roman suffix "-ca" denotes "country or land".^[3] The Afri (singular, Afer) were a people located on the shores of the southern Mediterranean Sea near the city of Carthage. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, generally divided politically from Sub-Saharan Africa. ... Carthage (Greek: , from the Phoenician meaning new town, Arabic: , Latin: ) refers both to an ancient city in North Africa located in modern day Tunis and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ...

Other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name 'Africa':

• the Latin word aprica, meaning "sunny";
• the Greek word aphrike, meaning "without cold." This was proposed by historian Leo Africanus (1488-1554), who suggested the Greek word phrike (φρίκη, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the privative prefix "a-", thus indicating a land free of cold and horror.

Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Leo Africanus was the Christianised name of Hasan bin Muhammed al-Wazzan al-Fasi (Hasan, son of Muhammed, the Weigher from Fez) (Granada 1488? – 1554?). A former inhabitant of Granada, his family left the city sometime after the christian conquest of the muslim kingdom in 1492. ... A privative, named from Latin privare[1], to deprive, is a particle that negates or inverts the value of the stem of the word. ... The privative a (also known as privative alpha or α privativum) is the prefix a- expressing negation (e. ...

Geography

Main article: Geography of Africa

A composite satellite image of Africa

Africa is the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of the Earth's exposed surface. 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), 163 km (101 miles) wide.^[4] (Geopolitically, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is often considered part of Africa, as well.[2][3]) From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia (37°21' N), to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15" S), is a distance of approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles);^[5] from Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, 51°27'52" E, the most easterly projection, is a distance of approximately 7,400 km (4,600 miles).^[6] The coastline is 26,000 km (16,100 miles) long, and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is illustrated by the fact that Europe, which covers only 10,400,000 km² (4,010,000 square miles) — about a third of the surface of Africa — has a coastline of 32,000 km (19,800 miles).^[6] Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maps of Africa Africa is a continent comprised of 61 political territories (including 53 countries), representing the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of Earths surface. ... Download high resolution version (1624x1824, 535 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1624x1824, 535 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... Suez Canal, seen from Earth orbit, NASA. Ships moored at El Ballah during transit The Suez Canal (Arabic: , transliteration: ), is a large artificial canal in Egypt west of the Sinai Peninsula. ... Suez Canal, seen from Earth orbit, NASA. Ships moored at El Ballah during transit The Suez Canal (Arabic: , transliteration: ), is a large artificial canal in Egypt west of the Sinai Peninsula. ... Geopolitics is the study which analyses geography, history and social science with reference to international politics. ... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 For other uses of the word Sinai, please see: Sinai (disambiguation). ... Ras ben Sakka is the northernmost point of the African continent, located in Tunisia. ... A marker at Cape Agulhas indicates the official dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. ... Hafun (Xaafuun) is a small low-lying peninsula in the Bari region of northern Somalia. ... To help compare orders of magnitude of different surface areas, here is a list of areas between 1 million km² and 10 million km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. ...

Africa's largest country is Sudan, and its smallest country is the Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast.^[7] The smallest nation on the continental mainland is The Gambia. The Mergui Archipelago An archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. ...

According to the ancient Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to Anatolia and 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 of Africa expanded with their knowledge. Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ... Alexandria (Greek: , Coptic: , Arabic: , Egyptian Arabic: Iskindireyya), (population of 3. ... Location of the Prime Meridian Prime Meridian in Greenwich The Prime Meridian, also known as the International Meridian or Greenwich Meridian, is the meridian (line of longitude) passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Greenwich, England — it is the meridian at which longitude is 0 degrees. ... Suez Canal, seen from Earth orbit, NASA. Ships moored at El Ballah during transit The Suez Canal (Arabic: , transliteration: ), is a large artificial canal in Egypt west of the Sinai Peninsula. ... Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ...

Climate, fauna, and flora

The climate of Africa ranges from tropical to subarctic on its highest peaks. Its northern half is primarily desert or arid, while its central and southern areas contain both savanna plains and very dense jungle (rainforest) regions. In between, there is a convergence where vegetation patterns such as sahel, and steppe dominate. Naples beach in Florida lined with coconut trees is an example of a tropical climate. ... The subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. ... This article is about arid terrain. ... An arid environment has an extremely low yearly precipitation, receiving much less rain or snowfall annually than would satisfy the climatological demand for evaporation and transpiration. ... Savanna at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. ... In geography, a plain is a large area of land with relatively low relief. ... Box Log Falls, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia Jungle usually refers to a dense forest in a hot climate, such as a tropical rainforest. ... The Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian: - , Ukrainian: - , Kazakh: - ), pronounced in English as , is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being dominated by tall grasses...

Africa boasts perhaps the world's largest combination of density and "range of freedom" of wild animal populations and diversity, with wild populations of large carnivores (such as lions, hyenas, and cheetahs) and herbivores (such as buffalo, deer, elephants, camels, and giraffes) ranging freely on primarily open non-private plains. It is also home to a variety of jungle creatures (including snakes and primates) and aquatic life (including crocodiles and amphibians). Wild, in zoology or botany, is a rough if problematic antonym to domesticated: see wildlife. ... This tigers sharp teeth and strong jaws are the classical physical traits expected from carnivorous mammalian predators A carnivore (IPA: ), meaning meat eater (Latin carne meaning flesh and vorare meaning to devour), is an animal that eats a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from live animals... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of Lions in Africa Synonyms Felis leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae and one of four big cats in the genus Panthera. ... Subfamilies and Genera Hyaeninae Crocuta Hyaena Parahyaena Protelinae Proteles Hyenas or Hyænas are moderately large terrestrial carnivores native to Africa, Arabia, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. ... Binomial name Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber, 1775) Type species Acinonyx venator Brookes, 1828 (= Felis jubata, Schreber, 1775) by monotypy The range of the cheetah The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae), a poor climber that hunts by speed rather than by stealth. ... A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage A herbivore is often defined as any organism that eats only plants[1]. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, about 1% of flowering plants and some protists can be considered herbivores. ... Binomial name Syncerus caffer (Sparrman, 1779) Subspecies The African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a bovid from the family of the Bovidae. ... “Fawn” redirects here. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas antiquus † Elephas beyeri † Elephas celebensis † Elephas cypriotes † Elephas ekorensis † Elephas falconeri † Elephas iolensis † Elephas planifrons † Elephas platycephalus † Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea... For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Giraffa camelopardalis Linnaeus, 1758 Range map The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species. ... blue: sea snakes, black: land snakes Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation). ... Families 15, See classification A primate (L. primus, first) is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ... Insert non-formatted text here An estuary mouth and coastal waters, part of an aquatic ecosystem. ... Genera Mecistops Crocodylus Osteolaemus See full taxonomy. ... Subclasses and Orders    Order Temnospondyli - extinct Subclass Lepospondyli - extinct Subclass Lissamphibia    Order Anura    Order Caudata    Order Gymnophiona Amphibians (class Amphibia; from Greek αμφις both and βιος life) are a taxon of animals that include all living tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) that do not have amniotic eggs, are ectothermic (term for the animals...

History

Main article: History of Africa

1890 map of Africa

Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human species originating from the continent. During the middle of the twentieth century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have evolved into modern man, such as Australopithecus afarensis (radiometrically dated to c. 3.9-3.0 million years BC),^[8] Paranthropus boisei (c. 2.3-1.4 million BC)^[9] and Homo ergaster (c. 600,000-1.9 million BC) have been discovered.^[1] The following is an outline of the history of Africa, followed by a list of articles about the history of particular places in Africa. ... Download high resolution version (787x1054, 410 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (787x1054, 410 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Paeloanthropology is the branch of physical anthropology that focuses on the study of human evolution. ... The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by Unesco in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... Mitochondrial Eve (mt-mrca) is the name given by researchers to the woman who is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for all living humans. ... Anthropology is the study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ... FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under DOS. FOSSIL is an acronym for Fido Opus Seadog Standard Interface Layer. ... This article is about biological evolution. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials based on a knowledge of the decay rates of naturally occurring isotopes, and the current abundances. ... BC may stand for: Before Christ (see Anno Domini) : an abbreviation used to refer to a year before the beginning of the year count that starts with the supposed year of the birth of Jesus. ... Binomial name Paranthropus boisei (Mary Leakey, 1959) Paranthropus boisei had a skull highly specialized for heavy chewing. ... Binomial name †Homo ergaster Groves & Mazak, 1975 Homo ergaster (working man) is an extinct hominid species (or subspecies, according to some authorities) which lived throughout eastern and southern Africa between 1. ...

The Ishango bone, dated to about 25,000 years ago, shows tallies in mathematical notation. Throughout humanity's prehistory, Africa (like all other continents) had no nation states, and was instead inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers such as the Khoi and San.^[10][11][12] The Ishango bone is a tally stick, made of bone, which contains sequences of prime numbers, and some series of multiples. ... Tally sticks are an ancient mnemonic device (memory aid) to record and document numbers or quantities even messages. ... Mathematical notation is used in mathematics, and throughout the physical sciences, engineering, and economics. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Prehistoric man. ... A nation-state is a specific form of state, which exists to provide a sovereign territory for a particular nation, and which derives its legitimacy from that function. ... In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ... The Khoikhoi (men of men) or Khoi are a division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south-western Africa, closely related to the Bushmen (San). ... The Bushmen (also known as Basarwa in Tswana, or San in Nama) are an indigenous population of the Kalahari Desert, which spans South Africa and neighboring Botswana and Namibia as well southern Angola. ...

At the end of the Ice Ages, estimated to have been around 10,500 BC, the Sahara had become a green fertile valley again, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5000 BC the Sahara region was becoming increasingly drier. The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa. Since then dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa, especially in Ethiopia in the last 200 years. Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the sub-Saharan area A political map showing national divisions in relation to the ecological break (Sub-Saharan Africa in green) Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe those countries of the African continent that are not... The six cataracts of the Nile There are six classical Cataracts of the Nile between Aswan and Khartoum, counted upstream. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Eastern Africa ...

The domestication of cattle in Africa precedes agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gathering cultures. It is speculated that by 6000 BC cattle were already domesticated in North Africa.^[13] In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals including the pack ass, and a small screw horned goat which was common from Algeria to Nubia.

Agriculturally, the first cases of domestication of plants for agricultural purposes occurred in the Sahel region circa 5000 BC, when sorghum and African rice began to be cultivated. Around this time, and in the same region, the small guinea fowl became domesticated. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Species About 30 species, see text Sorghum is a genus of about 30 species of grasses raised for grain, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eastern Africa, with one species native to Mexico. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Brown basmati rice Terrace of paddy fields in Yunnan Province, southern China. ... Genera  Agelastes  Numida  Guttera  Acryllium The guineafowl are a family of birds in the same order as the pheasants, turkeys and other game birds. ...

According to the Oxford Atlas of World History, in the year 4000 BC the climate of the Sahara started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace.^[14] This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink rather significantly and caused increasing desertification. This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and helped to cause migrations of farming communities to the more tropical climate of West Africa.^[14] This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ...

By 3000 BC agriculture arose independently in both the tropical portions of West Africa, where African yams and oil palms were domesticated, and in Ethiopia, where coffee and teff became domesticated. No animals were independently domesticated in these regions, although domestication did spread there from the Sahel and Nile regions.^[15] Agricultural crops were also adopted from other regions around this time as pearl millet, cowpea, groundnut, cotton, watermelon and bottle gourds began to be grown agriculturally in both West Africa and the Sahel Region while finger millet, peas, lentil and flax took hold in Ethiopia.^[16]  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... For the Levantine god of the untamed sea, see Yaw. ... A cup of coffee Workers sorting and pulping coffee beans in Guatemala Coffee is a widely consumed beverage prepared from the roasted seeds — commonly referred to as beans — of the coffee plant. ... Binomial name Eragrostis tef (Zucc. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ... Pearl millet in the field The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. ... Binomial name Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. ... This article is about peanut, the food. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... Binomial name Citrullus lanatus (Thunb. ... Binomial name Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. ... Binomial name Pisum sativum A pea (Pisum sativum) is the small, edible round green seed which grows in a pod on a leguminous vine, hence why it is called a legume. ... Lens culinaris. ... Binomial name Linum usitatissimum Linnaeus. ...

The international phenomenon known as the Beaker culture began to affect western North Africa. Named for the distinctively shaped ceramics found in graves, the Beaker culture is associated with the emergence of a warrior mentality. North African rock art of this period depicts animals but also places a new emphasis on the human figure, equipped with weapons and adornments. People from the Great Lakes Region of Africa settled along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to become the proto-Canaanites who dominated the lowlands between the Jordan River, the Mediterranean and the Sinai Desert. approximate extent of the Beaker culture The Bell-Beaker culture (sometimes shortened to Beaker culture, Beaker people, or Beaker folk; German: ), ca. ... The Great Lakes and the East African coastline as seen from space. ...

By the 1st millennium BC ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa and quickly began spreading across the Sahara into the northern parts of sub-saharan Africa^[17] and by 500 BC metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa, possibly after being introduced by the Carthaginians. Ironworking was fully established by roughly 500 BC in areas of East and West Africa, though other regions didn't begin ironworking until the early centuries AD. Some copper objects from Egypt, North Africa, Nubia and Ethiopia have been excavated in West Africa dating from around 500 BC, suggesting that trade networks had been established by this time.^[14] Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil or architectural feature made of iron especially used for decorative purposes. ... This article is about the ancient city-state of Carthage in North Africa. ...

Early civilisations and trade

About 3300 BC, the historical record opens in Africa with the rise of literacy in the Pharaonic-ruled civilisation of Ancient Egypt, which continued, with varying levels of influence over other areas, until 343 BC.^[18][19] Prominent civilisations at different times include Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, the Nubian kingdoms, the empires of the Sahel (Kanem-Bornu, Ghana, Mali, and Songhai), Great Zimbabwe, and the Kongo.^[20][21] This article refers to the historical Pharaoh. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... For other uses, see Civilization (disambiguation). ... Carthage (Greek: , from the Phoenician meaning new town, Arabic: , Latin: ) refers both to an ancient city in North Africa located in modern day Tunis and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... The Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum), was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from ca. ... Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan. ... The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of empires that had many similarities. ... The Kanem-Bornu Empire existed in Africa, established around 1200 and lasting, in a changed form, until the 1840s. ... The Songhai Empire, c. ... Great Zimbabwe is the name given to the remains of stone, sometimes referred to as the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, of an ancient Southern African city, located at in present-day Zimbabwe which was once the centre of a vast empire known as the Munhumutapa Empire (also called Monomotapa or Mwene... The Kingdom of Congo (now usually rendered as Kingdom of Kongo to maintain distinction from the present-day Congo nations) The Kingdom of Kongo (1400-1888) (Kongo: Kongo dya Ntotila or Wene wa Kongo) was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda...

After the Sahara had become a desert it did not present an impenetrable barrier for travellers between north and south. Even prior to the introduction of the camel^[22] the use of oxen for desert crossing was common, and trade routes followed oases that were strung across the desert. The camel was first brought to Egypt by the Persians after 525 BC, although large herds did not become common enough in North Africa to establish the trans-Saharan trade until the eighth century AD.^[23] The Sanhaja Berbers were the first to exploit this. For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation). ... Oasis in the Libyan part of the Sahara For other uses, see Oasis (disambiguation). ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the old Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. ... The Great Mosque of Djenné, founded in 800, an important trading base, now a World Heritage Site Trans-Saharan trade, refers to trade across the Sahara between Mediterranean countries and West Africa. ... The Sanhaja were one of the largest Berber tribal confederations of the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and Masmuda History The tribes of the Sanhaja settled at first in the northern Sahara. ... The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ...

Pre-colonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities [4] characterised by different sorts of political organisation and rule. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the San people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the Bantu-speaking people of central and southern Africa and heavily-structured clan groups in the Horn of Africa, the Sahelian Kingdoms, and autonomous city-states such as the Swahili coastal trading towns of the East African coast, whose trade network extended as far as China. The Bushmen (also known as Basarwa in Tswana, or San in Nama) are an indigenous population of the Kalahari Desert, which spans South Africa and neighboring Botswana and Namibia as well southern Angola. ... Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. ... The Horn of Africa. ... The Swahili are a people and culture found on the coast of East Africa, mainly the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya and Tanzania. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ...

In 1418, the fifth expedition by Chinese admiral Zheng He reached Africa's east coast. The two later Zheng He voyages, the last in 1432, also sailed to East Africa. The Chinese travelled at least as far as Malindi in Kenya. In 1482, the Portuguese established the first of many trading stations along the coast of Ghana at Elmina. The chief commodities dealt in were slaves, gold, ivory and spices. The European discovery of the Americas in 1492 was followed by a great development of the slave trade, which, before the Portuguese era, had been an overland trade almost exclusively, and never confined to any one continent.^[24] Zheng He[1] (1371–1433), was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean (Chinese: 三保太監下西洋) or Zheng He to the Western Ocean, from 1405 to 1433. ... Elmina is a town on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ghana, lying west of Cape Coast. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

In West Africa, the decline of the Atlantic slave trade in the 1820s caused dramatic economic shifts in local polities. The gradual decline of slave-trading, prompted by a lack of demand for slaves in the New World, increasing anti-slavery legislation in Europe and America, and the British navy's increasing presence off the West African coast, obliged African states to adopt new economies. The largest powers of West Africa: the Asante Confederacy, the Kingdom of Dahomey, and the Oyo Empire, adopted different ways of adapting to the shift. Asante and Dahomey concentrated on the development of "legitimate commerce" in the form of palm oil, cocoa, timber and gold, forming the bedrock of West Africa's modern export trade. The Oyo Empire, unable to adapt, collapsed into civil wars.^[25]  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... The Atlantic slave trade, started by the Portuguese[1], but soon dominated by the English, was the sale and exploitation of African slaves by Europeans that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th century to the 19th century. ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... A shrunken Ashanti Confederacy near the end of its existence in 1896 The Ashanti Confederacy was a powerful state in West Africa in the years prior to European colonization. ... Dahomey was a kingdom in Africa, situated in what is now the nation of Benin. ... Oyo (OÌ£yoÌ£ in Yoruba orthography, pronounced ) is the name of a Yoruba city in modern-day Nigeria and also of the loose empire which that city controlled in the 17th and 18th centuries. ... Palm oil from Ghana with its natural dark color visible, 2 litres Palm oil block Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree. ... Cocoa beans in a cacao pod Cocoa is the dried and partially fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood... GOLD refers to one of the following: GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade). ...

Pre-colonial exploration

In the mid-nineteenth century, European explorers became interested in exploring the heart of the continent and opening the area for trade, mining and other commercial exploitation. In addition, there was a desire to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. The central area of Africa was still largely unknown to Europeans at this time. David Livingstone explored the continent between 1852 and his death in 1873; amongst other claims to fame, he was the first European to see the Victoria Falls. A prime goal for explorers was to locate the source of the River Nile. Expeditions by Burton and Speke (1857-1858) and Speke and Grant (1863) located Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria. The latter was eventually proven as the main source of the Nile. With subsequent expeditions by Baker and Stanley, Africa was well explored by the end of the century and this was to lead the way for the colonization which followed. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 4 May 1873) was a Scottish Presbyterian pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and explorer in central Africa. ... Victoria Falls with relatively low water in the dry season Africas Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya are, by some measures, the largest waterfall on the planet, as well as being among the most unusual in form, and having arguably the most diverse and easily-seen wildlife of any... For alternative meanings of Nile, see Nile (disambiguation) The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin Africa Mouth the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The Nile (Arabic: ا&#1604... Richard Burton, portrait by Frederic Leighton, National Portrait Gallery, London. ... John Hanning Speke (May 4, 1827 – September 15, 1864) was an officer in the British Indian army, who made three voyages of exploration to Africa. ... James Augustus Grant (April 11, 1827 — February 11, 1892) was a Scottish explorer of eastern equatorial Africa. ... Lake Tanganyika is a large lake in central Africa (3° 20 to 8° 48 South and from 29° 5 to 31° 15 East). ... Lake Victoria and the Great Rift Valley Lake Victoria height variation The lake as seen from space, looking west, with other members of the African Great Lakes forming an arc in the middle distance. ... Sir Samuel White Baker (8 June 1821-30 December 1893) was an English explorer. ... Sir Henry Morton Stanley, also known in the Congo as Bula Matari (Breaker of Rocks or, alternatively, Sledge Hammer) , born John Rowlands (January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904), was a journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Colonialism. ...

Colonialism and the "scramble for Africa"

Main article: Colonization of Africa

Map showing European territorial claims on the African continent in 1914

In the late nineteenth century, the European imperial powers engaged in a major territorial scramble and occupied most of the continent, creating many colonial nation states, and leaving only two independent nations: Liberia, an independent state partly settled by African Americans; and Orthodox Christian Ethiopia (known to Europeans as "Abyssinia"). Colonial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of World War II, when all colonial states gradually obtained formal independence. Map of West Africa, ca. ... Map showing European claimants to the African continent in 1913 Turned Image:Colafrica. ... Map showing European claimants to the African continent in 1913 Turned Image:Colafrica. ... // Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ... Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (in Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስትያን Yäityopya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Colonialism had a destabilising effect on a number of ethnic groups that is still being felt in African politics. Before 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 around territories to isolate them from those of other colonial powers often had the effect of separating otherwise contiguous political groups, or forcing traditional enemies to live side by side with no buffer between them. For example, although the Congo River appears to be a natural geographic boundary, there were groups that otherwise shared a language, culture or other similarity living on both sides. The division of the land between Belgium and France along the river isolated these groups from each other. Those who lived in Saharan or Sub-Saharan Africa and traded across the continent for centuries often found themselves crossing borders that existed only on European maps. It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ... The Congo River (for a time known as Zaire River) is the largest river in Western Central Africa. ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the sub-Saharan area A political map showing national divisions in relation to the ecological break (Sub-Saharan Africa in green) Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe those countries of the African continent that are not...

In nations that had substantial European populations, for example Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, systems of second-class citizenship were often set up in order to give Europeans political power far in excess of their numbers. In the Congo Free State, personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium, the native population was submitted to inhumane treatments, and a near slavery status assorted with forced labor. However, the lines were not always drawn strictly across racial lines. In Liberia, citizens who were descendants of American slaves had a political system for over 100 years that gave ex-slaves and natives to the area roughly equal legislative power despite the fact the ex-slaves were outnumbered ten to one in the general population. The inspiration for this system was the United States Senate, which had balanced the power of free and slave states despite the much-larger population of the former. Southern Rhodesia, todays Zimbabwe. ... Political power (imperium in Latin) is a type of power held by a person or group in a society. ... Flag Capital Boma Government Monarchy Ruler and owner Leopold II of Belgium Historical era New Imperialism  - Established 1885  - Annexation by Belgium 15 November, 1908 The Congo Free State was a corporate state privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium (not in his role as monarch) that included the entire... Leopold II, King of the Belgians (Léopold Louis Philippe Marie Victor (French) or Leopold Lodewijk Filips Marie Victor (Dutch)) (April 9, 1835 – December 17, 1909) succeeded his father, Leopold I of Belgium, to the Belgian throne in 1865 and remained king until his death. ... A legislature is a governmental deliberative body with the power to adopt laws. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      Senate composition following 2006 elections The United States Senate is...

Europeans often altered the local balance of power, created ethnic divides where they did not previously exist, and introduced a cultural dichotomy detrimental to the native inhabitants in the areas they controlled. For example, in what are now Rwanda and Burundi, two ethnic groups Hutus and Tutsis had merged into one culture by the time German colonists had taken control of the region in the nineteenth century. No longer divided by ethnicity as intermingling, intermarriage, and merging of cultural practices over the centuries had long since erased visible signs of a culture divide, Belgium instituted a policy of racial categorisation upon taking control of the region, as racial based categorisation and philosophies was a fixture of the European culture of that time. The term Hutu originally referred to the agricultural-based Bantu-speaking peoples that moved into present day Rwanda and Burundi from the West, and the term Tutsi referred to Northeastern cattle-based peoples that migrated into the region later. The terms described a person's economic class; individuals who owned roughly 10 or more cattle were considered Tutsi, and those with fewer were considered Hutu, regardless of ancestral history. This was not a strict line but a general rule of thumb, and one could move from Hutu to Tutsi and vice versa. Hutu is the name given to one of the three ethnic groups occupying Burundi and Rwanda. ... The Tutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa, the other two being the Twa and the Hutu. ... The Hutu are a Central African ethnic group, living mainly in Rwanda and Burundi. ... Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. ... The Tutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa, the other two being the Twa and the Hutu. ...

The Belgians introduced a racialized system; European-like features such as fairer skin, ample height, narrow noses were seen as more ideally Hamitic, and belonged to those people closest to Tutsi in ancestry, who were thus given power amongst the colonised peoples. Identity cards were issued based on this philosophy. Hamitic is an obsolete ethno-linguistic classification of some ethnic groups within the Afroasiatic (previously termed Semito-Hamitic) language family. ...

Tunisia was the first country in Africa to gain Independence, doing so in 1956. The decades-long struggle for independence from France was led by Habib Bourguiba, founder of the Republic of Tunisia. Habib Bourguiba - 1980 Habib Ben Ali Bourguiba (Arabic: حبيب بورقيبة) (born August 3, 1903 in Monastir, Tunisia – died April 6, 2000) was a Tunisian statesman and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 to November 7, 1987. ...

Post-colonial Africa

Today, Africa contains 53 independent and sovereign countries, which mostly still have the borders drawn during the era of European colonialism.

Since colonialism, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African nations are republics that operate under some form of the presidential system of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments, and many have instead cycled through a series of coups, producing military dictatorships. A number of Africa's post-colonial political leaders were military generals who were poorly educated and ignorant on matters of governance. Great instability, however, was mainly the result of marginalization of other ethnic groups and graft under these leaders. For political gain, many leaders fanned ethnic conflicts that had been exacerbated, or even created, by colonial rule. In many countries, the military was perceived as being the only group that could effectively maintain order, and it ruled many nations in Africa during the 1970s and early 1980s. During the period from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, Africa had more than 70 coups and 13 presidential assassinations. Border and territorial disputes were also common, with the European-imposed borders of many nations being widely contested through armed conflicts. Bold text:This article applies to political ideologies. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A republic is a form of government maintained by a state or country whose sovereignty is based on popular consent and whose governance is based on popular representation and control. ... A presidential system, also called a congressional system, is a system of government where the executive branch exists and presides (hence the term) separate from the legislature, to which it is not accountable, and which cannot in normal circumstances dismiss it. ... Democracy (literally rule by the people, from the Greek demos, people, and krateo, rule[1]) is a form of government. ... // A coup dÉtat (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, often through illegal means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... General Augusto Pinochet (sitting) as head of the newly established military junta in Chile, September 1973. ... In politics and sociology, divide and rule (also known as divide and conquer) is a strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. ... It has been suggested that Selective assassination be merged into this article or section. ...

Cold War conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as the policies of the International Monetary Fund, also played a role in instability. When a country became independent for the first time, it was often expected to align with one of the two superpowers. Many countries in Northern Africa received Soviet military aid, while many in Central and Southern Africa were supported by the United States, France or both. The 1970s saw an escalation, as newly independent Angola and Mozambique aligned themselves with the Soviet Union and the West and South Africa sought to contain Soviet influence by funding insurgency movements. Some countries were ruled by communist parties that sought to impose Soviet policies resulting in atrocities such as the Ethiopian famine of 1985-89. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... “IMF” redirects here. ... An American B-2 bomber in flight. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | North Africa ...

AIDS has also been a prevalent issue in post-colonial Africa. See article AIDS in Africa. AIDS education at a school in Uganda. ...

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