Portal:Africa
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.3 billion people as of 2018, it accounts for about 16% of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita, in part due to geographic impediments, legacies of European colonization in Africa and the Cold War, predatory/neo-colonialistic activities by Western nations and China, and undemocratic rule and deleterious policies. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context.
Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian making it the only continent in the world to be situated in all four cardinal hemispheres. It is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion and number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, the northern tip of Mauritania, the entire territories of Morocco, Ceuta, Melilla, and Tunisia which in turn are located above the tropic of Cancer, in the northern temperate zone. In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia, southern Botswana, great parts of South Africa, the entire territories of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are located below the tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone.
Africa is home to much biodiversity; it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, and other issues. These entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts Africa. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as the continent most vulnerable to climate change.
The history of Africa is long, complex, and has often been under-appreciated by the global historical community. Africa, particularly Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes). The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to around 7 million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster— the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) remains, found in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Morocco, date to circa 200,000, 259,000, and 300,000 years ago respectively, and Homo sapiens is believed to have originated in Africa around 350,000–260,000 years ago. Due to being the longest inhabited continent, Africa is also considered by anthropologists to be the most genetically diverse continent on the planet. (Full article...)
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The Congo Crisis (French: Crise congolaise) was a period of political upheaval and conflict in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) between 1960 and 1965. The crisis began almost immediately after the Congo became independent from Belgium and ended, unofficially, with the entire country under the rule of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. Constituting a series of civil wars, the Congo Crisis was also a proxy conflict in the Cold War, in which the Soviet Union and the United States supported opposing factions. Around 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during the crisis.
A nationalist movement in the Belgian Congo demanded the end of colonial rule: this led to the country's independence on 30 June 1960. Minimal preparations had been made and many issues, such as federalism, tribalism, and ethnic nationalism, remained unresolved. In the first week of July, a mutiny broke out in the army and violence erupted between black and white civilians. Belgium sent troops to protect fleeing whites. Katanga and South Kasai seceded with Belgian support. Amid continuing unrest and violence, the United Nations deployed peacekeepers, but UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld refused to use these troops to help the central government in Léopoldville fight the secessionists. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the charismatic leader of the largest nationalist faction, reacted by calling for assistance from the Soviet Union, which promptly sent military advisers and other support. (Full article...)Featured pictures –
Photograph credit: Charles J. SharpThe sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) is an antelope which inhabits wooded savanna in eastern and southern Africa, from the south of Kenya to South Africa, with a separate population in Angola. The species is sexually dimorphic, with the male heavier and about one-fifth taller than the female. It has a compact and robust build, characterized by a thick neck and tough skin, and both sexes have ringed horns which arch backward. The sable antelope has four subspecies.
This picture shows an adult male common sable antelope (H. n. niger) in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa.
Photo: William WarbyPortrait of a Maasai woman, with shaved head, stretched earlobes, and beaded adornments, typical of the Maasai culture. The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best known of African ethnic groups, due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa. Their primary language Maa (ɔl Maa) is a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family that is related to Dinka and Nuer.
Photograph: Poco a pocoPanoramic view of the Amphitheatre of El Jem, an archeological site in the city of El Djem, Tunisia. The amphitheatre, one of the best-preserved Roman ruins and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, was built around 238 AD, when modern Tunisia belonged to the Roman province of Africa. It is the third-biggest amphitheatre in the world, with axes of 148 m (486 ft) and 122 m (400 ft) and a seating capacity of 35,000, unique in Africa.
Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi KarimAdansonia digitata is a sub-Saharan African species of baobab tree. The genus, scientifically known as Adansonia, consists of nine species native to Madagascar, Africa, Arabia and Australia, and can reach heights of 5 to 30 m (16 to 98 ft) with trunk diameters of 7 to 11 m (23 to 36 ft).
Photo credit: LaitcheThe Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) is a plant indigenous to various parts of southern Africa, and in particular South Africa. This specific species has great importance in the perfume industry. Its cultivars have a wide variety of smells, including rose, citrus, mint, coconut and nutmeg, as well as various fruits.
Photograph: Sathyan VelumaniThe Larabanga Mosque was built in the Sudanese architectural style in the village of Larabanga, Ghana. It is the oldest mosque in the country and one of the oldest in West Africa, and has been called the "Mecca of West Africa". It has undergone restoration several times since it was founded. The World Monuments Fund has contributed substantially to its restoration, and lists it as one of the 100 most endangered sites.
Photograph credit: Alexander SavinDallol is a cinder-cone volcano in the Danakil Depression, northeast of the Erta Ale Range in Ethiopia. The area lies up to 120 m (390 ft) below sea level, and has been repeatedly flooded in the past when waters from the Red Sea have inundated it. The Danakil Depression is one of the hottest places on Earth, and the evaporation of seawater after these flooding episodes produced thick deposits of salt, as seen in this landscape. The deposits at Dallol include significant quantities of the carbonate, sulfate and chloride salts of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Hot springs discharge brine to form the blueish ponds, and small, temporary geysers produce cones of salt.
Photo: NASAA composite satellite image of the geography of Africa, the Earth's second-largest continent, and its adjacent islands. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from much of Asia by the Red Sea, Africa is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula – east of the Suez Canal – is often considered part of Africa, although geographically it belongs in Asia. Africa can be divided into a number of geographic zones: The Atlas Mountains in the north, the Sahara, the coastal plains, and the inner plateaus.
Credit: David Roberts RA and Louis Hahge
Karnak is a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. This tinted lithograph depicts the hypostyle hall of the Precinct of Amun-Re, as it appeared in 1838.
Banknote design credit: Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank; photographed by Andrew ShivaThe rupie was the unit of currency of German East Africa between 1890 and 1916. During World War I, the colony was cut off from Germany as a result of a wartime blockade and the colonial government needed to create an emergency issue of banknotes. Paper made from linen or jute was initially used, but because of wartime shortages, the notes were later printed on commercial paper in a variety of colours, wrapping paper, and in one instance, wallpaper. This ten-rupie banknote was issued in 1916, and is now part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
Other denominations:
* 1 rupie
* 5 rupie
* 20 rupie
* 50 rupie
* 200 rupie
Photo credit: Mark Pellegrini
The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), from the Greek ‘ιπποπόταμος (hippopotamos, hippos meaning "horse" and potamos meaning "river"), is a large, mostly plant-eating African mammal, one of only two extant and three or four extinct species in the family Hippopotamidae.
Credit: Tancrède Dumas
Snake charming is the practice of apparently hypnotising a snake by simply playing an instrument. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous acts. The practice is most common in India, though it is also practiced in the North African countries of Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. This photo depicts snake charmers in late 19th-century Morocco.
Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: Kinondoni to the north, Ilala in the center of the region, and Temeke to the south. The Dar es Salaam Region had a population of 2,497,940 as of the official 2002 census. Though Dar es Salaam lost its official status as capital city to Dodoma in 1974, it remains the center of the permanent central government bureaucracy and continues to serve as the capital for the Dar es Salaam Region.
Photograph credit: Charles James SharpThe roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) is a species of savanna antelope found in western, central and southern Africa. Named for its reddish-brown coat, it has a black face with white patches around the eyes and the mouth, and a short erect mane of greyish brown hair extending from the back of the neck to the rump. This roan antelope, of the subspecies H. e. koba, was photographed in Senegal; the subspecies's range extends from Senegal to Benin in western Africa.
Photo credit: Ricardo Liberato
The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments is located some eight kilometres (5 mi) inland into the desert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 25 kilometres (15 mi) southwest of Cairo city centre. The pyramids are the only remaining monuments of the 7 Wonders of the World.
Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Morogoro is a city with an urban population of 206,868 (2002 census) in the southern highlands of Tanzania, 190 km west of Dar es Salaam. It is the capital of the Morogoro Region. It is also known informally as "Mji kasoro bahari," which translates as 'city short of an ocean/port'.
Banknote: Swakopmund Bookshop (courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History)The South West African mark was a temporary currency issued in South West Africa between 1916 and 1918 as part of the South West Africa campaign. Issued after the conquest of German South West Africa by South Africa, notes were denominated in marks and pfennig, as with the withdrawn German South West African Mark. Many institutions issued banknotes; this two-mark note was issued by the Swakopmund Bookshop. The South-West African mark was replaced in 1918 by the South African pound.
Credit: Edmund S. Valtman
Idi Amin (c. 1925 – 16 August 2003) was President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. While President, Amin committed acts of violence against the people of his country; an estimated 300,000, possibly 500,000 civilians may have been killed under his regime. In this caricature by Edmund S. Valtman, Amin is depicted as a bloated, powerful figure in military dress covered with medals and insignia, holding a scepter, and crowned by a small head with heavy features.
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Did you know –
- ... that Safi Faye's 1975 film Kaddu Beykat was the first commercially distributed feature film made by a Sub-Saharan African woman?
- ... that legendary princess Yennenga, the "mother" of the Mossi people, was such a great warrior that her father refused to allow her to marry?
- ... that Safi Faye is a Senegalese film director whose work is better known in Europe than in her native Africa?
- ...that Mohamed Camara's 1997 film Dakan was the first West African film to explore homosexuality?
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Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe lo Botswana), is a landlocked nation in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are Batswana (singular: Motswana), regardless of ethnicity. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. Bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west, Zambia to the north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast, it is divided into nine districts, which are further subdivided into a total twenty-eight subdistricts.
For over 30 years, Botswana had the fastest growing economy in the world, with growth averaging over 9% per year from 1966 to 1999. The economy, closely tied to South Africa's, is dominated by mining (38 percent), services (44 percent), construction (7 percent), manufacturing (4 percent) and agriculture (2 percent). Botswana has been hit very hard by the AIDS epidemic; the average life expectancy in Botswana at birth has declined from 64 years in 1990 to 50.6 years in 2007. (Read more...)
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Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying 65 square kilometres (25 sq mi) in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904.
The area was inhabited by the Mpongwe people before the French acquired the land in 1839. It was later an American Christian mission, and a slave resettlement site, before becoming the chief port of the colony of French Equatorial Africa. By the time of Gabonese independence in 1960, the city was a trading post and minor administrative centre with a population of 32,000. Since 1960, Libreville has grown rapidly and now is home to one-third of the national population. (Full article...)In the news
- 8 November 2021 – 2021 Democratic Republic of the Congo attacks
- Gunmen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo seize the villages of Tshanzu and Runyoni in North Kivu, near the borders with Uganda and Rwanda. (Reuters)
- 8 November 2021 –
- Twenty-five children are killed and 14 more are injured in a fire at a school in Maradi, Niger. (Reuters)
- 7 November 2021 – Aftermath of the October 2021 Sudanese coup d'état
- Protests continue nationwide and an intensive civil disobedience movement begins in cities across the country, as pressure mounts on the military to transfer power back to civilian leaders. Police use tear gas to disperse the crowds. (Deutsche Welle)
- 7 November 2021 –
- At least 18 people are killed during the collapse of an artisanal gold mine in Dan Issa, Maradi Region, Niger. (Reuters)
- 6 November 2021 – Tigray War
- A day after urging its citizens to leave Ethiopia, the U.S. government orders its embassy in Addis Ababa to evacuate non-emergency personnel due to armed conflict, civil unrest and potential supply shortages. (The Jerusalem Post)
- 5 November 2021 – Insurgency in the Maghreb
- 2021 Niger attacks
Updated: 3:33, 9 November 2021
General images -
Fatimid Caliphate (from History of Africa)
The Kanem and Bornu Empires in 1810 (from History of Africa)
Yoruba drummers at celebration in Ojumo Oro, Kwara State, Nigeria (from Culture of Africa)
South African ethnic groups (from History of Africa)
Ambazonian nationalism gained steam in 1982 (from History of Africa)
Ashanti Kente cloth patterns (from Culture of Africa)
A traditional Zanzibari-style Swahili coast door in Zanzibar. (from History of Africa)
Areas controlled by European colonial powers on the African continent in 1914; modern-day borders are shown (from History of Africa)
Nubian Empire at its greatest extent (from History of Africa)
The Songhai Empire, c. 1500 (from History of Africa)
Northern Africa under Roman rule (from History of Africa)
Contemporary political map of Africa (Includes Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa) (from History of Africa)
Kenyan boys and girls performing a traditional folklore dance (from Culture of Africa)
Map of Ancient Egypt and nomes (from History of Africa)
Ruins of Qa'ableh, an early center of Somali civilization (from History of Africa)
Sudan basket-tray, tabar of weaved natural plant fiber, in different colors (from Culture of Africa)
Almohad Empire, c. 1200 (from History of Africa)
Carthaginian Empire (from History of Africa)
A terra-cotta head sculpture (1100-1500) of the Yoruba, showing extraordinary naturalism. This head represents the oni or king of Ife. (from Culture of Africa)
Ruins of Carthage (from History of Africa)
Central and east Africa, 1898, during the Fashoda Incident (from History of Africa)
The Ghana Empire (from History of Africa)
Aksumite Empire (from History of Africa)
Abéché, capital of Wadai, in 1918 after the French had taken over (from History of Africa)
Baguirmi knight in full padded armour suit (from History of Africa)
The end result of the Boer Wars was the annexation of the Boer Republics to the British Empire in 1902 (from History of Africa)
Sample of the Egyptian Book of the Dead of the scribe Nebqed, c. 1300 BC (from Culture of Africa)
Towers of Great Zimbabwe. (from History of Africa)
French explorer Paul Du Chaillu confirmed the existence of Pygmy peoples of central Africa (from History of Africa)
1895 .303 tripod mounted Maxim machine gun (from History of Africa)
Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913 (from History of Africa)
Major states of Middle Africa in 1750 (from History of Africa)
Potjiekos is a traditional Afrikaner stew made with meat and vegetables and cooked over coals in cast-iron pots. (from Culture of Africa)
African biface artifact (spear point) dated in Late Stone Age period (from History of Africa)
1916 political map of Africa (from History of Africa)
Lunda town and dwelling (from History of Africa)
Nok sculpture, terracotta, Louvre (from History of Africa)
The Almohad minaret in Safi (from History of Africa)
Political map of Southern Africa in 1885 (from History of Africa)
Aksum Obelisk, symbol of the Aksumite civilization (from History of Africa)
South African-occupied South West Africa (1915–1990) and maximum extent of South African and UNITA operations in Angola and Zambia during the Angolan Civil War (from History of Africa)
Ashanti Kente cloth patterns (from History of Africa)
Christian Nubia and the Nile cataracts (from History of Africa)
Fayum mummy portrait of Demetrios, a citizen of Roman Egypt, c. 100 AD, Brooklyn Museum (from History of Africa)
Areas controlled by European powers in 1939. British (red) and Belgian (Orange) colonies fought with the Allies. Italian (green) with the Axis. French colonies (dark blue) fought alongside the Allies until the Fall of France in June 1940. Vichy was in control until the Free French prevailed in late 1942. Portuguese (brown) and Spanish (teal) colonies remained neutral. (from History of Africa)
Oyo Empire and surrounding states, c. 1625 (from History of Africa)
Nubian Temple of Apedemak, Naqa (from History of Africa)
Riffian rebels during the Rif War in Spanish Morocco, 1922 (from History of Africa)
Maravi Kingdom (from History of Africa)
Dates of independence of African countries (from History of Africa)
An Ethiopian woman preparing Ethiopian coffee at a traditional ceremony. She roasts, crushes, and brews the coffee on the spot. (from Culture of Africa)
Fresh Moroccan couscous with vegetables and chickpeas (from Culture of Africa)
Dahomey Amazons, an all-women fighting unit (from History of Africa)
Mali Empire at its greatest extent (from History of Africa)
Depiction of a Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838 (from History of Africa)
9th-century bronze staff head in form of a coiled snake, Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria (from History of Africa)
Fufu (right) is a staple meal in West Africa and Central Africa. It is usually served with some peanut soup. (from Culture of Africa)
Zulu warriors (from History of Africa)
The Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba), first built in 670 by the Umayyad general Uqba Ibn Nafi, is the oldest and most prestigious mosque in the Maghreb and North Africa, located in the city of Kairouan, Tunisia (from History of Africa)
Pre-colonial African states from different time periods (from History of Africa)
Aerial view of one of the Dhulbahante garad & Darawiish king Diiriye Guure's Dhulbahante Garesa's (forts) in Taleh, Somalia, the capital of his Dervish State. Dhulbahante garesas were the first places to be airstriked in African history (from History of Africa)
The Citadel of Gondershe, Somalia was an important city in the medieval Somali Ajuran Empire (from History of Africa)
Obelisk at temple of Luxor, Egypt. c. 1200 BC (from History of Africa)
Reconstruction of the Oikumene (inhabited world) as described by Herodotus in the 5th century BC. (from History of Africa)
The Battle of Ngomano in November 1917 (from History of Africa)
A Yombe sculpture (Louvre, Paris) (from Culture of Africa)
"Benin Bronze" (brass) (from History of Africa)
Arab slave traders and their captives along the Ruvuma River in Mozambique along the Swahili coast. (from History of Africa)
Central mosque in Nouakchott, Mauritania (from Culture of Africa)
A woman in Kenya wearing kanga (from Culture of Africa)
Luba pottery (from History of Africa)
Herero and Nama territories (from History of Africa)
Almnara Tower, Mogadishu. (from History of Africa)
1 = 3000 – 1500 BC origin
2 = c. 1500 BC first migrations
2.a = Eastern Bantu,
2.b = Western Bantu
3 = 1000 – 500 BC Urewe nucleus of Eastern Bantu
4 – 7 = southward advance
9 = 500 BC – 0 Congo nucleus
10 = 0 – 1000 CE last phase (from History of Africa)
Kongo in 1711 (from History of Africa)
Queen Ranavalona I (from History of Africa)
Italian invasion of Libya in 1911: propaganda postcard made by Italian Army (from History of Africa)
Maasai wearing traditional clothes named Matavuvale while performing Adumu, a traditional dance (from Culture of Africa)
BaKongo masks from the Kongo Central region (from Culture of Africa)
The pyramids of Giza, symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt (from History of Africa)
David Livingstone, early European explorer of the interior of Africa, is attacked by a lion. (from History of Africa)
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