Africa is located on the east Indian and west Atlantic Oceans. In Latin, it means "place where the sun is hot." It has 56 countries and regions and a population of 851 million, accounting for 5.5% of the world's population. The residents are mainly black skinned. Africa has an area of about 50.2 million square kilometers and is the second largest continent. There are some 800 language such as the Sudan languages, Niger-Kordofanian languages, Nilo - Saharan languages, Asian languages and a non-Khoisan languages. Most Africans believe in primitive religion and Islam. Countries in Africa

African History

Africa is one of the earliest birthplaces of human civilization. It has a long history and rich cultural heritage. It gave birth to the world's most ancient civilization Egypt. After Egypt, north Africa gradually became Carthage, Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages, Africa survived through agriculture, animal husbandry and a high level of commercial development. After the Middle Ages, a kingdom was established in the Niger River and Senegal River Basin. In the 15th century, it was invaded by western colonialists, who started the slave trade and plundered the wealth of the land. After World War 2, national independence surged in Africa and the colonies became independent.

African terrain

Comparison of straight coast of Africa, the lack of the Gulf and the peninsula, is the island at least every continent a continent. Wide South mainland North narrow inverted triangle. The African continent for the plateau, relatively flat terrain, north and south ends of a mountain, with an average elevation of 750 meters. The African landscape is dominated by wind erosion, with 20% of the continent desert. In the north is the Sahara, the world's largest desert, east of the world famous "Great Rift Valley." It also has the world's longest river – the Nile – and the second largest – the Congo. African lakes are more concentrated in the east African plateau, in which Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake and the world's second largest freshwater lake. Lake Tanganyika is the second largest deepwater lake.

African Climate

Africa's climate is characterized by high temperatures and a dry climate with uneven rainfall distribution north and south from the equator. The equatorial belt has the world's most precipitation; however, in the Sahara and Namib deserts the annual rainfall is 10 mm or below and some years have no rain at all. For more than 95% of the whole area, the annual average temperature is above 20C.

A paradise of wild things

Africa's wild animal resources are rich, large group of people has more than 100 kinds of nursing practice, more than 2,000 species of freshwater fish, birds, more than 400. Africa has many nature reserves and national parks, mainly Tanzania, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park, South Africa's Kruger National Park, Zambia's Kafue National Park, West Africa, Comoé National Park, Kenya's Amboseli National Park and Tsavo National Park. These national parks and protected areas have a huge amount of habitat and many wildlife species.

Great Rift Valley

This has a total length of about 6,400 km, about 1/6 of Earth's circumference, and extends from southwest Asia, west of the Jordan Valley, through eastern Africa and to the Indian Ocean. It formed from the Great Rift Valley fault zone, which is 200 km wide and has a depth of 1,000 to 2,000 m, making it the world's largest rift zone. The distribution of the Rift Valley has a series of narrow and deep valleys and lakes, like a giant natural reservoir.

Listings of All Countries in Africa