Africa

Geography

Africa is the second largest continent at 11,677,240 square miles (30,244,050 square kilometers), covering 20.3% of the total land area on Earth. It straddles the equator and stretches 5,000 miles (8,050 kilometers) from north to south. It is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east and south by the Indian Ocean.

Climate

Africa may be divided into five general climatic regions in general controlled by its proximity to the equator: 1). Tropical rain forest climate with heavy rain and high temperatures throughout the year, 2). Tropical savanna climate with high temperatures all year and a seasonal distribution of rain during the summer season, 3). Semiarid steppe with limited summer rain, 4). Desert, and 5). Mediterranean-type climate with subtropical temperatures and a concentration of rainfall mostly in the autumn and winter months.

History

Africa's first great civilization began in Egypt around 3400 BC. Arabs began their conquest of north and west Africa in the 7th century, extending the religion of Islam into the powerful kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai who drew their wealth from the control of the trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, and slaves. Between the 1st century BC and 1500 AD, Bantu-speaking peoples became dominant over most of the continent south of the equator, establishing small farming villages and in places powerful kingdoms.

Both the Arabs and the Europeans set up trading stations along the coasts of Africa to trade for slaves, ivory, gold, and other valuable resources. By the 18th and 19th centuries, European explorers had penetrated to the interior of Africa and the “Scramble for Africa” was on. At the end of the 19th century, European nations occupied nearly all of Africa with Great Britain controlling much of eastern and southern Africa, the French western Africa, and Portugal, Germany, Italy, and Belgium taking the remaining areas.

This occupation continued until the conclusion of WWII, after which all colonial states gradually obtained formal independence. Today, Africa consists of over 50 independent countries, many of which still have borders drawn during the era of European colonialism.

Peoples

With over 800 million human inhabitants Africa accounts for around one seventh of Earth's human population. Many countries in Africa have very high population growth rates; although as a whole, Africa is sparsely populated. African peoples are distinguishable in terms of many different linguistic and cultural groups, which number around 1,000. Most people groups are of dark skin, although some Arab populations are found in the north, west and east. Muslims make up an estimated 40% of the population in Africa, while Christians another 40%. The remaining people practice indigenous animistic religions.

Economics

Most of Africa's population is rural; however, agricultural production is low by world standards due to the fact that mechanized tools, good soils, abundant water, fertilizers, and pesticides are not always readily available. Many African countries are considered “poor” or “third-world” because of their very low standard of living and low economic output/industry.

Health

Infant mortality remains high in Africa, while average life spans are decreasing due to the AIDS pandemic. According to the World Health Organization’s “World Health Report 2001”, the leading cause of death in Africa is HIV/AIDS. Lower respiratory infections, malaria, and diarrheal diseases are other common causes of death, mostly because of the poor overall nutrition there. HIV has hit sub-Sahara Africa hard with prevalence rates among adults as high as 39%. In many of these countries, average life spans have fallen into the 40’s, the number of orphaned children has increased dramatically, and the workforce for both agricultural production and civil service has been severely weakened.

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