Main article: Geography of Africa
Africa is the largest continent in the southern hemisphere. It has an estimated area of 30,360,288 km² including the surrounding islands.
Africa is seporated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, although it is joined to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez (crossed by the Suez Canel), 130km wide. From the most northern point ( Cape Blanc in Tunisia) to the southern point ( Cape Agulhas in South Africa) is aproxomatly 8,000 km.
Main article: African languages
By most estimates Africa contains well over a thousand languages. There are four major language families native to Africa.
With a few notable exceptions in East Africa, nearly all African countries have adopted official languages that originated outside the continent and spread through colonialism or human migration. For example, in numerous countries English and French are used for communication in the public sphere such as government, commerce, education and the media.
Name of territory, with flag |
Area (km²) |
Population (1 July 2002 est.) |
Population density (per km²) |
Capital |
---|---|---|---|---|
Eastern Africa [1]: | ||||
Burundi | 27,830 | 6,373,002 | 229.0 | Bujumbura |
Comoros | 2,170 | 614,382 | 283.1 | Moroni |
Djibouti | 23,000 | 472,810 | 20.6 | Djibouti |
Eritrea | 121,320 | 4,465,651 | 36.8 | Asmara |
Ethiopia | 1,127,127 | 67,673,031 | 60.0 | Addis Ababa |
Kenya | 582,650 | 31,138,735 | 53.4 | Nairobi |
Madagascar | 587,040 | 16,473,477 | 28.1 | Antananarivo |
Malawi | 118,480 | 10,701,824 | 90.3 | Lilongwe |
Mauritius | 2,040 | 1,200,206 | 588.3 | Port Louis |
Mayotte ( France) | 374 | 170,879 | 456.9 | Mamoudzou |
Mozambique | 801,590 | 19,607,519 | 24.5 | Maputo |
Réunion (France) | 2,512 | 743,981 | 296.2 | Saint-Denis |
Rwanda | 26,338 | 7,398,074 | 280.9 | Kigali |
Seychelles | 455 | 80,098 | 176.0 | Victoria |
Somalia | 637,657 | 7,753,310 | 12.2 | Mogadishu |
Tanzania | 945,087 | 37,187,939 | 39.3 | Dodoma |
Uganda | 236,040 | 24,699,073 | 104.6 | Kampala |
Zambia | 752,614 | 9,959,037 | 13.2 | Lusaka |
Zimbabwe | 390,580 | 11,376,676 | 29.1 | Harare |
Middle Africa: | ||||
Angola | 1,246,700 | 10,593,171 | 8.5 | Luanda |
Cameroon | 475,440 | 16,184,748 | 34.0 | Yaoundé |
Central African Republic | 622,984 | 3,642,739 | 5.8 | Bangui |
Chad | 1,284,000 | 8,997,237 | 7.0 | N'Djamena |
Congo | 342,000 | 2,958,448 | 8.7 | Brazzaville |
Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2,345,410 | 55,225,478 | 23.5 | Kinshasa |
Equatorial Guinea | 28,051 | 498,144 | 17.8 | Malabo |
Gabon | 267,667 | 1,233,353 | 4.6 | Libreville |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 1,001 | 170,372 | 170.2 | São Tomé |
Northern Africa: | ||||
Algeria | 2,381,740 | 32,277,942 | 13.6 | Algiers |
Egypt [2] | 1,001,450 | 70,712,345 | 70.6 | Cairo |
Libya | 1,759,540 | 5,368,585 | 3.1 | Tripoli |
Morocco | 446,550 | 31,167,783 | 69.8 | Rabat |
Sudan | 2,505,810 | 37,090,298 | 14.8 | Khartoum |
Tunisia | 163,610 | 9,815,644 | 60.0 | Tunis |
Western Sahara ( Morocco) [3] | 266,000 | 256,177 | 1.0 | El Aaiún |
Southern Europe dependencies in Northern Africa: | ||||
Canary Islands ( Spain) [4] | 7,492 | 1,694,477 | 226.2 |
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife |
Ceuta (Spain) [5] | 20 | 71,505 | 3,575.2 | — |
Madeira Islands ( Portugal) [6] | 797 | 245,000 | 307.4 | Funchal |
Melilla (Spain) [7] | 12 | 66,411 | 5,534.2 | — |
Southern Africa: | ||||
Botswana | 600,370 | 1,591,232 | 2.7 | Gaborone |
Lesotho | 30,355 | 2,207,954 | 72.7 | Maseru |
Namibia | 825,418 | 1,820,916 | 2.2 | Windhoek |
South Africa | 1,219,912 | 43,647,658 | 35.8 | Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Pretoria [8] |
Swaziland | 17,363 | 1,123,605 | 64.7 | Mbabane |
Western Africa: | ||||
Benin | 112,620 | 6,787,625 | 60.3 | Porto-Novo |
Burkina Faso | 274,200 | 12,603,185 | 46.0 | Ouagadougou |
Cape Verde | 4,033 | 408,760 | 101.4 | Praia |
Côte d'Ivoire | 322,460 | 16,804,784 | 52.1 | Abidjan, Yamoussoukro [9] |
Gambia | 11,300 | 1,455,842 | 128.8 | Banjul |
Ghana | 239,460 | 20,244,154 | 84.5 | Accra |
Guinea | 245,857 | 7,775,065 | 31.6 | Conakry |
Guinea-Bissau | 36,120 | 1,345,479 | 37.3 | Bissau |
Liberia | 111,370 | 3,288,198 | 29.5 | Monrovia |
Mali | 1,240,000 | 11,340,480 | 9.1 | Bamako |
Mauritania | 1,030,700 | 2,828,858 | 2.7 | Nouakchott |
Niger | 1,267,000 | 10,639,744 | 8.4 | Niamey |
Nigeria | 923,768 | 129,934,911 | 140.7 | Abuja |
Saint Helena ( UK) | 410 | 7,317 | 17.8 | Jamestown |
Senegal | 196,190 | 10,589,571 | 54.0 | Dakar |
Sierra Leone | 71,740 | 5,614,743 | 78.3 | Freetown |
Togo | 56,785 | 5,285,501 | 93.1 | Lomé |
Total | 30,368,609 | 843,705,143 | 27.8 |
HIV is most prominent in Southern Africa, where levels are between 15 and 50 percent of the adult population.
Name of territorys (with
flag) with 15-50% HIV adult population |
---|
South Africa |
Namibia |
Botswana |
Zimbabwe |
Zambia |
Lesotho |
Swaziland |