| Continent: Africa Population: 922,011,00 Surface: 30,370,000(km2) / 11,730,000 (mi2) Highest Point: Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895m / 19,341f) Lowest Point: Lake Assal (-155m / −508f) | |
Surface wise, Africa is the second largest continent on Earth, with only Asia being larger. The main land and islands together occupy approximately 30.244.050 square kilometers which is 20,3% of the total Earth’s land area. Over a billion people, that is one seventh of the world population, live in Africa. The largest cities in Africa are Lagos (Nigeria) with 9 million, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic Congo) with 8,4 million and Cairo (Egypt) with 7,9 million inhabitants. The 53 independent states of Africa include many different people and cultures. In North Africa for example, the most common culture is the Islamic Middle-East culture. In other parts of Africa very different cultures and life styles are found. The boundaries are never clear, and often different cultures are found within the same country. Vice versa, the same cultures are often found in adjacent countries. | |
|
| |
The different African countries also have a diversity of official languages like Arabic (e.g. Egypt, Morocco), French (e.g. Rwanda, Madagascar), English (e.g. Nigeria, Zimbabwe), Portuguese (e.g. Angola, Mozambique), Swahili (e.g. Tanzania, Kenya) and African (e.g. South-Africa, Namibia). There are also countries with more exotic languages. Most Africans live at the countryside and cultivate their own food. Only rarely are the gainings high enough to sell or trade some. In the fertile tropical regions and rain forests, yams, cassava and bananas are cultivated. In the dryer regions farmers breed kettle and cultivate grains. The farms and fields are often owned by the same family for many generations. Sometimes the youth leaves the village to work in the mining industry or in a factory, only to return a couple of years later with some savings. Then they start a family in the very same village they grew up themselves. De villages at the countryside are populated by different tribes. Some, like the Kikuyu tribe in East Africa, have lived in the same village for many generations. Others, like the Arabs, came from other parts of Africa or even from different continents and only recently settled at their current place of residence. And there are also nomadic tribes that are always on the move towards new places. Unfortunately, Africa suffers from many civil wars. Mostly caused by political unrest and corrupt governments. The best known is probably the conflict between the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s in Rwanda. The number of deaths in this war has already exceeded 800.000. Besides political problems, hunger causes great misery. Poor harvests, e.g. due to draught, can cause thousands and even millions of deaths in just a few months. It will be clear that not all regions are suitable and safe for tourists. Nevertheless, what attracts most people to Africa is the fantastic two extremes in nature - rainforests and deserts and of course, the African wildlife. The Big Five – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo – are there for you to see in their natural habitat on a wild safari. | |
CountriesAlgeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Congo (Democratic Republic of the), Côte d`Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Réunion, Rwanda, Saint Helena, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania(United Republic of ), Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe, | |