The African Continent It is the third largest continent on the planet, there are more than 50 countries, it has approximately 900 million people, there is a diversity of languages and religions. In the following a summary of all the information about this Continent.
Characteristics of the African Continent
In the following, the characteristics of the African Continent will be shown, such as: geography, economy, demography, language, religion and more.
Geography
La Location of Africa Regarding its territorial limits:
- The Mediterranean Sea is located in the North.
- Continent of Asia, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal are located on the side East.
- The Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean are located in the on of the continent.
- The Atlantic Ocean is located West.
The Continent of Africa is extensive and has a massive platform with a height of about 600 to 800 meters above sea level. Seas and oceans (masl), there are not many rivers that cross the continent and those that limit the peninsulas.
El African continent with respect to its size it is in third place.
It has a considerable average altitude and uniformity with respect to its orography. It has three continuous climatic zones that are repeated from the north to the south of the equator, including the climates of the Mediterranean, the Subtropical, the desert climate and also the rainy Intertropical, in which its two main ones are included, that of the jungle and that of the savannah.
Africa Information very important
It has a large amount of energy in the form of radiation or insolation in almost the entire year, it is believed that its name comes from here, since Africa in Latin means; "without cold". If the continent took advantage of all that energy, it would have something more valuable than the oil itself, it just needs to have enough water to take advantage of it.
Its soils are highly enriched with respect to minerals and are very suitable for grazing. With the Types of weather the type of Tsetse fly develops where it abounds today. The areas that are most suitable for cultivation are found in the highlands on the eastern side and in the area where the Great Lakes are located, as well as different deltas, coasts, including the Sahel.
The border goes from the Sahara desert and the intertropical zone, supported by the irrigation of some areas.
This entire area would have more water available by means of a construction making diversions with conduits that carry the water through gravity, an example would be to do it from the Congo River basin, if they resolved their political conflicts it would be carried out .
Main Ecosystems of the African Continent
- The Sahara Desert. It is currently in a period of Dry weather. It has a length of 9.400.000 square kilometers
- The Namibian Desert. With a length of about 2.000 km.
- The Kalahari Desert. Its length is 930.000 km² and it spreads through «Botswana».
- It covers a length of 5.400 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east.
- It covers a length of 223.100 km².
- The Okavango Delta. It has an area ranging from 15.000 km² and 22.000 km² when there are floods.
- It has an approximate of 87.056.145 inhabitants.
- The Great Rift Valley. It has an extension of 4830 kilometers.
- The Great Lakes. It has a large population, one of the largest in the world, at 107 million people.
- Kenyan highlands. The highest peak is Punta Lenana, 4.985 m.
- Ethiopian Massif. Its summits can measure between 4.600 and 4.900 meters above sea level.
Main islands and archipelagos of the Continent
- Archipelago of Madeira, has an area of 828 km².
- Archipelago of the Canary Islands, has a length of 1583 km on its coasts.
- Archipelago of Cape Verde, Bioko, this archipelago is made up of ten islands.
- São Tomé and Príncipe, has an area of 1.001 km².
- Santa Elena, has an area of 121 km² and has an area of 91 km².
- Archipelago of the Mascareñas, was discovered on February 9, 1513.
- Zanzibar has an area of 1.666 km².
- Archipelago of the Comoros, according to the 2012 census has a population of 724 inhabitants.
- Archipelago of the Seychelles, has an area of 455 km².
rivers of africa
- Volta, has an area of 407.093 km².
- Niger-Benue flows in a northeast-southeast direction until it reaches the Gulf of Guinea.
- Congo (the second largest river in the world), its route is heading north, west and south and south west, it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
- Orange has a route of about 2.200 km, Limpopo its length is 1.800 km.
- Nile (the longest river in the world), has a length of 6853 km.
- Zambezi, has a length of 2.574 km.
Economy
Formerly most of the African countries were colonies of Europe, for this condition they continue their economic negotiations with the EU (European Union).
Libya has the highest GDP in the entire continent, for this reason they have the opportunity to establish various ideas in the area of construction, for example the Great River of Libya which is artificial.
There is an Organization of countries similar to the EU, which bears the name of the AU (African Union), where all the countries of the continent are found, including the «Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic». Most are in underdevelopment, others are on the way to development.
On the continent, some 350 million people have a dollar a day to live on. Africa has to cancel 20 billion dollars of its debt every year, despite the fact that in the last decade of the XNUMXth century there were some "remissions" in this regard.
Demography
The national census is expired, for this reason there is no estimate of the number of people today, according to calculations made, the number of African residents can approach nine hundred million people. Having very little demographic density, it is thought that there is an average of 33 people per Km2.
In terms of growth, it has the highest percentage, having (2,4%), almost double the average that is handled worldwide, which is (1,2%). Annually the community has a growth above 20 million, this is due to several reasons:
How is the birth rate managed?: the birth numbers are very high. The measure with respect to births is found at (36%), doubles the measure that is handled worldwide. An average woman has an average of 4,8 children, the highest on the planet.
How is the management of diseases and mortality in the continent: Due to the evolution in medicine, they have managed to curb mortality in this continent, with cases of endemic diseases, yellow fever or malaria. They have not yet been able to stop the growth of AIDS, which continues to be the leading cause of death on the continent.
A continent of young people: It can be said that Africa is young as a continent, 50% of the community is under the age of fifteen and only (3%) is over 65 years old. It cannot be denied that there are some differences.
As is the case in “sub-Saharan countries”, such as Uganda, the people are young and growing faster than in the Republic of South Africa and the northern regions.
Average life in Africa: the average lifespan on this continent is the lowest on the planet, women with an average of 56 years and men is 53 years.
Religions: among the most common are Islam in the north and the classic "animist" or native religions of "sub-Saharan" Africa, the religion of Christianity is expanded with its diversities such as: Catholicism, Coptic Christianity, in Ethiopia, churches evangelical and cults originating in Africa where they unite the rituals of their traditions with those of Christianity.
On the continent, 80% of the citizens are black, the northern part is inhabited by white-skinned people such as Berbers and Arabs. In the southern hemisphere there is a white population, the majority comes from Europe, an average of 5 million is estimated.
On the continent there are about a thousand languages, a large part of them are used by sectors. With great popularity are: Arabic in the north, French, English along with the Sudanese languages in "sub-Saharan" Africa in the eastern and southern area is Swahili.
In the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, the inhabitants are largely black, which is subdivided into several important groups. It is common to see bordering areas in the middle of these groups, with a mixed population.
Groupings
- Sudanese (Gulf of Guinea and Sahel countries).
- Nilotic (Nile, from Sudan to the Great Lakes).
- Kushitic (Eriopean Plateau and Horn of Africa)
- Bantu, the largest ethnic group, which is found throughout the area from the equatorial Jungle Belt, is actually a mixture of two classes of yesteryear that are scattered, today and the number has decreased, these groups are:
- The Twá: who have been misnamed pygmies, who are found inhabiting the forest areas.
- The Kung-San: They call this group the Bushmen and they are found in the arid places of the extreme south.
- The population that is of French origin is located in the Maghreb and in small numbers in the cities that are large in West Africa, in Angola and other cities on the coast. There is a minority that is a mixture of Africans and Portuguese.
Countries of the Continent
La Political Division of Africa defines how this continent is constituted, therefore it is important to know that it is made up of 54 sovereign countries, two unrecognized countries and two dependent areas. In addition to this, this continent also includes other countries, which belong to the European Continent, these are Spain, Portugal and France.
The countries of Africa:
- Angola
- Algeria
- Bassas from India
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Green Cable
- Comoros
- Congo
- Ivory Coast
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Equatorial Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Isla Bouvet
- Europe Island
- Juan de Nova Island
- Tromelin Island
- Glorious Islands
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Morocco
- Mauricio
- Mauritania
- Mayotte
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- no man's land
- Central African Republic
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Republic of Chad
- Reunion
- Rwanda
- Western Sahara
- Santa Helena
- Saint Thomas and Prince
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leona
- Somalia
- Swaciland
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- British territory in the Indian Ocean
- French Southern and Antarctic Lands
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Languages
There is a group of languages that are perhaps as old as humanity, from there two types of speech were born that are considered to be the main ones and from these two groups some classes of fundamental languages have emerged, such as:
- The Dialects of the Continent.
- The Niger-Bernue Group.
There are languages that are very particular and outstanding, such as the languages of Clicks originating from the Kung Sang, it is thought that the different languages that are spoken worldwide were born from there.
Among the languages that are expanding, there are those with more than 120 million speakers, such as:
- Arabic, El Kiswahili, (alternatively Swahili), Haussa, (Fulbé or Fulfuldé), all are "lingua francas" that is, they are languages spoken by different cultures, followed by users whose dialect of origin is the European language.
- English, French, Portuguese third, which is used by postcolonial administrators and urban planning classes.
Religion
On the continent, most of the religions that are practiced are of the African tradition, which are found in an indefinite group called "animist". These religions that fall into this group of animists present themselves as religions that are universal, such is the case of the Christian religion and Islam.
The Islam: It appears as the leading religion in the north and stands out in the Sahara region, West Africa, Sahel and East Africa.
The Christianity: despite being older than Islam, it remained trapped in Ethiopia for a long time, in the XNUMXth century it was when it had an important growth throughout the continent.
These two religions, Islam and Christianity, perform harmoniously on the continent, many are devout, in the same way as it happens with the religion of Kimbanguism or also the Church of Celestial Christianity, which remain and grow motivated with the concepts and the outline of all religions that are traditional.
Traditional Religions: these have a very high presence in America, among the religions that stand out the most are:
- voodoo: Located especially in Haiti.
- yoruba: can be found in the Caribbean, and in Brazil.
Religions of the Old Kingdom of the Congo: They are also present in the Caribbean and mainly throughout Brazil.
The Hindu and Judaic Religions: They do not have a large number of followers.
Curiosities of the African Continent
- The first man in the world. It has always been thought that Homo Sapiens originated on this continent, about 190 years ago, and then spread throughout the planet.
- Arab countries that are located in the northern part of the continent. The Arabs conquered all of North Africa in the XNUMXth century. From that moment the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea are Arab.
- African colonies. In the XNUMXth century, several countries on the European continent shared the countries of Africa.
- Wars and conflicts on the continent in the course of the XNUMXst century. Since the 25st century, many differences have arisen on this continent, so much so that today it is where the different conflicts are concentrated, according to calculations that have been made, there are around XNUMX in the entire territory.
- education and children. Not all children receive an education, 4 out of 10 children without education are of African origin. Life on this continent is difficult for children. In the countries that maintain war or have some difference, the children are the first affected, they are turned into soldiers, forced to work, they end up being slaves. Many are kidnapped and in terms of food and vital liquid are scarce.