Map of Africa with Facts, Statistics and History
Africa is the world's second-largest and
second-most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km2 (11.7 million sq mi)
including adjacent islands, it covers six percent of Earth's total surface area
and 20.4 percent of its total land area.[2] With 1.1 billion people as of 2013,
it accounts for about 15% of the world's human population.[1] The continent is
surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the
Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the
southeast, and theAtlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar
and various archipelagos. It has 54 fully recognized sovereign states(or
countries), nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited
or no recognition.[3]
Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the
continents;[4][5] the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median
age was 30.4.[6] Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria by
population. Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as
the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as
evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as
well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago,
includingSahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis,
Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliestHomo sapiens
(modern human) found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago.[7]
Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the
only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate
zones.[8]
Map of Africa - Countries of Africa - Nations Online Project
Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa. Most modern states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century.
Oxygen Group Photography : Africa
Etymology
Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean (Ancient Libya).[9][10] This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe; see Terence#Biography for discussion. The name is usually connected with Hebrew ʿafar "dust", but a 1981 hypothesis[11] has asserted that it stems from the Berber ifri (plural ifran) "cave", in reference to cave dwellers.[12] The same word[12] may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria andTripolitania, a Berber tribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane) in northwestern Libya.[13]
Africa Political Map
Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya.[14] The Latin suffix "-ica" can sometimes be used to denote a land (e.g., in Celtica from Celtae, as used by Julius Caesar). The later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name.
Africa Map - Map Pictures
According to the ancient Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to Anatolia and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geographer Ptolemy (85–165 AD), indicating Alexandria along the Prime Meridian and making the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of "Africa" expanded with their knowledge.
map_of_africa.jpg
Other etymological hypotheses have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":
- The 1st-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (Ant. 1.15) asserted that it was named for Epher, grandson of Abraham according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya.
- Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. suggests "Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning "sunny".
- Massey, in 1881, states that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The Ka is the energetic double of every person and the "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace."[15]
- Yet another hypothesis was proposed by Michèle Fruyt,[16] linking the Latin word with africus "south wind", which would be of Umbrian origin and mean originally "rainy wind".
- Robert R. Stieglitz of Rutgers University proposes that: "The name Africa, derived from the Latin *Aphir-ic-a, is cognate to Hebrew Ophir."[17]
Africa Map / Map of Africa - Facts, Geography, History of ...
The African Union (AU) is a 54-member federation consisting of all of Africa's states except Morocco. The union was formed, with Addis Ababa,Ethiopia, as its headquarters, on 26 June 2001. The union was officially established on 9 July 2002[84] as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). In July 2004, the African Union's Pan-African Parliament (PAP) was relocated to Midrand, in South Africa, but the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights remained in Addis Ababa. There is a policy in effect to decentralize the African Federation's institutions so that they are shared by all the states.
Africa Physical Map – Freeworldmaps.net
The African Union, not to be confused with the AU Commission, is formed by the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which aims to transform theAfrican Economic Community, a federated commonwealth, into a state under established international conventions. The African Union has a parliamentary government, known as the African Union Government, consisting of legislative, judicial and executive organs. It is led by the African Union President and Head of State, who is also the President of the Pan-African Parliament. A person becomes AU President by being elected to the PAP, and subsequently gaining majority support in the PAP. The powers and authority of the President of the African Parliament derive from the Constitutive Act and the Protocol of the Pan-African Parliament, as well as the inheritance of presidential authority stipulated by African treaties and by international treaties, including those subordinating the Secretary General of the OAU Secretariat (AU Commission) to the PAP. The government of the AU consists of all-union (federal), regional, state, and municipal authorities, as well as hundreds of institutions, that together manage the day-to-day affairs of the institution.
Political associations such as the African Union offer hope for greater co-operation and peace between the continent's many countries. Extensive human rights abuses still occur in several parts of Africa, often under the oversight of the state. Most of such violations occur for political reasons, often as a side effect of civil war. Countries where major human rights violations have been reported in recent times include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Côte d'Ivoire.
Zambia CIA Map
Politics
There are clear signs of increased networking among African organizations and states. For example, in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire), rather than rich, non-African countries intervening, neighboring African countries became involved (see also Second Congo War). Since the conflict began in 1998, the estimated death toll has reached 5 million.
Map of Africa, Africa Map - clickable
