Africa is the second-largest continent on our planet. It stretches over about 12 million square miles, including its islands. It has a population of over 800 million in 54 countries. Africa is the oldest inhabited land area on earth, with the human race originating from this continent.
Some divide Africa in 2 main areas: Francophone Africa (Benin, Burkino Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal and Togo; also the islands of Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles and Mayotte) and the rest of Africa, in particular the former British colonies of southern and East Africa.
Africa is more commonly subdivided in
North Africa - the southern shores of the Mediterranean
Saharan Africa - desert and landlocked nations around the Sahara Desert.
West Africa - Atlantic coas nations.
Central Africa - the center of Africa
East Africa - Red Sea and Indian Ocean shores
Southern Africa - Africa's southern end
The countries of Africa are:
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Cote d'Ivoire
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
The Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Republic of the Congo
Rwanda
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Swaziland
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Africa has in all 53 countries big and small. Racially and Geographically both, Africa has two distinct regions. One which is known as the Sahara desert extending from the Atlantic in the west to the Red Sea in the east across the entire northern part of the continent and the other south of Sahara. The first region is known as Arab Africa not because of the domination of Saudi Arabia but because of the dominance of Arab culture and Arabic language and the second region is termed as Black Africa. Both the regions are historically culturally, racially, economically and linguistically poles apart. Religiously some of the countries south of Sahara subscribe to the idealogy of Islam, but many others have embraced the Christianity.
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