Africa

Countries: There are about 53 countries in Africa (some countries are disputed). The biggest country in Africa is Sudan, which covers 967,500 square miles (2,505,816 square kilometers). The countries with the largest populations in Africa are Nigeria (185,000,000 people), Ethiopia (90,000,000 people), and Egypt (88,500,000 people).

Highest and Lowest Points: The tallest point in Africa is Mt. Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania (eastern Africa). Mt. Kilimanjaro is 19,340 feet (5895 meters) tall. Africa has no long mountain chains.

The lowest point in Africa is Lake Assal, in Djibouti (in eastern Africa near the Horn of Africa); it is 512 feet (156 meters) below sea level.

Lakes: Africa's largest lake is Lake Victoria; it covers 26,836 square miles (69,500 square kilometers). Other large lakes in Africa are Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi, and Lake Chad.

Rivers: The longest river in Africa is the Nile River; it is 4,241 miles (6825 kilometers) long. Other long rivers in Africa include the Congo River, the Niger River and the Zambezi River.

Deserts: Africa has many vast deserts, including the largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara. The Sahara Desert is located in northern Africa and covers 3,500,000 square miles (9,065,000 square kilometers). The Kalahari, in southern Africa, is another large desert.

Islands: The biggest island off Africa is Madagascar, which is near the coast of southeast Africa. Madagascar covers 226,658 square miles (587,000 square kilometers). Other islands include the Seychelles (a chain of islands north of Madagascar), the Comoros (another chain of islands north of Madagascar), the Canary Islands (a chain of islands off the northwest coast), the Madeira Islands (another chain of islands off the northwest coast), the Cape Verde Islands (off the coast of western Africa), Equatorial Guinea (off the coast of Cameroon), and Sao Tome (southwest of Equatorial Guinea).

More about Africa: The continent of Africa covers nearly 12 million square miles (31 million sq. km). Africa could hold the land occupied by China, India, Europe, Argentina, New Zealand and the continental United States, with room to spare!. As of 2003, there are 54 African countries that are members either of the United Nations or the African Union, formerly the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, is a member of the African Union but not the UN.

Within the vast African continent, climates range from Mediterranean to desert. Tropical rainforest occupies less than one-tenth of the area, and the most common landscape is open savannah grassland. There are over 1,000 African languages; English, French, Portuguese, and Arabic are also widely spoken.

Approximately 255 million people live in West Africa and 225 million in East Africa, the two most populous of Africa’s five regions, almost as many as in the entire U.S. Central Africa, the least populous, has over 100 million people, about as many as the northern U.S. from New England to Kansas. Southern Africa and North Africa each has about 150 million, equal to the U.S. Northeast plus the South, including Texas.

There are tens of millions of recent African immigrants outside the continent today, including more than a million in the United States and more than that in the United Kingdom. Many play leadership roles in global institutions, such as the United Nations, and in the countries where they now live. This global diaspora is an integral part of African reality.