Interesting Facts about Africa
Africa's Geography
- Africa is the second largest continent in the world. Only Asia is bigger.
- Because it has very few jagged coasts and bays, Africa has the shortest coastline of all the other continents.
- Three-fourths of Africa is in the tropics.
- Africa is almost an island. Its only connection to other land is the tiny Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
- Africa is four times the size of the United States.
- Africa includes Madagascar, which is the fourth largest island in the world (Greenland is the largest).
- Kilimanjaro, one of the world's largest mountains, is actually a volcano.
Africa's People
- Africa is so large that a full population census has never been made. Estimates say that the continent and its nearby islands may be home to as many as 748 million people.
- There are over 1,000 different languages in Africa.
- Some African languages are spoken by millions of people, while others are spoken by only a few hundred. Some are on the verge of extinction and are only spoken by a few elderly people.
- The topmost part of Africa has several countries that are actually considered to be part of the Middle East, such as Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.
- Africa's people have more physical variations than on any other continent in the world.
- Africa has some of the shortest and the tallest people in the world.
- Africa is the home of the Human species, which developed there about 5 million years ago.