Africa continent-अफ़्रीका महाद्वीप

Africa is the SECOND LARGEST of the Earth’s seven continents, covering 30,244,000 sq km (11,677,000 sq mi), including its adjacent islands.

 It comprises ….23 percent of the world’s total land area ,13 percent of the world’s population, lived in Africa, making it the…..world’s second most populous continent, after Asia.

The Geographical location-

The term Africa, is derived from the  Latin term ……..aprica (“sunny”) or the Greek aphrike (“without cold”).

The continent is bounded on the….. West by the Atlantic Ocean, on the ,…..north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the …..East by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

The ….Red Sea (also the Erythraean Sea) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia.

- The Bab-el-Mandeb /Gate of Tears–

The strait derives its name from the dangers attending its navigation, or, according to an Arab legend, from the numbers who were drowned by the earthquake which separated Asia and Africa.

-It connects the ….Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

The connection to the ocean is in the south through the …..Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.

- The Bab-el-Mandeb Gate of Tears"  is a strait located between…. Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa.

-The Sinai Peninsula-

In the northeast, Africa was joined to Asia by the …..Sinai Peninsula (is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about 60,000 km²(23,000 sq mi) in area.

It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located inAsia, as opposed to Africa, serving as a land bridge between two continents)until the construction of the Suez Canal.

 Paradoxically, the coastline of Africa 18,950 miles (30,500 km) in length—is shorter than that of Europe, because there are few inlets and few large bays or gulfs.

Off the coasts of Africa a number of islands are associated with the continent. Of these Madagascar, (one of the largest islands in the world) smaller islands include the ….Seychelles, Socotra,Comoros, Mauritius.

Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeriaby population.

The continent is cut almost equally in two by the Equator, so that most of Africa lies within the tropical region, bounded on the north by the Tropic of Cancer and on the south by the Tropic of Capricorn.

Because of the bulge formed by western Africa, the greater part of Africa’s territory lies north of the Equator. Africa is crossed from north to south by the prime meridian (0° longitude), which passes a short distance to the east of Accra, Ghana.

The whole of Africa can be considered as a vast plateau rising steeply from narrow coastal strips and consisting of ancient crystalline rocks. The plateau’s surface is higher in the southeast and tilts downward toward the northeast. In general the plateau may be divided into a southeastern portion and a northwestern portion.

-The Maghrib –

The northwestern part, which includes the Sahara (desert) and that part of North Africa known as the …..Maghrib, has two mountainous regions—the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Africa, which are believed to be part of a system that extends into southern Europe, and the Ahaggar(Hoggar) Mountains in the Sahara.

The southeastern part of the plateau includes the Ethiopian Plateau, the East African Plateau and—in eastern South Africa .

There are…. 54 countries and one “non-self governing territory”, the Western Sahara, in Africa.

-Western Sahara, formerly the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front.

It is listed by the United Nations (UN) as a non-decolonized territory and is thus included in the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

All of Africa was colonized by foreign powers during the “scramble for Africa”, except Ethiopia and Liberia.

Before colonial rule Africa comprised up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs.

The Scramble for Africa–

The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa or Partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914.

 As a result of the heightened tension between European states in the last quarter of the 19th century, the partitioning of Africa may be seen as a way for the Europeans to eliminate the threat of a Europe-wide war over Africa. The last 59 years of the 19th century saw transition from ‘informal imperialism’ of control through military influence and economic dominance to that of direct rule.

Africa is the world’s poorest and most underdeveloped continent with a continental GDP that accounts for just 2.4% of global GDP.

Almost…..40% of adults in Africa are illiterate – two-thirds are women. Adult literacy rates are below 50% in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.