It is generally assumed that Africa got its name from the historical Romans. 

After defeating the North African city of Carthage, the Romans founded a province there they called Africa; named after the Afri tribe that lived in the area.

Let’s look at some mind-blowing facts about Africa. 

1) SECOND LARGEST CONTINENT ON EARTH.

Asia is the largest continent on earth followed by Africa, with a total area of around 11.73 million square miles (30.37 million square kilometers) which accounts for 5.7% of the earth’s surface as well 20% of the total surface of land on our planet. It is divided up into five geopolitical zones; North, East, South, West, and Central Africa. The length and breadth of the continent are about the same, Horizontal Width: 4,355 miles (7,009 km) from Dakar, Senegal, east to Mogadishu, Somalia, and Vertical Length: 4,504 miles (7,248 km) from Cape Town, South Africa north to Tripoli, Libya.

There are 54 countries and Sudan was formerly the largest country in Africa until it was split into Sudan and South Sudan. Algeria is now the largest African country by geographical area. Cairo (The Capital of Egypt) is the largest city. Africa and Europe are separated by less than 9 miles at the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco,
The African continent has the second largest population in the world, at 1,287,920,518 people approximately 16.87% of the world’s population (2018). It’s no wonder that Africa is home to the most genetically diverse people on Earth.

2) OVER 2000 LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN IN AFRICA.

There are at least 3,000 different ethnic groups in Africa and over 2,000 different languages are spoken and each of them has different dialects. Arabic is the most spoken language in Africa, followed by English, Swahili, and French.

3) WORLD’S LARGEST HOTTEST DESERT IS IN AFRICA.

The Sahara is the world’s largest hot desert and one of the most hazardous atmospheres on the earth. It is the third-largest desert overall after Antarctica and the Arctic, which are cold deserts. At 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers) bigger than the entire USA! The desert covers 11 countries (a large area of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, and Tunisia).

4) WORLD’S LARGEST, TALLEST, AND FASTEST ANIMAL.

The African elephant is the world’s largest land animal, they are huge in fact that it can weigh over six tons and is up to seven meters long in size. The world’s tallest animal, the giraffe, Male giraffes can reach up to 6 m in height, while females can reach about 4,6m.

The fastest land animal in the world, the cheetah, lives in Africa. It speeds up to around 60 miles per hour (96.5 kilometers per hour).

5) RICHEST MAN ON EARTH

Musa I of Mali is considered the richest man in history. Musa was the tenth emperor of the Mali Empire, one of the prosperous Sahelian kingdoms that developed along the Saharan slave trade routes in the later medieval times.

By the time of his death in 1937, estimates place his net worth in the range of US$300 billion to US$400 billion, in adjusted dollars for the late 2000s.

6) WORLD’S LONGEST RIVER.

River Nile is the longest river in the world, is approximately 4,258 miles (6,853 kilometers) long, and Streaming North through 11 countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt.

7) WORLD’S OLDEST UNIVERSITY.

The oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, (Athen’s of Africa) founded in 859 AD by Fatima al-Fihri in Fez, Morocco, and was originally a madrassa.

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