Africa

Information about Africa

Africa, the second largest continent, has 54 countries - the most on any continent, and a surface area of 30,244,050 sq km (11,677,293 sq mi). Its highest point is Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro, the world's highest free-standing mountain, which rises to 5,895 m (19,340 feet) above sea level. Africa's lowest point is Djibouti's Lake Assal, whose surface is 157 m (515 feet) below sea level. Africa has extensive mineral resources, including gold, diamonds and copper. Its longest river, the Nile, is also the World's longest, and runs 6,650 km (4,132 miles) from Burundi to Egypt. Its largest lake is the 69,485 sq km (26,828 square mile) Lake Victoria, which is surrounded by Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. Africa is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, by the Red Sea to the northeast, and by the Indian Ocean to the southeast.

Etymology

Afri was the name of several peoples who dwelt in North Africa near Carthage. Their name is usually connected with Phoenician afar, "dust", but a 1981 theory has asserted that it stems from a Berber word ifri or Ifran meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers,Africa or Ifri or Afer is name of Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania (Berber Tribe of Yafran) .

Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of Africa Province, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Roman suffix "-ca" denotes "country or land".The later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name.

Other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":
the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (Ant. 1.15) asserted that it was named for Epher, grandson of Abraham according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya.


Latin word aprica ("sunny") mentioned by Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2.


the Greek word aphrike, meaning "without cold." This was proposed by historian Leo Africanus (1488–1554), who suggested the Greek word phrike (φρίκη, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the privative prefix "a-", thus indicating a land free of cold and horror.

Massey, in 1881, derived an etymology from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The Ka is the energetic double of every person and "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace."

The Irish female name Aifric is sometimes anglicised as Africa, but the given name is unrelated to the geonym.

 Regions

Regions of Africa North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara)
The countries that rim the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Saharan Africa (Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan)

The mostly desert and often landlocked nations that span the Sahara Desert.

West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo)
The tropical Atlantic coastal nations.

Central Africa (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Zambia)

The heart of Africa.

East Africa (Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda)

The nations that border the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Southern Africa (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe)
Nations at Africa's southern tip.