Portal:Africa


Satellite map of Africa
Satellite map of Africa
Location of Africa on the world map
Location of Africa on the world map

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With nearly 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest among all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Based on 2024 projections, Africa's population will reach 3.8 billion people by 2099. Africa is the least wealthy inhabited continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, corruption, colonialism, the Cold War, and neocolonialism. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and a large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context. Africa has a large quantity of natural resources and food resources, including diamonds, sugar, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum, natural gas, cocoa beans, and.

Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian. It is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zones. The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion and a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, the northern tip of Mauritania, and the entire territories of Morocco and Tunisia, which in turn are located above the tropic of Cancer, in the northern temperate zone. In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia, southern Botswana, great parts of South Africa, the entire territories of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are located below the tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone.

Africa is highly biodiverse; it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, and pollution. These entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts Africa. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as the continent most vulnerable to climate change.

The history of Africa is long, complex, and varied, and has often been under-appreciated by the global historical community. In African societies the oral word is revered, and they have generally recorded their history via oral tradition, which has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride the written word. During the colonial period, oral sources were deprecated by European historians, which gave them the impression Africa had no recorded history. African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach, culminating in the General History of Africa, edited by specialists from across the continent. (Full article...)

For a topic outline, see Outline of Africa.
Kenyan sailors aboard a Royal Navy minesweeper, 1945

The involvement of the British Colony of Kenya in World War II (Swahili: Vita vya Pili vya Dunia) began with the declaration of war on Nazi Germany by the British Empire in September 1939.

Though some fighting with Italian troops occurred in Kenya itself from June 1940 to February 1941, it remained an important economic asset for the Allies and also contributed a significant number of soldiers to fight in the British Army. (Full article...)

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Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (/ˈbærək hˈsn ˈbɑːmə/; born Baraka Obama, 18 June 1934 – 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure of his son's memoir, Dreams from My Father (1995). Obama married in 1954 and had two children with his first wife, Kezia. He was selected for a special program to attend college in the United States and studied at the University of Hawaii where he met Stanley Ann Dunham, whom he married in 1961 following the conception of his son, Barack. Obama and Dunham divorced three years later. Obama then went to Harvard University for graduate school, where he earned an M.A. in economics, and returned to Kenya in 1964. He saw his son Barack once more, when his son was about 10.

In late 1964, Obama Sr. married Ruth Beatrice Baker, a Jewish-American woman he had met in Massachusetts. They had two sons together before separating in 1971 and divorcing in 1973. Obama first worked for an oil company, before beginning work as an economist with the Kenyan Ministry of Transport. He was promoted to senior economic analyst in the Ministry of Finance. He was among a cadre of young Kenyan men who had been educated in the West in a program supported by Tom Mboya. Obama Sr. had conflicts with Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta, which adversely affected his career. He was fired and blacklisted in Kenya, finding it nearly impossible to get a job. Obama Sr. was involved in three serious car accidents during his final years; he died as a result of the last one in 1982. (Full article...)

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Flag of the Somali Republic
Flag of the Somali Republic
Coat of Arms of the Somali Republic
Coat of Arms of the Somali Republic
Location of Somalia

Somalia (Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiga Soomaliya; Arabic: جمهورية الصومال, Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is located on the Horn of Africa in East Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya on its southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen on its north, the Indian Ocean at its east and Ethiopia to the west.

The Somali state currently exists largely in a de jure capacity; Somalia has a weak but largely recognised central government authority, the Transitional Federal Government, that currently controls only the central region of Somalia and, until recently, controlled only Baidoa. De facto authority in the north of the country resides in the hands of Puntland, Maakhir, and Somaliland respectively. In the south of the country, no government exists at all, while various tribal militias battle for dominance or rule their own regions. Violence has plagued Mogadishu, the capital, since warlords ousted former President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. (Read more...)

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N'Djamena (English: /ənɑːˈmnə/ ən-jah-MAY-nə) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or arrondissements.

The city serves as the centre of economic activity in Chad. Meat, fish and cotton processing are the chief industries, and it is a regional market for livestock, salt, dates, and grains. (Full article...)

In the news

11 January 2025 – Somali Civil War, War against the Islamic State
The Counterterrorism Forces of Puntland's disclosed a cave that was being used to store food by ISIL was captured by Puntland forces in Al-Miskad mountains, killed ISIL fighters and captured including foreigners and destroyed improvised explosive devices and hideouts, and downed three explosives-laden drones as the troops continued their thunder offensive against ISIL militants hiding in the remote areas of the Bari region, Puntland. (Garowe Online) (The Somali Digest) (VOA)
11 January 2025 – Sudanese civil war
Battle of Wad Madani
The Sudanese Armed Forces say that they liberated Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State, Sudan, from the Rapid Support Forces. (Al Arabiya)
11 January 2025 – Nigerian bandit conflict
Twenty-one government-backed fighters are killed during an ambush against a convoy in Baure, Katsina State, Nigeria. (Al Jazeera)
11 January 2025 – Ethiopia–Somalia relations
Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed and President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of a Turkey-brokered rapprochement to restore bilateral relations after a yearlong dispute due to the 2024 Ethiopia–Somaliland memorandum of understanding. (Bloomberg)
10 January 2025 – Somali Civil War, War against the Islamic State
Puntland forces fight against ISIS in the IL-Ameira mountains, stopping seven drones loaded with bombs and removing ten landmines. The forces also destroy five ISIS bases. They capture military bases, including a water well in Jeceel Valley near Cal Miskaad mountains of Balidhidhin District, Bari, Puntland. (Horseed Media) (Hiiraan Online)

Updated: 14:19, 12 January 2025

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Africa topics

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Major Religions in Africa


North Africa

West Africa

Central Africa

East Africa

Southern Africa

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