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Africa

Africa is a continent that covers 6% of the Earth's surface and 20% of the land surface. Its area is 30,415,873 km2 with the islands, which makes it the third largest in the world if we count America as a single continent. Its population of 1.3 billion inhabitants ranks Africa as the second continent in the world after Asia and represents 17.2% of the world's population in 2020.

The continent is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, by the Gulf of Suez, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the northeast, by the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel to the southeast and by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea to the west.

Africa is crossed almost in its middle by the equator and has several climates: hot and humid as close as possible to the equator, tropical in the regions between the equator and the tropics, hot and arid around the tropics, temperate in the altitude zones. The continent is characterized by the lack of regular rainfall. In the absence of glaciers or mountain aquifer systems, there is no means of natural climate regulation with the exception of flora (forests in particular) and proximity to the sea. The arid lands represent 60% of the continent, whose environment is nevertheless very rich — it has been called the "paradise of biodiversity— -. The continent is home to the second continuous forest massif on the planet: the Congo Basin forest, but which is threatened by overexploitation, deforestation, forest fragmentation and the decline in biodiversity, consequences of anthropogenic pressure, exacerbated by climate change.
In 2020, climate indicators showed a continuous rise in temperatures in Africa, an acceleration of sea level rise, and more frequent extreme weather and climate events (e.g. floods, droughts, and their devastating effects). The rapid shrinking of the last glaciers in East Africa, which are expected to melt completely in the near future, also signals the threat of an imminent and irreversible change in the Earth system.

The continent is considered the cradle of humanity, where the ancestors of man appeared, then, about 200,000 years ago, modern man who then spread to the rest of the globe. The Sahara, the largest hot desert in the world, has created a hiatus, leading to distinct historical evolutions between the north and the south. In the historical period, the civilization of ancient Egypt develops along the Nile, sub-Saharan Africa sees the birth of its own civilizations in the savannah areas ; North Africa, the southern shore of the Mediterranean, is influenced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans. From 3000 BC Africa is experiencing Bantu expansion. This is a population movement in several phases, oriented globally from the north, from the grassland of present-day Cameroon, to the south, to southern Africa, reached at the beginning of the Christian era. The Bantu expansion explains the current ethnolinguistic map of the sub-Saharan zone.

The Christian religion takes root in Africa from the first century, mainly in Roman Africa in the north of the continent and then in Ethiopia. The seventh century saw the beginnings of Islam in Africa, which settled on the east coast and in the north of the continent to the northern fringe of the sub-Saharan zone. North Africa is, at the same time, arabized. In sub-Saharan Africa, from the eighth century to the seventeenth century, powerful and rich empires succeed one another. Towards the end of this period, in the fifteenth century, the Portuguese, followed by other European nations, set up a slave trade on the west coast, the Atlantic trade, which is added to the intra-African trade and the eastern trade which are already rampant on the continent.

The eighteenth century marks the beginning of European explorations, followed by the massive colonization of the continent between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The slave trade ceased at the beginning of the twentieth century, but Africa was almost entirely under colonial rule until the middle of the twentieth century, which models the borders and economies of the countries concerned until today.

Most of the states obtain their independence between the end of the 1950s (Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana ...) and the mid-1970s (Angola, Mozambique ...). Independent Africa is essentially made up of "imperfect democracies" or even "authoritarian regimes" and conflicts are numerous there. Since the independence of South Sudan in 2011, Africa, including Madagascar, has 54 sovereign states (not including SADR and Somaliland).

The countries of the continent have the most significant population growth on the planet and a health situation that is improving markedly while progressing less quickly than in other developing countries.

Africa is based on a social organization based on the extended family and ethnic affiliation; there are a thousand ethnic groups on the continent, which at the same time has the highest linguistic diversity in the world with nearly 2,000 living languages.

Contemporary Africa is in a situation where the weight of demography is difficult to manage (unemployment, education financing, etc.) because the continent remains the least economically developed despite strong growth since the beginning of the twenty-first century, which has allowed the emergence of a middle class, less fertile, with higher incomes.

Economically, intercontinental trade has been supported since ancient times and, at the time of the great empires, the continent is the gold supplier of the West and the East. Later, colonization led to a massive specialization of colonial economies that became almost exclusively extroverted, devoted to the export of raw materials, mineral and agricultural, to the metropolises. Knowing that it still has important mineral and oil reserves, this situation persists in the twenty-first century, with, as a corollary, rentier states and oligarchies that capture income at the expense of populations that have remained poor. Its place in the current economic globalization is minimal, unlike in past centuries. However, some countries have started an economic turning point in the recent period thanks to economic diversification, the development of the tertiary sector and "inclusive growth".

North Africa

Morocco · Algeria · Tunisia · Libya · Egypt · Sudan · Western Sahara
While the vast dunes of the Sahara cover most of its territory, the Mediterranean coast has a privileged climate that has allowed the development of great cultures. From the markets and Islamic architecture of Marrakech, one can jump to French influence in Tunisia and Algeria or to Roman ruins in Libya. Meanwhile, Egypt attracts millions of tourists who visit not only the mythical pyramids of Giza, but also the vibrant city of Cairo or the beaches of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Sahel

Mauritania · Mali · Niger · Chad
Although its aridity and ongoing armed conflict keep sub-Saharan Africa from tourist destinations, there are still some gems to know in the Sahel. Timbuktu, the ancient capital of the empire of Mali, and Agadez were important centers of medieval caravans that roamed Africa. Between the steppes and mirages, one can still recognize the nomadic cultures of the Sahel, such as Tuaregs.

African horn

Ethiopia · Eritrea · Djibouti · Somalia (Somaliland)
Ethiopia is considered the cradle of mankind and is one of the oldest and most unique civilizations on the planet. Surrounded by Muslims, Ethiopia maintains a primitive version of Christianity from which shrines such as Lalibela arose. The region, mountainous and arid, has beautiful inaccessible places. Unfortunately, violence and authoritarianism hinder tourism development in Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti.

West Africa

Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin
The most densely populated region of Africa stands out for its symbolic and vibrant cities, where you can still feel the African culture, such as Dakar, Lagos or Abidjan. The region's rainforests are home to thousands of animal species, such as elephants, gazelles, hippos and monkeys. Cape Verde, meanwhile, is a good alternative for seeing spectacular little-known beaches.

Central africa

Cameroon · Central African Republic · Gabon · Equatorial Guinea · Sao Tome and Principe · Congo · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Angola
The heart of Africa is covered in impenetrable jungle, inhabited by gorillas, leopards, crocodiles and hundreds of unique species that managed to survive the threat of humanity thanks to beautiful national parks such as Garamba. The Congo River is the foundation of this region, rich in natural resources, but for many years immersed in violence and interethnic conflicts. The coastal regions, more politically stable, present beautiful beaches to enjoy.

East africa

South Sudan · Uganda ·Kenya · Tanzania · Rwanda · Burundi · Malawi · Mozambique
Some of the continent's most iconic scenes are in the region. Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa, dominates the savannah. Animals such as lions, gazelles, elephants and rhinos roam the world famous parks such as the Serengeti and Masai Mara, and the volcano park in Rwanda is the best place to visit the mountain gorillas. While Nairobi is a modern city in full bloom, Mombasa and Zanzibar manage to blend historical charm and beautiful beaches.

South Africa

South Africa · Namibia · Botswana · Zambia · Zimbabwe · Lesotho · Eswatini · St. Helena
Nature is amazing in every corner of the region. Unique landscapes such as the Okavango Delta, which runs into the Kalahari Desert, the huge Victoria Falls or the wildlife of the Kruger National Park, attract tourists from all over the world. After the end of apartheid, South Africa received a new impetus, becoming one of the most developed countries on the continent. Cape Town is probably one of the most attractive cities in Africa. Meanwhile, in the highlands there are traditional kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland, which still retain their traditions. Finally, Mozambique stands out for its beaches and historic island, which gives it its name.

Indian islands

Madagascar · Seychelles · Mauritius · Comoros · Mayotte · Terr. British Indians French australia
Madagascar, a product of its isolation from the rest of Africa, is a place of unique natural beauty: 90% of its flora and fauna can only be found on this island. The Seychelles and Mauritius archipelago have become important tourist destinations thanks to their beautiful white sand beaches and clear water. In Comoros, you can find the same beaches, but they are much less popular and more inaccessible. Meanwhile, Reunion captivates with its mountainous and steep landscapes.

Cities

Accra, the capital of Ghana
Addis Ababa: The capital of Ethiopia is one of the "global cities" of Africa as the headquarters of the African Union and many non-governmental organizations. Chinese investment built the AU headquarters and a new light rail line.
Cairo: The bustling capital of Egypt is the most populous city in North Africa and a gateway to the heritage of Ancient Egypt.
Cape Town: The mother city of South Africa with Table Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope and many other attractions.
Dakar: The capital of Senegal and the westernmost city in Africa.
Johannesburg - The largest city in South Africa and perhaps the key economic and financial center of the continent.
Luanda - Capital and largest city of Angola, which has experienced a great renaissance in the last decade.
Marrakech - a mixture of the ancient and the Moderna in Morocco.
Nairobi - the capital of Kenya, the largest city in East and Central Africa, and home to the only headquarters of a UN agency outside Europe and the United States.

Other destinations

Axum (Aksum) — the ancient capital of Ethiopia, famous for the ruins of several palaces and their stelae
Dogon Country - a region of south-central Mali famous for its isolated villages embedded in cliffs and a very distinct culture
Kruger National Park: surely one of the most well-known national parks in Africa
Leptis Magna: Conceived by the Roman Empire as a model city, its ruins are still impressive
Mount Kilimanjaro: The highest mountain on the continent and one of the most impressive views in Tanzania.
Serengeti National Park: Along with the Maasai Mara National Reserve across the border in Kenya, this is Tanzania's best-known national park and one of the most famous on the continent.
Valley of the Kings: burial place of several dozen pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and the site of the tomb of King Tut
Victoria Falls: These waterfalls between Zimbabwe and Zambia are among the most impressive in the world
Volcanoes National Park: Full of stunning tropical forests and volcanic landscapes, hiking and is perhaps the best place in the world to see the rare mountain gorillas.

Read

Achebe, Chinua. Things are falling apart. The classic work of Moderna African literature. Although set in pre-colonial Nigeria, Achebe's magnum opus is in a sense the story of the European colonization of Africa as a whole. It was groundbreaking when it was published for telling an African story from the perspective of Africans, rather than Europeans. At that time, it was standard to present African cultures as primitive and simple; Achebe broke this assumption by describing the richness and complexity of an African society.
Battuta, Ibn. The Travels of Ibn Battuta. The travel diaries of the legendary explorer Ibn Battuta, considered one of the greatest travelers in history. In 1325, he embarked on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca from his native Morocco, at the age of 21, and over the next three decades he passed through more than 40 modern countries traveling more than three times the distance of the almost Moderna Marco Polo. His journey of 1325-1332 visited North Africa, Somalia and the Swahili coast (Kenya, Zanzibar and Tanzania). A journey between 1349-1354 visited Timbuktu, passing through Moderna Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria. Some Moderna translations exist, including Samuel Lee's 1829 translation (The Travels of Ibn Battuta. Cosimo Classics, 2009. ISBN 978-1605206219) and a 2003 one by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (The Travels of Ibn Battuta. Macmillan UK, 2003. ISBN 978-0330418799), which also retraces Battuta's footsteps in the early 21st century and published some other books about his travels. Battuta's pilgrimage to Mecca, traveling through medieval North Africa and the Middle East was the basis of the 2009 IMAX film (Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta, IMDb). The University of Berkeley has a good online account of his travels.
Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered states, ordinary miracles. Public Affairs, 2010. ISBN 978-1586488161 This book attempts to examine the continent of Africa and explain why Africa is the way it is. This book has numerous case examples that highlight the problems/struggles facing the continent and its people today. 592 pages.
Kapuscinski, Ryszard. The shadow of the sun. Vintage, 2002. ISBN 978-0679779070 Memoirs of Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, who arrived in 1957 to see the first states gain independence and offers an insight into the tumultuous years of the late twentieth century on the continent.
Meredith, Martin. The fate of Africa: a fifty-year history of independence. PublicAffair, 2005. ISBN 978-1-58648-398-2 One of the best and most comprehensive books available to cover the tumultuous recent history of Africa, from the events leading up to independence to the 21st century. 752 pages.
Naipaul, VS. The Mask of Africa: glimpses of African beliefs. Picador, 2010. ISBN 978-0-330-47205-0 Examines the complex interactions of traditional religions, Western religions and other faiths in Moderna African society in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Gabon and South Africa.
Reader, John. Africa: A biography of the continent. Vintage Books, 1997. ISBN 0-679-73869-X Covers the history of the continent from primitive man to the first decades of independence, including ancient societies and peoples, the first explorations of Westerners, colonization and independence. 801 pages.

Understand

Cradle of humanity

The earliest precursors of humans, most notably Australopithecus afarensis lived and walked under two feet 3 million years ago. Remains of later species such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus (the first hominid to leave Africa, as far as we know) have been found in parts of East Africa such as Kenya and Tanzania. Homo sapiens (Moderna Humana), probably originated in South Africa or East Africa somewhere in what is now Ethiopia or Kenya. The oldest Homo sapiens to date is about 195,000 years old and was found in Ethiopia, but there are also indications that Homo sapiens may have previously been present in Southern Africa. Some of the remains of the first hominids, as well as their tools, are on display in various museums in Ethiopia, Namibia and other countries. The cradle of humanity is a site in South Africa with many early human fossils.

North Africa has a recorded history dating back to around 3300 BC, with numerous buildings, ruins, writings, Arts and crafts that have left traces for us to marvel at. The ancient Pharaonic civilization based in Egypt was the most enduring and one of the most impressive ancient civilizations. Egypt was one of the first cultures to construct monumental buildings, form a hierarchical state, and wage full-scale warfare with standing armies, and was one of the most stable empires in recorded history, often surviving foreign invaders, immigrants, and usurpers and transforming them (culturally) Egyptian.

To the south of the Pharaonic civilization was the Nubian culture, which had a long history of mutual influence with its northern neighbors and even ruled Egypt for a short time. Its most famous remains are the Pyramids of Meroe in Sudan. Another early center of established civilization and later an early center of Christianity outside the Roman Empire was Ethiopia, where the Aksumite Empire reigned from the fourth century BC to the twelfth century AD and served as an important trading partner of the Indian and Mediterranean powers.

Today, the legacy of ancient African civilizations lives on; many of its monuments, temples, and cities are well preserved and have become popular tourist attractions, and museums host their artifacts. However, outside of North Africa, Sudan, and Ethiopia, very little is known about African history prior to 1000 A.D., as many people were hunters, with no lasting writing systems or structures, arts or crafts, other than some cave paintings.

Some non-Africans often think of Sub-Saharan Africa as composed only of hunters. However, this view often has its roots in racist pseudoscientific theories used by Europeans to justify slavery and, later, colonialism from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries.

European exploration

Perhaps the most pernicious prejudice about Africa is that it is " poor." But a little logical reasoning shows how mistaken this assumption is. Why would countless Europeans, Arabs and others have come here, facing tropical diseases and hostile locals if Africa were poor? No, it was and is precisely the wealth of Africa — in gold, in spices, in mineral resources, in oil, and also in the work of its people — that made it and makes it attractive to the colonizers. The fact that wealth was subsequently diverted into the pockets of small elites and colonizers may make many Africans poor, but it does not make Africa poor.

While some Genoese, Castilian and French explorers managed to reach parts of West Africa in the Middle Ages, European exploration of the continent began in earnest when Prince Henry ("the navigator") decided to acquire African territory for Portugal in the mid-15th century. In 1482, Diogo Cão arrives at the mouth of the Congo River, in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias arrives at the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama climbed the eastern coast, where in Kenya his expedition set up trading post before finding a guide to take them to India.

This voyage established the Cape route around Africa. The Portuguese established several forts along the African coast and established a highly profitable trade. Initially, they maintained good relations with the locals and remained the dominant European power in the coastal region of Africa until the seventeenth century, while Spain, France and Britain began to explore the Americas.

The lucrative trade and large amounts of gold obtained by the Portuguese attracted other nations to the continent. As the demand for Labor in the Americas grew, Portuguese sailors began transporting slaves to the Americas, beginning the Atlantic slave trade. In the early seventeenth century, the Dutch fought the Portuguese to gain control of most of their ports in West and Central Africa. In 1642, the French built their first fort in Madagascar (which they claimed in 1667) and in 1663, the British built their first fort in The Gambia. Swedish traders established a fort on the Cape Coast, which was later dominated by the Danes.

The decolonization of Africa began with Libya's independence from Italy in 1951. Colonial powers employed various means of control under their colonies, such as representation of natives in government. In some countries, nationalist movements were suppressed and their leaders were killed or imprisoned, while others managed to achieve independence peacefully. In the 1950s, Guinea, Ghana and North African nations gained independence nonviolently. In Algeria, France fought violently against independence movements until 1963. With the establishment and new constitution of the Fifth Republic of France in 1958, its colonies gained independence in 1960. By 1970, almost all African nations were independent. The Portuguese fought bitterly to keep their African possessions until 1975; all but one gained independence through war. Zimbabwe was the last major colony to gain independence from a non-African sovereign in 1980. South Africa remained firmly under the control of its white minority, oppressing its black population under a system called apartheid until 1994. After years of civil War, South Sudan became independent following a referendum held in 2011.

Weather

As the second largest continent, there is a wide variety of climates to be found. However, since the continent is almost centered on the equator, much of the continent is quite warm / temperate with very few areas that can be considered "cold". In temperate regions (northern parts of Morocco and the Mediterranean coast, as well as South Africa), temperatures usually range from 10°C to 30°C all year round. Closer to the equator and on islands such as Cape Verde or Mauritius, temperatures can vary by an average of 20 degrees Celsius (15-35° C or 60-95° F) throughout the year. In deserts and arid regions, temperatures routinely reach 40° C or higher (and up to 50° C or higher in the heart of the Sahara), but since sand does not retain heat like moist soil, these same places can easily drop to 15° C at night. Higher elevations are quite cold and snowy during winter and Mount Kilimanjaro, almost at the equator, is cold all year round (cold enough to support glaciers!). Peaks in the Canary Islands, Cameroon and other countries are cold enough to require a coat most of the year.

A much more important factor to consider when traveling to Africa is when the rainy/monsoon season occurs. The time varies slightly, so check the country page you are visiting for more information. In West Africa, the season begins in March in Cameroon, but not before June in Senegal and ends in September. While rain may not be a big factor when traveling to Southern or Eastern Africa, it is very problematic in West Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. In West Africa, rains often flood and make many roads and railways impassable and, due to poor drainage, can literally result in rivers flowing through the streets. In the Sahel, it can result in flash floods. In fact, drowning is said to be the most common cause of death in the desert, as floods can surprise people.

The biggest weather-related dangers for travelers to Africa, besides floods, are lightning and tropical cyclones. The Democratic Republic of Congo has more lightning strikes each year than any other country, especially in the eastern part of the country. Tropical cyclones affect the Indian Ocean islands, with the season running from November 15 to April 30 (May 15 in the Seychelles and Mauritius). Tropical cyclones usually form off the coast of West Africa (Guinea/Senegal) during the early part of the Atlantic hurricane season (June to August) and rarely affect Cape Verde.

Politics

After Africa's complicated breakup from its European colonial powers, many African countries became mired in political power struggles and civil war. Since the 1980s, however, the nations of this continent have grown closer and many conflicts on the continent have seen neighboring countries intervene positively rather than intervention/invasion by European and Western powers. Most African countries are developing democracies-fighting corruption, but moving towards democratic values such as free and fair elections, freedom of expression and involvement in government of various strata of society.

However, there are some countries that still maintain authoritarian governments, dictatorships and kleptocracies. Before the peace accords that ended the civil war in each, Angola and Mozambique were communist one-party states. Equatorial Guinea and Eritrea remain among the most authoritarian countries on the planet, with heavy repression of the opposition.

Today, more than at any time in the continent's history, the nations of the continent are cooperating on important issues and increasingly counting on themselves to stop conflict and negotiate peace, rather than allowing the UN and Western powers to do so. The African Union (AU) is the continent's answer to the United Nations and promotes unity and conflict resolution. Established in 2002, the AU has achieved some achievements in promoting human rights, development, economic integration, harmonization of trade, customs and immigration rules. However, there is still much work to be done and corruption remains rampant, several countries suffer political/ethnic conflicts and quality measures in development, education, health and human rights remain low.

Religions

Religion and spirituality are important throughout Africa. The most prolific religions are Christianity and Islam, with a considerable number of non-religious/atheist Africans and adherents of traditional religions. Exact percentages of religious adherents vary widely among respected sources, with about 40-45% Christian, 40-50% Muslim, 10-15% local beliefs, and 5-10% non-religious.

Christianity is spread over a large region, encompassing almost all of southern, central and eastern Africa, and has a long history in Africa. Egypt is closely associated with the history of the early Christian Church. Ethiopia was one of the First Nations to adopt Christianity as its official religion (in 330). Most Christians are Protestants or Roman Catholics and mix this with local beliefs, except for the Orthodox populations of Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Christian missionaries and the desire to" civilize " Africans through conversion was the main thrust of European colonization.

Islam is the largest religion on the continent in terms of the number of adherents (according to most sources). All North African countries are predominantly Muslim, with only Egypt having a sizable Christian minority, but irreligion is growing, especially among urban youth. Almost all of West Africa is also majority Muslim except Cape Verde, Liberia, Ghana, Benin and Togo. Islam was first brought to the continent in the centuries after its birth, spreading across North Africa and later being spread along the Indian Ocean coast by merchants and sailors to the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania and the Comoros.

An attempt has been made to promote more conservative forms of Islam since the 1990s, through Muslim NGOs and assistance from Saudi Arabia, although this coincides with fears of radicalization and the rise of Al Qaeda and other Islamist groups. In certain Muslim regions, compliance with religious law is required, such as a ban on alcohol consumption and full body coverage for women.

Traditional African religions are practiced by many Africans exclusively or alongside Christianity or Islam. Among the common but certainly not universal elements of African religions are:

Recognition of a dual God or gods and respect for natural elements as supernatural beings
Respect for the cyclical nature of life (Agriculture, rain / drought, moon phases) - the "circle of life"
Communication with ancestors is practiced or an integral part of communication with God and other deities

Doctors and traditional healers are consulted on a wide range of topics such as physical, psychological, spiritual, moral and legal issues. They can also facilitate communication with ancestral spirits
Hinduism is practiced by large populations in the former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Seychelles and Mauritius, where many Indians were indentured servants of British Masters. Mauritius is the only African country, and by the way, the only one outside of South Asia, where the majority of the population practices Hinduism (52%). Judaism has a long, if not well-known, history on the continent. There is also a large Jewish community in South Africa. Many Jewish communities existed throughout North Africa.

Languages

There is no dominant language in Africa, but if you are traveling in West or Central Africa, French and English will be the most useful in these nations and regions. Arabic is the dominant language in North Africa, although French is also widely spoken. English is also useful in many countries and is dominant in most of Southern Africa. Swahili is the most useful language in East Africa. In Ethiopia, most people speak Amharic. Even if you know a common language like French, it's always a good idea to bring phrasebooks in your native languages. It also helps if you have a basic knowledge of the language used by the former settler of a country (for example, German is useful if you are going to Namibia, since there is a large white German-speaking population).

Africa's linguistic diversity is exemplified by South Africa, which has eleven official languages, some of which have the most complex sound inventory in any human language, with over a hundred different sounds to distinguish meaning. In comparison, English has less than half of those.

Getting here

By plane

The continent has perhaps the least extensive air route network of all the inhabited continents in the world. When flying to major destinations such as Johannesburg, Nairobi or Accra, there are a good number of options and above-average airfare costs compared to routes of similar length around the world. Airfares tend to be cheaper when booked from a European capital that has a strong colonial link to its destination, which usually means from London, Paris, Brussels and Lisbon. Egypt also has abundant and economic connections with the Middle East and Europe. However, less popular destinations such as Brazzaville or Niamey can only be served by a few flights per week operated by major airlines and the cost of airfare can be expensive. Some African airlines (such as Air Namibia) only provide services to their neighboring countries, with one or two (or no) flights to Europe.

The major airlines in Africa, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Egyptair, and Airlink, offer a decent level of service to the continent's capitals and other major cities and fly to many major cities around the world. Few other African airlines operate intercontinental flights and many have poor or questionable safety records and offer poor service levels. Many flights to Africa are available from/via Europe and the Middle East. Keep in mind that many airlines are part of alliances and codeshare agreements and it is likely that you will fly on more than one airline.

Please refer to your destination's article for more specific flight information. Keep in mind that many African countries only offer a few international flights every day or, in some cases, every week. While it is not difficult to get to South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria or Egypt, getting to Malawi or Togo can be quite a challenge.

From Europe
There are more flights to Africa from Europe than from any other continent. Popular holiday destinations such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Cape Verde, Kenya and South Africa are well connected to major cities in Europe, even with discount airlines and charter flights. Royal Air Maroc, Afriqyah Airlines, Kenya Airways Jet4you and EgyptAir have a good selection of European destinations and Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, Arik Air serve a couple of major cities (London, Paris, etc.). The cheapest flights to African cities are usually through the former colonial power of the African country. Cities with large immigrant populations such as London, Marseille and Paris have a good number of flights to Africa. Turkish Airlines flies to 39 destinations in 30 African countries as of 2014.

From Asia and the Middle East
Almost all North African countries, along with Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, have extensive connections with the Middle East. And similarly, countries with large Muslim populations are likely to have a year-round or seasonally (e.g. during hajj) connection to Jeddah/Mecca. Middle Eastern airlines such as Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways have greatly expanded their services to Africa and offer connections to many major African cities at competitive prices than European airlines.

Of the Americas
Several destinations are served nonstop or directly from the United States, including Johannesburg, Lagos, Addis Ababa, Accra and Dakar. The limited service is available from Brazil (to Angola and the Canary Islands), Canada (to Algeria), Cuba (to Angola) and Venezuela (to the Canary Islands). Delta, United and Ethiopian Airlines are the main carriers between the U.S. and Europe. USA. And Africa. The Delta flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta is the second longest flight in the world both by distance (13,582 km) and by scheduled time (16 hours and 40 minutes).

From Australia
There are only a handful of direct flights connecting Johannesburg with Perth and Sydney. In addition, there is a connection between Mauritius and Perth.

By road or ferry

The only land connection with another continent is the 163 km wide Isthmus of Suez, which is located in Egypt (although the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes considered part of Africa for geopolitical reasons). Therefore, the only way to enter Africa is through Egypt. Most people driving from the Middle East to Africa travel through Jordan and take a short ferry to Egypt to avoid transit through Israel, as Egypt's two African neighbors (Sudan and Libya) deny entry to people with Israeli stamps or Egyptian/Jordanian stamps indicating travel to Israel.

Despite the fact that there is only a narrow land crossing to the continent, there are other ways to take vehicles to Africa on short ferries. The short crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco is crossed by several ferries daily and is relatively inexpensive. Other car ferries include:

Italy - Tunis ferry is operated by a couple of different companies. However, you must pass through Algeria to Mauritania/Niger - or - from Libya to Egypt, both very expensive and difficult to enter with a car.
Car ferries from Spain/France to Algeria are operated by Algerie Ferries. Their website is only in French.
Yemen-Djibouti ferries may operate weekly or more frequently (information about this crossing is scarce and contradictory) to avoid Egypt (due to extremely high import taxes) or Sudan (since the border between Ethiopia and Sudan is prone to banditry). It is also possible to cross by dhow on motorcycles or small/light vehicles.
Car ferries from Port Sudan, Sudan to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia run daily and are a great way to avoid the very high fees to enter Egypt, although visas for South Africa are difficult to obtain.
The ferries connect Morocco with Spain and Gibraltar. In addition, there are also connections between peninsular Spain and its African possessions of Ceuta and Melilla, from where you can drive across the border with Morocco.
Several land trucks make trips that cross between Europe or the Middle East and Africa, these companies are listed below under "Moving / Overland trucks".

By boat

Many Mediterranean cruises call at North African countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Some ocean liners will stop in the Canary Islands or Cape Verde on transatlantic crossings or in South Africa, Madagascar, Mombasa, Zanzibar, the Seychelles or Mauritius on trips around the world.

In other parts of Africa, cruises are limited to luxury or "boutique" cruise lines, often aboard small and quite expensive vessels or "cargo cruises" that do not offer much to the "passengers" but can spend a few days in a handful of ports. Grimaldi Freighter Cruises has weekly departures to West Africa making the round trip from Amsterdam in 38 days.

The Seychelles, Reunion and Mauritius are popular destinations for yachts and private vessels, but piracy off the Horn of Africa has kept many of the European ships away.

Moving around the continent

Visas

The general rule that visas are more difficult to obtain for countries that have more authoritarian governments and are less "classic" tourist destinations also applies to Africa, although there are exceptions. Also, with few exceptions, it is easier to enter most countries if you are from a "first world" country. Visa requirements and costs for African countries vary according to their nationality/citizenship and by country. Many southern and East African countries have visa-free visas or visas available at the airport or at the border crossing for the EU, USA, Canada and some other nationalities with a minimal amount of paperwork and waiting. On the other hand, some countries have onerous requirements that often differ between their embassies and border crossings.

Most West African countries require visas for travelers from outside the region. In some cases, these visas can be processed at airports or (less often) at borders, but this is often not an option. West African embassies are not widely spread outside the region (they are usually limited to the former colonial metropolises) and sometimes visa services are not available in some neighboring countries. Sometimes visas are issued quickly, sometimes it is a long and expensive process. Check before starting a trip in the region, as regulations and practices change often.

There are four customs unions in force in Africa:
South Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini)
West Africa (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Niger, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone)
Central Africa (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Gabon)
East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi)

By plane

There are a number of reliable airlines that ply the African continent. The main ones among them are:

South African Airways (SAA) (Johannesburg, South Africa), has daily flights to most of the major cities in Southern Africa.
Kenya Airways (Nairobi, Kenya), connects more African cities than any other airline on the continent. It is partly owned by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, offers a good service and frequent flights to all countries of the East African region and many other important African and international destinations.
Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), carries more passengers than any other African airline and offers a direct service from many European cities and Washington to its hub in Addis Ababa. From there it has a very good coverage to many cities in Africa. The flight from/to Washington refuels in Rome. Your mileage can be used on Lufthansa services and Lufthansa miles can also be used on Ethiopian.
There are also many airlines that are worthy of mention in certain regions, such as TAAG Angola Airlines (South/Central Africa), Arik Air (Nigeria), Afriqiyah Airways (Central/West Africa, but its hub is in Tripoli), Royal Air Maroc (West/central/north Africa, but its hub is in Morocco), Air Mali (West Africa), Air Burkina (West Africa), Air Austral (Indian Ocean), Air Mauritius (Indian Ocean), Tunis Air (North Africa), and Jetlink (Africa Oriental). Many other African airlines offer flights to more remote locations.

By car

If you would like to drive your own car around Africa, please also see Carnet de Passage

For tourist trips, it may be less expensive to hire a taxi than to rent a car, but be sure to negotiate taxi fares in advance. Traveling on rural roads can be slow and difficult in the dry season and can be interrupted by flooding in the rainy season. If you plan to travel in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, avoid the rainy months from May to October above the equator and the rainy months from November to April below the equator. Some roads may become flooded or waterlogged during these months.

Traveling by car outside of big cities can be dangerous. The main roads are generally well maintained, but there are few divided roads in Africa. In addition, rural car accidents are quite common due to the high speed limits and the presence of wildlife in these areas. Driving at night is not recommended, especially in rural areas, and visitors are encouraged to hire reputable tour operators for safaris or other animal-watching expeditions.

By bus

The bus service is extensive in Africa and in almost all countries it is the main means of transport for both locals and tourists. The styles of buses and minibuses vary across the continent; see the country pages for more information.

Hitchhiking

Locals walk in vehicles with strangers all over Africa, often paying a fee to the driver in exchange for the favor or service. The distinction between a private vehicle and a taxi is blurring and, in many countries, the informal taxi business flourishes by picking up people who want a lift from the side of the road. In some areas, such as Johannesburg, hitchhikers use specific hand signals to indicate where they want to go and it is common for vehicles to take several people at the same time in a particular area. Foreigners can expose themselves to considerable personal risk by traveling in this way, and it is important to understand the political and social climate of each region before doing so.

By land truck

Some people with limited time or who prefer not to make their own arrangements opt for the "overlander" experience. Many operators conduct tours in large trucks that are comfortable and equipped with facilities for about 8-30 people. They are usually run on a fairly tight schedule and cover a long distance, such as "Nairobi to Johannesburg in six weeks". These tours take place all over the continent, but eastern and southern Africa are by far the most popular destinations. The accommodation consists mainly of camps with tents. Most of the meals are organized and many are prepared by those who are on the trip (cooking tasks are rotated during the trip), and free time is scheduled (like everything else). However, Victoria Falls, Swakopmund, Zanzibar and Serengeti National Park. Some people really enjoy these tours, especially when they don't have enough time to arrange all the travel arrangements themselves. Others detest the very idea of traveling in a group and think that they keep you out of touch with the "real" Africa. Whatever the case, they are a very different way of traveling in Africa. The people who take these tours tend to be young at heart and a little adventurous; these tours are not luxury trips.

By train

Most of the railway lines in Africa were built by the colonial powers, often at great human cost, with the main objective of extracting wealth from the interior to coastal cities for export. After the fall of colonialism, many lines have not been extended or maintained. Therefore, passenger railways in Africa are scarce and most are short, slow and within a single country. However, during the 2010s, Chinese and European investment has rehabilitated several lines and also built new standard gauge railway lines in several countries.

The states of Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, in North Africa, have railway networks of adequate quality, some of which are even favorable to those of some European or East Asian countries, with connections to most major cities. In 2018, Morocco inaugurated the first true high-speed railway line in Africa between Tangier and Rabat. However, due to the political tensions (and partly due to the low population in the border areas) there are no international train services between these countries. For travelers to and from Egypt, the ancient Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, in Sudan, the train is useful as it connects with the ferry across Lake Nasser to the Egyptian railway terminal in Aswan. A unique experience, but not very useful as a means of transport, is to travel on the longest train in the world in Mauritania, either in the caboose or in open iron ore wagons. Libya has no railways and plans for change that were derailed by the political problems that have rocked this country since the 2010s.

South Africa has a long history with passenger rail, there are night trains from most major cities several times a week. In addition, Gauteng Province is served by the fast Gautrain, which connects the major cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria with OR Tambo International Airport. There are no suitable international trains to South Africa, but several lines terminate at border towns, so it is quite easy to travel from neighboring countries such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Most other Southern African countries have some form of passenger service, but the quality and frequency vary greatly. Finally, for those with money to splurge, there are luxury trains such as the Blue Train and Rovos Rail, which offers the luxurious charm of the old world.

East Africa has had declining services for a long time, but due to recent investment several new lines have been opened between major cities. Both Ethiopia and Kenya are now launching new trains connecting the main cities. The classic TAZARA line, which connects Dar es Salaam with Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia, is still maintained, passing through several national parks. Central African countries have fared worse with little or no investment, and the railways prove it. Angola has rehabilitated its railway lines, but services remain patchy. There are very limited and erratic services available in other countries.

Some services remain in West Africa, being Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Abidjan, Ivory Coast being the most usable for tourists. However, Nigeria is investing heavily in rail and several new intercity trains have emerged.

By boat

Where there is water, there are usually boat services to some extent. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, boats are the main mode of transportation due to the extensive river network and the lack/quality of roads and railways. Some notable river voyages in Africa are:

Along the Niger River, small wooden canoes that vary in design, from a 2-person canoe to wide ~10-person canoes with canopy and bathroom. Traveling by canoe is slow, but the Sahelian landscape and the people you meet on the boat and during the stops make this a memorable African experience. Due to the waterfalls, canoes on the Niger only operate in Mali and Niger.

Along the Congo River, large, old and often overcrowded ferries connect cities along the river in the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Small boats from the villages come out and tie to these ferries to sell food and goods, and the boat is a bustling market of hundreds of people most of the time. The conditions on board these ferries are bad and bearable only by the most experienced travelers. Talk to the captain to see if you can use one of the few sleeping rooms.

What to see

Flora and fauna

Many visitors are attracted by the African flora and fauna and several countries benefit from safari tourism in African national parks.

Natural wonders

Africa is home to many famous natural wonders, from the Nile River, the longest river in the world, to the Victoria Falls. The continent is home to two of the four volcanoes in the world with permanent lava lakes: the spectacular Mount Nyiragongo, which rises hundreds of meters above Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo and Erta Ale in the severe Danakil depression in Ethiopia (the others are Mount Erebus in Antarctica and Kilauea in Hawaii). The adventurous tourist can climb both volcanoes to stand on the edge and gaze in awe at the bubbling lava below - an especially amazing sight at night! Mount Cameroon and its glorious expanse of lava also create a beautiful site with a variety of flora and fauna.

Landscapes

Approximately centered on the equator, Africa is known for the typical landscapes of the warm parts of the world.

North Africa is dominated by the immense Sahara Desert wedged between the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Apart from the coastal edge and the banks of the Nile, this is a dry and remote part of the continent. The most notable (and probably most accessible) mountain range here is the Atlas Mountain Range in Morocco. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, the highest mountain in Africa that is not located in the east of the continent.

South of the Sahara, the vegetation gradually increases the further south you travel. From the south of the Sahel onwards, the terrain is quite flat with savannas and steppes. However, this is not the case at these latitudes in the eastern part of Africa; this is the northern end of Africa's "backbone" of several mountain ranges stretching from Ethiopia to South Africa as an extension of the Nile. East Central Africa is also where the largest lakes can be found, including Lake Victoria. Named after the 19th-century British Queen Victoria, this is the second largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the source of one of the two forks of the Nile. To the southwest of the lake, a little more than half way to the Indian Ocean, lies the highest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro.

Bisected by the Equator, as expected, the heart of Africa is dominated by the rainforest. The Congo rainforest is the second largest in the world, remote and mostly uninhabited, and going here is often more of an expedition than a tourist trip. The central eastern part is also the best place to go on the continent if you are interested in volcanoes.

Further south, the landscape becomes increasingly dry, especially in the western half. Namibia in particular is known for its deserts and canyons. The landscape is different in the east with picturesque mountains and waterfalls, including the mighty Victoria Falls, yes, it was also named after the queen. On the highland plateau of this corner of Africa lies Lesotho, the only country in the world that is completely more than 1400 m above sea level. The southernmost part of the continent, in other words South Africa, is reminiscent of the northernmost edge with Mediterranean climate and subtropical vegetation.

There are also several island nations or territories located in the oceans off of continental Africa. As a rule, they are mountainous with mountain ranges that often consist of volcanoes. Surrounded by the sea, they usually have cooler temperatures than inland places at the same latitudes.

Historical civilizations

While the continent's diverse and unique wildlife is often all that is mentioned when it comes to African travel, as home to the oldest civilizations on the planet, Africa has equally impressive cultures and history. The most famous civilization on the continent, and possibly in the world, is that of ancient Egypt. From the southern city of Abu Simbel to Luxor and all the way north to Alexandria and Cairo, including the pyramids of Giza, the only survivor of the original Seven Wonders of the World and the most emblematic symbols of this ancient kingdom. In Sudan you can find sites of the Kingdom of Nubia that had close ties with Egypt, such as Gebel Barkal and many other pyramids in Meroe.. There are also remains of the ancient city-state of Carthage that can be found in present-day Tunisia.

Ethiopia offers many ruins of the ancient kingdom of Axumite where the Queen of Sheba ruled. The obelisks and the ruins of Dungur in Axum were built before the kingdom's conversion to Christianity, while many other great monuments, such as the Ezana Stone and the Church of Our Lady Mary of Sion, where the Arch of the Covenant is said to be stored, were built after the conversion as religious places. Other famous Christian structures built later by the kingdom's successor, the Abyssinian Empire, especially during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, can also be found in Lalibela.

In West Africa, the structures of the former Mali Empire can be found in Timbuktu and Djenne. Although there are Islamic influences, the architectural styles of the mosques of the Kingdom of Mali are still quite unique and recognizably African. The cliff dwellings of the Dogon country of Mali, built by the Dogon people, are also impressive ancient structures in Mali. Remnants of the Ghanaian Empire can be found in parts of Mauritania and Mali, including archaeological sites in Koumbi Saleh, Oualata and Aoudaghost. Often overshadowed by other monuments in Africa, Sungbo's Eredo in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria, built by the Yoruba people, is actually the largest remaining pre-colonial structure on the continent. Today it rises above the city, covered with vegetation. The royal palaces of the Kingdom of Dahomey are still located in its former capital of Abomey, and the ruins of the Kingdom of Kongo can still be found in its former capital of M'banza-Kongo. Although they were largely destroyed by the British during the struggle for Africa, Benin City and Kumasi still contain some relics of the Kingdom of Benin and the Ashanti Empire, respectively. In Sokoto, Nigeria, remains of the Sokoto caliphate can still be found in local museums, as well as in the sultan's palace, and the city remains one of the main centers of Islamic studies in Africa.

The ruins of the ancient Swahili culture can be found in the coastal areas of East Africa, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania. Swahili structures combine elements of African architecture with Islamic architecture, which was quite prominent around the fourteenth century. Some of the most famous Swahili structures include the ruins of Gedi and the pillar tombs around Malindi and Kilwa Kisiwani. Mombasa and the stone city of Zanzibar feature Swahili structures spanning hundreds of years from their earliest days to the 18th century.

In southern Africa, the ruins of the Great Zimbabwe have fascinated visitors ever since Europeans discovered them. No European had believed that the inhabitants of Black Africa were capable of creating great monuments by themselves until the ruins of this ancient culture were discovered.

The ruins of the ancient city of Carthage, near Tunis, testify to the greatness of the Carthaginian Empire.

Many cities, such as Leptis Magna, Timgad and Dougga, have Roman ruins as impressive as those of Europe itself. Many other European structures can be found all over the continent, dating back to the early days of imperialism. One of the most unique European-influenced styles is the Cape Dutch style found in South Africa, which has its origins in the first white settlers in sub-Saharan Africa in the seventeenth century. Although clearly influenced by the dutcharchitectural conventions, it has also significantly moved away from European architecture to adapt to African conditions, making it a unique style in its own right. Uniquely among the white communities of Africa, the descendants of these Dutch settlers, now known as Afrikaners, have developed their own ethnic identity and generally consider themselves African rather than European.

Letters

Music has been called "the common language of Africa" and is part of everyday life in most African nations. Western popular music (including jazz and rock'n'roll) has its roots in African-American folk music, and more and more African countries have a prominent pop music scene. South Africa is known for its jazz musicians who participated in their own unique genre, among the most famous was the trumpeter Hugh Masekela.

What to do

Safaris

Safari, an overland trip to see the stunning African wildlife, is arguably the biggest tourist attraction in Africa. Most countries, except in the north, have at least one national park with organized safaris. A safari can take a variety of forms, from a simple one-day minibus trip to week-long stays in a lodge. It is usually a 4x4 ride through the savannah in search of the "big five": elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and buffaloes. These safaris are offered mainly in southern and Eastern Africa. Many parks have strict regulations on visitor activities and behavior, along with entrance and camping fees. Among the most well-known parks are the Kruger National Park of South Africa, the Ngorongoro Crater of Tanzania, the Etosha National Park in Namibia, the Okavango Delta region in Botswana and the national parks of Tsavo East/West and Nairobi National Park.

The three basic safari styles are car safari, walking safaris and mobile safari. Some regions also offer safaris in boats/canoes, horses, elephants or by hot air balloon or light aircraft. Car safari is by far the most popular form of safari and is better for most beginners as it is easier, often cheaper and generally allows you to see more wildlife. A car safari can be a one-day affair, but often includes a couple of nights camping or in cabins. Low-priced driving safaris are often conducted in minibuses without a guaranteed window seat. Luxury safaris will probably include trips in a 4x4 vehicle in small groups and stays in elegant hostels with swimming pools and spas. A walking safari consists of walking, either for a few hours or several days, with fewer opportunities to see many animals, but allows hikers to get close to some animals and have experiences such as stumbling over the bones of a recent lion kill. For mobile safaris, a camp is set up each night of your safari; it could also contain a portable lunch camp. On an aerial safari, the visitor flies directly (or very close) to a lodge, instead of hours of transit by land.

For the most basic trips, travelers should have a minimum budget of 70 US dollars a day, while some of the most visited parks can cost between 100 and 150 US dollars a day. Luxury trips can easily exceed US$1000/day. If a price offer seems too good to be true, it often is, and there's probably a good reason for that. This can be the result of hidden fees, major errors/omissions/lies when calculating a price, an unlicensed operator, abusive working practices, poor equipment, trip duration and extras that you may not have thought of or that this operator plans to charge a high fee. Thoroughly check what each tour operator provides in their cost and make sure to get a written agreement before payment and departure. Self-driving safaris are possible in some parks, but are highly discouraged for beginners.

Mountaineering

Africa has no high and irregular mountain ranges comparable to those of the Himalayas, the Andes, the Rockies or the Alps and there are very few mountains that require technical equipment. The Atlas Mountains in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia; the Drakensberg in South Africa and Lesotho; the Semian Mountains in Ethiopia; and the Rwenzori Mountains between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the continent's only sizeable mountain ranges, all with numerous peaks that can be easily climbed. In addition, there are some high volcanoes along the Great Rift Valley, on the islands of the Indian Ocean and in Cameroon. Some of the most climbed or unique mountains on the continent are:

Jbel Toubkal (4165 m) near Marrakech, Morocco is the highest peak of the Atlas Mountains and can be climbed without technical equipment in summer.
Mount Cameroon (4040 m) near Douala, Cameroon, is the highest peak (actually a volcano) in Cameroon and is famous for the Lake Nyos disaster of 1986, when the lake released a huge volume of carbon dioxide gas, suffocating thousands. It is possible to make quick hikes to the top and back in one day.
Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 m) in Tanzania, near the border with Kenya, is the highest peak on the continent, the highest independent mountain in the world and perhaps the most climbed mountain on the continent, due to its accessibility and lack of technical equipment. The variety of landscapes that one passes from the base to the top makes it a destination that almost all climbers have on their bucket list.
Mount Kenya (5199 m) is the highest mountain in Kenya and is also a popular climb with many non-technical hiking and climbing routes through lush landscape and is less than 200 km from Nairobi. The surrounding national park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Table Mountain National Park (1086 m) overlooking the city of Cape Town has hundreds of routes to the plateau, ranging from simple trails to technical rock climbs. In November 2011, Table Mountain was named one of the new 7 Wonders of nature.

Mount Nyiragongo (3470 m) in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the border with Rwanda is one of the 3-4 volcanoes in the world with a lava lake in its crater. A climb takes ~8 hours and involves camping on a ledge at the top, a safe 700 m above the lake, overnight (of course, the steaming and bubbling lava is more spectacular at night).

Abseiling and rock climbing can be done in many parts of Africa, with many opportunities in South Africa.

 Trekking and hiking

Most of the mountain ranges and highlands of Africa are suitable for hiking. The Drakensberg in South Africa and Lesotho, the Garden Route in South Africa, the Highlands of Ethiopia and the Dogon Country of Mali are the most popular trekking destinations in Africa and most of the guides of these countries describe the most popular routes. In the dense jungles of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, you can make hikes, almost always organized, to Pygmy settlements. There are established hiking trails in the forests of the Fouta Djallon highlands in Guinea and in Cameroon.

The Aïr Massif in Niger is popular for hiking around its scraped sand rock formations and oases, usually short distances from your camel or vehicle transportation. You can also go hiking in many forests with established trails. In Uganda, Rwanda and the adjacent Democratic Republic of Congo, hiking to see the endangered mountain gorilla is a major tourist attraction, although permits cost 500 US dollars to spend hours walking through the tropical forests and spend 1 hour near the gorillas.

Diving

There are quite a number of excellent diving sites in Africa. The Red Sea off Egypt offers clear and calm waters. Diving in the Indian Ocean is common on all the islands and on the mainland from southern Kenya. Diving in South Africa is most famous for "shark dives", where divers get off in cages to see how the sharks feed on the bait, although there are other diving opportunities. Few places in the interior are popular with divers; Lake Malawi, which is clear, deep and full of unique species, is the only lake with a significant number of diving operators.

Relax on a beach

Africa has a very long coastline with thousands of beautiful beaches, as it is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic to the west.

Sports

Football is the most widespread and popular sport, and games between countries usually attract tens of thousands of patriotic fans who cheer to fill basic stadiums. Watching a football match in Africa is a must; try to dress in the colors of the local team and join the lively celebration with your neighbors! The biennial Africa Cup of Nations is the continent's premier championship. The most recent ACoN was held in South Africa in 2013. The next Cups will be hosted by Morocco (2015) and Libya (2017). South Africa hosted the first FIFA African World Cup in 2010.

Rugby is played by several former British colonies in southern and eastern Africa. The South African Springboks are among the best teams in the world. And although they were traditionally associated with the white part and specifically with the Afrikaner part of the population, they now have a significant following among all ethnic groups after Nelson Mandela wore a Springbok jersey during the 1995 World Cup that was held and won in South Africa.

Cricket is also played, especially in the former British colonies.

Buy

Money

The three easiest currencies to exchange within Africa are the euro, the US dollar and the British pound sterling. In some countries with a large tourism sector, the Australian and Canadian dollars and the Japanese yen can be exchanged at large banks and at some exchange houses, but you will receive a poor exchange rate since these currencies are uncommon and more problematic for banks to exchange them. The continent is roughly divided between regions where the US dollar is easier to change and use and others where the euro is. In Southern African countries, the South African rand enjoys a dominant position in the region (see below) and may be easier to exchange than other currencies. Generally speaking, you will experience low exchange rates outside most of these countries and even currency movement restrictions.

Due to concerns about counterfeiting, money changers, banks and probably even merchants will not accept US dollar bills that are worn out or more than ten years old. Oddly enough, it seems to be a rule among anyone who trades a lot in dollars and will find it difficult or even impossible to get rid of worn or old dollar bills. It does not seem to be the same with euro banknotes, but with other non-African currencies.

With few exceptions (most notably the South African rand), African currencies are generally not accepted by banks or money changers outside their home territory, or at least not at a decent exchange rate. The currencies of some smaller countries are not exchangeable and lose value abroad, and some countries prohibit the export of their currencies and confiscate and even fine people who leave the country with currency (most notably the Angolan kwanza).

There are three monetary unions in Africa:
Common currency area (using South African rand): South Africa, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho and Namibia.
West African CFA Franc (XOF): Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
Central African CFA Franc (XAF): Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon

Some countries that are part of a monetary union also coin their own currency (such as the Namibian dollar), which means that both forms of currency are legal tender.

Despite sharing the same name and the same exchange rate (655,957 CFA francs = €1), the two "CFA franc" coins are issued by different banks and are not interchangeable. A trader in Benin will not accept a 1000 CFA franc note from Gabon and vice versa. In fact, even with banks and exchange houses it will probably be easier (and you will receive a better exchange rate) to exchange euro banknotes or even US dollars. Given the fixed exchange rate, if you visit any of these countries, the euro will receive a more favorable exchange rate.

The Mauritanian ouguiya and the Malagasy ariary are the only two non-decimal currencies that are used in the world, divided into fractions of 1/5 known as khoums and iraimbilanja, respectively.

US dollar

The US dollar has been the de facto currency of Zimbabwe since the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar and the granting of foreign currency as an exchange currency in January 2009. Dollar coins are generally not accepted in Zimbabwe and you may have trouble getting change for small purchases. The Djiboutian franc (178.8 = US$1) and the Eritrean nakfa (16.5 = US$1) are pegged to the dollar.

The US dollar is the easiest currency to exchange (and can receive a better exchange rate compared to the euro) in South Africa and East Africa, as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Liberia. Many tour operators, tourist attractions and hotels in these regions set their prices in dollars, and some even go so far as to offer low exchange rates or even refuse the local currency. In addition, many countries in these regions set their visa prices in dollars and will only accept dollars (or perhaps British pounds).

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the territories of Mayotte and Reunion of France, the Canary Islands of Spain and Madeira and Porto Santo of Portugal. The West and Central African CFA francs are pegged to the euro at 655.975 (previously, just 100 to the French franc). The Moroccan dirham is pegged (with a fluctuation band) to the euro at about 10 dirhams per euro. The Cape Verdean escudo is linked to 110.265 for one euro and the Comorian franc is linked to 491.9678 for one euro. The Sao Tome and Principe dobra was set at 24500 to 1 euro in 2010 to ensure stability; in 2004 it was worth only 12000 per euro.

The euro is the easiest currency to exchange and receives the best exchange rate in countries whose currencies are fixed to the euro, with strong European ties and/or where the majority of tourists are European. This generally corresponds to North Africa, the Sahel, West Africa and Central Africa with the exceptions of Egypt, Sudan and Ghana, neither the euro nor the dollar are better, nor Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Due to the recent creation of the euro and the long-standing status of the dollar, keep in mind that there are some regions of Africa where people have never heard of the euro or will see it as useless.

South African rand

The South African rand is an official currency and is widely circulated in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland) and Namibia. Although the latter three issue their own currencies, they are linked 1:1 with the rand and are not legal tender in the other countries as is the South African rand. The rand has also been accepted in Zimbabwe since the demise of the Zimbabwean dollar, but not as much as the US dollar. It is also easily exchanged (and sometimes accepted as payment) in Botswana, Mozambique and most tourist places in Botswana and Zambia. Namibia mints a local currency that is also legal tender along with the South African rand in Namibia, so always keep in mind the form of currency used on goods for sale.

Markets

Many African countries and tribes are known for their handicrafts. High-quality sculptures, utensils and textiles can be found for a fraction of the price of a similar item made in a high-income country.

North Africa is known for carpets.

Prohibited items

The ivory trade is banned in almost every country in the world, with heavy penalties and even jail terms for violators. Many animal products (some commonly found in fetish markets) are also banned in Western countries, such as turtle shells, tusks of any animal or any part or item made from an endangered species. Some African countries interested in conservation will prosecute all violators to the fullest extent of the law... so be careful when buying animal products unless you want to spend years in an African prison. Please note that even if an item can be exported from an African country, it may be illegal to import it into a Western country; the EU and USA have strict laws on importing animal products in the name of conservation. See also animal ethics.

Some medicines that can be purchased without a prescription in Western countries or parts of Africa may contain ingredients considered illegal narcotics or controlled substances in some countries. In particular, diphenhydramine is a "controlled substance" in Zambia and several Americans have been fined and jailed on drug trafficking charges for possessing the over-the-counter allergy drug Benadryl (also called Dimedrol) and the painkiller Advil PM, the main active ingredient of which is diphenhydramine.

Drug trafficking is as common a crime as in most Western countries. The list of substances that are considered prohibited or restricted drugs varies from country to country. Khat, which is easily grown and consumed in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, is an illicit drug in most other African countries. Organized drug trafficking is a major problem in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau on the way from South America to Europe.

As in most countries, check your local antiquities laws before trying to leave the country with anything that looks more than 100 years old.

Always make sure that the diamonds or other jewelry you are buying can satisfy 2 conditionsː

The quantity, weight and/or total value of the jewelry you purchase can be legally imported to your country of origin.
No jewelry or diamonds are Conflict Jewelry, which means that they are mined and/or sold by terrorist groups, rebel groups or mined in unsustainable ways.

Eat

The food varies greatly and you can find Arabic-influenced cuisine (in the north), as well as food of European origin (in South Africa and Namibia) or local food originating in times before colonization. While you won't find five-star restaurants in every city or, indeed, in every country, if you keep an open mind, you will come across truly amazing and once-in-a-lifetime culinary experiences, once you venture outside of standard tourism.

Drinking

As you might expect from a continent as large and diverse as Africa, there are a wide variety of drinking options. While South Africa has come to be known as an internationally recognized wine region, drinking anything alcoholic in Muslim-majority countries or predominantly Muslim areas of countries like Nigeria can be unwise or even illegal. There are also a variety of non-alcoholic beverages that originated in Africa or have been perfected here, such as rooibos tea in South Africa or coffee in Ethiopia.

Sleep

While shopping districts and tourist towns have high-end hotels, accommodation can be very basic out of the ordinary.

While camping in a national park can be an exciting experience, be aware of the dangerous animals and crime.

Stay safe

Africa has a bad reputation for genocidal dictators and while much of Africa is safe to travel in and many tourist attractions on the continent are far from conflict, there are many regions where conflict and/or anarchy in general exist. Terrorism, religious extremism and piracy are also a cause of concern in some areas with a recent increase in militant Salafi groupings.

Jihadist groups are mainly concentrated in the Horn of Africa, North Africa and the Sahel region, as well as in their adjacent areas. Somalia, where warlords have fought for control since the collapse of the central government in 1993, and the Central African Republic, where widespread anarchy and rebels exist in most of the country, should only be visited by experienced travelers who are very competent about the dangers. that exists. Otherwise, these areas should be considered prohibited regions. The exceptions are Somaliland, which is de facto independent and relatively safe, and the isolated Dzanga Sangha National Reserve of the Central African Republic.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to the second largest jungle after the Amazon and most of the country is impassable by land. The eastern and northeastern regions are home to rebels and general anarchy and have been home to the bloodiest conflict since World War II. The safest regions are the west (including Kinshasa), the south (near the Zambian border, including Lubumbashi) and some points practically on the border, such as Goma, Bukavu and Virunga National Park.

The Central Sahara harbors numerous problems, in particular the growing presence (or at least the impact) of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in much of Saharan Algeria, northern Mali (north of Timbuktu, east of Gao and near the border with Nigeria), and the far eastern Mauritania has led to several kidnappings (including a beheaded Briton, kidnapped near the Mali-Niger border) and a couple of suicide bombings in Nouakchott. Since the end of a civil war in Mali in 2012, the north of Mali (including Timbuktu, Gao and the borders of Mauritania and Niger) is very dangerous due to the presence of Tuareg and Islamist rebels. A Tuareg uprising has left much of the area around Agadez, Niger, which was once a popular tourist destination, off-limits and unsafe. Several borders in the Sahara are closed or very insecure as a result of banditry: Libya-Sudan (closed), Libya-Chad (closed), Chad-Sudan (insecure due to the Darfur conflict), Chad-Niger (banditry), Libya-Niger (banditry), Mali-Algeria (no road crossings, AQIM), Algeria-Mauritania (AQIM), Mali-Niger (AQIM/rebels), Mali-Mauritania (AQIM/rebels) and Algeria- Morocco (closed).

Parts of Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Chad are home to rebels and it is important to get up-to-date information about which parts of these countries are safe to visit (see the warnings on those pages). Northern Nigeria is home to Islamic extremists who have carried out several attacks against non-Muslims, mainly other Nigerians, but there is still a significant risk for Westerners. The region around the Niger River Delta has been home to rebels for decades. Similarly, in Sudan, only the western regions of Darfur and the south-central "boundary" between the North-South conflict are dangerous.

Many countries in Africa are very dangerous for gay travellers, with extreme levels of homophobia widespread in the general population. Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries and, in some cases, carries life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Nigeria and Uganda have gone one step further by making it a crime to know someone is homosexual and not report it to the police.

Crime

Crime in major African cities is generally high and it is generally not advisable to travel at night. While much of this involves scams, muggings, or petty thefts, violent crimes are also common. Check the "staying safe" areas of the individual countries you are traveling to.

Wildlife

In most of Africa, dangerous wildlife should be less of a concern, if at all. In some parts of East Africa and South Africa, abundance of potentially dangerous animals can be found, but most of the time any traveler would be perfectly safe in a vehicle with their tour guide. However, attacks and deaths occur (rarely with foreigners, but commonly with locals) and it is better to be well informed. Nile crocodiles can be extremely dangerous and swimming is not an option in most low-lying areas of East Africa. Lions and leopards can be dangerous, but you are unlikely to encounter them on foot unless you are extremely foolish. Large herbivores like elephants and rhinos can also be very dangerous if aggravated, even while in a vehicle, hippos are the animals most likely to attack or kill a human without provocation and should be avoided without an experienced guide. Poisonous snakes exist and are abundant, but you are very shy and it is unlikely that you will see one, much less that it will bite you. When it comes to pests, most of the insects in the country are no more dangerous than those found in any other country, and spiders are mostly harmless to humans. Despite all this, easily the most dangerous non-human animal on the entire African continent is the mosquito, which infects a large number of Africans with malaria every year, and tsetse flies that cause sleeping sickness are also a major problem in some areas. (Check the individual country and region pages and the WHO reports to see if the places you plan to travel to are affected by these diseases.)

Staying healthy

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of HIV infection and AIDS on Earth. A 2005 UN report says that more than 25 million Africans are infected, more than 7% of adults on the continent. Be very careful with any sexual activity in Africa. HIV infection rates among sex workers are extraordinarily high.

The bushmeat of gorillas, monkeys, chimpanzees and baboons should be avoided. Due to their similarity to humans, a number of diseases (including those not yet discovered or little studied) can be spread by consuming their meat, especially if it is not heated enough. HIV is undoubtedly the most famous disease transmitted by other primates, but others include Ebola, anthrax and yellow fever.

As tap water does not always meet hygiene standards, bottled water (be careful to take a look at the seal before opening the bottle, as some people simply refill the bottles with tap water) is an option if you want to reduce the risk of traveler's diarrhea. especially for shorter stays. Always remember to drink enough, especially in hot weather, and avoid drinking too much alcohol when you do not know your surroundings and/or have recently arrived.

Several infectious diseases, including those transmitted by mosquitoes, are a problem in some parts of Africa. Vaccinations, medications, and other precautions may be recommended to avoid infection. A non-exhaustive list that travelers should think about: dengue, malaria, measles, polio, rabies, yellow fever. Measles and polio vaccinations are routine in many countries, but you need to make sure yours are up to date.

Connect

Phone Number

The calling codes of African countries are usually 3-digit numbers starting with 2, in the form +2XX. Some examples are +233 for Ghana, +263 for Zimbabwe, +254 for Kenya and +262 for Reunion. The exceptions are Egypt and South Africa, with the 2-digit country calling codes +20 and +27, respectively. A full list of country calling codes can be found here.

Traditional landline telephone services are scarce. South Africa and the North African countries are the only regions of the continent that have a decent quality. Largely because of this, mobile phones have proliferated across the continent. Don't be surprised when you find yourself in a seemingly remote corner of the continent and in the middle of a poor tribe, when a man pulls out a mobile phone to show you family photos or asks you to find his Facebook profile so that he can send you a friend request. In many places, you will receive offers from merchants to use your mobile phone for a fee, in the same way that you would be asked to buy a wood carving or a doily. Texting is more commonly used than calling.

If you decide to buy a mobile phone locally, beware of counterfeit phones. Smartphones are likely to be cheaply made versions of phones a couple of years longer than those found in Western markets (that's not to say you can't find the latest Galaxy S or iPhone model). If you decide to bring a phone from home, it would be best to bring a GSM phone (the most common type of network around the world). A GSM phone will have a removable chip, called a SIM card. The SIM card of your phone can be replaced by a SIM card for a local network, allowing you to access local mobile phone networks. Minutes can then be purchased to use and added to your phone. It's not very difficult to find a dealer that sells scratch cards to replenish minutes/texts/data for your phone; just scratch to reveal a PIN number and enter it into your phone (as per the instructions). The cost of buying a SIM card and minutes is much lower than roaming charges with a mobile phone network of a Western country.

Faster data networks are being installed at high speed across the continent (3G and 4G). However, outside the main cities, the data service is usually at very slow 2G speeds (comparable to dial-up Internet or worse). Many telecommunications companies limit the use of 4G/3G networks to postpaid customers.

Internet access

Computers are out of reach for most Africans. Therefore, computer stores (internet cafes) are common throughout the continent, except perhaps in the most remote corners of the most inaccessible countries (Chad, CAR, Somalia). Many computers are full of viruses and malware. With a little computer skill, you can load a flash drive or burn a CD with an antivirus program and possibly an alternative web browser (Firefox, Opera, Chrome) for use on public computers in internet cafes.

Wi-Fi Internet access is becoming more and more common. Most luxury hotels along with some mid-range hotels (mainly in the most developed countries) will offer Wi-fi internet access for guests. Some may charge a fee for this. It is preferable to use your personal laptop, tablet or smartphone with a Wi-fi connection to internet cafes to access bank accounts, email, social networks and other sensitive accounts.

The fastest Internet services can be found in North Africa, parts of West Africa like Ghana, Nigeria and around East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda), where an impressive deployment of fiber optic networks and fast new cables to the Middle East has made Kenya a promising hotspot for tech companies and international businesses that require fast connections. South Africa has the most developed and fastest Internet connections on the continent. In contrast, some less developed countries and regions continue to rely on slow satellite connections, with speeds comparable to or even worse than the dial-up connections that were once common in Western countries. Ghana is also emerging as one of the most consistent Internet service providers in Africa, with the use of dongles being especially common. Wifi hotspots are also available in hotels, pubs and university campuses.

Internet censorship is a problem in several countries of the continent, often implemented or increased for political reasons. This often consists of blocked social networks and other communication tools; less often, governments may shut down the Internet completely around elections or other controversial events.

Post

Postal networks are generally slow, if not unreliable. Boxes and packages sent to destinations outside the continent can take weeks or even months to reach their destination. FedEx, UPS and DHL maintain a good network of offices in major cities across the continent and the ease of shipping, speed and increased reliability make them worth the higher shipping costs.

Postal publication is available in some countries (check with the national postal service first) and allows the mail to be sent to a post office, where it is kept for the recipient. No address is written on the piece, only the name of the recipient, the city/country, the postal code and "Poste Restante". Make sure the sender spells his (the recipient's) name correctly and clearly. The recipient shows up at the post office, presents an ID (such as a passport) and pays a small fee. Since some post offices are quite disorganized, make sure that the employee checks their first name and any possible spelling mistakes (describe them, ask to be shown items with a similar name, look under Q instead of O).

Etymology

The ancient Greeks call the continent Λιβύη/Libúē ("Libya"). As for the term Africa, it derives directly from the Latin Africa which comes from afri or afrou, the name of the goddess of the earth in Berber mythology. From Roman antiquity to the Middle Ages, the term refers only to the part of North Africa surrounding Carthage, the black-majority south being called Ethiopia (from the Greek ΑἰΘιοπία / Aithiopía). Thus, in book V of Natural History, Pliny the Elder mentions the Niger River, which he names Nigris, as a delimitation: "the Nigris River separates Africa from Ethiopia" and also mentions the "Ethiopian nations" who live near it.

The etymology of Africa has been the subject of many hypotheses :
The etymologies prior to the twentieth century are now only historical curiosities: Isidore of Seville derived this name from the Latin aprica ("sunny"), Leo the African invoked a fictitious Greek word a-phrike ("without cold").

According to Michele Fruyt, the term Africa appeared in European languages through the Romans who thus designated the northern part of the continent because, in Campania, africus qualified the rainy wind coming from the region of Carthage.

According to the hypothesis of Daniel Don Nanjira, the Latin word Africa could come either from the name Afridi, a Berber tribe that lived in North Africa near Carthage, or from the Phoenician term Afar meaning "dust".

According to other researchers, the word Africa comes from the Banou tribe Ifren (Amazigh tribe), whose ancestor is Ifren, also called Iforen, Ifuraces or Afer (term also meaning "cave" or "cave" in the Berber language according to Ibn Khaldoun). Ifri, the singular form of the word Ifren, also designates an Amazigh deity.

Still others designate the Banou Ifren as being the inhabitants of the ancient ifrīqīyā إفريقيا which formerly designated in Arabic the current Tunisia and that the name of Africa derives from the appointment of the tribe of Banou Ifren. In addition, the Banou Ifren would be the Ifuraces, tribe that brings together the Afar. The Ifuraces inhabited ancient Tripolitania and are Berber Zenetes, whom Corripus designated in his book by Ifuraces.

History

Paleontology

From the earliest times of history, Africa is the cradle of humanity. The scientists ' belief is that the evolutionary possibility of Man comes from one of the typological diversity of humanoid apes that have roamed the eastern and central grasslands of Africa for more than 2,500,000 years. The archaeologists ' discovery is the first clear evidence of an ancient Stone Age culture that resided in the diversity of archaeological sites in the Great African trench of eastern Africa. The belief of archaeologists is the distribution of this prehistoric cultural form of the Stone Age through almost all of Africa and to the other continents. The beginning of the use of fire by humans occurred in Africa more than 50 thousand, or 60 thousand years ago. About 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, the first Homo sapiens (Moderna) appeared in Africa. During the Stone Age, ape-men were threatened with extinction and only Homo sapiens sapiens remained in Africa.

Emergence of Agriculture

The introduction of agricultural activity and the work of domesticating animals in Africa began around 5,000 BC, when they came from the Middle East. The First Farmers of the Sahara came to know these activities in the entirety of North Africa and the Sahara, which was not yet considered an extensive desert area. The first farmers of the Sahara, properly speaking, were similar to the blacks of what is now West Africa. However, agricultural activity was only reached by the rainforest around the time of Jesus Christ. The peoples of the southern part of the Sahara had no knowledge of the farming peoples of the northern part, and did not have the tools they needed to farm in the dense forest of Central Africa. In addition, the products that farmers grew in the northern part probably did not suit the climatic types with more humidities of the southern part. There is also a possibility that the richness of the soils of Central Africa was already conducive to the production of sufficient food, with animal extractivism and plant extractivism.

In 2500 BC, the African climate was hit by drought and the transformation of the Sahara into an extensive desert area began. The black farmers of the Sahara had the need to move to the southern Meadows. In 2000 B.C., These farmers began the cultivation of food to be produced, such as rice and some types of yams whose soils of both Meadows and forests were conducive to these types of crops. By farmers in the mountains of Ethiopia, in the eastern part of Africa, the development of new crops began fairly around the same time. The peoples of the southern part, present-day Central Kenya, practiced the work of herding domesticated cattle, that is, cattle breeding.

Relations between Africa and Asia through agriculture.

For a long time the role of Africa in the development of Agriculture, its techniques and its resources, was minimized and sometimes ignored due to colonial prejudices and the lack of knowledge of the origin of various African cultigens and the continent's own prehistory. However, the development of agricultural techniques, through the so-called “agricultural cradles” (Afro-Mediterranean, Afro-eastern, afro-Western, Nile-Abyssinian and afro-central cradle), had an important role in World Agriculture, which were manifested in other parts of the globe.

The diffusions that took place through the agricultural and pastoral cradle of the Mesopotamian Near East played an important role in the ancient history of Agriculture in Africa. An example of this is the history of the ancient relations between Africa and Asia, which took place through a Sabaean way from southern Arabia and East Africa. This pathway enabled the exchange of African domestic vegetables such as sorghum and Near Eastern cultigens between plants coming from tropical Southeast Asia (the banana, the big Yam, the taro and sugar cane). In addition, there was also an exchange of domestic animals, this is because certain species of Pigs from East Africa seem related to pigs domesticated in Asia.

The Bronze Age and the Iron Age

In the last two thousand years prior to the time when Jesus Christ was born, the development of cities and commercial activity by sea in North Africa began. Man-made things like bronze and writing had penetration into North Africa when they came from the Middle East. The southern part of the Sahara was not affected by these inventions, and for this reason, that region of Africa did not yet exist Bronze Age. But, the region's entry into the southern part of the Sahara occurred in the Iron Age shortly after the discovery of iron working in the Middle East. The introduction of iron working occurred from Egypt southward to the Kingdom of Kush, in what is now Sudan, around 600 B.C. around the time of Christ, Ethiopia and the savanna region of West Africa entered the Iron Age.

Migrations to the South

The blacks who spoke the Bantu languages, whose economic activities were agriculture, and who knew how to use iron, became known for carrying out one of the largest migratory currents in the world, over three millennia, having spread bantu languages (Niger-Congolese languages) practically throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

They moved from the area of what is now the Republic of Cameroon, into the sparsely populated forests of Central Africa, and there were responsible for the introduction of agricultural activity and the work of iron tools. After about a thousand years had passed, they reached the southern part, carrying out the occupation of almost the entire southern cone of Africa. When they walked to the southern part, hunting peoples were encountered by the Bantu peoples, such as the pygmies, the bushmen and the Hottentots. The Bantu married the hunters, or else the hunters were forced to make entry through the forest or the Calaari desert. By certain peoples, such as the Hottentots, the modus vivendi banto was adopted and the Hottentots, properly speaking, were converted into farmers. However, as the Bantu peoples moved closer to the south, they became isolated from the development of man-made things in North Africa and the Middle East. Since then, they have always progressed through the very things they invented. While the Bantu peoples moved southward, others moved from the savannas to the forests of Coastal West Africa.

The circulation of ideas continued on the trade routes traced through the Sahara and the Nile River from North Africa to the region just south of the Sahara. In addition, the navigation made by traders in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to the region where Mozambique is today has brought to the peoples of the eastern coast of Africa the news telling that North Africa was progressing. The trade routes caused the peoples in the southern part of the Sahara to come into contact with the Roman Empire. The entirety of North Africa was dominated by the Roman Empire after 30 BC.

Axum and Nubia

The Empire of Axum and Nubia were both regions just in the southern part of the Sahara where the Roman Empire influenced most, during the first centuries after Jesus Christ was born. The Kingdom of Axum was situated in the region now corresponding to the north-eastern part of Ethiopia. The Kingdom of Axum became rich through the fact that the Romans and the Indies traded, that is, they carried out trade exchanges. The people were converted to Christianity by the beginning of the fourth century, and many of their descendants continued to be converted to Christianity.

Many small Nubian kingdoms that lay in the Nile River Valley in present-day Sudan entered into business with Egypt when the oldest country in the world belonged to the Roman Empire. The Nubians who traded and influenced went beyond the Nile Valley, extending to the West, until reaching Lake Chad. They were converted by Egyptian missionaries to Nubian Christianity in the sixth century.

During the fifth century, North Africa was invaded by the Vandals, a Germanic people, contributing to the extermination of the Roman Christianity that influenced Africa. The vandal Kingdom declined in the sixth century, and North Africa became part of the Byzantine Empire.

The emergence of Islam

In the last years of the seventh century it occurred to the Union of a group of Arabs around a religious movement that Muhammad founded. Muhammad called the religion Islam and his followers came to be known by the name of Muslims. Most of the population of Egypt and the lands now belonging to Iraq, Palestine, Iran and Syria were converted to Islam. The conquests of Islam were extended in the course of time to the north coast of Africa, where today there are Libya. Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, and the Muslims even conquered the Iberian Peninsula.

Islam also influenced parts of Africa south of the Sahara. They were converted by the Muslim traders that the peoples of the port cities of the eastern part of Africa, in the current countries of Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and northern Mozambique, where the language of communication was and is Swahili, which began to be written in Arabic letter.. There was also a strong penetration of Islam in East Africa, in areas that today correspond to Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and northern Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.

West African empires

The flourishing of the West African empires occurred in the year 1000. The opinion of some historians is that they have been organized shortly after the time in which Jesus Christ lived. The opinion of other authors is that they are of the highest antiquity. One of the empires, which was called Canem, was located in the immediate vicinity of Lake Chad. Another, which was called the Ghana Empire, was situated on the western edge, where Mali and the southern part of Mauritania are located. Tacrur was located in the present-day countries of Senegal and Mauritania.

The political appearance of Ghana was that of a state that strengthened the most among empires over several hundred-year periods, but its power declined in the eleventh century.in the thirteenth century, an empire called Mali, which was located in the present-day countries of Guinea and Mali, replaced Ghana as the empire that strengthened the most in West Africa. In the last years of the fifteenth century and the first years of the sixteenth century, the Songai Empire replaced the Mali Empire as the empire that strengthened the most.

Commercial activity in the Sahara was one of the most important things these empires were interested in. Towards the northern part went the gold and other things produced in West Africa, which the traders exchanged for salt and other things produced in North Africa and Europe, more precisely in the cities on the banks of the Sahara. In order for them to have strength, the empires of West Africa were obliged to take responsibility for the control of these cities. They become stronger when they have gained control of the trade routes of the extensive desert area and borders of North Africa. However, when they were reduced to the greatest weakness, those responsible for plundering the empires of West Africa were the nomads who hunted the rich economic values of West Africa.

Islam was brought to West Africa by Muslim merchants during long voyages along the Sahara trade routes. Conquerors in the Middle East had Islam as their religion, but traders in West Africa also had this religion. The importance exercised by Islam in West Africa was to influence spiritually the population, and were brought by religion the new things that were known from the outside world and was responsible for the introduction of the act of reading and writing. Arabic has become an internationally widespread language at the time.

Southern central forests

In the southern part of the central forests, kingdoms were formed, from 1000 to 1500, which were responsible for controlling areas that resembled those of most countries in Europe. The Congo Kingdom, which was located at the mouth of the Congo River and in Angola, was one of the great kingdoms. There was also the Luba Kingdom, which was located in what is now the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a group of states that were around the Great Lakes of the countries that are now Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The Kingdom of the Karanga, which was sometimes called The Empire of Muanamutapa, was located in what is now Zimbabwe. Its capital was Great Zimbabwe.

It was sold by the Kingdom of Caranga the gold to the merchants who lived on the eastern coast, and was the only Kingdom in the southern part that contacted the outside world. They were isolated by the regions of partially dry climate and sparsely populated the other southern kingdoms of the fact of contacting with the great centers where Africa developed. Thus, these kingdoms were developed without needing to know how to write and other invented things that had importance in other parts of Africa.

Portuguese colonization

In contrast to the Indian Ocean, where the wind changes according to the seasons, The Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of West Africa, there is the strength of winds and currents that run downhill from the southern part throughout the year. Until the middle of the fifteenth century, European ships did not have the possibility of descent from the coast of West Africa and return to Europe. Only after the construction made by the Portuguese of ships that had navigation capacity with return by the coast of West Africa, in the middle of the fifteenth century, did they have the possibility of any point in Africa. From 1497 to 1498, Vasco da Gama led a Portuguese expedition around the Cape of Good Hope to the Indies.

Initially, the Portuguese had a primary interest in trading gold from The Gambia, The Gold Coast (present-day Ghana), and the Caranga Empire. Also the attempt made by the Portuguese was the conversion to Christianity of the rulers of the kingdoms of Congo, Benin, in southern Nigeria, and Uolofe, in Senegal. It was soon discovered by the Portuguese that tropical Africa was too dangerous for those who had recently arrived. Often, more than 50% of the groups of settlers from Europe who recently arrived in Africa lost their lives within a year or two because they showed symptoms of tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. In these conditional situations, only a commercial business that profited in large quantities would have the possibility of attracting European merchants. Slaves and gold have become the only commercial business that profited from sufficiency for European merchants to be attracted to Africa.

The slave trade

In the middle of the fifteenth century, the purchase and sale made by the Portuguese of some slaves in Europe began. However, the slave trade gained real importance after Christopher Columbus discovered America. The death of the inhabitants of the indigenous peoples of tropical America occurred because they were victims of European diseases, and the opinion of Europeans was that they themselves had no salvation from the tropical diseases of the Caribbean region. Thus, they were brought by African Europeans who had partial immunity to malaria and yellow fever to serve as manual laborers in America. Europeans had the right to buy slaves on the coast of Africa because their prisoners of war were enslaved by Africans - as well as Muslims and coastal Christians living in the Mediterranean Sea at the time.

The African slave trade grew as the Portuguese and Spanish established the importance of planting sugarcane in Brazil (see: slave trade to Brazil) and in the Caribbean region during the sixteenth century.in the mid-seventeenth century, colonizers from the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and France have entered the slave trade. From 1450 to 1865, with the Atlantic slave trade, ten million slaves were brought to the Americas by Europeans, who originated from the part of the West African coast between Senegal and Angola.

It was stimulated by the slave trade that African rulers carried out the sale of prisoners in order to exchange clothes, firearms and iron from Europe. Instead of learning to manufacture these products, it was considered by Africans a very great facility in obtaining to sell slaves. In this way, which is due, in part, to the business of trafficking slaves, Africa lagged behind in developing industrially compared to Europe.

In the 1780s and 1880s, Arabs and Africans began a slave-trading business on the East African coast. Slaves from East Africa entered sea vessels bound for Zanzibar or to the countries located on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

European influence

In the 1580s, many parts of North Africa, between Egypt and what is now Algeria, were controlled by the Ottoman Turks. However, from 1580 to 1800, the Ottomans ' control of North Africa declined, and the trade and military strength of European adherents of Christianity grew in North Africa. A trading post located in Cape Town, in the southern part of Africa, was established by the Dutch in 1652. There was a growth of the white population in the place, and their descendants came to be known by the adjective of Afrikaners.

Except for the slave trade, all that Europe influenced did not have much grandeur in tropical Africa until after 1800. The slave trade declined in the early years of the nineteenth century, and began in Europe the need for food produced in Africa such as peanuts and palm oil, to be industrialized. West African farmers had the beginnings of greater dependence on marketing these products to Europeans than their earlier dependence on the slave trade.

After 1800, it was understood by some of those rulers of Africa that if they copied European military methods, they would have the possibility of conquest of their neighbors. Firearms and European officials were imported by Egypt to aid in the conquest of a large empire in present-day Sudan. It was assumed by Zanzibar the fact of controlling a part of East Africa, which had extension to the meeting point of the current eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Afrikaners of the southern part of Africa conquered the Africans of the region in the vicinity of the northern part and the independence of two republics was founded, which are called the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

Religious Revolutions

Between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the penetration of Islam into the Meadows region of West Africa, in the southern part of the Sahara, took place. But by the rulers of this area Islamic law was never fully imposed, so the creeds of the mixture made by the people were the traditional African religions and Islam. In the last years of the eighteenth century, Muslim leaders in West Africa began preaching reform of religion and demanding that authentic Muslim states be created. Most of these leaders were commanders of "holy wars" fighting the African rulers of the area and new Muslim empires were founded. By 1860, the new empires were the controllers of almost the entirety of the savanna region of West Africa.

European exploration

European exploration began in the 1770s. Until then, Europeans remained in the immediate vicinity of the coastal strip, but the fact that they were interested in trade and missionary work gradually entailed forced displacement into the interior of the continent. In the 1770s, it was funded by the governments and missionary and scientific societies of Europe for expeditions to undertake explorations in Africa.

In the 1880s, the growth of the fact that European countries were rivals to each other took place. The reclamation of the European governments of the parts of the territory of the coast of Africa began. The desire of the governments of Europe was defined as the guarantee of having the right to the areas that made the most profit, before this was done by their rivals. By 1914, the Europeans had divided up all of Africa, leaving only the national independence of Ethiopia and Liberia. Belgium, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain and Turkey have all made their own claims to parts of Africa.

As Europe recognized these claimed territories, the establishment by the European colonial powers of their real power in Africa began. They were recognized by some African rulers that European arms are superior and their peaceful surrender to European rule. But they were made by the other wars of resistance, which the Europeans generally treated as rebellions. The period of European conquest was extended from the 1880s to the 1930s, but by the mid-1920s many parts of Africa were firmly under European control.

Colonial rule

The duration of colonial rule over many parts of Africa was between 1900 and 1960. Today, the view of Africans is that this period was a humbling experience. But it was also a period of great progress. Never have so many Africans been educated to contact the rest of the world. It was brought by new highways and railways that Africa developed economically, appeared the emergence of new cities.

Colonial rule varied widely across parts of Africa. In the southern part of Africa, the excellent quality of the land was taken by the white colonizers and an industrial society was built that was responsible for the exclusion of Africans from all occupations that did not have the greatest possible humility. In tropical Africa, European traders or officials were the deployers of their domain with the African leaders they helped. Occasionally, Europeans were the rulers of countries through the election of African politicians.

Postcolonial problems

One of the results of colonialism is the difficulty of cooperation between the new African states. One of the problems is the issue of arbitrary borders, which mostly mark the extent of colonial conquests or imperial expansion and which generally have no relation to natural, geographical or ethnic boundaries. Colonialism also generated a political and economic identification with the colonial metropolis, particularly strong in the case of the former French colonies, and which persists to this day, even resulting in a certain degree of dependence.

Many African leaders have struggled to promote pan-African solutions to the continent's problems. One of the main results of these efforts was the creation in May 1963 of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) with headquarters in Addis Ababa. The Organization of African Unity was replaced by the African Union on 9 July 2002. The OAU was successful in mediating the dispute between Algeria and Morocco (1964-65), and the border disputes between Ethiopia and Somalia (which broke out again in 1977) and between Kenya and Somalia (1965-67), but failed to prevent the Civil War in Nigeria (1968-70).

Independence movement

The African peoples of Egypt, the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Nigeria and South Africa began the great governmental demand to be free. However, what was required of self-government was only converted into a mass African movement after World War II (1939-1945). When this was given, the colonial powers were forced to make a choice between their colonies becoming independent, or declaring an expensive war for the continuation of their colonies to be controlled. The struggle of the French was for more than eight years for the continuation of Algeria to be controlled, but Algeria proclaimed its independence in 1962. Other French colonies became independent peacefully. Belgium and the United Kingdom gave independent status to many of their colonies in 1961.

The most important problematic self-government movement was the southern part of Africa. South Africa declared full independence from the United Kingdom in 1931, but only whites had the right to vote and hold high public office. In the opinion of Africans, this was a special colonialism. In former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the Whites ' attempt was to control the country by declaring their independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. However, the consideration of African countries and the United Kingdom is that the fact of declaring an independent country is an illegality. Portugal's struggle against African resistance movements took place during the 1960s and early 1970s, for continued control of its colonies. Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) declared independence in 1974. Angola and Mozambique, plus the Portuguese colonies of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, gained their independence in 1975.

Independence did not solve all of Africa's problems. In most of the new nations there were no leaders with their own experience. In Congo (Leopoldville), now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the government fell immediately after the country declared independence in June 1960. He asked the United Nations to help restore order after the declaration of independence of the Congolese province of Katanga in July 1960. Between 1960 and 1965, Congo experienced a variety of armed uprisings, and most provisional governments were established until military leaders took over control of the government. The inauguration took place by the military leaders of the government in a variety of other countries in Africa. Politically and culturally disparate groups have caused civil wars in a variety of countries.

Recent development

The 1970s brought a new sense of nationalism to most African nations. Ghana, Uganda and a variety of other countries were engaged in the liberation effort towards the foreigners they influenced, giving expulsion to many foreigners who resided. Some countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have campaigned for the replacement of foreign names of places and people with African names.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, scarce rainfall was the causative agent of the drama of a crisis in the vastness of an area in the southern part of the Sahara. This area, which is called Sahel, includes parts of Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and other nations.

In the mid-1970s, the fact that whites and blacks conflicted with each other in South Africa and the former Rhodesia was aggravated and what was formerly demanded that the dominion of South Africa eliminate the territory of Southwest Africa was intensified. In 1976, a plan was announced for the territory to declare independence. But in the elections that took place in December 1978, South Africa rejected United Nations oversight, which denounced the independence plan on the grounds that it wanted to continue to influence and restrict Namibians from participating in the government. In Rhodesia, a majority black government took office in May 1979 although opposition from black nationalists gave a veto to the agreement that the new government and the white minority negotiated. The blacks and whites maintained the continuity of fighting until the last days of 1979, when by the representatives of the government and the guerrilla forces, after the sponsorship made by the United Kingdom of the United States, a British governor was accepted for the organization of other electoral periods and the direction of the country until the new government was sworn in. This, a coalition of the two most relevant guerrilla political parties, was sworn in in March 1980 and, in April, the independence of the former Rhodesia was proclaimed with the name of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

In the 1980s, the United Nations and South Africa held diplomatic talks on Namibian independence. In South Africa, the struggle against apartheid was growing, which increasingly supported public opinion and governments around the world. Finally, apartheid was abolished in South Africa by Nelson Mandela between 1990 and 1994 and two years later the country's new constitution was promulgated.

Classification of African languages

With regard to the classification of African languages, this is called genetic classification. There is a trunk from which several branches come out, and from these branches, others come out. In this way, there are linguistic groups and subgroups. This classification demonstrates the different historical developments between peoples based on the language. This classification is interesting because it allows different languages to be compared, helping in a reconstruction of the history of the languages of different societies. It also helps to understand non-linguistic cultural history. Therefore, African languages are classified into four main families: the first is that of Afro-Asiatic languages. They may also be called camito-Semitic languages. Those who speak these languages are throughout North Africa, almost the entire Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia); and the cuxitic branch, a branch of the family, has speakers as far south as Tanzania. In addition to cuxitic, the trunk of Afro-Asiatic languages has four more branches: Berber, ancient Egyptian, Semitic and Chadic. There is also a discussion about a sixth branch, which would be the omotic or ari-banna, which in the classification of only five branches comes from the Western cuxitic, which is within the cuxitic. The second family is Niger-Kordofanian. From this trunk come two branches. They are quite different in number of speakers and geographical location. The first branch, the Niger-congo, has speakers in much of Africa south of the Sahara, almost all of West Africa, parts of Sudan and, a branch coming out of it, the banto, for example, has speakers in much of central, Eastern and Southern Africa. The second branch, Niger-kordofanese, has speakers only in the Kordofan region of Sudan. The third family is the Nilo-Saharan. It is spoken to the North and east of the Niger-congo languages and its speakers occupy mainly the Upper Nile Valley, the eastern portions of the Sahara and Sudan. It has speakers also in the western part of the songai, Lower Niger Valley. Many branches come out of it: the Songhai; the Saharan; the Maban; the Furian; the chari-Nile and the Coman. The fourth and final family is the Khoisan family. This group has speakers mainly in South Africa, but it is possible to find branches of this family to the north, in Tanzania. Thus, the Khoisan trunk has three branches: the hatsa, the sandaué and the South African coissan. Some languages spoken on the African continent do not originate from this. An example is Malagasy, speaking in some regions of Madagascar. This language, according to the author, belongs to the Austronesian family, being Malayo-Polynesian. There are also European and Indian languages that, recently imposed, are spoken on the African continent, such as English, which is even spoken in Creole form (krio) in Freetown; there is Afrikaans, which is related to Dutch, in South Africa; there are a good number of speakers of French, Spanish and Italian languages in North Africa; a Creole form of Portuguese is spoken in Guinea and other regions; and there are Indian languages spoken in East Africa: Aryan and Dravidian languages, such as gujarati.

The number of people who occupy the African continent is smaller if we compare it with the rest of the world. But even so, Africa has a gigantic number of languages, greater than any other continent. Therefore, it is difficult to make a detailed linguistic map, although it would be of great help to historians and other scholars. Only, in any case, to be able to unite all the languages of the continent in one image, a simplification would be necessary. Scholars have tried to create this linguistic map, and this one is specifically linguistic, not ethnic. To help clarify the linguistic map a little, it is studied by its simplest features. The first is the division between groups of languages that have relations with each other and have a unity among themselves (which the author calls complex units); and the different languages that are not in any of these groups (simple units). The complex and simple units add up to 120 across Africa. More than 100 of these units are in a single location, which starts on the Senegalese coast in the West and goes all the way to the Ethiopian and East African Plateaus in the East. Two-thirds of African languages are spoken in this strip, which is called the sub-Saharan fragmentation zone because of its geographical location.

Geography

Africa is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and is connected to Asia at its northeastern extremity by the Isthmus of Suez. The continent is the only one that stretches across the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, crossed by the Equator Line and the Greenwich Meridian. However, Africa occupies a single tectonic plate, unlike Europe which shares with Asia the Eurasian Plate.

From its northernmost point, Ras ben Sakka in Morocco, at latitude 37°21'N, to its southernmost point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, at latitude 34°51'15" S, there is a distance of approximately 8 000 km. From the westernmost point of Africa, Cape Verde in Senegal, at longitude 17°33'22"W, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, at longitude 51°27'52" E, it is about 7 400 km.

In addition to the Mediterranean Sea, to the North, Africa is washed by The Atlantic Ocean on its western coast and the Indian Ocean on the eastern side. The length of the coastline is 26 000 km.

The territorial area of Africa is just over 30 million square kilometers, since it is the third most extensive continent in the world. Africa is crossed by three great terrestrial parallels from East to West: the equator, Tropic of cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, in addition to the Greenwich Meridian, in a north-south direction. Africa has five different time zones.

Relief

The relief of Africa is mostly formed by plateaus. It is presented by the continent an average altitude of more than 750 meters. The landforms that occupy all the central and western regions are plateaus that have eroded with intensity. The oldest rocks constitute the plateaus. And the plateaus themselves are bounded by the great escarpments.

The plateaus are bordered by the depressions whose rivers they cross, in which lakes and Hydrographic basins of greater extension are also found, of which we can mention the Nile, Congo, Chad, Niger, Zambezi, Limpopo, Cubango and Orange rivers. Along the coast, the coastal plains are situated, sometimes with great vastness, such as the plains of Niger and Congo.

In East Africa are found one of its most outstanding physical aspects: a geological fault that extends in the north-south direction, the Great Rift Valley, in which mountains are succeeded, some that in the geological past were mere volcanoes and depressions of greater extension. It is in this region that the largest lakes of the continent are located, whose high mountains surround them, to mention Kilimanjaro (5 895 m), Mount Kenya (5 199 m) and Ruwenzori (5 109 m).

Two large groups formed by the elevation of land can also be highlighted, one in the northern part and the other in the southern part of the continent:

the Atlas chain, by which the northern region (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) is occupied. Its formation is very recent and are presented by the Atlas Mountains whose peaks reach 4 000 m in altitude;
the Cape chain in South Africa with a very ancient geological past. Its highest point is the Drakensberg mountains, with an altitude of over 3,400 metres.
Giving a complete view of the relief of Africa, it is possible to observe the fact that there are ancient mountain massifs in different points of the continent: that of Ethiopia, which has formed since volcanic eruptions, that of Fouta Djalon and that of Hoggar, in addition to many others.

Littoral

The main coastal geographical features are the Gulf of Guinea in the South Atlantic; and the Strait of Gibraltar, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. In the eastern part of the continent is located the peninsula of Somalia, what geographers also call the Horn of Africa in Brazil or "Horn of Africa" in Portugal, and the Gulf of Aden, whose geographical accident that forms the Gulf, proper, are the waters of the Indian Ocean. The Gulf of Aden borders the Arabian Peninsula, which is part of Asia. In the southern part, the Cape of Good Hope is located.

In Africa there are not many adjacent islands. In the Atlantic, the Autonomous Region of Madeira, The Canary Islands, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde are located. In the Indian Ocean is found an island of greater extension, Madagascar, and other small that are the archipelagos called Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles.

Climate

Crossed almost in its middle by the equator and included for the most part between the two tropics, Africa is a hot continent, with an average temperature above 21 ° C nine months out of twelve; the intensity of solar radiation is constantly strong there. The climates and the vegetation that corresponds to them are defined according to rainfall rather than thermal variations.

Rainfall is essentially dependent on atmospheric movements occurring in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). It is, in a zone between the tropics and the equator, the upward movement of a humid air brought by the trade winds. The rise in altitude refreshes the air and the humidity is released in the form of precipitation at the height of the equator, which determines humid climates, equatorial climate as close as possible to the equator and tropical climate on both sides. The dry air then converges towards the north and south tropics, which creates an arid climate in these places, around the 20th parallels north and south. This corresponds to the Sahara in the north, and the Kalahari in the south26. Deserts and arid plains also prevail in the Horn of Africa.

The lengthening of the dry season, when we move away from the equator, characterizes the transition from the equatorial climate accompanied by dense forest to the tropical climate, which is accompanied by light forests, then savannas when the dry season is intense. When the dry season is largely dominant, the savannah takes on a semi-arid character with, nevertheless, an intense but very short rainy season. This is the case of the Sahel, in particular, where the savannah dominates. Then deserts appear near the tropics.

Finally, the Mediterranean climate characterizes the coasts of North Africa and the southern tip of South Africa.

The seasons, alternating between the dry and wet seasons, are linked to the annual oscillations of the ZCIT. These oscillations are a major phenomenon for the continent because it lacks mountain ranges high and long enough to influence the climate on a large scale. As most of the continent is under the influence of the ITZ, it is extremely sensitive to disturbances from it, especially in West Africa, even when these disturbances are small. Thus, from one year to the next, the rainy season can vary in duration by up to 30%.

The annual and daily thermal amplitudes are low in the humid equatorial and tropical climate; they increase when moving away from the equator and decrease near the coasts; "in the heart of the Sahara, the [atmospheric] temperature variations between day and night reach 20 degrees" (and much more on the ground where the temperature can locally exceed 70 ° C several days a year, without however reaching the world records recorded in the Lut desert or in Mexico; Africa, however, holds the record for hot desert extent, in absolute surface).

The official record for atmospheric temperature is 55 °C measured on July 7, 1931 in Kébili, Tunisia.

According to a scientific study carried out by several European universities, one in three urban Africans could be subjected to temperatures approaching 41 °C every day in 2090.

Hydrography

In Africa there are rivers of greater length and volume, because they are located in regions close to the tropics and the equator. The most important river on the continent is the Nile, the second largest in the world (after the Solimões-Amazonas). It has a length of more than 6 500 km. Its source is near Lake Victoria, whose area is northeast Africa and the Nile is a tributary of the Mediterranean Sea. The watershed that is formed by the main river and its tributaries has an area of more than three million square kilometers. The Nile Valley is the result of the union between the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The soil presented by the Nile Valley is of extreme fertility. The main economic activity of the Nile Valley is agriculture. The great Egyptian and Meroah civilizations, in antiquity, had existence in part due to the fact that floods occur that recur every year.

In addition to the Nile, among the other rivers of importance for Africa are the Congo, Niger and Zambezi. Of lesser extent, but equal in relevance, include Senegal, Orange, Limpopo and Zaire.

With regard to lakes, in Africa there are some of extension and depth, the many that are located in the eastern part of the continent, such as the Victoria, the Rodolfo and the Tanganyika; the depth of the Tanganyika, proper, is more than 1 500 meters. The great geological fault, where the African Great Lakes were housed, is very emphatically evidenced by Lake Tanganyika. The most extensive lake in the central-western region is Chad.

Flora and fauna

In the equatorial climate areas there is an abundance of rainfall all year round; due to the rainfall, the vegetation that dominates the continent is the equatorial forest. In the northern and southern parts of this range, where there is summer humidity, we see the appearance of savannas, which are the type of constituent vegetation of greater abundance on the continent. The areas that are surrounded by this region are zones that can count on the amenity of temperatures, little rainfall and the accentuation of dry seasons, such as the Sahel.

Along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and South Africa, what geographers and climatologists call Mediterranean vegetation is highlighted. The formation of Mediterranean vegetation is shrubby and grassy. In the southern part of the continent, the Floristic Cape province has relevance.

As Africans are ecologically aware of the preservation of a significant part of their vegetation, numerous species of their fauna are still conserved in Africa: in the equatorial forest they shelter, mainly birds and monkeys; in the savannas and steppes are gathered antelopes, zebras, giraffes, lions, leopards, elephants, ostriches and generally larger animals. Africa has the largest number of megafauna species, as it was the continent least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) megafauna. Africa is the continent where the human species originated, which leads to the hypothesis that the coevolution of large animals alongside humans has provided enough time for these to develop effective defenses against humans, which has not occurred on other continents, such as Oceania and America, where extinctions have been more severe. Its location in the tropics also spared it from the Pleistocene glaciations, with the climate not changing much compared to the current geological era (Holocene).

Regions

It is not easy to group the countries of Africa into groups that present homogeneity. But for ease of study, the continent can be divided into five main regions: North Africa, West Africa, West-Central Africa, East-Central Africa and Southern Africa.

North Africa

North Africa, what geographers also call North Africa and North Africa, is the largest region of the continent in territorial extension, comprising three subdivisions: the Maghreb countries, the Sahara countries and the Nile Valley.

The word maghreb is from the Arabic language has the meaning of" setting of The Sun", that is, the West. The countries that make up the Maghreb are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya. In the landscape, the geographical features that most highlight the Maghreb are the Atlas chain, next to the Mediterranean Sea, and the gigantic Sahara Desert where both stretches are distinct: one by which sandy dunes dominate, what geographers and locals know as Erg, and the other with many stones, which is called Hamadas.

The Maghreb region has a Mediterranean climate on the northern slope of the Atlas Mountains and a desert climate in the northern part of the Atlas Mountains. The distribution of the population is uneven: the demographic density is large in areas of higher humidity and, naturally, there is a shortage in desert areas, where the majority of the population is formed by Arabs and Berbers, who are adherents of Islam.

Due to natural conditions that do not favor crops, agriculture develops very little, despite its employment for many active workers living in these countries. Mediterranean agriculture deserves to be highlighted, in which vineyards, olive trees, citrus fruits and dates are grown. Extensive livestock farming is practiced in areas with a semi-arid climate and livestock that moves without its own destination in the desert.

As they have many ores that are destined for export, the reach made by the Maghreb countries was the implantation of a diversity of outstanding industrial centers, such as Algiers, Tunis, Oran, Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Marrakesh, which are some of the African cities of greater population and beauty.

Algeria's main economic products are oil and natural gas, and the country is also part of OPEC as a member of this international organization. Morocco and Tunisia export a lot of phosphates, which serves as raw materials for the industry that manufactures fertilizers.

The vastness of the Sahara Desert extends across a diversity of countries, being a natural feature of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Libya, in the same sub-region. The arid soil and the predominant desert climate are not favorable to economic activities; agriculture is only possible near the oases and in short stretches of the coast. The subsoil presents expressive mineral wealth in oil, natural gas, iron and uranium reserves.

Even with Egypt's encounter with Sudan in the Sahara Desert, The Nile River present there can be grouped into another subregion. As the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers form the famous fluvial geographical accident, the entire territory of these countries is crossed by the Nile, whose River provides the improvement of vital conditions for its people.

The soil presented by the Nile Valley is extremely fertile, in which agriculture is practiced with intensity. Consequently, the population of Egypt and Sudan is much larger in the Sahara Desert. Cairo is, for example, the largest city in Africa by population and one of the most populous in the world, with more than 11 million inhabitants.

Of lesser expression in Sudan, the Egyptian industry is of greater development and diversity, of which the steel, electrical and textile industries, as well as chemical and food products, can be mentioned. Also in the subsoil of Egypt and Sudan are found reserves of oil and natural gas, as well as iron, phosphate and potassium.

West Africa

West Africa is located between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea and encompasses 17 independent countries (see list of countries, below).

Due to the fact that it is located between the desert and the Gulf, the climate of the region is of the equatorial type, and the vegetation is formed by savannahs in the northern part and forests in the southern part, where it rains a lot.

The population density of West Africa is lower in the regions under the influence of the Sahara and higher in the South. Nigeria is home to about 60% of its population.

The main economic activity is agriculture, alternating between subsistence agriculture and the planting of products that are intended for export, such as coffee, cocoa, peanuts, bananas and others.

The fact that West Africa comes to industrialization, which is expanding, is dependent on foreign capital. The most developed countries in the sector are: Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

Central Africa

The countries grouped by this region are four: Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. It is located in the equatorial portion of the continent, which borders the Atlantic to the West and with high mountainous escarpments and large faults to the East, being verified, in the rest of the territory, the plateaus and alternating plains whose mighty rivers cross. The region has a climate of heat and humidity in the countries of the Far North, being verified the present equatorial forests. The predominant climate in the southern tip of West Africa is tropical, with the savanna ecosystem.

The population of this region is less dense whose main ethnic group are blacks who are mostly part of the banto group. The most populous countries in Central Africa are Zaire and Angola.

It is similar to Central African agriculture in relation to West African agriculture. The importance of mineral exploration is greater for Zaire and Angola, where deposits of copper, cobalt, manganese and iron are found. Plant extractivism, especially wood, is responsible for strengthening the regional economy.

As in almost the entire continent, there are few industries, but the oil sheets discovered in the coastal strip and the great hydroelectric potential that these countries have have the advantage of offering the expected progress.

East Africa

East Africa comprises the area from the Congo River watershed to the waters of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The countries that are grouped by East Africa are in total ten: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Seychelles. As the diversity of the landscape is very great, it is verified, in the midst of the smaller amount of Plains and the elevation of the plateaus, the mountain massifs present there, great faults, the great amount of volcanoes and lakes. The predominant climate is tropical, with attenuation of temperatures by altitude. The variation of a picture offered by vegetation is formed by equatorial forests, savannahs, steppes and the characteristic formations of desert areas.

The ethnicities of East Africa do not have homogeneity: in the Somali Peninsula, what geographers know as "Horn of Africa" in Brazil or "Horn of Africa" in Portugal only because it has the peculiarity of this format, the predominance of the population has as an ethnic group the blacks of the banto group, while in other areas the amount of camitas, Arabs, Indians and Europeans are found expressively. The rural population is numerically larger than the urban population; the most populous cities in East Africa are Nairobi, Mogadishu and Addis Ababa.

In East Africa, the economy that is based on agriculture, which is mainly organized according to the plantation system, is dedicated to the exported products that are coffee and cotton. The scarcity of Mineral Resources is limited in smaller deposits of gold, platinum, copper, tin and tungsten. In East Africa, too, the advantage that has not yet been achieved by industrialization represents a degree of satisfaction that the economy is developing.

One of the regions with the greatest poverty and where there are the most conflicts is East Central Africa. Its people have had crises of drought and famine (Somalia and Ethiopia) and conflicts between ethnicities in which 800 hutus and tutsis have died in Rwanda and Burundi.

Southern Africa

Southern Africa, whose imaginary line of the Tropic of Capricorn crosses, is divided into twelve countries. In the relief of Southern Africa are predominant plateaus whose low altitudes of the coastal strip surround. Corresponding to the climate, which has variation between the humidity of the tropical and the desert (in the Calaari region), making the passage, by the Mediterranean, is found a vegetation that also has diversity, in which is verified the savannas present there, steppes and even forests (together with the coast of the Indian Ocean).

The advantage of ore reserves is that they mainly support the economy of Southern Africa. The main economic products of mineral extractivism in South Africa (Gold, Diamonds, chromium and manganese) and Zambia (copper and cobalt) deserve to be highlighted. As activities that generate money can also be mentioned agriculture, where peasants produce Mediterranean climate foods such as vineyards, olive trees and fruits and tropical climate foods such as sugar cane, coffee, tobacco and cotton, in addition to ranchers extensively raise oxen.

In the South African territory, which is the country that has the most industries on the continent, the concentration of industries is located in the metropolitan regions of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. In South Africa, the political regime that made racial segregation official was apartheid. Through this regime, 15.5% of the population, who are white, was dominated the country until 1994. Since the institution of apartheid, whites and non-whites have had very unequal social relations.

The Namibian State, which proclaimed its independence in 1990, was part of South Africa for 70 years. After Germany originally colonized Namibia, it was elevated to the status of a colony of South Africa after the First World War. The first ruler that the Namibian population elected after the proclamation of independence was Sam Nujoma, who led the guerrilla movement for a period of 30 years.

Demographics

Africa is the third continent in territorial extension, and the second most populous continent (behind Asia) with about one billion people (estimate for 2005), representing about one seventh of the world's population, a figure that gives it a demographic density of about 30 inhabitants per square kilometer.

This small demographic occupation finds explanations in the following factors:
much of the continent is occupied by areas unfavorable to human concentrations: deserts, dense and tangled forests and plant formations typical of poor soils;
mortality rates are very high; although they have decreased in the last 50 years, they still remain higher than on other continents;
Africa is a continent that has received migratory currents; on the contrary, it lost numerous inhabitants at the time of the slave trade.

The African population is also characterized by irregular distribution. The Nile Valley, for example, has a population density of 500./ km2, while deserts and forests are practically depopulated. Other points of high density are the Gulf of Guinea, the fertile areas around Lake Victoria and some stretches in the far north and far south of the continent. Savanna regions, in general, are areas of medium demographic densities.

Few African countries have urban populations numerically higher than rural ones; among those that fall into this case are Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.

Almost all African countries exhibit typical characteristics of underdevelopment: high birth and death rates, as well as very low life expectancy. These factors result in the preponderance of young people in the population, who, in addition to having lower productivity, require large investments in education and employment level.

In correspondence with the different ethno-cultural branches, there are three main religions in Africa: Islam, which manifests itself mainly in White Africa, but is also professed by numerous black peoples; Christianity, a religion carried by missionaries and professed in sparse parts of the continent; and traditional African religions centered on animism, followed throughout Black Africa. This last religious current, in fact, encompasses a large number of polytheistic sects, which have in common the belief in the strength and influence of the elements of nature on the destiny of men.

In the same way as religions, there are numerous languages on the continent: various languages of African origin and the languages introduced by the colonizers, used to this day. The main ones are: Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Afrikaans, a language originating from Dutch, spoken by the descendants of Dutch, Germans and French from South Africa and Namibia.

Ethnic composition

Most of the African population is made up of different black peoples, but there is an expressive amount of whites, who live mainly in the northern portion of the continent, north of the Sahara desert, for this reason called "White Africa". They are mainly Arabs and Berbers, but also include the Tuaregs; they also appear, although in smaller numbers, Jews and descendants of Europeans.

South of the Sahara extends the so-called" Black Africa", populated by a wide variety of Negroid groups that differ from each other by cultural differences, such as the religions they profess and the great diversity of languages they speak. The most important groups are:
bantos: they are numerically superior to the other groups. They inhabit the southern half of the continent and their main activities are cattle breeding and hunting. They constituted the largest contingent of Africans brought to Brazil;
Nilotic: they are found in the Upper Nile region and are characterized by their tall stature;
pygmies: of small stature, they live mainly in the forest of the Congo and its surroundings, where their subsistence on hunting and collecting roots.
Bushmen or khoisan: they inhabit the region of the Kalahari Desert, being currently few in number; they are distinguished as great hunters of antelopes and ostriches.
In addition to the blacks, we find in Africa the Malagasy, people of Malay origin who inhabit the island of Madagascar, the Indians brought by the English and Portuguese colonizers to East Africa, as well as a small number of Chinese immigrants and of European origin.

Socio-economic problems

Famine

There are many regions in the world where hunger strikes. Hunger is the cause of death for thousands of people annually. The main foci are Haiti, Indochina, India and Bangladesh. But there is no other place where the spread of the problem occurs than in Africa. Despite this, hunger strikes hard on thirty countries, first of all, mainly those that are located in the adjacent areas of the Sahara Desert. For this reason, with some frequency the Association of hunger is related to the arid climate and irregular rainfall. The adverse climate, however, only adds to the scale of the misery of the majority of African citizens, who live below the poverty line and in the terrible conditions they can survive. Others make the contribution to the composition of this dramatic picture.

For the deep understanding of everything that caused the famine in Africa, it is important to go back in time to the time when it was colonized, when the Europeans introduced the plantation system to carry out the production of genres that are destined for export, making the area of subsistence crops (corn, sorghum, cassava, etc.). Most African countries export, by fluctuating values, raw materials to rich countries and import, at very expensive prices, food for their starving populations.

With extensive agriculture, man cuts down the forests and in its limits the advance of the desert occurs. The production needed to export does not allow the system of resting the land to be practiced, which is exhausted quickly and even then the fact of using fertilizers is difficult to recover. Generally, in this way, there has been a decrease in agricultural productivity in many African countries. The fact of introducing extensive livestock farming, as a result of nomadic livestock farming, which is traditionally practiced on the continent, is also causing damage to African landscapes, as the death of herds occurs with the pastures that have been reduced, and hunger affects them, as well as the population.

Another problem is the mismatch between the enormous population growth and the reduced growth, or even stagnation, of Agriculture. Despite high infant and general mortality rates, ineffective health services and numerous diseases, the African population is growing at very high levels. To all these problems must be added another, even more striking: Wars. The colonization of Africa has imposed political divisions that have never coincided with tribal divisions, and currently wars between tribes further aggravate hunger and mortality on the continent.

When the problem becomes too acute, it is common to organize campaigns in richer countries. These campaigns, however, only manage to mitigate the problem, because they attack its consequences and not its causes. In addition, not all the resources from these campaigns reach their destination, because the transport network and other extremely precarious infrastructure services mean that part of the food sent does not reach the most isolated populations.

Racism

Nowhere else in the world has the race issue taken on such grave issues as in South Africa. Although blacks, mestizos and Indians made up 86% of the population, it was whites who held all political power, and only they enjoyed civil rights.

The origin of this system, called apartheid, dates back to 1911, when the Afrikaners (descendants of Dutch farmers who emigrated to South Africa) and the British established a series of laws to consolidate their rule over blacks. In 1948, the policy of racial segregation was made official, creating rights and residential zones for whites, blacks, Asians and mestizos.

In the 1950s, the African National Congress (ANC) was founded, a black entity opposed to racial segregation in South Africa. In 1960, the ANC was outlawed and its leader, Nelson Mandela, sentenced to life in prison. From 1958 to 1976, the policy of apartheid strengthened with the creation of the Bantustans, despite the protests of the black majority.

Faced with this situation, discontent and revolt grew in the majority subdued by whites; clashes became frequent and violent; and protest demonstrations were a natural result of this unjust framework. The international community used some forms of pressure against the South African government, especially in the diplomatic and economic sphere, in order to make it abolish the institution of apartheid.

Government and politics

Most countries have "democratically" elected governments. Currently, 55 states are members of the African Union, a continental union that was formed in 2002, and which has Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as its headquarters.

However, elections are often found to be tainted by electoral fraud, both domestically and by the international community. On the other hand, there are still situations in which the president or the governing party has been in power for decades, as are the cases of Angola and Zimbabwe.

In general, African governments are presidential republics, with the exception of three existing monarchies on the continent: Morocco, Lesotho and Essouatini. The number of countries with parliamentary democracy, such as Cape Verde and Mauritius, tends to increase.
European colonization and wars

Africa's current political divide only took shape in the 1960s and 1970s. For centuries, the continent was exploited by the European powers — the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Germany-who divided it into zones of influence appropriate to their interests. Upon gaining independence, African countries had to conform to the borders defined by the colonizers. These, on the one hand, artificially separated human groups belonging to the same tribes, speakers of the same dialects and practitioners of the same customs and subjected them, on the other hand, to the influence of European values.

In many of these new countries, after independence, there were inevitable separatist uprisings and coups d'état that ended up establishing dictatorships. Following capitalist or socialist guidelines, the governments thus constituted were always distinguished by political persecution, which culminated in torture and massacres of opponents.

In most cases, political independence was not total, as generally the new countries maintained economic ties with the former metropolises and, during the Cold War, some linked up with the great powers (the United States and the extinct Soviet Union) in search of military and economic assistance.

All this results in the existence of many hotbeds of conflict on the continent. In some cases, these are struggles of a political nature: groups that want to gain power confront those who hold sway in the region. In others, the main motive is separatism, originated by the artificiality of inherited colonial borders.

Economy

Africa is one of the poorest continents in the world, where almost two thirds of the planet's HIV carriers are, the continuity of armed conflicts, the advance of epidemics and the aggravation of misery call into question its development. Some nations have achieved relative political stability, as is the case of South Africa, which alone has a fifth of the GDP of All Africa.

Distinguished by high birth and death rates, low life expectancy and a young population, Africa is characterized by underdevelopment. Appearing at the same time as a cause and consequence of this panorama, the economic sectors in which African countries have some prominence are a legacy of their colonial past: extractivism and agriculture — sectors in which investments and the cost of Labor are low-whose production is destined to supply the foreign market.

Extractivism

General economic and geographical characteristics of African countries

A feature of the geographical location of many countries in the region is the lack of access to the sea. At the same time, in countries with access to the ocean, the coastline is poorly indented, which is unfavorable for the construction of large ports.

Africa is exceptionally rich in natural resources. The reserves of mineral raw materials are especially large — manganese ores, chromites, bauxites, etc. There are fuel raw materials in the depressions and coastal areas. Oil and gas are produced in North and West Africa (Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Libya). Huge reserves of cobalt and copper ores are concentrated in Zambia and the DRC; manganese ores are mined in South Africa and Zimbabwe; platinum, iron ores and gold — in South Africa; diamonds — in both Congo (DRC and ROK), Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Ghana; phosphorites — in Morocco, Tunisia; uranium — in Niger, Namibia.

There are quite large land resources in Africa, but soil erosion has become catastrophic due to improper cultivation. Water resources are extremely unevenly distributed throughout Africa. Forests occupy about 10% of the territory, but as a result of predatory destruction, their area is rapidly decreasing.

Africa has the highest rate of natural population growth. Natural growth in many countries exceeds 30 people per 1,000 inhabitants per year. A high proportion of children's ages (50%) and a small proportion of older people (about 5%) remain.

African countries have not yet succeeded in changing the colonial type of sectoral and territorial structure of the economy, although the pace of economic growth has accelerated somewhat. The colonial type of the sectoral structure of the economy is characterized by the predominance of low-commodity, consumer agriculture, weak development of the manufacturing industry, and lagging development of transport. African countries have achieved the greatest success in the mining industry. In the extraction of many minerals, Africa holds a leading, and sometimes a monopoly place in the world (in the extraction of gold, diamonds, platinoids, etc.). The manufacturing industry is represented by light and food industries, other industries are absent, with the exception of a number of areas near the availability of raw materials and on the coast (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Zambia, DRC).

The second branch of the economy that defines Africa's place in the world economy is tropical and subtropical agriculture. Agricultural production accounts for 60-80% of GDP. The main cash crops are coffee, cocoa beans, peanuts, dates, tea, natural rubber, sorghum, spices. Recently, grain crops have been grown: corn, rice, wheat. Animal husbandry plays a subordinate role, with the exception of countries with arid climates. Extensive cattle breeding prevails, characterized by a huge number of livestock, but low productivity and low marketability. The continent does not provide itself with agricultural products.

Transport also retains a colonial type: railways run from the areas of raw material extraction to the port, while the regions of one state are practically not connected. Rail and sea modes of transport are relatively developed. In recent years, other types of transport have also been developed — automobile (a road has been laid through the Sahara), air, and pipeline.

All countries, with the exception of South Africa, are developing, most of them are the poorest in the world (70% of the population lives below the poverty line).

Problems and difficulties of African States

A swollen, unprofessional and inefficient bureaucratic apparatus has emerged in most African States. With the amorphous nature of social structures, the army remained the only organized force. The result is endless military coups. Dictators who came to power appropriated untold wealth for themselves. The capital of Mobutu, the President of the Congo, at the time of his overthrow was $7 billion. The economy was functioning poorly, and this gave room for a "destructive" economy: the production and distribution of drugs, illegal mining of gold and diamonds, even human trafficking. Africa's share in world GDP and its share in world exports were declining, and output per capita was declining.

The formation of statehood was extremely complicated by the absolute artificiality of state borders. Africa inherited them from the colonial past. They were established when the continent was divided into spheres of influence and have little in common with ethnic borders. The Organization of African Unity, established in 1963, aware that any attempt to correct a particular border could lead to unpredictable consequences, called for these borders to be considered inviolable, no matter how unfair they may be. But these borders have nevertheless become a source of ethnic conflict and displacement of millions of refugees.

The main branch of the economy of most countries in Tropical Africa is agriculture, designed to provide food to the population and serve as a raw material base for the development of manufacturing industry. It employs the majority of the self-employed population of the region, and creates the bulk of the total national income. In many countries of Tropical Africa, agriculture occupies a leading place in exports, providing a significant portion of foreign exchange earnings. In the last decade, an alarming picture has been observed with the growth rate of industrial production, which allows us to talk about the actual deindustrialization of the region. If in 1965-1980 they (on average per year) amounted to 7.5%, then in the 80s only 0.7%, a drop in growth rates took place in the 80s in both the extractive and manufacturing industries. For a number of reasons, the mining industry plays a special role in ensuring the socio-economic development of the region, but this production is also reduced by 2% annually. A characteristic feature of the development of the countries of Tropical Africa is the weak development of the manufacturing industry. Only in a very small group of countries (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Senegal) does its share of GDP reach or exceed 20%.

Integration processes

A characteristic feature of integration processes in Africa is the high degree of their institutionalization. Currently, there are about 200 economic associations of various levels, scales and directions on the continent. But from the point of view of studying the problem of the formation of a sub-regional identity and its correlation with national and ethnic identity, the functioning of such large organizations as the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS), the South African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), etc. are of interest. The extremely low effectiveness of their activities in previous decades and the advent of the era of globalization required a sharp acceleration of integration processes at a qualitatively different level. Economic cooperation is developing in new conditions, compared with the 1970s, of the contradictory interaction of the globalization of the world economy and the increasing marginalization of the positions of African States within its framework and, of course, in a different coordinate system. Integration is no longer considered as a tool and a basis for the formation of a self-sufficient and self-developing economy based on its own strength and in contrast to the imperialist West. The approach is different, which, as mentioned above, presents integration as a way and a way to integrate African countries into the globalizing world economy, as well as as an impetus and indicator of economic growth and development in general.

Culture

For historical reasons, Africa can be culturally divided into two large areas: North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Literature of Africa

The concept of African literature includes both written and oral literature by Africans themselves. In the minds of Africans, form and content are inseparable from each other. The beauty of the presentation is used not so much for its own sake as to build a more effective dialogue with the listener, and beauty is determined by the degree of truthfulness of what is stated.

The oral literature of Africa exists in both verse and prose form. Poetry, often in song form, includes actual poems, epics, ritual, songs of praise, love songs, etc. Prose is most often stories about the past, myths and legends, often with the trickster as the central character. The epic of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the ancient state of Mali, is an important example of pre—colonial oral literature.

The first written literature of North Africa is recorded in Egyptian papyri, it was also written in Greek, Latin and Phoenician languages (there are very few sources left in Phoenician). Apuleius and St. Augustine wrote in Latin. The style of Ibn Khaldun, a Tunisian philosopher, stands out prominently among the Arabic literature of that period.

During the colonial period, African literature mainly dealt with the problems of slavery. Joseph Ephrahim Casely-Hayford's novel "Free Ethiopia: Essays on Racial Emancipation", published in 1911, is considered the first English-language work. Although the novel balanced between fiction and political propaganda, it received positive responses in Western publications.

The topic of freedom and independence was increasingly raised before the end of the colonial period. After the independence of most countries, African literature has made a giant leap. There have been many writers whose works have been widely recognized. The works were written both in European languages (mainly French, English and Portuguese) and in the indigenous languages of Africa. The main themes of the work of the postcolonial period were conflicts: conflicts between the past and the present, tradition and modernity, socialism and capitalism, personality and society, indigenous peoples and newcomers. Social problems such as corruption, the economic difficulties of countries with newfound independence, women's rights and role in the new society were also widely covered. Women writers are much more widely represented now than during the colonial period.

The first African writer of the postcolonial period to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature was Wole Shoyinka (1986). Before that, only Albert Camus, who was born in Algeria, was awarded this prize in 1957.

Since 1980, the Noma Award has been awarded for outstanding literary works.

Cinema

In general, the cinematography of Africa is poorly developed, the only exception is the film school of North Africa, where many films have been shot since the 1920s (cinematographies of Algeria and Egypt).

So Black Africa did not have its own cinema for a long time, and served only as a backdrop for films made by Americans and Europeans. For example, in the French colonies, the indigenous population was forbidden to make films, and it was only in 1955 that Senegalese director Paulin Soumanou Vieira shot the first Francophone film L'Afrique sur Seine ("Africa on the Seine"), and then not at home, but in Paris. A number of anti-colonial films were also shot, which were banned until decolonization. It was only in recent years, after independence, that national schools began to develop in these countries; first of all, South Africa, Burkina Faso and Nigeria (where a school of commercial cinema, called "Nollywood", has already been formed). The first film to receive international recognition was the film by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene "Black Girl" about the difficult life of a black maid in France.

Since 1969 (he enlisted the support of the state in 1972), the largest African film festival on the continent, FESPACO, has been held in Burkina Faso every two years. The North African alternative to this festival is Tunisian "Carthage".

To a large extent, films made by African directors are aimed at destroying stereotypes about Africa and its people. Many ethnographic films of the colonial period were frowned upon by Africans as distorting African realities. The desire to correct the world image of Black Africa is also characteristic of literature.

The concept of "African cinema" also includes films made by the Diaspora outside the homeland.