The second largest continent; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the India Ocean.
Second largest of the continents, three times the area of Europe
area 30,097,000 sq km/11,620,451 sq mi
largest cities (population over 1 million) Cairo, Algiers, Lagos, Kinshasa, Abidjan, Cape Town, Nairobi, Casablanca, El Gîza, Addis Ababa, Luanda, Dar es Salaam, Ibadan, Douala, Mogadishu
features Great Rift Valley, containing most of the great lakes of E Africa (except Lake Victoria); Atlas Mountains in the NW; Drakensberg mountain range in the SE; Sahara Desert (world’s largest desert) in the N; Namib, Kalahari, and Great Karoo deserts in the S; Nile, Zaïre, Niger, Zambezi, Limpopo, Volta, and Orange rivers
physical dominated by a uniform central plateau comprising a southern tableland with a mean altitude of 1,070 m/3,000 ft that falls northward to a lower elevated plain with a mean altitude of 400 m/1,300 ft. Although there are no great alpine regions or extensive coastal plains, Africa has a mean altitude of 610 m/2,000 ft, two times greater than Europe. The highest points are Mount Kilimanjaro 5,900 m/19,364 ft, and Mount Kenya 5,200 m/17,058 ft; the lowest point is Lac Assal in Djibouti -144 m/-471 ft. Compared with other continents, Africa has few broad estuaries or inlets and therefore has proportionately the shortest coastline (24,000 km/15,000 mi). The geographical extremities of the continental mainland are Cape Hafun in the E, Cape Almadies in the W, Ras Ben Sekka in the N, and Cape Agulhas in the S. The Sahel is a narrow belt of savanna and scrub forest which covers 700 million hectares/1.7 billion acres of W and central Africa; 75% of the continent lies within the tropics
industries has 30% of the world’s minerals including diamonds (51%) and gold (47%); produces 11% of the world’s crude petroleum, 58% of the world’s cocoa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria), 23% of the world’s coffee (Uganda, Ivory Coast, Zaire, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Kenya), 20% of the world’s groundnuts (Senegal, Nigeria, Sudan, Zaire), and 21% of the world’s hardwood timber (Nigeria, Zaire, Tanzania, Kenya)
million; more than double the 1960 population of 278 million, and rising to an estimated 900 million by 2000; annual growth rate 3% (10 times greater than Europe); 27% of the world’s undernourished people live in sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 25 million are facing famine
language over 1,000 languages spoken in Africa; Niger-Kordofanian languages including Mandinke, Kwa, Lingala, Bemba, and Bantu (Zulu, Swahili, Kikuyu), spoken over half of Africa from Mauritania in the W to South Africa; Nilo-Saharan languages, including Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and Masai, spoken in central Africa from the bend of the Niger River to the foothills of Ethiopia; Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic) languages, including Arabic, Berber, Ethiopian, and Amharic, N of the equator; Khoisan languages with “click” consonants spoken in the SW by Kung, Khoikhoi, and Nama people of Namibia
religion Islam in the N and on the east coast as far S as N Mozambique; animism below the Sahara, which survives alongside Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) in many central and southern areas.

The continent of Africa.

Native to or an inhabitant of the continent of Africa, especially of sub-Saharan Africa. The region is culturally heterogeneous with numerous distinctive ethnic and sociolinguistic groups. There are three major language families: Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic), and Chari-Nile (Sudanic).A native or inhabitant of Africa.

A white native of Cape Province who is a descendant of Dutch settlers and who speaks Afrikaans

(formerly known as Boer) Inhabitant of South Africa descended from the original Dutch, Flemish, and Huguenot settlers of the 17th century. Comprising approximately 60% of the white population in South Africa, they were originally farmers but have now become mainly urbanized. Their language is Afrikaans.
A white native of Cape Province who is a descendant of Dutch settlers and who speaks Afrikaans; Also called: Afrikander, Boer.

Specialist in African studies.

1. (Alternate spelling: Africanise).
2. To place under the domination of Africans.
3. To make African or to make conform to African customs.

Native to or an inhabitant of the continent of Africa, especially of sub-Saharan Africa. The region is culturally heterogeneous with numerous distinctive ethnic and sociolinguistic groups. There are three major language families: Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic), and Chari-Nile (Sudanic).A native or inhabitant of Africa.

Of or relating to the nations of Africa or their peoples.

Involving Africa or Africans

An official language of the Republic of South Africa; closely related to Dutch and Flemish; Also called: Taal, the Taal, South African Dutch.

ETYM Latin affricatus, p. p. of affricare to rub against; af- = ad- + fricare to rub.
(Linguistics) A composite speech sound consisting of a stop and a fricative articulated at the same point (as 'ch' in 'chair' and 'j' in 'joy'); SYN. affricate consonant, affricative.
Consonant that begins as a plosive and ends as a fricative.