Africa is the world’s second-largest and second most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles), including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth’s total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.3 billion people as of 2018, it accounts for about 16% of the world’s human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes the island countries of Madagascar and various archipelagos.
Africa’s average population is the youngest of all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, while the worldwide median age was 30.4. Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population. Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of Homo sapiens and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus, Homo erectus, H. ergaster, H. antecessor, H. heidelbergensis, and H. neanderthalensis. Homo sapiens sapiens, the only living species of the Homo genus, is believed to have originated in Africa.
Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures, and languages. In the late 19th century, European countries colonized almost all of Africa. African nations cooperate by establishing the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles), including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth’s total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.3 billion people as of 2018, it accounts for about 16% of the world’s human population. The Mediterranean …