Africa

Africa is one of the continents of the Earth. Its area of 30.2 million km² corresponds to about 22% of the total land area of the planet, and it has a population of about 1.3 billion people (2017). This makes it the second largest continent after Asia in terms of both extent and population. Nearly all African countries are members of the United Nations and the African Union. The continent is predominantly rural and characterized by high birth rates, which are declining due to modernization. As a result of the sharp increase in urbanization since about 1950, more and more Africans live in urban areas. Some African cities are among the world’s largest metropolitan areas, including Cairo, Lagos, Kinshasa, Johannesburg, Luanda and Alexandria.

According to the „Out-of-Africa Theory,“ Africa is considered the „Cradle of Humankind,“ where the evolution to anatomically modern man Homo sapiens took place during hominization. One of the earliest advanced civilizations of mankind formed in ancient Egypt. Over the millennia, various „great empires“ developed on the continent, such as the Empire of Abyssinia. The slave trade with the African empires since the 16th century and the later colonization by European states („Race for Africa“) led to a partly drawing-board-like division of territory. This was adopted by many newly formed African states in the course of decolonization beginning in the mid-20th century. Africa’s heterogeneous peoples traditionally had different settlement areas, contributing to various conflicts and wars over territorial, resource and power claims.

While most countries in Africa were ruled autocratically for a long time, democratic movements prevailed more frequently from the late 20th century onward, with the Africa region performing the worst since democracy measurements began. Poverty, famine, infant mortality, and health problems have been significantly reduced through education, economic, medical, and infrastructural advances in recent decades. The importance of Africa’s nations in the world economy is still low by GDP, with a few exceptions such as South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Angola and Morocco. However, several African countries have been among the world’s fastest growing economies since the beginning of the 21st century. The continent’s raw materials and arable land are of increasing importance to African countries as well as industrialized and emerging economies trading with them.

Africa’s geography and nature are diverse, and there are a large number of nature-protected national parks. Africa’s UNESCO World Heritage is extensive.

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika

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