Important Facts about Africa

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Of the seven continents of the world, Africa is the second largest.
Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area, and Nigeria by population.
The continent’s terrain was inhabitable and remained unknown for thousands of years, earning it the name of ‘Dark Continent’.
All of Africa was colonized by foreign powers during the “scramble for Africa”, except Ethiopia and Liberia.
The world’s longest river — the Nile — and the world’s largest desert — the Sahara — both are home in Africa.

The equator passes through the middle of the Dark Continent and it receives direct sunlight throughout the year.
As per research evidence, Africa is the place where Homo sapiens originated and then migrated to all the other continents of the world.
Africa is the continent with the most countries. There are 54 countries on the African continent.
Africa is the only continent that is traversed by the equator, the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.

The Greenwich Meridian passes through the western part of Africa.
It is the only continent where the 0° latitude meets the 0° longitudes. These lines meet at the Gulf of Guiana.
Africa is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in the northeast.
The Plateau: Ethiopian Plateau, Tibesti Plateau, and the Abyssinia Plateau.
The Fold Mountains: The Atlas mountains, The Drakensberg and the Great Karoo.
Volcanic mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro also known as Mount Kibo. Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain rise in the world.

The Rift Valley: Great rift valley.
Lakes: Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa or Malawi, and Kivu.
Lake Victoria is the world’s third largest lake after the Caspian Sea and Lake Superior.
Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa.
Lake Nasser is on the river Nile. It is a man-made lake located between Egypt and Sudan.
Deserts: Sahara desert and Kalahari.
Rivers: the Nile, the Congo, the Niger, the Zambezi, and the Orange.
The Nile is the Longest river in the world. White Nile from Lake Albert and the Blue Nile from Lake Tana meet at Khartoum and thereafter it is known as River Nile.
River Congo or Zaire is the second longest river of Africa and it cut the equator twice.
Limpopo river crosses the Tropic of Capricorn twice and separated South Africa from Botswana and Zimbabwe.

River Orange flows from the Drakensberg mountains into the Atlantic Ocean and forms a natural boundary between South Africa and Namibia.
Waterfall: The Victoria Falls and Stanley Falls.
Islands: Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles (Indian Ocean); the Sao Tome, Canary islands, Malabo islands (the Atlantic Ocean).
Horn of Africa: Easternmost extension of African land and is home to the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia
Egypt is called the gift of the Nile because without the river it would have been a desert.

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