Interesting facts about Africa, you thought you knew, but now you are sure of!
Africa is a vast continent with 54 countries! Yes, 54, that is right. I felt that needed to be stated right at the beginning to clear any confusion about an entire continent being a single country. On the other hand, the origin of the name “Africa” has been and will continue to be the subject of many debates as historians cannot quite agree on how the continent got its name. Most believe it stems from words used by the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans.
Important words include the Egyptian word Afru-ika, meaning motherland; the Greek word aphrike, meaning without cold; and the Latin word aprica, meaning sunny.
You have not lived until you have visited Africa. Africa the “birthplace” of civilisation and written language. The 365 day calendar is believed to have been invented by the Egyptians, whilst Ethiopia has its own alphabet. It’s the only country in Africa to have its very own. Africa is sometimes referred to as the "Motherland" as it is the oldest inhabited continent on Earth. It is believed humans and their ancestors have lived in Africa for more than 5 million years. If we go by the records of human fossil remains Africa seems to be the first continent where humans were found, suggesting that humans inhabited the African continent as early as 7 million years ago.
Contemporary Africa is beautiful and incredibly diverse, incorporating hundreds of native languages and indigenous groups. Most of these groups blend traditional customs and beliefs with modern societal practices and expediencies. Africa is home to the most genetically diverse people on Earth. Around 2000
different languages are spoken in Africa and each of them have different dialects while Arabic is the language that is most widely spoken in the African continent followed by English, Swahili and French respectively. Believe it or not, more than 50% of the world's French-speaking population lives here on the African continent. And Angola has more Portuguese speakers than Portugal.Other commonly spoken languages are Amharic, Yoruba, Oromo, Hausa, Igbo and Zulu.
Africa is the hottest continent on Earth. I mean this both figuratively and literally! The world's hottest place is a tiny village named Dallol in Ethiopia with the average ann
ual highest temperature coming in at a blistering 106.1 degrees F!! Africa is home to both the world's longest river, the Nile and, the world's largest desert, the Sahara. . The Sahara Desert covers 11 countries: large sections of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia.
Africa is also abundant in flora and fauna unsurpassed by any other continent.Africa is home to some of the most interesting animals on this planet. Among the largest land mammals, is the African elephant; the tallest mammal, is the giraffe; and the f
astest mammal, is the cheeky cheetah, which can run with speeds up to 113 km/hour or 70 miles/hour! [Watch out Flash!!]Equally fascinating is that Africa has a pink lake in Senegal called Lac Rose. The pink color is caused by a type of bacteria, but the lake is completely safe to swim in.
Also, Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt. These are located around 200 kilometers from the Sudanese capital Khartoum. There are over 200 ancient Nubian pyramids, typically smaller than the Egyptian pyramids and with the burial chamber sitting under the structure and not within.
Did you know that that the richest man ever is African? And no not Elon Musk!
Mansa Musa, aka Musa I of Mali is considered one of the richest men in African history. By all accounts this guy could seriously have given T’Challa [Black Panther] of Wakanda a run for his money! Musa was the tenth emperor of the Malian Empire, known not only for his wealth but for his wisdom and generosity too. By the time of his death in 1937, estimates place his net worth in the range of US$300 billion to US
$400 billion.
Hopefully y’all learnt something new and found these few facts as fascinating as I did!
Compiled by
Napanji Africa
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