Interesting Stuff from Africa

• There are an estimated 2000 languages spoken in Africa • The world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia • Africa covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area • Half of the world's supply of diamonds and gold come from Africa • The origin of humans and the Hominidae tree (great apes) • Africa provides about 14% of the world's human population • From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia (37°21' N), to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15" S), is a distance of approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles) • Discovery of the earliest hominids and their possible ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago • Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas • The Latin word aprica means "sunny" • 26,000 km (16,100 miles) of coastline • Africa boasts perhaps the world's largest combination of density and "range of freedom" of wild animal populations and diversity • the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones • The Greek word aphrike, meaning "without cold • The climate of Africa ranges from tropical to subarctic, desert or arid, savanna plains, jungle (rainforest) to sahel and steppe • Wild populations of large carnivores, and herbivores, jungle animals and aquatic life • The oldest inhabited territory on earth • Sahara Desert, the world’s largest desert, occupies one-fourth of Africa's landmass • The River Nile is the longest river in the world • Over 1,000 different ethnic groups • Natural resources (% of world's total): Uranium (29%) , bauxite (27%), copper (20%), petroleum (8%), phosphorites (66%) • Wide variety of sign languages, many of whose genetic classification has yet to be worked out. Several African languages are also whistled for special purposes

Geography  
 
Number of states : There are 46 countries including Madagascar, and 53 including all the island groups (Western Sahara not counted as independent state)

Location (geographical coordinates/latitude and longitude): Northerly point: Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia (37°21' N); most southerly point: Cape Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15" S); the westernmost point: Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W; the eaternmost point: Ras Hafun in Somalia, 51°27'52" E

Size: 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi)

"Borders" with: the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west

Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Lake Assal, Djibouti: 512 feet / 156 meters below sea level; Highest point: Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: 19340 feet / 5895 meters

Extreme Points: Northernmost Point: Ras ben Sakka, Tunisia (37°21'N); Southernmost Point: Cape Agulhas, South Africa (34°51'15"S); Westernmost Point: Santo Antão, Cape Verde Islands (25°25'W); Easternmost Point — Rodrigues, Mauritius (63°30'E)
African pole of inaccessibility is close to the border of Central African Republic, Sudan and Congo, near the town Obo.

Population and People  

Population: More than 900,000,000 people (as of 2005)

Population Growth rate:  Rates of growth fluctuate from 2.0 and 1.6 per cent in Northern and Southern Africa to 2.5 and 2.7 per cent in Western and Middle Africa, while the average for the continent is about 2.4 per cent.

Religion: Approximately 46.5% of all Africans are Christians and another 40.5% are Muslims with roughly 11.8% of Africans following indigenous African religions

Languages : Well over a thousand languages (some have estimated over two thousand

Symbol of unity in featureersity
A Ghanian Mythical Two Headed Crocodile With A Common Stomach. Symbol of unity in featureersity, democracy or the oneness of the human family despite cultural differences and featureersities.