Portal:Africa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Cheetah.png
For a topic outline on this subject, see List of basic Africa topics.
Main page   African countries   Tasks, WikiProjects & related portals  
Location of Africa on the world map
Satellite map of Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,599 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 20.4% of the Earth's total land area, and with over 900 million inhabitants in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14% of the world's human population. Modern human evolutionary theory recognizes Africa, particularly the area in and around present-day Ethiopia, as the cradle of humankind.

The continent is surrounded by 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. It straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas and is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Because of the lack of natural regular precipitation and irrigation as well as glaciers or mountain aquifer systems, there no natural moderating effect on the climate exists except near the coasts.

Show new selections below (purge)

Featured article

A fragment of Delafosse's (1904) linguistic map highlighting Nafaanra ('Nafana') in the borderland of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Nafaanra (sometimes written Nafaara, pronounced [nafaãra]) is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the border with Côte d'Ivoire, east of Bondouko. It is spoken by approximately 61,000 people. Its speakers call themselves Nafana; others call them Banda or Mfantera. Like other Senufo languages, Nafaanra is a tonal language. It is somewhat of an outlier in the Senufo language group, with the geographically closest relatives, the Southern Senufo Tagwana-Djimini languages, approximately 200 kilometres to the west, on the other side of Comoé National Park. (Read more...)

Featured picture

A Senegal Wattled Plover in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
Photo credit: John O'Neill

The dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) is a large even-toed ungulate native to northern Africa and western Asia. It is often referred to as the one-humped camel, Arabian camel, or simply as the "dromedary".

Did you know ...


Akan drum

In the news

Categories

Featured biography

Pieter Kenyon Fleming-Voltelyn van der Byl (11 November 1923 – 15 November 1999) served as the Foreign Minister of Rhodesia from 1974 to 1979 as a member of the Rhodesian Front. He was a close associate of Prime Minister Ian Smith.

After a high-flying international education, van der Byl moved to the colony of Rhodesia to manage family farms. He went into politics in the early 1960s through his involvement with farming trade bodies, and became a government minister responsible for propaganda. One of the leading agitators for the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, van der Byl was afterwards responsible for introducing press censorship. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade international opinion to recognise Rhodesia as a new nation, but was popular among the members of his own party. Promoted to the cabinet in 1968, van der Byl became a spokesman for the Rhodesian government and crafted a public image as a diehard supporter of continued White minority rule. In 1974 he was made Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence. (Read more...)

Topics in Africa

Culture Architecture (World Heritage Sites· Art · Cinema (Film festivals · List of films· Cuisine ·
Etiquette · Languages · Literature (Writers by country· Music (Musicians· Religion
Demographics People · Countries by population · Countries by population density · HIV/AIDS ·
Urbanization (List of most populous cities)
Economy Countries by GDP · Countries by HDI · Central banks and currencies · Poverty · Renewable energy · Stock exchanges · Natural resources
Geography Countries · Ecology · List of impact craters · List of islands · List of rivers · Regions
History Colonisation (European exploration · African slave trade · Scramble for Africa·
Decolonisation · Economic history · Military history (List of conflicts)
Politics African Union · Elections in Africa · Human rights in Africa · Pan-Africanism
Society African philosophy · Caste system · Education · Media (List of radio stations · List of television stations)
Sport African Cricket Association · All-Africa Games · Australian rules football · FIBA Africa ·
Confederation of African Football (African Cup of Nations· Stadiums by capacity ·
Confederation of African Rugby (Africa Cup· Tour d'Afrique
Years 2005 in Africa · 2006 in Africa · 2007 in Africa

Related portals

Associated Wikimedia

Africa on Wikinews     Africa on Wikisource     Africa on Wiktionary     Africa on Wikimedia Commons
News Texts Definitions Images & media
link=Wikinews:Africa
Wikisource-logo.svg
Wiktionary-logo-en-35px.png
Commons-logo.svg



Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages