African facts and interesting things to know
Africa Alkebulan is a land of many possibilities and beautiful cultures. The land of Africa has been around since time immemorial. History gives an account of how scores of our ancestors migrated or dispersed to other parts of the world. African Homo erectus was the first human species to leave Africa and expanded into southern Eurasia 1.75 million years ago. The Ancient Egyptians called Africa Ta-neter (The Gods' Land) and viewed it as a mysterious and unknown land of great fortune.
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| An umbrella tree in Africa, Eastern Ghana |
Africa has amazing beaches, safari, tourist attractions, and natural resources that have made the world how it is today. Below are some of the African facts and interesting things to know. The facts about Africa we will unleash here will let you know and understand some aspects of Africa that no one will tell you.
Countries in Africa ( largest, wealthiest, poorest, and safest)
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.3 million km² including islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population.
Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, and Algeria are the richest in Africa and some of the poorest by employment and living standard are Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Niger, South Sudan, Somalia, D.R Congo, etc. (Note the so-called poorest countries in Africa was some of the richest countries in Africa some thousand years ago).
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| Nubian empire |
It is not 55 but 54 countries in Africa currently, according to the United Nations official statistics ( The new Somaliland Republic is exempted). Algeria is the biggest country in Africa, with an area of 2.38 million square kilometers. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan follow with a total area of around 2.34 million and 1.88 million square kilometers. Seychelles and The Gambia are the smallest countries in Africa.
Equatorial Guinea is the most educated country in Africa. With a population of 1,402,983, Equatorial Guinea has a literacy rate of 95.30%. Education in Equatorial Guinea is free and compulsory until the age of 14.
Nigeria's Lagos has been ranked as the most populated city in Africa, with an estimated population of about 15.4 million inhabitants. Nigeria also has the overall population in Africa followed by Ethiopia, DR Congo, Egypt, and South Africa. The largest city in Africa is Kinshasha in D.R Congo. Africa is considered the poorest continent on earth but has the world's 75% of natural resources. ( It was the richest continent before the coming of the Arabs and the Europeans)
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| Wall of Benin or Edo |
The longest wall in history is the Benin city or Edo wall which was over 9,900 miles (16,000 km), it is now located in Southern Nigeria. It is four times longer than the Great Wall of China. Nubia in modern-day Sudan has many more pyramids than Egypt. Africa has the largest desert and most of the world's diamonds come from Africa. Africa also has the largest reserve of up to 90% percent of chromium, cobalt, uranium, and platinum.
World 70% of cocoa comes from Africa. Africa is also home to the longest river in the world, the Nile. The Largest Lake in Africa is Lake Nalubaale or Victoria, 26,828 .square miles. The deepest lake in Africa is lake Tanganyika. The first Islamic followers of the prophet Mohammed migrated from Arabia to Abyssinia in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea in the seventh century.
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| King Ezana's Obelisk, Axum |
Aksum is the home of the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, in which lies the "Tablets of Law" upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. The Ark came to Africa because it was the seat of the Queen of the South " Sheeba". The Obelisk was built in 4th-century CE, a 24-meter (79 ft) tall phonolite stele, weighing 160 tonnes (160 long tons; 180 short tons), in the city of Axum in Ethiopia. It was stolen by the Italian troops in 1937 on the orders of dictator Benito Mussolini.
The Romans used the term 'Africa' for parts of Tunisia and Northern Algeria but not all of the African continent. The term Africa came 2000 years later. Sango is regarded as the most powerful god in Africa and one of the most popular gods around the world. He is the god of vengeance, protection, social order, and more. His symbol is a double-headed axe.
Abu Bakr II ruled the Mali Empire in the 14th Century. He is said to have led the Malian sailors to the Americas, landing in what is now Brazil in 1311 AD, 181 years before Columbus. 100 African cities were destroyed by Europeans in the Americas.
Sankore University Tumbuktu, Mali
The first university in Africa was in Timbuktu in modern Mali around 800 years ago in 982CE. It was called Sankore Madrasa. Mansa Musa was the wealthiest African ever lived, his net was estimated to be around $400 billion to $500 billion.
According to the safety index, the capital city of Rwanda, Kigali, was the safest city in Africa. It had a score of roughly 75.7 points making it the African city with the lowest crime incidents. Mauritius (1.570), Ghana (1.759), Gambia (1.792) Botswana (1.80), Zambia (1.841), Sierra Leone (1.803), and Equatorial Guinea (1.8638) are among some of the safest countries in Africa.
The earliest humans developed out of australopithecine ancestors about 3 million years ago, most likely in Eastern Africa, most likely in the area of the Kenyan Rift Valley, where the oldest known stone tools were found. The Ethiopian Bible is the oldest and complete bible on earth written in Ge'ez an ancient language of Ethiopia. The Bible is nearly 800 years older than the King James Version and contains 81-88 books compared to 66.
Ethnic groups/languages
The four (4) main ethnolinguistic groups in Africa are Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Saharan. With the exception of the ethnolinguistic groups, there are over 3,000 different ethnic groups in Africa, speaking more than 2,100 other languages. The Egyptian language is the first known language on the African continent, and the first known proto-writing system was created in Nigeria.
The Hausa people are the largest ethnic group in Africa with a population of about 78 million. They can be found mostly in West Africa thus northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger. Other Hausa ethnic groups can also be found in Cameroon, Togo, Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.
The Krio people of the Gambia and some parts of Sierra Leone and Liberia are the smallest ethnic group in Africa. Nigeria is the largest country with the most ethnic groups with over 250 ethnic groups and over 500 languages.
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| The San tribe or the Bushmen |
The Bushmen or the San tribe in Southern Africa is believed to be the oldest tribe in Africa dating back to 30,000 years. The most widely spoken languages in Africa are, Swahili (200 million), Yoruba (45 million), Igbo (30 million), and Fula (35 million) all these languages belong to the Niger-Congo family.
The Dinka people of Sudan are the tallest people in Africa and the pigmies in the Central African Republic and D.R Congo are the smallest or shortest in Africa.
Lifestyle
The cities enjoy electricity, telecommunications, education, and other needs than those living in rural communities. Most of the rural communities in Africa are isolated, neglected, and underdeveloped. One thing that always identifies Africa from the rest of the world is its colorful and vibrant culture.
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| Dipo rite for girls, Ghana |
Different ethnic nationalities mean different cultures and lifestyles. These cultures and lifestyles can be either way of life, living conditions, dishes, cuisine, language, dressing, traditions and etc. Africans like wearing wax or cotton-printed clothes designed with symbols and colors. These clothing lines can be worn to weddings, funerals, naming ceremonies, church, traditional and religious festivals, and more.
Cloths/African wear
Kente is the popular clothes in Africa and wherever you go in Africa one could see different types of Kente. Kente is indigenous to the people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Other African popular clotheslines are Dashikis, Boubou, Kaba, Iro-ati Buba, Kanzu, Habesha Kemis, Djellaba, Shuka, Kaftan, batiks, tie and dye, weavings, etc.
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| African clothes and arts |
Africans also like to put locally made ornaments on occasion. Other arts and crafts include pottery, wood carvings, paintings, masks, masquerades, statues, bronze and stone works, beads, trinkets and bracelets, leather, basketry for home decor, and kitchen wares.
Food/Dishes
Some African foodstuffs
Other popular dishes on the continent include Fufu, Jollof Rice, Garri, Shito, Attieke, amala, kilichi, ugali, nyama Choma, bobotie, kuli kuli, kenkey, harira, Akara/koose, kooko( maize or millet pudding), and much more delicious dishes.
Religion
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| African traditional priestesses |
Africans also believe in nature spirits, the Gods, Ancestors, or what people term it worshiping the dead. Currently, Christianity has the majority of followers in Africa, followed by Islam, African traditional religions, and other denominations like Buddhism, Hinduism and etc.
Music/Culture
Music plays an important role in Africa, one could hear people singing and dancing when working on the farm, at home, and on every corner. Typical African music comprises various instruments or percussions such as drums, rattles, bells, kora, fiddles, xylophones, flutes, and horns.
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| African cultural ensemble |
There are also gourd instruments, jembes, bali drums, frontomfrom, tanpura, tabla and etc. There are several genres of contemporary African music such as Highlife, Juju, Afrobeat, Benga, Amapiano, Bongo, Rhumba, Kizomba, Makosa, and many more.
Africans also have a variety of cultural dances according to tribes and ethnic groups. Popular dances on the continent include kwasakwasa, kete, lanban, kalilambe, agbaja, Adamu, ndlamu, and many more interesting African dances.
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