Saturday, January 8, 2011

about africa


ed. The islands in the Indian Ocean are also populated primarily by people of Asian origin, often mixed with Africans and Europeans. The Malagasy people ofMadagascar are an Austronesian people, but those along the coast are generally mixed with Bantu, Arab, Indian and European origins. Malay and Indian ancestries are also important components in the group of people known in South Africa as Cape Coloureds (people with origins in two or more races and continents). During the 20th century, small but economically important communities of Lebaneseand Chinese[73] have also developed in the larger coastal cities of West and East Africa, respectively.[88]

Languages

Map showing the distribution of the various language families of Africa.
By most estimates, well over a thousand languages(UNESCO has estimated around two thousand) are spoken in Africa.[89] Most are of African origin, though some are of European or Asian origin. Africa is the most multilingual continent in the world, and it is not rare for individuals to fluently speak not only multiple African languages, but one or more European ones as well. There are four major language familiesindigenous to Africa.
  • The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout the Horn of AfricaNorth Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia.
  • The Nilo-Saharan language family consists of more than a hundred languages spoken by 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken byNilotic tribes in ChadEthiopiaKenyaSudanUganda, and northern Tanzania.
  • The Niger-Congo language family covers much of Sub-Saharan Africa and is probably the largest language family in the world in terms of different languages.
  • The Khoisan languages number about fifty and are spoken in Southern Africa by approximately 120,000 people. Many of the Khoisan languages are endangered. The Khoi and San peoples are considered the original inhabitants of this part of Africa.
Following the end of colonialism, nearly all African countries adopted official languages that originated outside the continent, although several countries also granted legal recognition to indigenous languages (such as SwahiliYorubaIgbo and Hausa). In numerous countries, English and French(see African French) are used for communication in the public sphere such as government, commerce, education and the media. ArabicPortugueseAfrikaansMalagasy and Spanish are examples of languages that trace their origin to outside of Africa, and that are used by millions of Africans today, both in the public and private spheres. Italian is spoken by some in former Italian colonies in Africa. Prior to World War I, German was used in certain areas also.

Culture

Some[which?] aspects of traditional African cultures have become less practiced in recent years as a result of years of neglect and suppression by colonial and post-colonial regimes. There is now a resurgence in the attempts to rediscover and revalourise African traditional cultures, under such movements as the African Renaissance, led by Thabo MbekiAfrocentrism, led by a group of scholars, including Molefi Asante, as well as the increasing recognition of traditional spiritualism through decriminalization of Vodou and other forms of spirituality. In recent years, traditional African culture has become synonymous with rural poverty and subsistence farming.

Visual art and architecture

African art and architecture reflect the diversity of African cultures. The oldest existing examples of art from Africa are 82,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells that were found in the Aterian levels at Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt, Morocco.[citation needed] The Great Pyramid of Gizain Egypt was the world's tallest structure for 4,000 years, until the completion of Lincoln Cathedral around the year 1300. The stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe are also noteworthy for their architecture, and the complexity ofmonolithic churches at Lalibela, Ethiopia, of which theChurch of Saint George is representative.[citation needed]

Music and dance

The djembehand drum is a central feature in many musical traditions of West Africa.
Egypt has long been a cultural focus of the Arab world, while remembrance of the rhythms of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular West Africa, was transmitted through the Atlantic slave trade to modern sambabluesjazzreggaehip hop, and rock. The 1950s through the 1970s saw a conglomeration of these various styles with the popularization of Afrobeat and Highlife music. Modern music of the continent includes the highly complex choral singing of southern Africa and the dance rhythms of the musical genre of soukous, dominated by the music of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Indigenous musical and dance traditions of Africa are maintained by oral traditions, and they are distinct from the music and dance styles of North Africa and Southern AfricaArab influences are visible in North African music and dance and, in Southern Africa, Western influences are apparent due to colonisation.

Sports

Fifty-three African countries have football (soccer) teams in the Confederation of African Football, while Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana have advanced to the knockout stage of recent FIFA World CupsSouth Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup tournament, becoming the first African country to do so. According to FIFA ranking, Egypt currently has the best soccer team in Africa. Their team has won the African Cup 7 times, and a record-making 3 times in a row.
Cricket is popular in some African nations. South Africa and Zimbabwe have Test status, while Kenyais the leading non-test team in One-Day International cricket and has attained permanent One-Day International status. The three countries jointly hosted the 2003 Cricket World CupNamibia is the other African country to have played in a World Cup. Morocco in northern Africa has also hosted the2002 Morocco Cup, but the national team has never qualified for a major tournament. Rugby is a popular sport in South Africa.

Religion

The Great Mosque of Kairouan, erected in 670, is the oldest mosque in North Africa [90]KairouanTunisia.
Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs[91] and statistics on religious affiliation are difficult to come by since they are too sensitive a topic for governments with mixed populations.[92] According to the World Book Encyclopedia,Islam is the largest religion in Africa, followed by Christianity. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, 45% of the population are Muslims, 40% are Christians and less than 15% continue to follow traditional African religions. A small number of Africans are HinduBaha'i, or have beliefs from the Judaic tradition. Examples of African Jews are the Beta IsraelLembapeoples and the Abayudaya of Eastern Uganda. There is also a small minority of Africans who arenon-religious.

Territories and regions

The countries in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.
 
 
Physical map of Africa
Satellite photo of Africa
Political map of Africa
Name of region[93]and
territory, with flag
Area
(km²)
Population
(2009 est)except where noted
Density
(per km²)
Capital
Eastern Africa
Burundi Burundi27,8308,988,091[94]322.9Bujumbura
ComorosComoros2,170752,438[94]346.7Moroni
Djibouti Djibouti23,000516,055[94]22.4Djibouti
Eritrea Eritrea121,3205,647,168[94]46.5Asmara
Ethiopia Ethiopia1,127,12785,237,338[94]75.6Addis Ababa
Kenya Kenya582,65039,002,772[94]66.0Nairobi
MadagascarMadagascar587,04020,653,556[94]35.1Antananarivo
Malawi Malawi118,48014,268,711[94]120.4Lilongwe
MauritiusMauritius2,0401,284,264[94]629.5Port Louis
Mayotte Mayotte(France)374223,765[94]489.7Mamoudzou
MozambiqueMozambique801,59021,669,278[94]27.0Maputo
ReunionFlag.pngRéunion(France)2,512743,981(2002)296.2Saint-Denis
Rwanda Rwanda26,33810,473,282[94]397.6Kigali
SeychellesSeychelles45587,476[94]192.2Victoria
Somalia Somalia637,6579,832,017[94]15.4Mogadishu
TanzaniaTanzania945,08741,048,532[94]43.3Dodoma
Uganda Uganda236,04032,369,558[94]137.1Kampala
Zambia Zambia752,61411,862,740[94]15.7Lusaka
Middle Africa
Angola Angola1,246,70012,799,293[94]10.3Luanda
CameroonCameroon475,44018,879,301[94]39.7Yaoundé
Central African Republic Central African Republic622,9844,511,488[94]7.2Bangui
Chad Chad1,284,00010,329,208[94]8.0N'Djamena
Republic of the Congo Congo342,0004,012,809[94]11.7Brazzaville
Democratic Republic of the CongoDemocratic Republic of the Congo2,345,41068,692,542[94]29.2Kinshasa
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea28,051633,441[94]22.6Malabo
Gabon Gabon267,6671,514,993[94]5.6Libreville
São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe1,001212,679[94]212.4São Tomé
Northern Africa
Algeria Algeria2,381,74034,178,188[94]14.3Algiers
EgyptEgypt[95]1,001,45083,082,869[94]total, Asia 1.4m82.9Cairo
Libya Libya1,759,5406,310,434[94]3.6Tripoli
Morocco Morocco446,55034,859,364[94]78.0Rabat
Sudan Sudan2,505,81041,087,825[94]16.4Khartoum
Tunisia Tunisia163,61010,486,339[94]64.1Tunis
Western Sahara Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic[96]266,000405,210[94]1.5El Aaiún
Spanish and Portuguese territories in Northern Africa:
Canary Islands Canary Islands(Spain)[97]7,4921,694,477(2001)226.2Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Ceuta Ceuta(Spain)[98]2071,505(2001)3,575.2
Madeira Madeira Islands(Portugal)[99]797245,000(2001)307.4Funchal
Melilla Melilla(Spain)[100]1266,411(2001)5,534.2
Southern Africa
BotswanaBotswana600,3701,990,876[94]3.3Gaborone
Lesotho Lesotho30,3552,130,819[94]70.2Maseru
ZimbabweZimbabwe390,58011,392,629[94]29.1Harare
Namibia Namibia825,4182,108,665[94]2.6Windhoek
South Africa South Africa1,219,91249,052,489[94]40.2Bloemfontein,Cape Town,Pretoria[101]
SwazilandSwaziland17,3631,123,913[94]64.7Mbabane
Western Africa
Benin Benin112,6208,791,832[94]78.0Porto-Novo
Burkina Faso Burkina Faso274,20015,746,232[94]57.4Ouagadougou
Cape Verde Cape Verde4,033429,474[94]107.3Praia
Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire322,46020,617,068[94]63.9Abidjan,[102]Yamoussoukro
The Gambia Gambia11,3001,782,893[94]157.7Banjul
Ghana Ghana239,46023,832,495[94]99.5Accra
Guinea Guinea245,85710,057,975[94]40.9Conakry
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau36,1201,533,964[94]42.5Bissau
Liberia Liberia111,3703,441,790[94]30.9Monrovia
Mali Mali1,240,00012,666,987[94]10.2Bamako
MauritaniaMauritania1,030,7003,129,486[94]3.0Nouakchott
Niger Niger1,267,00015,306,252[94]12.1Niamey
Nigeria Nigeria923,768158,259,000[94]161.5Abuja
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha(UK)4107,637[94]14.4Jamestown
Senegal Senegal196,19013,711,597[94]69.9Dakar
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone71,7406,440,053[94]89.9Freetown
Togo Togo56,7856,019,877[94]106.0Lomé
Africa Total30,368,6091,001,320,28133.0

See also

Lists:

References

  1. ^ "World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision" United Nations (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, population division)
  2. a b Sayre, April Pulley. (1999) Africa, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1367-2.

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