A Few Surprising Facts About Africa

A Few Surprising Facts About Africa

Many of us have never went to Africa. Statistically, most of us never will. Many parts of Africa are poor, many are challenged with terrible crime, disease and hunger. Some picture it a desert. But that is not the sum of Africa, a place so huge and varied, so filled with many cultures, nations and different people. Africa many things to many people. A great way to exhibit demonstrate this fact, I believe, is by introducing you to some other, surprising facts about Africa that may change the way you think about it...

Nigeria is a huge source of films. Actually, it cranks out more films a year than does Hollywood. That said, the average production value is much, much lower.

The longest river in the world is in Egypt - the Nile. It runs for 4,258 miles (6,853 km). It flows north along northeastern Africa. The Nile is the only river to cross 11 countries. These are Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.

The largest country in Africa is Algeria, with a landmass that covers more than 2.5 million square miles.

Africa has more French speakers than does France.

More Guinness beer is drunk in Nigeria than in Ireland itself.

The most common religion in Africa is Islam, followed closely by Christianity. Only 15% of Africans consider themselves as having no faith or being non-religious.

Most parts of Africa have been conquered again and again by European forces. Only 2 countries have never been conquered : Liberia and Ethiopia.

Africa is a huge place, home to almost a billion of earth's humans, and making up about 16% of the world population. In addition, it account for nearly 25% of the languages spoken on our planet.

If you tried to cover the land of Africa, you'd need the continental United States, China, Japan, India, Eastern Europe, Germany and France to do so.

This vast land is divided into 54 independent countries.

These 54 countries are home to at least 3,000 ethnic groups (or tribes).

Lake Victoria in Africa is the second largest fresh water lake in the world. The lake was named after Queen Victoria by the explorer John Hanning Speke, who was the first European to discover it. Its basin is in three countries: Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

The oldest human remains ever discovered were found in Ethiopia. They were approximately 200,000 years old. Many researchers believe that Africa is where we all hail from as human beings, and that the modern man as we know it developed there before migrating into Europe and Asia.

Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in Africa; it is 355 feet high and one mile wide. Not the typical African landscape one would imagine.

About 30% of the earth's remaining mineral resources are in Africa. Unfortunately because of the hard conditions in Africa, many of these resources remain untapped.

According to expert predictions based on the growth factor of the African population, there will be 2.3 billion people living in the dark continent by 2050.