Africa and Greatness

Some great stuffs to know about Africa

70% of Africans use or have access to a phone. A decade ago less than 1% did

Roman general Scipio Africanus was named after the continent after his successful military campaign there, where he defeated Hannibal

The Suez Canal, next to Egypt, handles 8% of the world’s cargo ships. 50 ships travel through this 160 km-long stretch every day

Three of the world’s oldest trees are found in Africa. The actual age of the Cotton Tree in Sierra Leone’s Freetown is uncertain, but its existence has been noted since 1787 – 225 years. South Africa’s Wonderboom Nature Reserve protects a wild fig estimated to be over a thousand years old. And a dragon tree on the Canary Islands is also thought to be at least that old

Africa has a stronger GDP growth than India and outperforms almost all the other continents. It also has a larger middle class than India, despite the latter having almost half a billion more people

The Congo jungle is the second-largest tropical forest in the world. It contains a quarter of our planet’s tropical plants

The Canary Islands, off Africa’s North-West coast, are not named after the birds. Instead they were named by the Romans as Canariae Insulae, which means ‘Islands Of The Dogs’

There are 338 islands that consider Africa its parent. Almost half of those are found in the Seychelles

The two largest religions in Africa are Christianity and Islam. Around a fifth of its inhabitants practice African religions

Africa has one major fault line, which runs from the Great Rift Valley through to the Red Sea. At its top, called the Afar triangle, cracks appear frequently and it is expected that the continent will eventually lose its iconic horn

20.4% of the world’s land surface is in Africa

Zambia is the world’s 8th largest copper producer. In 2011 it delivered 870,000 tons of the metal

The earliest signs of agriculture can be found in Africa. Archaeologists estimate that people started gathering and attempting to cultivate wild plants in the Ethiopian highlands over 17,000 years ago

Africa is no stranger to metal. Copper, bronze and lead have been smelted on the continent as far back as 5,000 years ago

Africa was named by the Romans, possibly after their sworn enemies the Carthaginians, who they called the ‘Afri’. The world ‘ca’ in Roman latin means ‘place’

The watermelon is indigenous – and unique – to Africa. It originated in Namibia.

South Africa is the world’s 7th largest wine producer. Over 40% of its wines are shipped overseas

Africa is home to the world’s largest wildlife reserve – the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. It is shared by Botswana, Angola, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe

Only five countries in Africa are not producing or exploring for oil

There are twelve multinational organisations in Africa, the largest being the African Union.