AFRICA

Demographics

Africa's population has rapidly increased over the last 40 years, and consequently, it is relatively young.
In some African states, more than half the population is under 25 years of age.[105] The total number of
people in Africa increased from 229 million in 1950 to 630 million in 1990.[106] As of 2016, the
population of Africa is estimated at 1.2 billion[1]. Africa's total population surpassing other continents is
fairly recent; African population surpassed Europe in the 1990s, while the Americas was overtaken
sometime around the year 2000; Africa's rapid population growth is expected to overtake the only two
nations currently larger than its population, at roughly the same time – India and China's 1.4 billion
people each will swap ranking around the year 2022.[107]

Geography of Africa

Africa is a continent comprising 63 political territories, representing the largest of the great southward
projections from the main mass of Earth's surface.[1] Within its regular outline, it comprises an area of
30,368,609 km2 (11,725,385 sq mi), excluding adjacent islands. Its highest mountain is Mount
Kilimanjaro, its largest lake is Lake Victoria [2]

Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea[1] in from much of Asia by the Red Sea, Africa is
joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez[1] (which in transected by the Suez
Canal), 130 km (81 mi) wide. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt – east on the Suez
Canal – is often considered part of Africa. From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia, at
37°21′ N, to the more southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, 34°51′15″ S, is a distance
approximately of 8,000 km (5,000 mi); from Cap-Vert, 17°31′13″W, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun
in Somalia, 51°27′52″ E, the most easterly projection, is a distance (also approximately) of 7,400 km
(4,600 mi).[1]

The main structural lines of the continent show both the east-to-west direction characteristic, at least in
the eastern hemisphere, of the more northern parts of the world, and the north-to-south direction seen
in the southern peninsulas. Africa is thus mainly composed of two segments at right angles, the northern
running from east to west, and the southern from north to south.

Culture of Africa

The culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes that
each have their own unique characteristics from the continent of Africa. It is a product of the diverse
populations that today inhabit the continent of Africa and the African Diaspora. African culture is
expressed in its arts and crafts, folklore and religion, clothing, cuisine, music and languages.[1]
Expressions of culture are abundant within Africa, with large amounts of cultural diversity being found
not only across different countries but also within single countries. Even though African cultures are
widely diverse, it is also, when closely studied, seen to have many similarities. For example, the morals
they uphold, their love and respect for their culture as well as the strong respect they hold for the aged
and the important i.e. Kings and Chiefs.

African arts and crafts

Africa has a rich tradition of arts and crafts. African arts and crafts find expression in a variety of
woodcarvings, brass and leather art works. African arts and crafts also include sculpture, paintings,
pottery, ceremonial and religious headgear and dress. Maulana Karenga states that in African art, the
object was not as important as the soul force behind the creation of the object. He also states that All
art must be revolutionary and in being revolutionary it must be collective, committing, and functional.

Folklore and religion

Like all human cultures, African folklore and religion represents a variety of social facets of the various
cultures in Africa.[citation needed] Like almost all civilizations and cultures, flood myths have been
circulating in different parts of Africa. Culture and religion share space and are deeply intertwined in
African cultures. In Ethiopia, Christianity and Islam form the core aspects of Ethiopian culture and inform
dietary customs as well as rituals and rites.[9] According to a Pygmy myth, Chameleon, hearing a strange
noise in a tree, cut open its trunk and water came out in a great flood that spread all over the land.

Languages

The main ethno-linguistic divisions in Africa are Afro-Asiatic (North Africa, Horn of Africa), Niger–Congo
(including speakers from the Bantu branch) in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nilo-Saharan in parts of the
Sahara and the Sahel and parts of Eastern Africa, and Khoisan (indigenous minorities of Southern
Africa).[23] The continent of Africa speaks hundreds of languages, and if dialects spoken by various
ethnic groups are also included, the number is much higher. These languages and dialects do not have
the same importance: some are spoken by only few hundred people, others are spoken by millions.
Among the most prominent languages spoken are Arabic, Swahili and Hausa. Very few countries of
Africa use any single language and for this reason several official languages coexist, African and
European. Some Africans speak various European languages such as English, Spanish, French,
Portuguese, Italian, German and Dutch.

Clothing in Africa
African clothing is the traditional clothing worn by the people of Africa. In some instances these
traditional garments have been replaced by western clothing introduced by European colonialists.

In Northeastern Africa, particularly in Egypt, styles of traditional women's clothing have been influenced
by Middle Eastern culture, this can be exemplified by the simply embroidered Jelabiya which are
similarly worn in the Gulf states.. The Djellaba (worn in Northwest Africa) shares similar properties with
the Grand boubou, the Dashiki, and the Senegalese kaftan. In Nigeria, women wear head ties. In
Sahelian Africa, the dashiki, Senegalese kaftan, and the grand boubou are worn more prominently,
though not exclusively (the Bògòlanfini, for instance, is worn in Mali). The dashiki is highly stylized and is
rendered with an ornate V-shaped collar. In contrast the grand boubou is simpler, even more so than
the djellaba, though the color designs reach impressive proportions, especially among the Tuareg, who
are known for their beautifully dyed indigo robes.

In East Africa, the kanzu is the traditional dress worn by Swahili speaking men. Women wear the kanga
and the gomesi.

In Southern Africa distinctive shirts are worn, like the long dresses they wear. For instance, South Africa
is known for the Madiba shirt, whereas, Zimbabwe is known for the safari shirt.

In the Horn of Africa, the attire varies by country. In Ethiopia, men wear the Ethiopian suit and women
wear the habesha kemis. In Somalia, men wear the khamis with a small cap called a koofiyad.

Cuisine

Fufu (right) is a staple meal in West Africa and Central Africa. It is served here with some peanut soup.

The various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal grains and vegetables,
as well as milk and meat products. In some parts of the continent, the traditional diet features a
preponderance of milk, curd and whey products. In much of tropical Africa, however, cow's milk is rare
and cannot be produced locally (owing to various diseases that affect livestock). The continent's diverse
demographic makeup is reflected in the many different eating and drinking habits, dishes, and
preparation techniques of its manifold populations.[13]

African music

Traditional Sub-Saharan African music is as diverse as the region's various populations. The common
perception of Sub-Saharan African music is that it is rhythmic music centered on the drums, and indeed,
a large part of Sub-Saharan music, mainly among speakers of Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages,
is rhythmic and centered on the drum. Sub-Saharan music is polyrhythmic, usually consisting of multiple
rhythms in one composition. Dance involves moving multiple body parts. These aspects of Sub-Saharan
music were transferred to the new world by enslaved Sub-Saharan Africans and can be seen in its
influence on music forms as Samba, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Rock & Roll, Salsa, and Rap music.[