Africa is the world's second-largest and
second-most-populous continent (the first being Asia). At about 30.3 million
km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of
Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of its total land area. With 1.2 billion
people in Africa as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the world's human
population. The continent is surrounded
by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea
along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast
and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The African continent includes Madagascar
and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognised sovereign states
(countries), nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited
or no recognition.
Africa's
average population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age
in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Algeria is Africa's
largest country by area, and Nigeria is Africa’s largest by population. Africa,
particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin
of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery
of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have
been dated to around seven million years ago, including Sahelanthropus
tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis
and H. ergaster—with Africa’s earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) found in
Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator
and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch
from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones.
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