Is it ignorance, sarcasm, a mockery, or affront when people ask or make statements like, “are you from Africa? Where is Africa, what country is that?”
Regardless of the reasons, the knowledge of Africa as a continent is universal which everyone ought to know, or should know. In fact, Africa is too ancient, too beautiful, too blessed, too big to be mistaken as a country. Therefore, it is worth the effort to summarize what this amazing continent, Africa is all about once more as many have done before now.
Number of countries in Africa
Among the 7 continents in world, Africa has the highest number of countries (54 countries) followed by Europe (51 countries), Asia (50 countries), North America (23 countries), Australia (14 countries), South America (12 countries), and Antarctica (0 country).
Africa is the second largest by land area (30,370,000 km2) and also the second largest by population with more than 1.3 billion people.
The continent currently holds about 54 independent countries divided geographically from North, West, East, South and Central/Middle Africa. This division was done by the UN (United Nations) Division Statistics.
Northern African Countries
The countries in the North of Africa are 7 in number. These are Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.
Western African Countries
The Western side of Africa has a total number of 17 countries. These are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Eastern African Countries
The Eastern part of Africa has the highest number of Countries which are a total number of 19 countries. These are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Southern African Countries
There are only a total number of 5 countries in the Southern part of Africa. These are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland.
Central/Middle African Countries
These are a group of 9 countries such as Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome & Principle.
Finally, Africa a continent with such a large population, land area and resources including a large number of independent Countries should never be called or mistaken a country. Africa is a proud continent. Its Pride comes from been able to stand strong in beauty, natural resources and human capital after a long term slavery, colonialism, and all kinds of human cruelty.
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