Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,300,000 km² (11,700,000 mi²) including adjacent islands, it covers 5.9% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.3% of the total land area.Sayre, April Pulley. (1999) Africa, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1367-2. With more than 840,000,000 people (as of 2005) in 61 territories, it accounts for more than 12% of the world's human population.

Etymology

---

The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.

The Afri were a tribe — possibly Berber — who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of Afer may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in most other Semitic languages). Some other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name 'Africa' that are much more debatable include:

More on [ Africa ]

Africa - Twitter Search

allAfrica.com: East Africa: Why East Africa Must Set Up a Central Bank http://tinyurl.com/yb89w8f
clara_m9edl (Clara Moreno) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:23 -0000
allAfrica.com: East Africa: Why East Africa Must Set Up a Central Bank http://tinyurl.com/yb89w8f
Happy Guy Fawkes Day to those in the UK and elsewhere. We used to celebrate growing up in South Africa. Good times.
JoshBlacker (Josh Blacker) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:15 -0000
Happy Guy Fawkes Day to those in the UK and elsewhere. We used to celebrate growing up in South Africa. Good times.
RT @harshika_s: disagree. Travelling buffoons r entertaining. RT: @lavsmohan: South Africa is a team. v r Sachin n the Travelling Buffoons.
vineetbhatnagar (Vineet) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:06 -0000
RT @harshika_s: disagree. Travelling buffoons r entertaining. RT: @lavsmohan: South Africa is a team. v r Sachin n the Travelling Buffoons.
@kingafrica big up africa bigums tyrone bigums lil brother lol
McCool3000 (Tawasi Clarke) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:02 -0000
@kingafrica big up africa bigums tyrone bigums lil brother lol
i breeze through africa just to see the safari
ronron26 (Ronald Daniel) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:55 -0000
i breeze through africa just to see the safari
RT @kiskeacity For those for whom the NYU Wagner African women's fellowship link did not work http://wagner.nyu.edu/inter... #Africa
annagueye (Anna Gueye) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:36 -0000
RT @kiskeacity For those for whom the NYU Wagner African women's fellowship link did not work http://wagner.nyu.edu/inter... #Africa

Subscribe to Africa RSS feed