17 Interesting Facts About Africa

Africa is the second largest continent in the World.

Islam is the largest religion in Africa.

The oldest human remains were found in Ethiopia. They date to over 200,000 years ago.

Africa is home to the longest river in the world. The Nile.

Africa is the hottest continent in the world.

In Latin, the word Africa means “sunny” & the word Aphrike in Greek means “without cold.”

Africa is home to the world's largest land animal, the African Elephant.

Africa is also home to the fastest land animal, The Cheetah.

And home to the world's largest reptile, the Nile crocodile.

Africa has the largest desert in the world, The Sahara.

The African region of Ethiopia is featured prominently in several ancient Greek dramas, poems and the Christian Bible. The Greek poet Homer mentions Ethiopians in both the Iliad and the Odyssey as a “blameless race” and “amongst the noblest of men.”

In Tunisia, images of fish are often used to protect against evil. New buildings often have fish bones or tails embedded in them as they are built, and cars have brightly colored plastic or cloth fish attached to them to provide protection to the people inside.

In Kenya, there is a Camel Mobile Library. Camels transport books from the capital to surrounding villages that are up to 248 miles away.

Eighteen people from Africa have been awarded a Nobel prize. They come from Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Lake Malawi has over 500 species of fish, making it the largest number of species in a lake in the entire world.

The Sahara Desert is expanding in the south at a rate of about half a mile a month.

About half of the world's diamonds come from the southern and central parts of Africa