The African continent is the world’s second-largest continent by both area and population. Covering roughly 30.3 million km², it makes up about 6% of Earth’s total surface and around 20% of its land area. As of 2024 it is home to an estimated 1.5 billion people — close to 18% of the global population — and it is the fastest-growing major region on the planet.
Africa is surrounded by the Mediterranean in the north, the Indian Ocean in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Sinai Peninsula, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal in the east. It contains Madagascar and various archipelagos. Africa has 54 sovereign, internationally recognized states, grouped into five UN subregions: Northern, Western, Middle, Eastern and Southern Africa.
Africa also has the world’s youngest population — roughly half of all Africans are under 20 years old. Algeria is the largest African country by area, while Nigeria is the largest by population, with over 230 million people in 2024.
Africa is the only continent on both sides of the equator and on both climatic zones in the world with a wide range of climatic zones.
Africa hosts a great diversity as ethnic, cultural and language. In the late 19th century, it was colonialized by European countries. The modern states of Africa emerged after the decolonization process in the 20th century. The African countries were formed in part during the Pillage of Africa in 1881-1914.
List of Countries in Africa
Africa’s 54 sovereign states are listed below with their capital cities, latest population (World Bank, 2024) and UN subregion. Use the search box to filter by country, or click any column header to sort.
| Country | Capital | Population (2024) | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Algiers | 46,814,308 | Northern Africa |
| Angola | Luanda | 37,885,849 | Middle Africa |
| Benin | Porto-Novo | 14,462,724 | Western Africa |
| Botswana | Gaborone | 2,521,139 | Southern Africa |
| Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou | 23,548,781 | Western Africa |
| Burundi | Gitega | 14,047,786 | Eastern Africa |
| Cabo Verde | Praia | 524,877 | Western Africa |
| Cameroon | Yaoundé | 29,123,744 | Middle Africa |
| Central African Republic | Bangui | 5,330,690 | Middle Africa |
| Chad | N’Djamena | 20,299,123 | Middle Africa |
| Comoros | Moroni | 866,628 | Eastern Africa |
| Côte d’Ivoire | Yamoussoukro | 31,934,230 | Western Africa |
| DR Congo | Kinshasa | 109,276,265 | Middle Africa |
| Djibouti | Djibouti | 1,168,722 | Eastern Africa |
| Egypt | Cairo | 116,538,258 | Northern Africa |
| Equatorial Guinea | Malabo | 1,892,516 | Middle Africa |
| Eritrea | Asmara | 3,535,603 | Eastern Africa |
| Eswatini | Mbabane | 1,242,822 | Southern Africa |
| Ethiopia | Addis Ababa | 132,059,767 | Eastern Africa |
| Gabon | Libreville | 2,538,952 | Middle Africa |
| Gambia | Banjul | 2,759,988 | Western Africa |
| Ghana | Accra | 34,427,414 | Western Africa |
| Guinea | Conakry | 14,754,785 | Western Africa |
| Guinea-Bissau | Bissau | 2,201,352 | Western Africa |
| Kenya | Nairobi | 56,432,944 | Eastern Africa |
| Lesotho | Maseru | 2,337,423 | Southern Africa |
| Liberia | Monrovia | 5,612,817 | Western Africa |
| Libya | Tripoli | 7,381,023 | Northern Africa |
| Madagascar | Antananarivo | 31,964,956 | Eastern Africa |
| Malawi | Lilongwe | 21,655,286 | Eastern Africa |
| Mali | Bamako | 24,478,595 | Western Africa |
| Mauritania | Nouakchott | 5,169,395 | Western Africa |
| Mauritius | Port Louis | 1,245,779 | Eastern Africa |
| Morocco | Rabat | 38,081,173 | Northern Africa |
| Mozambique | Maputo | 34,631,766 | Eastern Africa |
| Namibia | Windhoek | 3,030,131 | Southern Africa |
| Niger | Niamey | 27,032,412 | Western Africa |
| Nigeria | Abuja | 232,679,478 | Western Africa |
| Republic of the Congo | Brazzaville | 6,332,961 | Middle Africa |
| Rwanda | Kigali | 14,256,567 | Eastern Africa |
| Senegal | Dakar | 18,501,984 | Western Africa |
| Seychelles | Victoria | 121,354 | Eastern Africa |
| Sierra Leone | Freetown | 8,642,022 | Western Africa |
| Somalia | Mogadishu | 19,009,151 | Eastern Africa |
| South Africa | Pretoria | 64,007,187 | Southern Africa |
| South Sudan | Juba | 11,943,408 | Eastern Africa |
| Sudan | Khartoum | 50,448,963 | Northern Africa |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | São Tomé | 235,536 | Middle Africa |
| Tanzania | Dodoma | 68,560,157 | Eastern Africa |
| Togo | Lomé | 9,515,236 | Western Africa |
| Tunisia | Tunis | 12,277,109 | Northern Africa |
| Uganda | Kampala | 50,015,092 | Eastern Africa |
| Zambia | Lusaka | 21,314,956 | Eastern Africa |
| Zimbabwe | Harare | 16,634,373 | Southern Africa |
Geography of Africa Continent
Africa continent, separated from Europe by the Mediterranean, is separated from Asia by the Sinai Peninsula. However, in Geopolitics, part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is considered to be included in Africa. The continent is adjacent to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean in the east. Bab-el Mendeb Strait approaches 18 km to the Arabian Peninsula. The south of the continent is surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The continental part is separated by a 14 km wide Gibraltar Strait from Europe in the northwest.
The largest country in terms of the area covered by Africa is Algeria, and the smallest country is the Seychelles archipelago in the east of the continent. On the mainland, Gambia is the country with the smallest surface area.
Geologically, the African Plateau collides with Eurasia, triggering each other by the Arabian Peninsula, the Zagros Mountains, and the Anatolian plateau. The highest point is Mount Kilimanjaro (5.895 m), but the lowest point is the Assal Lake (-156 m). The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the whole of Africa and the whole world. It still continues to expand.
The History of Africa Continent
More than 10,000 different states and policies in Africa before the colonization period were characterized by many institutions and rules. These include small hunter-gathering groups such as Conflicts, larger and structured family clans speaking Bantu languages, clans in the much larger African Horn, and autonomous city-states or kingdoms such as Akans, Yoruba, and Ibo. There are many different forms.
In the 9th century, a number of dynastic states, such as the Kingdom of Hausa from West Africa, crossed the savanna in the sub-Saharan region and arrived in the midst of present-day Sudan. Ghana, Gao and the Kingdom of Kanem were the strongest. Although Ghana returned in the 11th century, the Mali Kingdom kept the east of Sudan until the 13th century. The Kingdom of Kanem accepted Islam in the 11th century.
The Rise of the Slave Trade
Slavery was applied in Africa for a long time. Between the 7th and 20th centuries, Arab slave traders sold approximately 18 million slaves from Africa to the Sahara and from there to the Atlantic Ocean. From the 15th century to the 19th century, 7-12 million people were sold to the new world by following this path.
In West Africa, in the 1820s, there were major economic problems after the rejection of this trade. With the rise of the British Royal Navy’s presence in West Africa, the states in this region were forced to join the new economic system. This has led to an increase in anti-slavery movements in Europe and America, and to a large drop in the slave trade. British troops in West Africa confiscated some 1600 slaves between 1808 and 1860 and released 150,000 Africans who had been kidnapped.
These actions are also the result of the British’s efforts to prevent illegal slave trade, which is why the King of Lagos was overthrown by the British in 1851. Thus, anti-slavery conventions were adopted with the signature of more than 50 African countries. The great powers of West Africa have tried different ways to adapt to this change.
Colonial Period
After the 19th century, the imperial powers of Europe struggled to establish colonies in a great race on the continent. In this process, only two fully independent states remained in the African continent, Ethiopia and Liberia. Egypt and Sudan had never officially colonized during this period but were occupied by the British occupation of 1882 until 1922.
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference, which was held in 1884-85, was an important turning point for African ethnic groups. It was convened by the call of the Belgian King Leopland II and with the participation of Europe’s sovereign powers over Africa. As a result of this meeting, Africa’s political regions and areas of influence were accepted by putting an end to the struggle over the African continent.
Independence Struggles
Independence struggles continued until the end of World War II and almost all colonies at the end of this struggle gained their independence. But after the Second World War, it gained great momentum. Particularly, the fact that the great European states do not have enough inclination to the post-destructive war region is the most important factor to accelerate this process.
In 1951, Libya gained its independence from Italy. In 1956, Tunisia and Morocco gained independence from France. In 1957, it became the first state in Ghana to gain independence in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the next decade, other states gained their independence respectively.
Portugal was among the last colonial powers to withdraw from Sub-Saharan Africa, holding territories such as Angola and Mozambique until 1975. In 1965, Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence from Britain. But Rhodesia was recognized as Zimbabwe until 1980, when the black nationalists overwhelmed the white minority leadership of the guerrilla war. The apartheid regime in the Republic of South Africa lasted until 1994.
After Colonization the African Continent
Today, there are 54 independent states in the African Continent, but many of these states are struggling with instability, corruption, authoritarian regimes and violence. Many of these countries are governed by the presidential system. However, the democratization of many countries has repeatedly been interrupted by military coups and authoritarian rule.
Especially in Ethiopia, there is a great hunger. Some think that this situation has been worsened by Soviet policies. One of the most destructive wars occurred during the Second Civil War in the Congo. In 2008, 5.4 million people lost their lives in this war. The war in Darfur, which has been taking place since 2003, includes major crimes against humanity. The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 resulted in the murder of 800,000 people. Especially in this process, AIDS is one of the biggest problems of the region.
Despite all this, the conflicts in the 21st century have a great tendency to decrease. The civil war in Angola ended in 2002, after 30 years. This decrease in many places accelerates the transition from the economic structure in communist order to open market economies. Especially the stability in the region increases the foreign investments made to African countries. Especially the People’s Republic of China is leading the investments. In recent years, several African economies — among them Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Senegal and Niger — have ranked among the world’s fastest-growing. As mobile connectivity and digital infrastructure spread across the continent, Africa’s links with the global economy continue to deepen.
Climate
African climate varies from region to region. The highest peaks have a semi-Arctic climate. Most of the northern part of the continent is desert and arid, while the central and southern regions contain savannas and rain forests. In the transition zones, vegetation is in different forms such as Sahel and steppe. Africa is the hottest continent in the world, with arid land and deserts covering up to 60% of its surface. Its highest reliably recorded temperature is around 55 °C; a long-cited 58 °C reading from El Azizia, Libya (1922) was formally invalidated by the World Meteorological Organization in 2012.
Fauna
Africa is home to the world’s greatest concentration of large wild animals. Iconic species — big cats, elephants, great apes, antelope, reptiles and countless others — still roam freely across its savannas, wetlands and rainforests.
Ecology
According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), Africa is the second most affected continent in forest damage. According to the Center for African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, 31% of Africa’s meadows and 19% of forest areas are classified as degraded. In addition, Africa loses four million hectares each year. Compared to the rest of the world, this ratio is twice as high as the average deforestation rate.
Some sources suggest that deforestation destroys 90% of virgin forests in West Africa. Madagascar has lost 90% of its original forests since the beginning of human beings, that is to say 2000 years. 65% of Africa’s agricultural land is subject to erosion.
Biodiversity
In addition to more than 3,000 protected areas in Africa, there are 198 marine protected areas, 50 biosphere reserves and 80 wetlands. Significant habitat destruction, population growth and poaching reduce Africa’s biodiversity. Human harms, social disturbances and the introduction of non-indigenous species on the continent threaten the biodiversity in Africa. This situation is exacerbated due to insufficient personnel besides administrative and financial problems.
Data and reference sources for this overview of the African continent:
Image Sources:
- Elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya – Photo by Sweder Breet via Unsplash (sampleshots.com).
- Sahara dunes at Merzouga, Morocco – Photo by Fahad Al Rabbani Jillani via Unsplash (sampleshots.com).
