Africa: Introduction

The document describes Africa's physical geography, including its diverse climates and major river systems, and its political structure consisting of 54 sovereign states and the African Union. It highlights the continent's significant economic challenges, noting that it contains the highest proportion of the world's low-income countries, while also detailing its immense linguistic, ethnic, and religious diversity.

• Africa is the world's second-largest continent, covering approximately 30.37 million km² and featuring diverse landscapes such as the Sahara Desert, the world's largest hot desert, and the Congo Basin rainforest, the planet's second-largest.
• The continent's political map is largely a result of colonial history, with most modern states maintaining colonial borders to avoid territorial disputes, despite these borders often ignoring ethnic or historical lines.
• Africa faces severe economic disparities and is the least affluent major region globally; in 2023, the World Bank classified 22 African countries as low-income, representing over 80% of all low-income states worldwide.
• The continent possesses unparalleled linguistic diversity, with an estimated 1,500 to 3,000 languages belonging to four major families: Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan.
• Africa is ethnically diverse with over 3,000 distinct groups, and most nations are not ethnically homogeneous; for example, Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups and the DR Congo has over 200.
• Religious composition is primarily split between Christianity (roughly 45%) and Islam (roughly 40%), with significant adherence to indigenous traditional beliefs.

APA

Ngundu, M., & Cilliers, J. (2026). Africa: Introduction. Institute for Security Studies. https://futures.issafrica.org/geographic/guide.pdf?geography=AFRICA&topic=01-introduction

Chicago

Ngundu, Marvellous, and Jakkie Cilliers. Africa: Introduction. Institute for Security Studies, 2026. https://futures.issafrica.org/geographic/guide.pdf?geography=AFRICA&topic=01-introduction.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ngundu |first1=Marvellous |last2=Cilliers |first2=Jakkie |title=Africa: Introduction |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=28 May 2026 |url=https://futures.issafrica.org/geographic/guide.pdf?geography=AFRICA&topic=01-introduction |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ngundu2026africa, author = {Ngundu, Marvellous and Cilliers, Jakkie}, title = {{Africa: Introduction}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2026}, month = may, url = {https://futures.issafrica.org/geographic/guide.pdf?geography=AFRICA&topic=01-introduction}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }