Africa

[ af-ri-kuh ]

noun

1. a continent south of Europe and between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. About 11,700,000 square miles (30,303,000 square kilometers).

Africa

/ ˈæfrɪkə /

noun

1. the second largest of the continents, on the Mediterranean in the north, the Atlantic in the west, and the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean in the east. The Sahara desert divides the continent unequally into North Africa (an early centre of civilization, in close contact with Europe and W Asia, now inhabited chiefly by Arabs) and Africa south of the Sahara (relatively isolated from the rest of the world until the 19th century and inhabited chiefly by Negroid peoples). It was colonized mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries by Europeans and now comprises independent nations. The largest lake is Lake Victoria and the chief rivers are the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi. Pop: 887 964 000 (2005 est). Area: about 30 300 000 sq km (11 700 000 sq miles)

Africa

1. The second-largest continent , after Asia; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean .

Notes

Africa south of the Sahara is sometimes called sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa has been the home of great civilizations, particularly in Egypt (see also Egypt ), along the Mediterranean Sea . In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European nations colonized much of the continent ( see colonialism ). In the twentieth century, the colonies became independent countries.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit especially hard by HIV/AIDS, drastically decreasing the life expectancy of much of the population.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Africa¹

See African ( def )

Example Sentences

There is growing evidence of how bad—and expensive—air pollution is in Lagos, Africa’s largest mega-city.

From Quartz

Today, shawarma is eaten in many parts of the Middle East, northern Africa, and the Mediterranean.

From Popular-Science

This includes the continents of Africa, South America and much of Asia.

From Science News For Students

Gellert has overseen Patagonia’s business across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa since 2014.

From Outside Online

In January 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina cut a swath of destruction across the southern end of Africa.

From Ozy

According to Pew, 14 of the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa have blasphemy laws.

From The Daily Beast

The need for an Ebola vaccine in West Africa has never been greater.

From The Daily Beast

With Ebola still raging in West Africa, the race to find a vaccine is heating up.

From The Daily Beast

While the world fixated on Ukraine and Syria, a near-genocide ripped through central Africa, to little international fanfare.

From The Daily Beast

Egypt has a comparatively low number of HIV cases compared to the rest of Africa, with just 11,000 infected people nationwide.

From The Daily Beast

The winter of 1897-98 was spent by Mr. Kipling and his family, accompanied by his father, in South Africa.

From Project Gutenberg

In Africa the ova, and even adults, of Distoma hmatobium are common, accompanying "Egyptian hematuria."

From Project Gutenberg

Gallinas, the noted slave factory on the west of Africa, purchased by the Liberian republic.

From Project Gutenberg

We give an engraving of a kind of pipe used by the natives of interior Africa.

From Project Gutenberg

Later on he went to South Africa, where in the diamond mines he met with great success and made a large fortune.

From Project Gutenberg