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

The new travel ban could target 43 countries, more than half of them in Africa.

From Los Angeles Times

This mainly refers to South Africa's majority black population, which was shut out of the economy during the racist system of apartheid.

From BBC

In a statement released on Wednesday morning, South Africa's elite police unit, known as the Hawks, said that Sullivan had been rescued following "verified intelligence wherein a coordinated team… moved swiftly to the identified location".

From BBC

"It became evident to me that this was the gold standard for festivals wherever you are in the world, even on the tip of Africa," he says.

From BBC

Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer and the sixth largest in the world, but it is struggling to address widespread illegal gold mining, locally called "galamsey".

From BBC