Africa

[ af-ri-kuh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

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

Africa

/ ˈæ�ڰ�ɪ��ə /

noun

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

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 .

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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.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of Africa¹

See African ( def )

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"We will enjoy this win but it's not the end of the season. We still have to get points in South Africa."

From

On Friday, businesswomen told the BBC that some fellow traders had been arrested on the second day of a ban imposed by Tanzania on all agricultural imports from Malawi and South Africa.

From

"We have heard your cries: 'the Fees have Fallen'," she said, a reference to previous demands by university students in Namibia, as well as neighbouring South Africa.

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The story is that at the end of the “Three Lock Box” tour, I took my family on a wonderful vacation to Egypt, Africa, Sardinia, all these gorgeous places.

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Jnim is one of several jihadist groups operating in West Africa's Sahel region, especially Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military governments are struggling to contain the insurgency.

From

Afric African

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