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

/ ˈæfrɪkə /

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

Regional forces - first from east and then southern Africa - which were supposed to provide some help have failed to hold back the rebels.

From BBC

He said he was excited to be "back on the road again" in his first major expedition since running the length of Africa.

From BBC

While he has always been a singer, at 18 he was stationed in North Africa between 1950 and 1952 as an RAF medic.

From BBC

Born in Middelburg, South Africa, in 1932 to an immigrant English father of Irish descent and a mother from an Afrikaner family, Fugard lived through the rise and fall of apartheid.

From Los Angeles Times

He had called races in South Africa for 12 years at three different tracks.

From Los Angeles Times

Afric African

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