Africa is the world's third largest continent. At 11,608,000 sq. miles (30,065,000 km²), it covers 20.3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for around one seventh of Earth's human population.
Africa is home to the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, and it is believed that the human race originated from what is now this continent.
For most of humanity's history, Africa had no nation states, and was instead inhabited by many small, loosely associated tribal groups, kingdoms, and families. In the 14th century European explorers arrived in Africa. By bargaining with some local tribal leaders, Europeans were able to capture millions of Africans, and export them for labour around the world in what became known as the global slave trade. In the early 19th century the European imperial powers staged a massive “scramble for Africa” and occupied most of the continent, creating many colonial states. This occupation continued until the conclusion of the Second World War, after which all colonial states were gradually granted independence. Today, Africa is home to over 30 independent countries, many of which still have borders drawn during the era of European colonialism.
For general information about Africa, check out the web page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa. To read more about African traditional religion, check out the website at http://www.afrikaworld.net/afrel/index.html. The website at http://www.africaonline.com provides more detailed information about the continent. The online resources section at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/ also provides much related information (including links to multimedia archives on the Internet) about Africa and African studies.
