The continent of Africa is one of the continents of the world. It has the status of being ranked second with respect to the level of population. And with respect to the land area covered, it also ranks second among all the other continents. According to figures collected in the year 2005, Africa is home to more than nine hundred and twenty two million people in a total of sixty one territories. This means that around fourteen percent of the total population of the world resides in Africa. The total land area covered by Africa and the islands near to it is around thirty million square kilometers, and this is six percent of the total surface area of the earth, and around twenty percent of the total and area of the earth.

The continent of Africa is surrounded by the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean in the north east, the north, the south east, and the west respectively. Not including the island groups near to the continent, there are forty six countries in Africa, and there are fifty three countries when the island groups are included.

It is believed among the scientific community that the continent of Africa, and more particularly the central eastern part of Africa, is where the Hominidae trees, which are the great apes, and the humans, originated. There have been a lot of discoveries which give proof to this claim, for example a Homo sapiens, which is an early human, was found in Ethiopia and was dated to two hundred thousand years back.

The continent of Africa is situated very near to the equator, and there are a number of different climate zones which are present here. There is a lack of regular natural irrigation as well as of precipitation, mountain aquifer systems, and glaciers. Because of this the climate is not moderated except in the coastal areas.