Chic African Culture Africa Factbook

Did you know?

1. No African country names begin with the letters F, H, I, J, O, P, Q, V, W, X, or Y.

2. Africa is surrounded by water but by definition Africa is not an island because Africa is a continent.

3. The Republic of the Congo is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa.

Giant Size Small Size Countries in Africa

Land is continents and islands solid part of their surface not covered by water on the Earth surface.

Throughout Africa, more than 90 percent of the rural communal land and prime land is undocumented and squatters on public land are home to 60 percent of urban dwellers in Africa.

“Land governance issues need to be front and center in Africa to maintain and better its surging growth and achieve its development promise,” says Frank Byamugisha, author of the report and Lead Land Specialist in the World Bank’s Africa Region. “Our findings provide a useful, policy-oriented roadmap for African countries and communities to secure their own land for building shared prosperity.”

Inefficient land administration, weak governance and corruption to the land governance system in many African countries will fuel the land grab surge. An example of poor government is the fact that Ghana, Kenya and Uganda each have fewer than 10 professional land surveyors per one million people.

Land tenure legally or customarily is the legal system in which an individual, who is said to hold the land, owns land. Secure tenure is an important pillar for agriculture and food security. Research has shown that secure tenure provides incentives for farmers to invest in land.

Woman in Ghana

Africa appears small in size on the map but Mexico, China, Eastern and Western Europe, India, The USA and Japan can all fit into Africa's total land area very comfortably. Africa is 11.68 million square miles or 30.2 million km2 and covers 20.4 percent of the total land area on Earth.

This is a list of African countries ranked by total area in Africa and world rank. Africa has eight countries in the top 25 world rank of land size of Earth's surface.


Largest Countries in Africa by Land Size.

African Country Size Rank in Africa World Rank
Algeria 1 11
Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 12
Sudan 3 17
Libya 4 18
Chad 5 22
Niger 6 23
Angola 7 24
Mali 8 25
South Africa 9 26
Ethiopia 10 28
Mauritania 11 30
Egypt 12 31
Tanzania 13 32
Nigeria 14 33
Namibia 15 35
Mozambique 16 36
Zambia 17 40
Morocco 18 41
South Sudan 19 44
Somalia 20 46
Central African Republic 21 47
Madagascar 22 49
Botswana 23 50
Kenya 24 51
Cameroon 25 56
Zimbabwe 26 62
Republic of the Congo 27 65
Cote d'Ivoire 28 70
Burkina Faso 29 76
Gabon 30 78
Guinea 31 79
Uganda 32 81
Ghana 33 82
Senegal 34 88
Tunisia 35 93
Malawi 36 100
Eritrea 37 101
Benin 38 102
Liberia 39 104
Sierra Leone 40 119
Togo 41 126
Guinea-Bissau 42 137
Lesotho 43 141
Equatorial Guinea 44 145
Burundi 45 146
Rwanda 46 148
Djibouti 47 150
Eswatini 48 158
The Gambia 49 165
Cabo Verde 50 175
Comoros 51 179
Mauritius 52 180
Sao Tome and Principe 53 184
Seychelles 54 198


The Mercator projection of 1569 was one of the first navigation maps produced; the Mercator projection is for traveling purposes and not an accurate visual representation of Africa. The Mercator projection was not developed to accurately show the true size of Africa but projections from the Mercator projection are still in use today.


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Chic African Culture and The African Gourmet=

Africa is surrounded by water but is not an island, here are a few African Island facts.

Madagascar is the 4th large island in the world and is located in the Indian Ocean supporting a unique biology, about 90% of its plants and animals are found nowhere else on earth.

Composed of 155 islands, Seychelles is Africa's smallest country. By far the largest island is Mahe, home to about 90% of the population and the site of its capital city of Victoria.

Cabo Verde has a strategic location 310 miles or 500 km from the west coast of Africa near major north-south sea routes; important communications station; important sea and air refueling site.

Africa is surrounded by water but by definition Africa is not an island because Africa is a continent. Continents can not be considered islands because of their size and also by historic definition since many people who study geography define islands and continents as two different things.

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Being African in America I have grown up learning about different ethnic cultures. My father and mother are historians of African culture and history and their influence expanded my activities to several best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, self-branded products, and a popular African culture and food blog.

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