Geography of the Countries of Africa

Geography of the Countries of Africa The continent of Africa is the worlds second-largest based on land area and population just after Asia. It has a population of around one billion people (as of 2009) and covers 20.4% of the Earths land area. Africa is bordered by the  Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.Africa is known for its biodiversity, varied topography, culture, and varied climate. The continent straddles the equator and encompasses the entire tropical band. Africas northern and southernmost countries also stretch out of the tropics (from 0 ° to 23.5 ° N and S latitude) and into the northern and southern temperate latitudes (latitudes above the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn).As the worlds second-largest continent, Africa is divided into 53 officially recognized countries. The following is a list of Africas countries ordered by land area. For reference, the countrys population and capital cit y have also been included. 1) SudanArea: 967,500 square miles (2,505,813 sq km)Population: 39,154,490Capital: Khartoum2) AlgeriaArea: 919,594 square miles (2,381,740 sq km)Population: 33,333,216Capital: Algiers3) Democratic Republic of the CongoArea: 905,355 square miles (2,344,858 sq km)Population: 63,655,000Capital: Kinshasa4) LibyaArea: 679,362 square miles (1,759,540 sq km)Population: 6,036,914Capital: Tripoli5) ChadArea: 495,755 square miles (1,284,000 sq km)Population: 10,146,000Capital: NDjamena6) NigerArea: 489,191 square miles (1,267,000 sq km)Population: 13,957,000Capital: Niamey7) AngolaArea: 481,353 square miles (1,246,700 sq km)Population: 15,941,000Capital: Luanda8) MaliArea: 478,840 square miles (1,240,192 sq km)Population: 13,518,000Capital: Bamako9) South AfricaArea: 471,455 square miles (1,221,037 sq km)Population: 47,432,000Capital: Pretoria10) EthiopiaArea: 426,372 square miles (1,104,300 sq km)Population: 85,237,338Capital: Addis Ababa11) MauritaniaArea: 396,955 square miles (1,030,700 sq km)Population: 3,069,000Capital: Nouakchott12) EgyptArea: 386,661 square miles (1,001,449 sq km)Population: 80,335,036Capital: Cairo13) TanzaniaArea: 364,900 square miles (945,087 sq km)Population: 37,849,133Capital: Dodoma14) NigeriaArea: 356,668 square miles (923,768 sq km)Population: 154,729,000Capital: Abuja15) NamibiaArea: 318,695 square miles (825,418 sq km)Population: 2,031,000Capital: Windhoek16) MozambiqueArea: 309,495 square miles (801,590 sq km)Population: 20,366,795Capital: Maputo17) ZambiaArea: 290,585 square miles (752,614 sq km)Population: 14,668,000Capital: Lusaka18) SomaliaArea: 246,200 square miles (637,657 sq km)Population: 9,832,017Capital: Mogadishu19) Central African RepublicArea: 240,535 square miles (622,984 sq km)Population: 4,216,666Capital: Bangui20) MadagascarArea: 226,658 square miles (587,041 sq km)Population: 18,606,000Capital: Antananarivo21) BotswanaArea: 224,340 square miles (581,041 sq km)Population: 1,839,833Capital: Gaborone22) KenyaArea: 224,080 square miles (580,367 sq km)Population: 34,707,817Capital: Nairobi23) CameroonArea: 183,569 square miles (475,442 sq km)Population: 17,795,000Capital: Yaoundà ©24) MoroccoArea: 172,414 square miles (446,550 sq km)Population: 33,757,175Capital: Rabat25) ZimbabweArea: 150,872 square miles (390,757 sq km)Population: 13,010,000Capital: Harare 26) Republic of the CongoArea: 132,046 square miles (342,000 sq km)Population: 4,012,809Capital: Brazzaville27) Cà ´te dIvoireArea: 124,502 square miles (322,460 sq km)Population: 17,654,843Capital: Yamoussoukro28) Burkina FasoArea: 105,792 square miles (274,000 sq km)Population: 13,228,000Capital: Ouagadougou29) GabonArea: 103,347 square miles (267,668 sq km)Population, 1,387,000Capital: Libreville30) GuineaArea: 94,925 square miles (245,857 sq km)Population: 9,402,000Capital: Conakry31)  GhanaArea: 92,098 square miles (238,534 sq km)Population: 23,000,000Capital: Accra32) UgandaArea: 91,135 square miles (236,040 sq km)Population: 27,616,000Capital: Kampala33) SenegalArea: 75,955 square miles (196,723 sq km)Population: 11,658,000Capital: Dakar34) TunisiaArea: 63,170 square miles (163,610 sq km)Population: 10,102,000Capital: Tunis35) MalawiArea: 45,746 square miles (118,484 sq km)Population: 12,884,000Capital: Lilongwe36) EritreaArea: 45,405 square miles (117,600 sq km)Population: 4,401,000Capital: Asmara37) BeninArea: 43,484 square miles (112,622 sq km)Population: 8,439,000Capital: Porto Novo38) LiberiaArea: 43,000 square miles (111,369 sq km)Population: 3,283,000Capital: Monrovia39) Sierra LeoneArea: 27,699 square miles (71,740 sq km)Population: 6,144,562Capital: Freetown40) TogoArea: 21,925 square miles (56,785 sq km)Population: 6,100,000Capital: Lomà ©41) Guinea-BissauArea: 13,948 square miles (36,125 sq km)Population: 1,586,000Capital: Bissau42) LesothoArea: 11,720 square miles (30,355 sq km)Population: 1,795,000Capital: Maseru43) Equatorial GuineaArea: 10,830 square miles (28,051 sq km)Population: 504,000Capital: Malabo44) BurundiArea: 10,745 square miles (27,830 sq km)Population: 7,548,000Capital: Gitega (changed from Bujumbura in December 2018)45) RwandaArea: 10,346 square miles (26,798 sq km)Population: 7,600,000Capital: Kigali46) DjiboutiArea: 8,957 square miles (23,200 sq km)Population: 496,374Capital: Djibouti47) SwazilandArea: 6,704 square mile s (17,364 sq km)Population: 1,032,000Capital: Lobamba and Mbabane48) GambiaArea: 4,007 square miles (10,380 sq km)Population: 1,517,000Capital: Banjul49) Cape VerdeArea: 1,557 square miles (4,033 sq km)Population: 420,979Capital: Praia50) ComorosArea: 863 square miles (2,235 sq km)Population: 798,000Capital: Moroni51) MauritiusArea: 787 square miles (2,040 sq km)Population: 1,219,220Capital: Port Louis52) So Tomà © and Prà ­ncipeArea: 380 square miles (984 sq km)Population: 157,000Capital: So Tomà ©53) SeychellesArea: 175 square miles (455 sq km)Population: 88,340Capital: Victoria References Wikipedia. (2010, June 8).  Africa- Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Wikipedia. (2010, June 12).  List of African Countries and Territories- Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_and_territories

Eastern North American Neolithic

Eastern North American Neolithic Archaeological evidence shows that eastern North America (often abbreviated ENA) was a separate place of origin for the invention of agriculture. The earliest evidence of low-level food production in ENA begins between about 4000 and 3500 years ago, during the period known as the Late Archaic. People entering the Americas brought with them two domesticates: the dog and the bottle gourd. Domestication of new plants in ENA began with the squash Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera, domesticated ~4000 years ago by Archaic hunter-gatherer-fishers, probably for its use (like the bottle gourd) as a container and fishnet float. Seeds of this squash are edible, but the rind is quite bitter. Read more about Cucurbita pepoRead more about the American Archaic Food Crops in Eastern North America The first food crops domesticated by the Archaic hunter-gatherers were oily and starchy seeds, most of which are considered weeds today. Iva annua (known as marshelder or sumpweed) and Helianthus annuus (sunflower) were domesticated in ENA by about 3500 years ago, for their oil-rich seeds. Read more about sunflower domestication Chenopodium berlandieri (chenopod or goosefoot) is reckoned to have been domesticated in Eastern North America by ~3000 BP, based on its thinner seed coats. By 2000 years ago, Polygonum erectum (knotweed), Phalaris caroliniana (maygrass), and Hordeum pusillum (little barley), Amaranthus hypochondriacus (pigweed or amaranth) and perhaps Ambrosia trifida (giant ragweed), were likely cultivated by Archaic hunter-gatherers; but scholars are somewhat divided as to whether they were domesticated or not. Wild rice (Zizania palustris) and Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) were exploited but apparently not domsticated prehistorically. Read more about chenopodium Cultivating Seed Plants Archaeologists believe that seed plants may have been cultivated by collecting the seeds and using the maslin technique, that is to say, by storing the seeds and mixing them together before broadcasting them onto a suitable patch of ground, such as a floodplain terrace. Maygrass and little barley ripen in spring; chenopodium and knotweed ripen in fall. By mixing these seeds together and sprinkling them on fertile ground, the farmer would have a patch where seeds could reliably be harvested for three seasons. The domestication would have occurred when the cultivators began selecting the chenopodium seeds with the thinnest seed covers to save and replant. By the Middle Woodland period, domesticated crops such as maize (Zea mays) (~800-900 AD) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) (~1200 AD) arrived in ENA from their central American homelands  and were integrated into what archaeologists have termed the Eastern Agricultural Complex. These crops would have been planted in large separate fields or intercropped, as part of the three sisters or mixed cropping agricultural technique. Read more about maizeRead more about the Three SistersRead more about the ​Eastern Agricultural Complex Important ENA Archaeological Sites Kentucky: Newt Kash, Cloudsplitter, Salts CaveAlabama: Russell CaveIllinois: Riverton, American Bottom sitesMissouri: Gypsy JointOhio: Ash CaveArkansas: Edens Bluff, Whitney Bluff, Holman ShelterMississippi: Natchez Sources Fritz GJ. 1984. Identification of Cultigen Amaranth and Chenopod from Rockshelter Sites in Northwest Arkansas. American Antiquity 49(3):558-572. Fritz, Gayle J. Multiple pathways to farming in precontact eastern North America. Journal of World Prehistory, Volume 4, Issue 4, December 1990. Gremillion KJ. 2004. Seed Processing and the Origins of Food Production in Eastern North America. American Antiquity 69(2):215-234. Pickersgill B. 2007. Domestication of Plants in the Americas: Insights from Mendelian and Molecular Genetics. Annals of Botany 100(5):925-940. Open Access. Price TD. 2009. Ancient farming in eastern North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(16):6427-6428. Scarry, C. Margaret. Crop Husbandry Practices in North America’s Eastern Woodlands. Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology, SpringerLink. Smith BD. 2007. Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 16(5):188-199. Smith BD, and Yarnell RA. 2009. Initial formation of an indigenous crop complex in eastern North America at 3800 B.P. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(16):561–6566.