REALITY CHECK: WHAT IS AFRICA KNOWN FOR ?
The media have always portray Africa as a continent that was discovered like a raw material with no form of refining through slave trade. Making it seem like slavery was Africa’s history, meanwhile civilization as we would have it today began in Africa. This is a well known fact that was discovered by the same bandwagon that previously promotes Africa as a dark continent. Through their various discoveries on the African soil such as the Ishango mathematical bone which was discovered to have existed for over 20,000 years.
Africa as we would have it today is known for her collection of tourist attraction sites. From areas in South Africa to other parts of Africa like Kenya, Nigeria, e.t.c. Fortunately, I will expose to you what you don’t really know about Africa. Just strap on your seat belt and read on to learn what Africa is really known for currently.
So what is Africa known for?
Africa is basically known for her amazing physical features of which most of them are tourist attraction sites such as the Lake Victoria, East African Rift System, The Sahara, Congo River and other numerous attractions and amazing facts about Africa that contribute in bringing in tourists from all over the world. There are numerous amazing facts about Africa, hence we shall look at what Africa is known for and these points will be divided into three broad categories.
So let us get to discover what Africa is known for;
- Physical Features
- Natural Resources
- Diverse Ethic Groups and Cultures
1. Physical Features of Africa
Africa is known to be the second largest continent in the World measuring about 30 million square kilometers alongside its numerous tourist attraction sites scattered across the Continent. Below are elaborated physical features of Africa that will blow your mind and they are as follows;
- Africa has 60% of dry-land surface and deserts thereby making her the hottest continent in the world. Such notable deserts fully present in Africa are Sahara desert, Namib desert and Kalahari desert.
- Snow Covered mountain tops such as the world famous mount kilimanjaro and ruwenzori mountain range alongside other breath-taking valleys are part of tourist destinations in Africa.
- World renowned lakes and rivers such as the Victoria Falls, Congo River, Lake Victoria, River Nile and so on are all in Africa.
2. Natural Resources in Africa
What you may not know about Africa is her abundance of natural resources from South Africa to West Africa and everywhere in between the African continent are filled with mostly tapped and untapped natural resources. This is evident from the way the colonial masters scrambled for and partition Africa all in a bid to milk this great continent of her natural resources to develop their own out-of-Africa countries.
Natural resources such as gold, diamond, oil, natural gas, uranium, copper, cobalt, iron, platinum and a whole lot of other minerals are found in Africa. These natural resources obtained from Africa are used in numerous industries mostly in countries like France, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States.
In fact, the source of the world’s largest diamond is from Africa and close to 500 tons of gold are being produced in the African continent on a yearly basis. Africa’s mineral resources are the largest in the world with mineral exploration and production in most African countries contributing to their economic growth and development.
3. Diverse Ethnic Groups and Cultures in Africa
You may be wondering how diverse African culture could be and how many ethnic groups are in Africa. There are different African cultures and traditions tied along different African tribes. The expression of African culture can be seen in her folklore and beliefs, arts and crafts, cuisine and clothing, music and languages within the vast different African tribes. Basically, African culture is the embodiment of distinct values that relates with each other.
Apparently, Africans know the importance of values and beliefs which range from social, moral, political, religious, economic and aesthetic values in the African culture. This makes African culture interesting coupled with its varied nature as every African country you visit has its own tribes, languages and cultural differences. This is evident even in small African countries like Uganda which have more than thirty established tribes with different cultures.
Major African Ethnic Groups
Generally, there are 54 countries in Africa with over 1.3billion people and over 3,000 tribes all in the African continent. There are tribes in Africa that tend to stand out in Africa but not superior to others as all African culture are valuable as they guide the total existence of a given community.
So, what are the popular tribes in Africa?
In subsequent publication, we shall at one point or the other cover numerous African tribes and cultures. Before that, we shall look into popular tribes in Africa, their origin in Africa and where in Africa they can be seen.
The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group in South Africa with an estimated 11,000.000 people living in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Gone are the days of the apartheid when the Zulu people were classed as third class citizen which often leads to discrimination. As you read currently, the Zulu people have equal rights with other citizens in South Africa.
The Omo River Region of South western Ethiopia have over fifty unique tribes as many of their beliefs and customs are in place due to no road access by the Europeans. The Massai people on the other hand is one of the famous African tribe based the Rift Valley Region of Kenya and Tanzania.
West and Central Africa is not left out as popular tribes such as Hausa, Igbo, Kanuri, Hulu and more are within this axis of the continent. All these tribes and culture have their beliefs and value system which makes Africa a more fascinating continent.
What do you think about Africa? You can comment with own perspectives and real positive life experience as a true African.