Atlas of Africa

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The introductions of the country, dependency and region entries are in the native languages and in English. The other introductions are in English.

Atlas of Africa

Africa English Africa Africa is the world's second largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 mi²) including adjacent islands, it covers 6.0% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area. With more than 890,000,000 people (as of 2005) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Français Afrique L' Afrique est le second continent au monde par sa population et le second (ou le 3è selon que l'on considère l'Amérique comme un ou deux continents) par sa superficie, après l’Asie. D’une superficie de 30.221.532 km² en incluant les îles adjacentes, l’Afrique couvre 6,0 % de la surface du globe terrestre, et 20,3 % de la surface des terres émergées. Avec une population de 900.000.000 habitants (en 2005), les Africains représentent 14% de la population mondiale. Le continent est bordé par la Mer Méditerranée au nord, le Canal de Suez et la Mer Rouge au nord-est, l’Océan Indien au sud-est et l’Océan Atlantique à l’ouest. L’Afrique comprend 46 pays en incluant Madagascar, et 53 en incluant tous les archipels. العربية أفريقيا وتسمى كذلك"القارة السمراء"، هى ثاني أكبر قارة بالعالم بعد آسيا. يحيطها البحر الأبيض من الشمال والبحر الأحمر والمحيط الهندي من الشرق والمحيط الأطلنطي من الغرب وفي أقصي شمال شرقها تتصل بآسيا براً في شبه جزيرة سيناء. وأفريقيا قارة متعددة الثقافات وبها مئات اللغات المختلفة. و العديد من القري بها مازالت تعيش عيشة بدائبة لم تتطور منذ مئات السنين. Kiswahili Afrika Afrika ni bara kubwa la pili duniani. Bara hili lina eneo la kilometa za mraba 30,244,050 na zaidi ya wakazi milioni 800. Asia ndio bara pekee kubwa kushinda Afrika. Português África A África é o segundo continente mais populoso da Terra (atrás da Ásia) e o segundo continente mais extenso (atrás da Ásia). Tem cerca de 30 milhões de km², cobrindo 20,3 % da área total da terra firme do planeta e mais de 800 milhões de habitantes em 54 países, representando cerca de um sétimo da população do mundo. Population 890,000,000 inhabitants Area 30,221,532 km² Major language(s) French, English, Arabic, Swahili, Portuguese Major religion(s) Islam, Roman Catholicism, Animism, Protestantism More information Africa, Geography of Africa, History of Africa and Politics of Africa More images Africa - Africa (Category).

General maps

Political map Carte politique

Political map with 1st level divisions as of 1998 in SVG format

Political map (in French) Carte politique

subregion of Africa:   North Africa   West Africa   Central Africa   East Africa   Southern Africa

Physical map of Africa Carte physique de l'Afrique

Geographical map Carte géographique

Topology map Carte topologique

Blank Map of Africa Fond de carte de l'Afrique (avec frontières étatiques depuis le 9.7.2011)

Maps of the Middle East

Location of the Middle East Localisation du Moyen-Orient الشرق الأوسط

Middle East Moyen-Orient الشرق الأوسط

Middle East Moyen-Orient الشرق الأوسط

Current events

The Middle East conflict 2006

Israel and members of the Arab League (Comoros is not shown)

History maps

This section holds a short summary of the history of the area of present-day Africa, illustrated with maps, including historical maps of former countries and empires that included present-day Africa.

Discovery sites of the Australopitecines

Location of remains of Wilton culture (6000 BCE)

Orient 2000 BC

Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna period, showing the great powers of the period: Egypt (green), Hatti (yellow), the Kassites kingdom of Babylon (purple), Assyria (grey), and Mittani (red). Lighter areas show direct control, darker areas represent spheres of influence. The extent of the Achaean/Mycenaean civilization is shown in orange.

Pre-colonial civilizations

Oriental empires 600 BC

Africa in the 13th century

Africa around 1400

Africa around 1400: kingdoms and trade routes

Africa in the 15th century

The Ghana Empire

The Mali Empire

The Songhai Empire

Explorations of Africa 1857-1863

Northwestern Africa in 1912

Colonial Africa in 1913

 

Belgium

 

France

 

Germany

 

Great Britain

 

Italy

 

Portugal

 

Spain

 

Independent States

Colonial Africa in 1914

Mandates of the League of Nations

Map with African independence dates

Animated map of independence

Old maps

This section holds copies of original general maps more than 70 years old.

Africa in 1508

Africa in 1570 (Ortelius)

Africa in 1595 (Mercator)

Map of Africa, ca. 1630

Africa in 1648 (Blaeu)

West Africa, 1707 (Guillaume Delisle)

Map of Africa by Herman Moll, 1710

Map of West Africa by Herman Moll, 1729

Africa in 1737

West Africa, 1738

Africa in 1808

Map of Africa in 1812

Map of Eastern Africa, 1829

Routes of European explorers in Africa, to 1853

Africa in 1861

Ottoman map of Africa

Senegambia, Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas, 1st Edition, Leipzig (Germany) 1881, Page 96, Map 1.

Map of Africa in 1890

Map of Africa in 1897

Map of Africa in 1898

Maps in French showing the share of the Lunda kingdom in South-Western Africa (Schrader, Prudent, Anthoine)

Map of Africa in the 1910s

German claims in 1917

Maps of international organizations

Union africaine African Union الاتحاد الأفريقي União Africana Umoja wa Afrika

Historical development

African Economic Community

Regional pillars of the African Economic Community

Active regional pillars

Other trade blocs in Africa

جامعة الدول العربية Arab League

L'Union du Maghreb Arabe Arab Maghreb Union

Conseil de l'Entente Conseil de l'Entente

Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental Economic Community of West African States

Currency co-operation in ECOWAS

Southern African Development Community Communauté de développement d’Afrique australe Comunidade para o Desenvolvimento da África Austral

L'Union du Maghreb Arabe Arab Maghreb Union

Communauté des Etats Sahélo-Sahariens تجمع دول الساحل والصحراء Community of Sahel-Saharan States

Commission de l'Océan Indien Indian Ocean Commission

Marché commun de l'Afrique orientale et australe Mercado Comum da África Oriental e Austral Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

Jumuiya ya Afrika ya Mashariki East African Community Communauté d'Afrique de l'Est

Communauté Économique des États d'Afrique Centrale Economic Community of Central African States

Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation

جامعة الدول العربية Jāmaʻat ad-Duwwal al-ʻArabiyya Arab League :

Population maps - Cartes démographiques

50 largest metropoles of Africa Les 50 metropoles les plus grandes de l'Afrique

Population density Densité de la population

Ethnic and language maps

Languages of Africa Carte linguistique Tale van Afrika

Ethnic groups Groupes ethniques

Language map Carte linguistique

Official languages

Afrique francophone Francophone Africa

Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. other Niger-Congo languages languages and peoples (bright yellow).

One common hypothesis of the Bantu expansion

Nilo-Saharan languages Langues nilo-sahariennes

Khoi-San languages

Afro-Asiatic languages Langues afro-asiatiques

Economical maps

National GDP per capita ranges from wealthier states in the north and south to poorer states in the east. These figures from the 2002 World Bank are converted to US dollars.

High index values, indicated by lighter colors, show the relative poverty of African countries as ranked by the UNDP's 2004 list of countries by quality of life.

Satellite maps

Satellite map of Africa Carte satellite de l'Afrique

Other maps

Map of Africa coloured according to the percentage of the Adult (ages 15-49) population with HIV/AIDS. Colour chart available in description.

Africa, top left, populating the other continents in the Paleolithic.

Map in French of Sahara in the Neolithic "wet period", 5000 years ago.

Notes and references

General remarks: The WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Atlas of the World is an organized and commented collection of geographical, political and historical maps available at Wikimedia Commons. The main page is therefore the portal to maps and cartography on Wikimedia. That page contains links to entries by country, continent and by topic as well as general notes and references. Every entry has an introduction section in English. If other languages are native and/or official in an entity, introductions in other languages are added in separate sections. The text of the introduction(s) is based on the content of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. For sources of the introduction see therefore the Wikipedia entries linked to. The same goes for the texts in the history sections. Historical maps are included in the continent, country and dependency entries. The status of various entities is disputed. See the content for the entities concerned. The maps of former countries that are more or less continued by a present-day country or had a territory included in only one or two countries are included in the atlas of the present-day country. For example the Ottoman Empire can be found in the Atlas of Turkey.