Africa is the second-largest continent. It also is second only to Asia in population. It covers about a fifth of all land on Earth. It is home to about one billion people, which is one in seven of everyone in the world.

Most of the people live just to the south of the Sahara Desert. Nigeria is the biggest country by population, while Algeria is the largest by land area.

As it is such a large place, many areas have developed their own art and traditions. Africa is home to several old civilisations, such as the Ancient Egyptians.

East Africa is thought to be the place where most humans evolved from similar creatures several million years ago. They later spread out to occupy most of the other continents.

Most people in Africa live in areas which either have a long dry season, or suffer from drought. This makes it very hard for many people to be able to feed themselves.

Here are the countries of Africa:

A
Algeria, Angola
B
Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi
C
Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Cote d'Ivoire
D
Djibouti
E
Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ethiopia
G
Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau
K
Kenya
L
Lesotho, Liberia, Libya
M
Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique
N
Namibia, Niger, Nigeria
R
Rwanda
S
Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan
T
Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia
U
Uganda
Z
Zambia, Zimbabwe