Africa

American  

[af-ri-kuh] / ˈæf rɪ kə /

noun

1. a continent south of Europe and between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. About 11,700,000 square miles (30,303,000 square kilometers).

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Africa British  

/ ˈæfrɪkə /

noun

1. the second largest of the continents, on the Mediterranean in the north, the Atlantic in the west, and the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean in the east. The Sahara desert divides the continent unequally into North Africa (an early centre of civilization, in close contact with Europe and W Asia, now inhabited chiefly by Arabs) and Africa south of the Sahara (relatively isolated from the rest of the world until the 19th century and inhabited chiefly by Negroid peoples). It was colonized mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries by Europeans and now comprises independent nations. The largest lake is Lake Victoria and the chief rivers are the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi. Pop: 887 964 000 (2005 est). Area: about 30 300 000 sq km (11 700 000 sq miles)

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Africa Cultural  

1. The second-largest continent, after Asia; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean.

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Discover More

Africa south of the Sahara is sometimes called sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa has been the home of great civilizations, particularly in Egypt (see also Egypt), along the Mediterranean Sea. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European nations colonized much of the continent (see colonialism). In the twentieth century, the colonies became independent countries.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit especially hard by HIV/AIDS, drastically decreasing the life expectancy of much of the population.

Etymology

Origin of Africa

See African ( def. )

Example Sentences

Sebastien Leas, a forecaster at France's weather service, likened it to a "vacuum cleaner, drawing in heat and masses of hot air rising from North Africa" and blasting it northward in a violent torrent.

From Barron's • Jun. 23, 2026

Here, too, the Germans enjoyed early success, driving the British and their Commonwealth forces some 350 miles across the rim of Africa, from their stronghold outside Tobruk, Libya to western Egypt.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026

Back in 2010, the situation was arguably even worse as the Al-Nassr forward arrived in South Africa having not scored in a competitive Portugal match for two years.

From BBC • Jun. 23, 2026

The buzz: South Africa can vault over South Korea and finish second in the group with a win.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2026

In the summer of 1844, while Charles Darwin was writing his first essay on evolution, Galton left England to travel to Egypt and Sudan—the first of many trips he would take to Africa.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee