Africa is the second largest of the Earth's continents. It covers an area of 11,668,599 square miles (30,221,532 square km), has a coastline 16,000 miles (26,000 km) long and measures 5,000 miles (8,000 km) north to south, and 4,600 miles (7,400 km) east to west.
Africa is second only to Asia for population - not quite a fifth of people in the world live there. Africa has 54 recognised countries, and 58 different flags. This quiz is about just ten of those.
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Ethiopia has a rich history. It has existed as a nation since the 12th century but the land was civilised approximately 1,000 BC as the Kingdom of D'mt. In addition, Ethiopia is thought to be where our species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, first emerged around 200,000 years ago
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Algeria's size is not matched by its population. Despite being eleven times larger than Germany, it has about half the number of citizens
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The nation used to be a French colony which traded in ivory, hence the name. Despite complaints from the Côte d'Ivoire government, the name Ivory Coast is often still used in English speaking countries (for example, in this quiz!)
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Timbuktu gained legendary status in 1390 when its ruler, Mansa Musa, the Emperor of Mali, visited Egypt when he was en route to Mecca. Whilst there he gave out so much gold that the Egyptian currency declined in value. Stories began to be spread about the city of Timbuktu, where the roads and the roofs were made of gold. Not surprisingly, Europeans wanted to find this elusive city!
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Guinea is sometimes called Guinea-Conakry, utilising the name of its capital city to distinguish it from Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, which have similar names.
The colours used in the nation's flag are those of the Pan-African movement, which encourages solidarity between all Africans around the world |
The three stars found on the flag represent the national motto - "Unity, Work, Progress."
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As the country was a French colony at the time, Brazzaville was symbolically recognised as the capital of Free France during Germany's annexation of the mother country from 1940-1943
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Since its independence from Britain in 1966 Lesotho has had three official flags. The first was replaced in 1987 following a military coup. This new flag was adopted in 2006 with the central symbol changing from white, as it was in the original flag, to black, to represent Lesotho as a black nation
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Despite its small size, Djibouti is of strategic importance due to its position at the joining point between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea - one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. It is the main port for goods on their way to neighbouring Ethiopia, and it is the home of an American naval base
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Sao Tome and Príncipe is a nation of islands, the two main ones together giving the country its name. It is off the west coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea
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