Did you know that Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, second only to Asia? Africa covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area, with about 30.2 million km². Its population of about 922 million people (as of 2005) in 61 territories accounts for about 14.2% of the World's human population.

The African 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. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones.

Learning the countries of Africa is a challenge since there are 53 countries in all, including Madagascar and various island groups, associated with the continent. Africa's largest country is Sudan, and its smallest country is the Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast. The smallest nation on the continental mainland is The Gambia. Another challenge to learning the countries of Africa is the fact that many of them have changed names at one time or another. For example did you know that Namibia used to be known as South West Africa? Or that what was once the Gold Coast is now known as Ghana? Rwanda used to be German East Africa or Ruanda-Urundi, and Uganda used to be known as Buganda. Zimbabwe was Southern Rhodesia and Zambia was Northern Rhodesia!

Good luck learning the countries of Africa!