Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia.  At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area.  With a billion people (as of 2009) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population.

The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.  The continent has 54 sovereign states, including Madagascar, various island groups, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a member state of the African Union whose statehood is disputed by Morocco.

Today, most of the sovereign countries still have the borders drawn during the era of European colonialism.  Since colonialism, countries have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism.  The vast majority of African states are republics that operate under some form of the presidential system of rule.  However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments on a permanent basis, and many have instead cycled through a series of coups, producing military dictatorships. 

This instability has also affected the economic development of the continent.  Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continent.