As the African Continent celebrates today, May 25, 2020 Africa Day 2020, we bring you ten amazing facts about the African continent.
Africa Day is a commemoration of the foundation of the Organization of African Unity(now AU) on May 25, 1963 when thirty African nations came together in Addis Ababa under the supervision of Emperor Haile Selassie.
This day marks the unity of African nations as blocs like the Casablanca and Monrovia came together to form a new path.
There are interesting facts about Africa you may not have heard or read before and we are poised to bring them to you.
1. Africa owns the world’s oldest University.
According to Guinness World Records, The oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. The University of Bologna, Italy, was founded in 1088 and is the oldest one in Europe.
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2. Africa is the continent with most countries.
There are 54 internationally recognized sovereign states on the continent of Africa. The most recent, South Sudan, gained independence on 9 July 2011. The disputed territory of Western Sahara is a member of the African Union but as of 2017 had not been recognized by the United Nations.
3. The Richest Man in the history of mankind is an African.
Mansa Musa of Mali 1 had an estimated value of $400 billion.
4. The Longest River In the World is the River Nile(4,132 miles)
5. The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world and is said to be larger than the United States.
6. The African continent has the largest reserves of precious metals with over 40% of the gold reserves, over 60% of the cobalt, and 90% of the platinum reserves.
7. Ethiopia is the only African country with its own alphabets.
8. South African DJ, DJ Arch Jnr, real name Oratile Hlongwane is the youngest DJ in the world.
9. Nigerian Doctor, Olurotimi Badero, Olurotimi John Badero is a physician, Interventional cardiologist and Interventional nephrologist who has been recognized as the world’s first and only fully trained cardio-nephrologist (heart and kidney specialist).
10. Nigeria has the highest number of twin babies in the world.Igbo-Ora, a town in Oyo State, Nigeria has the highest number of twin babies in the world.
