Africa
Until the 19th century most of Africa was a mystery to the western world. Its impassable forests, rivers blocked by falls, enormous deserts, and deadly diseases had foiled explorers' attempts to infiltrate the interior. Little was known about the hundreds of different groups of people who lived south of the Sahara in communities ranging from small villages to sprawling kingdoms. Nor was it guessed that some four million years ago our earliest ancestors took their first upright steps in Africa's heartland. Africa, as well as being the home of the lion elephant, the tall Watusi and diminutive Pygmy, the longest river and largest dessert, was also the birthplace of humanity. Africa is a huge continent, second in size only to Asia, but it has few of the other geographical features found on other continents. Its coastline has a relatively small number of inlets and peninsulas. Most of the continent consists of a vast high plateau that drops steeply to narrow coastal plains. Few mountains regions mark Africa and those that do, like the Atlas in the northwest, are relatively small ranges or are isolated volcanic mountains, such as Mount Kilimanjaro. In addition, Africa's major rivers follow very irregular courses. Afri
Some pieces collided with other plates and crumpled along their edges, forming long mountain chains. South of the Sahara lies a land of extreme human diversity, where hundreds of black ethnic groups live, many with different languages and cultures. The area is commonly grouped with Middle Eastern Arabic country. Much of the Serengeti Plain in Kenya and Tanzania is now a wildlife sanctuary. To save wildlife some African nations are setting aside huge tracts of land for national parks. Away from the urbanized coast, the forest remains sparsely settled. Moreover, in many African counties, democratic multiparty governments are replacing one-party regimes-a good sign for Africa's political future. Today, poverty is abundant in much of Africa. In South Africa, where the government policy of apartheid has long made discriminations against nonwhites legal, black Africans are winning new rights. In West Africa, however, high population and long settlements have greatly changed the environment. By the fourteenth century, Timbuktu in present-day Mali was a thriving center for commerce and Islamic learning in West Africa. In the north the Sahara, the world's largest desert, covers more than a quarter of the continent. Those decisions still haunt Africa even though most African countries won their independence in the 1960's. Soon slaves became a major idem of trade. Most people depend on farming for survival.
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Acceptance Essays
