---
title: "76 Interesting Facts About Africa"
url: https://www.kickassfacts.com/africa-facts/
date: 2021-04-16
modified: 2021-04-16
lang: en
author: "jazz"
description: "Here are 76 Interesting Facts About Africa. 1-5 Interesting Facts About Africa 1. When the world's largest diamond was discovered in South Africa, it was shipped to England on a..."
categories:
  - "Africa"
  - "Fact List"
image: https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/africa-articles.jpg
word_count: 2373
---

# 76 Interesting Facts About Africa

Here are 76 Interesting Facts About Africa.

## 1-5 Interesting Facts About Africa

![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cullinan_diamond.jpg)

1. When the world's largest diamond was discovered in South Africa, it was shipped to England on a steamboat under heavy security. But it was a diversion, and the real stone was sent in a plain box via post. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinan_Diamond)

2. Apartheid South Africa had a secret weapons program to develop germs that would only kill blacks or lower their birthrate. - [Source](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/110947.stm)

3. Popular R&B singer Akon owns a diamond mine in South Africa. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akon#Personal_life)

4. South Africa was largely responsible for the global prohibition of Marijuana in 1925, based on one British doctor’s racist opinion from 1908 of how it affected Hindu laborers. – [Source](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG4WTvUBD18&feature=player_detailpage#t=264s)

5. Nigeria has the 3rd largest film industry in the world in terms of earnings. It is nicknamed 'Nollywood'. - [Source](http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2006/mar/23/world.features)

## 6-10 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Nigeria Guiness](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NigeriaGuiness_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NigeriaGuiness.jpg)

6. Nigeria has overtaken Ireland in Guinness sales and is the number 2 consumer of Guinness world wide - [Source](http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/30/9)

7. Sixto Rodriguez, an American musician in the 1970s, sold very few records in the US. So he quit music and became a demolition worker. In 1998, he found out that his records had gone platinum in South Africa. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixto_Diaz_Rodriguez#Belated_fame)

8. Anwar Sadat of Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979, the first Arab nation to do so. For this, Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize. Then Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and Sadat was assassinated. – [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian%E2%80%93Israeli_Peace_Treaty)

9. In 1995, Nigeria donated 88,000 doses of meningitis vaccine to its neighbor Niger, but before the authorities realized that these vaccines were fake, about 60,000 people had been “inoculated” with what was just water. - [Source](http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/84/9/06-020906/en/)

10. In 2005, in Northern Nigeria a group of Muslim leaders declared the polio vaccine to be a conspiracy to sterilize the true believers. Subsequently, the disease began to spread again - [Source](http://books.google.com/books?id=bOS9wTxSjsMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT35#v=onepage&q&f=false)

## 11-15 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Regional kings in Nigeria](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/RegionalkingsinNigeria_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/RegionalkingsinNigeria.jpg)

11. There are over 150 regional "kings" in Nigeria, and that one of them used to be a Professor Emeritus at University of North Carolina - [Source](http://flashpointnews.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/obi-prof-chike-edozien-the-asagba-of-asaba-an-icon-on-the-throne/)

12. In 2003, Morocco offered to send 2,000 monkeys to assist USA in the war effort in Iraq. They were to be used to detonate land mines - [Source](http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2003/03/24/Morocco-offers-US-monkeys-to-detonate-mine/UPI-14431048506179/)

13. Algeria was once the largest exporter of wine in the world, more than Spain, France, and Italy combined. - [Source](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/wine/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-wine-juggernaut-or-why-your-wine-doesnt-come-from-algeria-any-more/article9076845/)

14. Women in Algeria make up 70% of the country's lawyers and 60% of its judges. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria#Demographics)

15. There is 795 sq miles of land, Bir Tawil, between Egypt and Sudan that remains unclaimed by either nation. This is the only piece of unclaimed land in the world outside of Antarctica. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil)

## 16-20 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Sudanese Pyramids](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SudanesePyramids_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SudanesePyramids.jpg)

16. Egypt isn't the country with the most pyramids. It's Sudan and they have approximately 255 pyramids. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_pyramids)

17. In ancient Egypt, couples were considered married whenever they moved in together. Wedding ceremonies were reserved for the upper classes. - [Source](http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-romances-that-changed-history)

18. St. Catherine's monastery has a permission slip from Muhammad himself to stay as long as they like in Egypt. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtiname_of_Muhammad)

19. Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt in 1798 is a large part of why we know so much about Ancient Egypt. He brought a team of 160 scientists, astronomers, engineers, architects, artists, interpreters, and printers to record and document what he found. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_des_Sciences_et_Arts_d%27%C3%89gypte)

20. In 2003, a Boeing 727 was stolen from an Airport in Angola. Despite a worldwide search it still has not been found. – [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Boeing_727-223_disappearance)

## 21-25 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Hillary Clinton](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HillaryClinton_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HillaryClinton.jpg)

21. During a visit to Egypt in 2012, Hillary Clinton was pelted with tomatoes and shoes, while the protesters chanted "Monica, Monica." - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shoe_throwing_incidents#2012)

22. In ancient Egypt, any books found in ships coming into port, would be brought immediately to the Library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy was given back to the owner. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria#History)

23. The oldest surviving pair of cloth socks was found in Egypt. They were actually designed to wear with sandals. - [Source](http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O107787/pair-of-socks/)

24. Ancient Egypt had many medical specialists, including proctologists who were called "shepherds of the anus". - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_medicine#Doctors_and_other_healers)

25. There is a 1500km band of land in Namibia covered in unexplained "Fairy Circles" that appear to grow and also die. Scientists have studied the area for over 30 years and still do not know their cause. - [Source](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0038056)

## 26-30 Interesting Facts About Africa

![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/RetbaLake.jpg)

26. There's a lake in Senegal that is naturally bright pink. The French called it "Le Lac Rose." - [Source](http://www.lakeretba.com/)

27. There is a submerged island called Ferdinandea in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Tunisia that periodically rises above sea-level and causes diplomatic rows due to being claimed by a number of countries. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinandea)

28. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is considered the richest country in the world in regards to its natural resources even though its citizens are among the poorest. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR_Congo#Mining)

29. In Ghana it is desirable to be buried in a novelty coffin, with favorites including a huge Coke bottle, an oversized Nokia, and a giant catfish. - [Source](http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/style/ghanian-fantasy-coffins)

30. In ancient Rome, one of the most common cooking ingredients was called "laser", from the silphium plant. It does not exist today. It was so delicious that it was harvested to extinction from its natural habitat in what is now Libya. Researchers think that it probably tasted something like garlic. – [Source](http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001813.php)

## 31-35 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Kalenjins](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Kalenjins_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Kalenjins.jpg)

31. Almost three-quarters of all of Kenya's athletics come from one tribe, the Kalenjins. - [Source](http://blog.healthkismet.com/dissecting-the-diet-and-lifestyle-of-kenyan-r)

32. There is a four-man anti-poaching team permanently guarding a Northern White Rhino in Kenya - [Source](http://www.poyi.org/69/02/first_11.php)

33. There is an age-old tradition among the Nandi people of Kenya where an older, infertile woman marries a younger woman to obtain a child; the younger woman then has sex with a man from the older woman's clan. That offspring is then regarded as the fruit of the marriage. - [Source](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16871435)

34. The article quoting UNICEF that "70% of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction" was an error. UNICEF's survey says its 7.8% and almost entirely in rural areas. - [Source](http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_66241.html)

35. In 1986, 1.6 million tons of CO2 erupted from Lake Nyos in Cameroon, displacing all the air and suddenly asphyxiating everything in its path, including 4 villages, 1,700 people, and 3,500 livestock. – [Source](http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Nyos.html)

## 36-40 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Famine refugees in a camp in Korem, Tigray region. Ethiopia, November 1984](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/EthiopianFamine_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/EthiopianFamine.jpg)

36. A famine in Ethiopia from 1983-1985 killed around 400,000-1,000,000 people and 56,000 tons of food donated by aid efforts from the West through Live Aid was left to rot in a port by the Ethiopian government. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984%E2%80%931985_famine_in_Ethiopia)

37. In 1931, African colonial subjects living in the Cameroons took up a collection to aid the starving people of America due to The Great Depression, ultimately mailing $3.77 to the mayor of New York City to assist relief efforts there. - [Source](http://www.shmoop.com/great-depression/economy.html)

38. Football striker Didier Drogba is credited with brokering a cease-fire in his home country of Ivory Coast that brought a five-year civil war to an end. - [Source](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/07/ivorycoast200707)

39. There was a laughing epidemic in 1962, in Tanzania. It closed down 14 schools and affected over 1,000 people. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_Laughter_Epidemic)

40. The countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi have plans to form the East African Federation by 2015. It would be the 11th most populated country in the world. – [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Federation)

## 41-45 Interesting Facts About Africa

![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Idi_Amin.jpg)

41. Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's official title was "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular" - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin_Dada)

42. In 2003, the dictator of Equatorial Guinea took personal control of the national treasury, handing more than $500,000,000 to family members, ostensibly to prevent corruption by civil servants. He has also been declared a god, who “can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account.” - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teodoro_Obiang_Nguema_Mbasogo)

43. On Christmas, 1979 the first president of Equatorial Guinea had 150 of his opponents killed. Soldiers dressed up in Santa Clause outfits executed them in a football stadium while amplifiers played "Those Were the Days." - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Mac%C3%ADas_Nguema)

44. In 1972, natural nuclear fission reactors were discovered in Gabon, Africa. They operated for a few hundred thousand years and generated an average of 100kW of power. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor)

45. An orphan from Uganda, who spent his youth as a human scarecrow on his abusive uncle's farm, ran away at 14. With the help of a charity called YES Uganda, he has since earned 2 degrees, started a biotech company, founded a non-profit, and given a talk at TED. – [Source](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Luck-smarts-lead-from-Uganda-to-UC-Berkeley-4910441.php)

## 46-50 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Cowboy Metalheads](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/CowboyMetalheads_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/CowboyMetalheads.jpg)

46. There is a small but passionate scene of "Cowboy Metalheads" in Botswana. - [Source](http://www.vice.com/read/atlas-hoods-botswanas-cowboy-metalheads?Contentpage=1)

47. In 2010, a small plane crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to a smuggled crocodile onboard. The crocodile freed itself and panicked the passengers who all ran towards the flight deck, which caused the plane to become unbalanced and crash. The only survivors were one person and the crocodile. – [Source](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/22/130755927/crocodile-seen-as-culprit-in-august-plane-crash-in-congo)

48. In 1998, during a soccer match in the Congo, a lightning bolt struck the pitch and killed all 11 members of one team. The other team was left unscathed. - [Source](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/203137.stm)

49. There is a subculture in the Congo of men who dress in brightly colored tailored suits and expensive shoes and who demonstrate impeccable manners and gentlemanly conduct. Some say it is a form of protest and demonstration against the depression caused by the horrors of civil war. - [Source](http://www.messynessychic.com/2011/04/05/who-is-the-dandy-man/)

50. In the 1920s and 30s, many Europeans supported using massive dams to drain the Mediterranean for farmland and to connect Europe and Africa into a new continent called "Atlantropa." - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa#The_project)

## 51-55 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Dakar, Senegal Statue](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DakarSenegalStatue_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DakarSenegalStatue.jpg)

51. North Korea gave Dakar, Senegal a Stalinist statue that is taller than the Statue of Liberty. - [Source](http://www.gadling.com/2012/04/26/africas-tallest-statue-the-monument-to-the-african-renaissance/)

52. Mauritius is the only country in Africa currently ranked as a full democracy by The Economist. - [Source](http://www.economist.com/node/21551494)

53. Madagascar was first settled by people from Borneo (which is over 4000 miles away), not Africa (250 miles away). - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar#Early_period)

54. There are more people speaking French in Africa than in France. - [Source](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81frica_franc%C3%B3fona)

55. In some African countries (such as Zimbabwe) it is commonly believed that sex with an albino woman cures HIV. This has led to numerous rapes and subsequent spread of HIV. – [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism#Society_and_culture)

## 56-60 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Elephant birds of madagascar](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Elephantbirdsofmadagascar_thumb.gif)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Elephantbirdsofmadagascar.gif)

56. Until the 17th or 18th century, 880-pound birds lived in Madagascar. They were called Elephant Birds and were over 10 feet tall. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_bird)

57. David Livingstone, a famous British explorer in Africa became extremely ill and then had his supplies stolen. To feed himself he let the natives put him in an exhibit and people would pay to see him as a curiosity. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone#The_River_Nile)

58. The first President of Zimbabwe was called President Banana. - [Source](http://wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Banana)

59. The remains of the Walls of Benin, the former largest man-made structure in the world, are being torn down to make way for real estate - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Benin)

60. The Parliament of Rwanda is the only governing body in the world where women outnumber men. – [Source](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7620816.stm)

## 61-65 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Niger delta oil spills](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Nigerdeltaoilspills_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Nigerdeltaoilspills.jpg)

61. More oil is spilled from the Niger delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf oil spill. - [Source](http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/nigerias-agony-dwarfs-gulf-oil-spill)

62. According to a professor of economics at New York University, after receiving $600 billion in foreign aid over 45 years, there has "basically been zero rise in living standards" in Africa. - [Source](http://www.npr.org/2007/12/12/17095866/is-aid-to-africa-doing-more-harm-than-good)

63. Malawi president Bingu wa Mutharika vacated his home, a 300-bedroom mansion, in 2005 because he believed it to be haunted. - [Source](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4344043.stm)

64. Female obesity is considered so attractive in Mauritania that 75 percent of rural Mauritanian girls are forcibly fattened on camel milk and animal fat in a custom called "leblouh" - [Source](http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/12/mauritania.force.feed/)

65. Sobhuza II was the king of Swaziland for 82 years and 9 months, which is the longest documented monarchical reign. He had 70 wives, 210 children, and over 1000 grandchildren. – [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobhuza_II)

## 66-70 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![Mauritania Slavery](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/MauritaniaSlavery_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/MauritaniaSlavery.jpg)

66. Mauritania tried to ban slavery thrice. In 1905, 1981, and as latest as August 2007. It is the 'last stronghold' of slavery on earth. - [Source](http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/world/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/index.html)

67. The country with the lowest life expectancy in the world is Swaziland, at 31.88 years. Over half of the adults in their 20s have HIV. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaziland)

68. Lesotho is the only country on Earth to lie completely above 1000 meters in elevation. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Lesotho)

69. On a trip to Sierra Leone in 2009, actress Salma Hayek spontaneously breast fed a local infant. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-nurse#cite_ref-guardian.co.uk_6-3)

70. Liberia was established by the citizens of the United States as a colony for former African American slaves and their free black descendants. – [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Liberia)

## 71-76 Interesting Facts About Africa

[![The West Side Niggaz](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/TheWestSideNiggaz_thumb.jpg)](https://kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/TheWestSideNiggaz.jpg)

71. There was an armed group in Sierra Leone Civil War called "the West Side Niggaz" that was influenced by Tupac and used to wear women's wigs. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Niggaz)

72. Only 14% of the population of Guinea Bissau speaks the official language, i.e. Portuguese. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea-Bissau)

73. French mercenary Bob Denard participated in coups to overthrow the government of Comoro not once, not twice, but four times. - [Source](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7044019.stm)

74. Amazon and Congo were likely one river before Africa and South America drifted apart. - [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_by_length)

75. In 2005, a 12-year-old girl was abducted in Ethiopia, trying to force her into marriage by her kidnappers. She was saved from her attackers and defended for about half a day by three lions. – [Source](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8305836/#.UVt__leFWMV)

76. The Maasai tribe in Africa gave a gift of 14 cows to America after hearing about the 9/11 attacks. - [Source](http://www.14cowsforamerica.com/maasai.html)