Black Africa and White Africa
With a territorial extension of approximately 30.2 million square kilometers, Africa is the third largest continent on the planet. This large territory, inhabited by more than a billion people, presents great physical, ethnic, cultural and economic diversity. All of these elements contributed to a regional subdivision, which established Mediterranean Africa (also called Islamic or Northern Africa) and Sub-Saharan Africa.
This regionalization of the continent has the Sahara desert as a natural divider and human aspects, especially religion, as a cultural factor. Mediterranean Africa, located north of the Sahara Desert, is made up of just five countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt), in addition to the territory of Western Sahara. Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, comprises the entire area located south of the Sahara, corresponding to more than 75% of the continent.
The nations that make up Mediterranean Africa are bathed by the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean. They present physical and human characteristics similar to those of the Middle Eastern nations. The climate is desert and the majority of the inhabitants are of egyptian and Arab origin and followers of Islam. Despite having problems, this portion of the continent has the best socioeconomic indicators in Africa.
Agriculture in this region is developed close to the Nile River and in the area called Maghreb. However, the main sources of revenue come from the production of oil, natural gas, as well as several other ores: phosphate, gold, copper, etc. Tourism is another important economic activity in Mediterranean Africa, especially Egypt and Morocco, which receive millions of visitors annually.
With a majority black population, Sub-Saharan Africa has great cultural diversity. Religious plurality is a characteristic of this continental portion, where there are Christians, Muslims (mainly in the Sahel region), Jews, in addition to various traditional beliefs. The different ethnic groups have their own dialects, dances and customs, a fact that contributes to the cultural richness of Africa. However, in some countries, several armed conflicts are triggered by different ethnic groups.
Underground riches drive mining. South Africa has large reserves of diamonds, chrome, platinum, gold (largest producer in the world), among other minerals. Another highlight is the large production of oil and natural gas in Sub-Saharan African countries. Tourism, promoted in the various natural parks, is another important source of financial resources.
Despite this great mineral wealth, Sub-Saharan Africa presents several socioeconomic problems and international organizations do not develop effective policies to solve them. Hunger, for example, punishes a large part of Africans, malnutrition rates are absurd in this region of the planet.
Given this scenario, the Human Development Indexes (HDI) of the nations that make up Sub-Saharan Africa are the worst on the planet, a reflection of low life expectancy and GDP per capita, in addition to high rates of illiteracy and infant mortality.
_____________________
*Black Africa: This territory corresponds to a part of the African continent that is located south of the Sahara desert. It is classified as sub-Saharan because it is south of the Sahara.
