Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers six percent of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4 percent of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people (as of 2009), it accounts for about 15% 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 includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It has 54 fully recognized sovereign states ("countries"), 9 territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition.

Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the origin of humans and the great apes.

Africa in 1632[]

When Grantville arrived in 1631, Africa was a place dealing with a great deal of foreign intrusion. The Ottoman Empire was pressing in from the east and the European powers from the north. Additionally, the Europeans had started laying the foundation for what, in the OTL, had later become the widespread transatlantic slave trade.