THE GREAT AFRICA - Demographics

Demographics

Main articles: African people and Demographics of Africa

Woman from Benin

Africa's population has rapidly increased over the last 40 years, and consequently, it is relatively young. In some African states, half or more of the population is under 25 years of age.^[80] The total number of people in Africa grew from 221 million in 1950 to 1 billion in 2009.^[81][82]

San Bushman man fromBotswana

Speakers of Bantu languages (part of the Niger–Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and southeast Africa. The Bantu-speaking farmers from West Africa's inland savanna progressively expanded over most of Sub-Saharan Africa.^[83] But there are also several Nilotic groups in South Sudan and East Africa, the mixed Swahili people on the Swahili Coast, and a few remainingindigenous Khoisan ('San' or 'Bushmen') and Pygmy peoples in southern and central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon. In the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "Hottentots") have long been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.^[84]

The peoples of West Africa primarily speak Niger–Congo languages, belonging mostly, though not exclusively, to its non-Bantu branches, though some Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic speaking groups are also found. The Niger–Congo-speaking Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Akan and Wolof ethnic groups are the largest and most influential. In the central Sahara, Mandinka or Mande groups are most significant, and in east Central Africa Nilo-Saharan-speaking groups such as the Zaghawa, Baya,Kanuri and Sao predominate. Chadic-speaking groups, including the Hausa, are found in more northerly parts of the region nearest to the Sahara.

Berber boys from the Atlas Mountains

The peoples of North Africa comprise three indigenous main groups: Berbers in the northwest, Egyptians and Libyans in northeast, and Nilo-Saharan-speaking peoples in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the 7th century introduced the Arabic language and Islam to North Africa. The Semitic Phoenicians (who founded Carthage) and Hyksos, the Indo-Iranian Alans, the Indo- European Greeks, Romans and Vandals settled in North Africa as well. Berbers still make up significant communities within Morocco and Algeria nowadays. To a lesser extent, Berber speakers are also present in some regions of Tunisia and Libya.^[85] The Berber-speaking Tuareg and other often-nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. In Mauritania, there is a small but near extinct Berber community in the north and Niger–Congo-speaking peoples in the south, though in both regions Arabic and Arab culture predominates. In Sudan, although Arabic and Arab culture predominates, it is mostly inhabited by originally Nilo-Saharan speaking groups such as the Nubians, Nuba, Fur and Zaghawa who over the centuries have variously intermixed with migrants from the Arabian peninsula. Small communities of Afro-Asiatic speaking Beja nomads can also be found in Egypt and Sudan.

Beja bedouins from Northeast Africa

In the Horn of Africa, some Ethiopian and Eritrean groups (like the Amhara and Tigrayans, collectively known as Habesha) speak languages from the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, while the Oromo and Somali speak languages from the Cushitic branch of Afro-Asiatic.

Anglo-African and South Asian children in Durban, South Africa

Prior to the decolonization movements of the post-World War II era, Europeans were represented in every part of Africa.^[86] Decolonization during the 1960s and 1970s often resulted in the mass emigration of European-descended settlers out of Africa – especially from Algeria and Morocco (1.6 million pieds-noirsin North Africa),^[87] Kenya, Congo,^[88] Rhodesia, Mozambique and Angola.^[89] By the end of 1977, more than one million Portuguese were thought to have returned from Africa.^[90]Nevertheless, White Africans remain an important minority in many African states, particularlySouth Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Réunion.^[91] The African country with the largest White African population is South Africa.^[92] The Afrikaners, the Anglo-Africans (of British origin) and theColoureds are the largest European-descended groups in Africa today.

European colonization also brought sizable groups of Asians, particularly people from the Indian subcontinent, to British colonies. LargeIndian communities are found in South Africa, and smaller ones are present in Kenya, Tanzania, and some other southern and East African countries. The large Indian community in Uganda was expelled by the dictator Idi Amin in 1972, though many have since returned. The islands in the Indian Ocean are also populated primarily by people of Asian origin, often mixed with Africans and Europeans. The Malagasy people of Madagascar are an Austronesian people, but those along the coast are generally mixed with Bantu, Arab, Indian and European origins. Malay and Indian ancestries are also important components in the group of people known in South Africa as Cape Coloureds (people with origins in two or more races and continents). During the 20th century, small but economically important communities of Lebanese and Chinese^[78] have also developed in the larger coastal cities of West and East Africa, respectively.