50 Africa Facts That Show Its Wild, Ancient Side

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1GDP

GDP

The entire continent of Africa has a smaller GDP than France


2. Deep in Africa, there are accounts of people seeing dinosaur-like creatures that resembles a Brachiosaurus or Apatosaurus. The locals call it Mokèlé-mbèmbé and there have been several documented expeditions to find it from as early as 1776 to as late as 2012.


3. The deepest mine in the world, Mponeng in S. Africa, has rock faces 140-degrees due to proximity to Earth's core and is inhabited by "ghost minders" -pale criminals armed with AKs and beer bottle grenades who reside in the shafts for months at a time to steal gold.


4. Of the 34 countries with the highest birth rates in the world, 32 are in Africa


5. The Western black rhino is officially extinct.


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6Lightning

Lightning

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.


7. Some of the Khoi-San people of southern Africa hunt antelope by chasing them on foot until they get heatstroke. The antelope overheat before the humans do.


8. There is a place in Africa named Afar Triangle where giant gaping cracks will randomly and suddenly form that shoot out blasts of superheated air at 750°F.


9. In the 20s and 30s, many Europeans supported using massive dams to drain the Mediterranean for farmland and to connect Europe and Africa in a new continent called "Atlantropa."


10. Theodore Roosevelt killed over 11,400 animals on his expedition to Africa, it took over 8 years for the Smithsonian to catalog all of them.


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11Flushing toilets

Flushing toilets

In 2012, the residents of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe were tasked with flushing their toilets at the same time in order to prevent blockages in the sewer system. The synchronized flush takes place twice a week in order to keep the sewers clear.


12. When George Formby toured South Africa, he refused to play racially segregated venues and embraced a black girl, much to the dislike of white supremacists


13. Famous British explorer David Livingstone 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.


14. The removal of lead from gasoline correlated to a 56% drop in violent crime in the US and South Africa


15. There are people in Kenema, Sierra Leone, Africa who think that Ebola is a hoax created by doctors to steal blood from patients and rioters are trying to break down the hospital gates and rescue the patients inside. Police are using tear gas and live bullets to disperse the rioters.


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16Akon

Akon

R&B singer Akon founded a solar energy company in Africa. The company employs 5000 people recently closed a $1 billion credit line.


17. There was a plan (Central Lake plan) in the 1930's to totally reconfigure the interior of Africa by creating a series of huge inland seas.


18. Tunisia, a country that is 98% Muslim, but where abortion is legal, and women wear bikinis at the beach.


19. Firms illegally dumped nuclear waste off Somalia coast, brought to the coast by a Tsunami, causing radiation sickness to the local villagers in 2005


20. James Jameson, the heir to Jameson whiskey, explored Africa in 1888, where he bought an 11-year-old girl and gave her to Congolese cannibals to sketch how they ate her


21Wine to Water organization

Wine to Water organization

There is an organization that utilizes wine tastings to dig wells in Africa. They call themselves Wine to Water.


22. The world is divided into 6 floral kingdoms. All these kingdoms encompass several countries. South Africa, which has a floral kingdom wholly contained within the country, is the one exception. The Cape Floral Kingdom has 9,600 plant species, 70% of which are not found anywhere else in the world


23. In 1951 in a Disney comic titled 'Mickey Mouse and the Medicine Man' Mickey and Goofy get high and move to Africa to become drug dealers


24. Theoneste Bagosora was most responsible for the Rwandan Genocide. He was only sentenced to 35 years in prison.


25. Every year, an estimated 33,000 elephants are killed for their ivory across Africa. That's nearly 100 a day or one every 15 mins.

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